The smoke was thick, acrid, and tasted of alchemical sulfur. It swirled around the crater like a shroud, blinding the Royal Guards and obscuring the towering form of the Steam Titan.
Inside the cockpit, the silence was absolute.
"Damien!" Hephaestus coughed, waving his hand through the haze inside the small metal sphere. "We need to go! The King, my father, he's right outside! If he sees you..."
"I know," Damien whispered. His voice was ragged, his throat raw from the scream that had accompanied the Giga Full Counter.
He looked down at his hands. They were trembling uncontrollably. The skin was cracked, glowing faintly with residual golden light as his Celestial Life Physique worked overtime to knit his flesh back together.
The backlash of channeling that much power through the Pantheon Sword had nearly burned him out from the inside.
'Mana: 5%. Aura: 2%. Stamina: Critical.'
He was running on fumes.
