The strange phenomena that culminated in the explosion of 67 reality anchors took place in a flash.0

Only about ten, perhaps fifteen, minutes had passed since Sieg burst out from the Abyssal Depths. Everything had taken place quickly—and ended just as swiftly.0

The detonation of the reality anchors had swept the entire lake clean.0

The artificial lake had been left in utter ruin. Not a single intact spot remained. Charred, molten fragments were everywhere—shrapnel from the anchors' explosions.0

Within the water, a hand of smoke hauled Sieg, who had fallen from the sky, toward the shore. Charles and Hugin watched as the smoke demon slowly dragged Sieg out of the water.0

"How are you holding up?" Hugin asked. He approached Sieg, who was struggling just to sit upright.0

The massive hand of smoke dispersed and flowed back into Hugin's pipe. The smoke demon said little, its usual chatter absent. Clearly, it had expended a considerable amount of energy during the incident and had no interest in banter.0

"Not good. I was really close to dying this time. Luckily, as long as a dragon's body draws breath, it can slowly recover. At least my human form is still usable," Sieg said with a weak smile, followed by a cough....0