A heavy, almost suffocating silence hung like invisible lead weights, pressing down on everyone in the room until they could barely breathe. Cold sweat beaded in Guilliman's palms, Dante felt a chill run down his back, and Luke and Obi-Wan exchanged worried looks.
Sanguinius's eerily calm gaze and Horus's near-collapse of despair intertwined into a scene that made everyone's hearts tighten.
Just as the taut string was about to snap—
"Big Sister Bingbing! Are you playing some kind of game? Why isn't anyone talking?"
A crisp little girl's voice, carrying the laziness of someone who had just woken up and brimming with curiosity, abruptly shattered the dead silence like a silver bell!
Pandora's tiny figure had appeared at the doorway at some point. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she curiously examined the statue-like, silent people in the room with her jewel-like gaze.
She seemed to have only just awakened. She was still wearing her signature black dress, yet a more restrained and profound ripple of power faintly emanated from her body.
Liang Bing inwardly cursed, Damn it, wanting to prevent this "family drama" from being forcibly interrupted, but it was already too late.
Pandora's voice was like a pebble dropped into a calm lake, instantly shattering the frozen air.
Sanguinius's placid golden eyes finally moved. She slowly turned toward the little figure at the door, and the complex haze in her eyes seemed to part slightly, revealing an almost imperceptible look of helplessness.
Then, her gaze locked onto Horus once more. Her voice was calm, yet carried unquestionable force as it broke their silent standoff.
"Go to the dueling arena."
Her voice flowed like a clear spring, yet it contained an icy resolve.
"There are... things between us that need to be settled. Now."
After saying that, she did not spare