The abyssal chamber did not return to silence immediately.
Even with the eye destroyed, the water continued to tremble, slow shockwaves rolling through the spherical cavern like the fading heartbeat of something enormous that had finally died.
Fractured stone drifted through the dark, shards of abyssal crystal dissolving into harmless gray dust as the remnants of Albedo's Crimson Apocalypse flames burned away the last traces of corruption.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Albedo remained where he had landed after the spell collapsed, one knee resting against the water-hardened surface beneath him. Steam still rose faintly from his shoulders where heat clashed with the freezing trench currents.
His breathing was steady, but heavy. The spell had been enormous.
Even with Mana-Drain absorbing abyssal energy during the fight, channeling a full-scale Crimson Apocalypse inside eight thousand meters of ocean had demanded an intense amount of his mana.
