A strange silence fell over the battlefield.
For a brief moment, everything seemed to pause, as if the world itself held its breath in response to something that had yet to fully reveal itself. The dust that had risen from the repeated impacts hung in the air, unmoving, suspended between motion and stillness, while the faint scent of blood and scorched earth lingered around them.
Then—
Something broke.
It did not come from the ground.
It did not come from the air.
It came from Maxwell.
A deep, resonant sound erupted from his body, not quite a roar, not quite a pulse, but something that carried the presence of something ancient, something vast, something that did not belong to an ordinary human body. It spread outward in a wave that could not be seen but could be felt, pressing against everything around him with a force that seemed to ripple through the land itself.
Borzoi's eyes narrowed instantly.
"…What is that…?"
