The nest fell silent.
François's body lay sprawled across the cracked ruins of the raised platform. Dark crimson blood seeped from the gaps in his scales, trickling down the stone steps to form a thin stream, then pooling in the lowest hollow into a steaming, dark puddle. The energy crystal fragments continued to glow after falling from the walls, but their light had dimmed considerably, as if the life of the entire nest were fading away alongside that lord.
Xu Wuyi stood beside the puddle, his right hand hanging at his side. The dark crimson dust on his knuckles had already been shaken clean. Beneath his skin, golden roots still flowed slowly, carrying the residual energy he had just absorbed into the roots of the Inner Landscape Tree for conversion. His palm was slightly warmer than usual, as though part of the heat wave that had burst forth when François's core shattered had been instinctively absorbed by his body.
He turned around.
The nine Beast Kings still blocked the entrance to the nest. Korein stood at the front, his deep green scales slightly raised, his vertical pupils fixed on the ruins atop the platform. It was as though he still could not connect the fact that "François was dead" with his understanding of the world. The eight Beast Kings behind him were in much the same state—some trembled, some backed away, and some lightly pressed their foreclaws to the ground in a defensive posture ready to erupt at any moment, yet none of them truly pounced.
Xu Wuyi watched them.
His gaze swept from Korein to Barka, from Barka to Savio, then returned to Korein. He said nothing and made no aggressive movement. He simply stood there with both hands naturally hanging at his waist, his breathing even and steady.