The explosion's light faded. Smoke and dust spread outward in all directions.
On the floor, a circular pattern of blood had expanded from the blast's center, and in the very middle of that circle, one conspicuous human-shaped void.
No body. No remains. Nothing that corresponded to what a sacrifice detonation should have left behind.
Even a blood-sacrifice using an intelligent life as the catalyst shouldn't have been capable of simply erasing the target, and Blitz understood that instinctively.
The only other thing in the space was a single parchment, still burning at the edges, the inscription on it only partially visible through the flame, but clear enough to read the name of the sky deity faintly written there.
Blitz's scarlet eyes swept the stairwell. The unease was immediate and precise.
A quiet laugh from the entrance.
"Looks like I'm not late."
