Elena's face twisted into a knot. "Look at that hand of yours—"
"If it isn't broken, it can still be used." Su Li jerked his chin at old Gran, who was gasping heavily on the steps. "That bearded one's not down yet. Go finish him off first."
Saina stood where she was, her hand axe raised high.
"Su Li!"
"Hurry back and fight your bald guy. If he sneaks an attack while you're gone, don't even think about buying new clothes for a month when we get home."
Saina's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. She stomped hard, sending shards of stone flying everywhere, then slung her axe over her shoulder and charged toward Morris.
"I didn't want new clothes anyway!"
Elonore slowly lowered the rune card she had raised halfway, ducked back behind the stone pillar, and clutched the hem of her dress with both hands, trembling like a sieve.
The armor turned to face Su Li again.
Its metal fist rose once more.
Su Li did not rush to take the blow head-on. He shifted a step to the right, letting the fist smash into the ground.
Through the cracks in the shattered flagstones, his gaze locked tightly onto the joint of the armor's right arm.
There was a ring of circuit connection points there.
When the fist came down, energy poured from the shoulder guard into the upper arm, then from the upper arm into the forearm. During that process, the brightness of the connection points fluctuated for an extremely brief instant.
Under normal circumstances, only the craftsman who had made this armor would be able to understand such a fluctuation.
But Su Li understood it.
This thing's energy was not being supplied from its wearer's body.
The old prince himself was only at the peak