Chapter 47: The Victory That Shatters

Elina’s POV

The air stank with the smell of burnt earth and blood. It clawed at my nose, thick and sharp, as if it were trying to crawl down my throat. I crashed to my knees, pain stabbing up my legs, but I barely felt it.

Everything was fuzzed at the edges. My vision swam, like someone had smeared oil over the world. I was so damn tired.

Hollow. That's how I felt.

My magic? Completely drained. It had dripped out of me bit by bit, like a busted faucet you can't shut off, until nothing was left. The battlefield was now a nightmare of wrecked metal and bodies scattered everywhere, like some apocalyptic scrapyard.

Phantom Holy Knights lay scattered like broken dolls, their silver armor cracked open like eggshells. Some of them still smoked where they’d fallen, steam hissing from the gaps. It had been a massacre.