Beside Shen Yi, Xilos's expression changed at once.
She stared at the wisp of light that had already vanished completely into Shen Yi's body. Its glow was gentle and serene, yet it held a profound presence beyond her understanding.
The flames in her crimson eyes flickered violently, betraying tension and worry she could not conceal.
Shen Yi had kept his eyes closed since accepting the light, his presence frighteningly still. A faint black-and-white radiance enveloped him, seemingly capable of soothing all agitation, and sealed him off from the outside world.
"What exactly is that?" Xilos abruptly turned to Enrosis, her voice trembling despite her efforts to steady it.
"What... did you give him?"
Her gaze was piercing as she searched for an answer on Enrosis's exquisitely beautiful, cool face, now far paler and weaker than before.
But Enrosis's presence had visibly diminished, weakening by at least a third. That vast power welling from the very root of life seemed to have had a huge piece forcibly gouged out of it, leaving only a tenacious yet precarious frailty.
Xilos was terrified.
She had seen far too much of the strangeness and danger of Authority, especially gifts involving its fundamental essence, which often came with unforeseeable costs or hidden dangers.
To her, Shen Yi had long since become more than the benefactor who had granted her power and led her out of the rock prison. He was the companion she had resolved to follow, in life and in death.
She could never tolerate anything that might harm him.
Not even from the progenitor of the Elf race.
Not far away, however, Byron and Aoyue wore expressions far more complicated than Xilos's.
"Is this the primordial existence from before Authority and death had even taken shape?"
Before they had realized what it was,