The moment Lunaria stopped moving, the world rushed back in.
It happened without warning—no dramatic tremor, no final surge of power. One breath he stood there, silver eyes steady, aura folded tight around his body like a sleeping storm.
The next, his knees buckled.
Ash was the first to react.
"Lunaria—!"
He caught him before he hit the ground, arms wrapping around a body that suddenly felt too light, too fragile for something that had just stood at the center of annihilation. The knife slipped from Lunaria's fingers and clattered softly against broken stone, shadows dissolving as it fell.
The aura vanished.
Not faded—cut off.
The crushing pressure that had bent the city released instantly, leaving behind a ringing emptiness that made Ash's ears throb. Kael staggered forward, breathing hard, while Riven dropped to one knee out of sheer reflex, his body finally allowed to acknowledge how close to collapse he'd been.
Lunaria's head lolled forward, silver hair—now cut unevenly, shorter than it had ever been—falling across his face. His ribbon hung loose, half-shredded, barely holding what remained of his hair together.
"Hey—hey, stay with us," Ash muttered urgently, adjusting his grip as Lunaria went completely limp.
There was no response.
Kael's hand hovered over Lunaria's chest, then pressed down gently, feeling for breath. His shoulders loosened a fraction. "He's breathing," he said. "Barely. His pulse is… fast. Too fast."
Riven scanned their surroundings, eyes sharp despite the exhaustion dragging at his limbs. The battlefield was quiet now—unnaturally so. The aberrant swarm was gone. The Queen's presence had retreated. Only ruins remained, blackened and broken, stretching endlessly in every direction.
"We can't leave him out here," Riven said. "If anything else moves—"
"It won't," Kael replied quietly. "Not after that."
Ash nodded, jaw tight. "Still. He needs shelter."
They didn't argue.
Ash adjusted Lunaria in his arms, lifting him properly this time. Without the aura, without the power pressing against reality, Lunaria felt heartbreakingly human. Warm. Light. Exhausted in a way no System warning could ever fully convey.
They moved quickly through the rubble, avoiding unstable structures, stepping over collapsed beams and shattered glass. Every sound made Ash tense, but nothing followed them. The war had burned itself out.
They found the house by chance.
What remained of it, at least.
Half the structure had collapsed inward, the upper floor completely gone, but the ground level still stood, walls cracked but stable. The interior was dark, dust-choked, and silent—yet intact enough to offer cover.
"This'll do," Riven said.
Ash carried Lunaria inside and lowered him carefully onto what used to be a couch, now scorched and torn but still usable. Kael cleared debris away with quick, efficient movements, while Riven checked the perimeter, peering through broken windows for any sign of movement.
Lunaria stirred faintly as Ash laid him down, a soft sound escaping his throat—more breath than voice.
Ash froze.
He leaned closer. "Lunaria?"
No response.
Kael knelt beside them, eyes scanning Lunaria's face, the shallow rise and fall of his chest. "He pushed past everything," he said quietly. "Abyss. Chaos. Overdrive. Then absorption on top of it."
Riven joined them, wiping grime from his hands. "The System didn't shut him down," he said. "That means this wasn't a failure. It was… depletion."
Ash swallowed hard.
He reached up without thinking and adjusted Lunaria's ribbon, fingers gentle as he gathered the uneven strands of silver hair away from his face. The sight of it—shorter, jagged, cut where it should never have been—twisted something in his chest.
"He always lands on his feet," Ash said softly. "Every time."
Kael glanced at him, expression unreadable. "Even storms have to rest."
They settled in silence after that.
Ash stayed close, sitting on the edge of the couch, one hand resting lightly near Lunaria's shoulder as if afraid he might disappear if he let go. Kael took position near the entrance, back against the wall, eyes half-lidded but alert. Riven paced once more before finally sitting across from them, blade laid within reach.
Outside, the city smoldered.
Inside, for the first time since the war began, there was only the sound of breathing.
Lunaria slept.
And for now—
That was enough.