The ride back was silent.
None of them said anything, and there was no need to. The silence wasn't awkward or tense. It just… fit like the air had nothing left to carry.
The wind outside had calmed. The snow wasn't rising anymore, but it hadn't started falling either. It hung in the sky, motionless, like it was waiting for something.
Lilith sat near the front of the vehicle, her posture straight. Her coat was still smooth, unwrinkled, not a single flake of frost on it.
Her silver-white hair rested softly over her shoulder, catching the red from the sky that hadn't fully faded yet.
Seraphina was behind her, checking the interface panel in front of her. The signals from the other temples were still gone—each one dimmed, disabled, silenced. Every cult cell, every backup line, everything they'd hidden… gone.
Liliana leaned back with her arms crossed, eyes half-closed but alert. Her lance rested beside her, humming quietly, almost like it hadn't stopped sensing danger.
