Valeria floated backward, panting heavily, her golden armor scorched black in several places. "Okay," she breathed, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "That was officially the worst gym workout of my life."
Alvian drifted over, snatching one of the floating dying-star blades from the air and storing it in his inventory before it could melt the floor. He looked at his team, all floating awkwardly in the crimson emergency light. They were battered, exhausted, but alive.
"Messy," Alvian critiqued, a faint, genuinely relieved smirk touching his lips. "But acceptable. The boss is dead. Now, we just need to leave the server before it deletes itself."
——-
The momentary relief of defeating the Star-Spawn Executioner was shattered by the sound of the universe breaking apart.
