Asher gave her a sidelong glance, his smirk curling into something deeper—pride, perhaps, or a flicker of nostalgia. "Hmph. You were always more dangerous when you followed your instincts."
Valeris twirled her twin blades with a fluid flick of her wrists, their steel still humming faintly from the energy of her last clash. "Dangerous, huh? I'll take that as a compliment."
"It was one," Asher said simply.
They passed through the remains of the shattered eggshells, the ground littered with steaming gore and fragments of bone. The chamber's walls began to pulse with a slower, more ominous rhythm—throbbing like a heartbeat deep in the Womb's core.
Ahead, a new archway formed of hooked ribs and pulsating sinew opened before them, revealing a vast and cavernous descent. The air grew heavier—metallic. The scent of blood was sharper here.
"Let's go to the next one after absorbing the law crystals," he said, and she nodded.
