Chapter 79 Shadows Of Victory

The smoke still clung to the air like a phantom, weaving through the broken arches and splintered beams of the ruined Citadel. Though the fighting had stopped, the echoes of war haunted every corridor. Fires smoldered in stone braziers, emergency lights flickered against cracked marble, and ash swirled through the once-sacred halls where secrets had festered for generations. Outside, the storm had passed, leaving a pale and fragile dawn to stretch cautiously across the Alps. Helicopters thundered overhead—rescue, press, governments, all converging on the birthplace of an empire’s collapse.