The remnants of Arthur's shattered domain had not disappeared.
The blood that had rained from the sky and splashed over broken stone, ruined walls, and shattered pillars began to stir. Thin streams of crimson slithered across the ground, flowing back toward Arthur as if pulled by an unseen tide.
'Move,' Arthur thought.
The blood obeyed.
In the next second, it rose.
Seven separate clusters of blood swelled and expanded, each one twisting into its own miniature domain. Seven crimson spheres bloomed around the golden lion, hanging in the air like malignant moons.
Each one pulsed with a fragment of Arthur's authority.
They moved.
Just like a pack of hunters circling a single prey, the seven blood domains tightened their encirclement around the lion. Their surfaces writhed, tendrils of liquid darkness stretching out to latch onto the golden construct.
The lion roared, the sound shaking the air.
