When the dragon first slammed into the Expansion District, the Archmage’s vision flickered back and forth between black and white for an instant. Whether anything had appeared within those flashes, she could not say for certain.
By the time the radiance had seeped all the way into the backs of her eyes and the world had spun more times than she could count, everything was already over. A muffled explosion and incessant ringing filled her ears.
“Cough, cough.”
Even so, her life had not yet come to an end. The Archmage reminded herself of that fact through her coughing. The acrid smell and stench drifting through the air were also quite useful for clearing her head.
“Cough.”
In any case, she needed to regain enough reason to distinguish one thing from another first.
Even with her vision swimming and her consciousness clouded, the Archmage reached out a hand before anything else.
Tap, clatter.
Each time her scorched hand groped against the ground, she felt broken chunks of stone beneath it. They were not sharp enough to cut her, but their surfaces made it clear that they had been shattered and scattered everywhere.
“…Hoo.”
First, she raised her upper body, then blinked repeatedly to check her eyesight.
With every blink, the hazy, wavering world gradually returned to normal.
What naturally came into view in the process was the horribly devastated landscape around her.
“Th-this is…”
She pushed herself upright using what had once been part of the wooden and stone fortifications.
Soot smeared her white fur and palms, but that was hardly important.
The Archmage’s gaze landed on fragments of buildings floating freely in the air.
It was unmistakably an unreal sight.
“Oh, my God.”