It felt like chains snapping, not violently, but one by one, links giving way under a pressure they had never been meant to hold forever.
The sensation crawled up my spine, wrapped around my heart, and then sank into my bones.
The swords froze.
Mid-lunge.
Mid-teleport.
Mid-death.
The chamber went utterly silent.
Then the murky green energy erupted.
It didn't flare like mana. It didn't surge in neat channels or respond cleanly to thought. It poured out of me like something that had been held back for far too long—thick, heavy, alive in a way mana had never been.
It rolled off my skin in waves, splashing against the air, rippling the stone beneath my feet. The nearest swords dissolved the moment the energy touched them, unraveling into dust and light that vanished before hitting the floor.
I gasped.
Not in pain.
In relief.
