The sky over the Tyrant Spirit Fortress had shifted. The sun, barely risen, filtered pale gold across the spiked parapets and black banners, but even daylight couldn't touch the weight that now hung in the air. Word was already spreading three had emerged. One of them had passed.
Inside the Hall of Echoes, Thalen stood before a council of shadows.
Nine figures, seated behind a barrier of red light, observed him from above. The SSS Heroes. The only living bearers of the Tyrant Spirit. Each of them possessed a second aura that had twisted their strength into legend. Their silhouettes loomed vast, barely human beneath the weight of power.
He could barely look at them.