The glow faded. Just like that.
The plaza was empty now—no NPCs, no other players. Just Kieran and the squad, standing in silence at the ruins of what used to be the Fallen Star Demon's altar. The system must've cleared the area automatically after the fight. Reset protocols. Clean-up phase. Whatever. It didn't matter.
It was quiet.
Arianna broke the silence first. She walked slowly over to one of the fractured pillars and sat down, stretching her arms overhead.
"Gods," she muttered, "my hands are still shaking."
Jack was crouched near the wrecked ground where the demon had exploded. His hand hovered above the faint shimmer of loot drops suspended mid-air—waiting to be claimed. "This can't be standard rewards," he muttered.
"No way," said Erren, dropping to one knee beside him. "There's core fragments here. Two… maybe three legendary-tier items. That crystal's unstable. I can feel it from here."
