The cracking didn't stop.
It spread.
What had begun as fractures around Neo's strike rapidly crawled across the Shard Warden's entire torso, jagged lines of pale blue light splitting its massive frame apart from within. Each break pulsed in time with that unnatural heartbeat, faster now—stronger.
The construct staggered.
Not from damage.
From release.
"Back!" Ti shouted. "Everyone back, now!"
Neo didn't argue. He grabbed Beatrix's wrist and pulled, leaping from the Warden's body just as another section of ice peeled away beneath them. They landed hard on a shifting platform below, boots scraping for purchase as the terrain tried to reject them.
Above—
The Warden's outer shell began to fall.
Great slabs of enchanted ice tore free and crashed into the spires below, shattering into storms of razor fragments. Cassandra's skeletal swarm was obliterated in seconds, crushed or scattered into useless debris.
"…Okay," Cassandra said faintly, staring upward. "That's new."
