"What!? You fought a Daemon?" Elvira asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
It had been twelve hours since the other Nephirid woke up, and they had all returned to the city.
Ben had explained everything, just as he had planned.
He told them it was all an illusion brought on by the lingering effects of the seal. A shared hallucination.
All of them believed him, except Kaela.
She hadn't bought the story completely… but with the sealed ground destroyed and no way to confirm anything, she had nothing to press him with. So Ben wasn't worried.
What mattered more now was something else. The seal in his soul. The one that still protected Apophis.
"Yes," Ben said calmly, "but thankfully she was still sealed. I used the opportunity to absorb her power."
He raised his palm. Dark aether swirled upward from his skin
"See this?" he said with a small grin. "This is just a fraction of what I took from her."
