Golden light burst above the ruins, covering his body piece by piece with the dazzling Cloth.
The sun patterns on the pauldrons gleamed with a warm golden glow in the morning light, while the faces of good and evil on either side of the helmet stood in light and shadow.
Once clad in the Cloth, Yongye lightly tapped his foot against the ground and soared out of the ruins, the Golden Cloth trailing a blinding streak of light in the early morning sun.
He glanced at the approaching news drones and police cars in the distance, flashed a brilliant smile toward the cameras, then streaked toward the Midtown Manhattan skyline.
Behind him, all that remained amid the ruins was the apartment building blasted through its middle and the scorched ground plowed first by divine pressure, then by the Wind of Nothingness.
When Yongye landed outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the top-floor office at the Eye Society headquarters, Sharon Carter was standing by the window, clutching her phone, her face much paler than usual.
She watched that streak of golden light plunge straight down from the sky and land on the terrace outside. The tension that had held her taut for hours suddenly snapped. Her knees buckled, and only by bracing herself against the window frame did she keep from collapsing.
Yongye pushed open the terrace's glass door and walked in. As he moved, the Golden Cloth peeled away automatically, turning into a golden aurora that flowed into System Space and revealed the black T-shirt and dark gray trousers beneath.
He glanced at Sharon's deathly pale face, his lips curling as he spoke in a tone so obnoxious it begged for a punch.
"What, thought I was dead?"
"Worried you'd get all clogged up without anyone to help clear your