The administrative district descended further into chaos as the black smoke continued swallowing large sections of the sky above. Alarms echoed from tower to tower while phantom patrols raced through the city searching for a threat they could neither locate nor properly identify. Fortunately for me, confusion was an excellent shield.
Hidden beneath layers of illusion and space distortions, I moved through the district quietly while studying everything I could find.
The first thing that caught my attention was something I had not expected.
The administrators weren’t marked.
At first I thought it was simply a difference in rank or authority. The deeper I infiltrated, however, the more obvious it became. Every ordinary resident of the city carried a soul mark.
The administrators carried nothing. That immediately made me suspicious.
I spent the next few minutes observing them from within shadows and folded spaces between buildings. Their duties seemed ordinary enough.
Yet something about them felt wrong.
Eventually I decided observation was no longer enough.
A lone administrator left one of the record towers shortly afterward. He appeared to be an elf, though his ears were longer than any elf I had ever seen and faint blue lines glowed beneath his skin. He moved toward a nearby archive building completely unaware of my presence.
The moment he stepped into an isolated corridor, I moved.
Space folded.
One second he was walking. The next he found himself pinned against a wall deep beneath the city.
His eyes widened. A scream tried to escape.
My hand closed around his throat before it could.
"What—"
My aura erupted. The pressure crushed down upon him instantly.
The elf collapsed to his knees while cracks spread across his soul. Terror appeared in his eyes so quickly that I almost felt bad for him.
Almost.
"You aren’t from the Prime Universe."
It wasn’t a question.
The administrator stared at me.
I increased the pressure. His soul immediately began destabilizing.
"Answer."
"We’re not!" he blurted out.
The words came out so fast he practically tripped over them.
"Then what are you?"
"We are contracted personnel."
I frowned.
The elf nodded frantically.
"We work for the administration."
"Why?"
"Because we’re paid."
That answer surprised me.
"Paid with what?"
The administrator hesitated. I tightened my grip.
"Soul force infusions."
My eyes narrowed.
The elf immediately continued.
"The Eternals negotiated a special agreement with one of the Wardens thousands of years ago. Outside personnel can work within Prime Territory administration and receive rewards directly."
That explained a lot. The Eternals didn’t trust the local population.
So they imported administrators. People with no connection to the Prime Universe. No loyalties.
"Where do the souls go?"
The question instantly changed his expression.
His fear deepened.
"The Terminal."
"What Terminal?"
"The transportation terminal."
"Explain."
The elf swallowed.
"It’s where selected souls are collected before transfer."
My grip tightened again.
"Transfer where?"
"I don’t know!"
For once I believed him. The administrator looked genuinely terrified.
"I only handle records. I swear that’s all I know."
I stared at him for several seconds. Then released him. Before he could react, space folded and he disappeared.
I threw him several districts away. The Terminal turned out to be impossible to miss.
Even from a distance I could feel it.
The structure occupied an enormous section of the central district and resembled a giant circular fortress. Layers of defensive formations covered every surface while patrols moved continuously around the perimeter.
Getting inside was easy. Remaining unnoticed was even easier. The guards were looking outward. I slipped through multiple layers of security and entered the main hall.
Then I stopped.
The hall was enormous. The entire floor had been converted into a gigantic teleportation formation. Countless runes stretched across the ground while streams of soul force continuously flowed through the structure.
My eyes narrowed. This wasn’t designed for individuals. This was designed for populations.
Thousands at a time. Perhaps tens of thousands. Movement near the edge of the hall caught my attention.
One of the guards separated from a patrol route. It had three legs, gray skin and our arms.
Another soul from some distant universe.
I followed him.
A few moments later he found himself staring into my eyes. The interrogation proceeded much faster this time. Mostly because he witnessed what happened to the wall after I lost patience.
The three-legged guard decided cooperation was preferable.
"The marks are activation anchors."
I listened carefully.
"When activation orders are issued, selected marks awaken."
"Then?"
"They teleport the targets here."
"Thousands at once?"
"Sometimes more."
The answer sent a chill through me.
"What happens after they arrive?"
The guard hesitated. I leaned closer. His resistance immediately collapsed.
"They’re transferred."
"To where?"
The alien swallowed.
"Prime Universe."
For several seconds I simply stared at him.
Not another section of the Null Realm but Prime Universe itself.
The realization immediately raised new questions. The Eternals couldn’t accomplish that alone. Cross-universal transportation on this scale required cooperation. Which meant the traitors were involved far deeper than I originally suspected.
A disturbing thought surfaced.
Did Amun know?
The possibility lingered uncomfortably in the back of my mind. Eventually I left the guard unconscious and moved toward the final location.
The strongest presence within the district. The only one I had been avoiding until now.
An Eternal.
Unlike the others, he wasn’t hiding. He simply sat inside the highest tower of the district while overseeing everything below.
Peak Transcendent.
Ordinarily that would have been impressive. Today it wasn’t. I folded space and appeared directly behind him.
The Eternal froze.
My aura crashed down upon him. His body slammed into the floor. One knee shattered the stone beneath him.
The man’s black orb-like eyes widened. Then widened further as he recognised me.
"Billion Ironhart."
The words escaped before he could stop them.
His gaze snapped toward me.
"How did you get here?"
I ignored the question entirely. Instead I stepped forward.
"Who has the contract?"
The Eternal immediately went silent. His expression hardened.
Then a cold smile slowly appeared.
"You won’t leave this place alive."
The answer told me everything. He knew about the contract. Which meant he was useful.
Or would have been.
Without warning, his body began swelling.
My eyes narrowed.
Then he exploded. The blast wasn’t physical.
It was something else.
A yellow streak of light erupted from the remains of his body and shot upward through the tower before I could stop it.
The signal crossed the city. Then detonated above it.
The entire sky lit up.
A voice echoed across every district. The Eternal’s final words carried through the city like a proclamation.
"Billion Ironhart has entered Region Three."
For a brief moment the entire city seemed to stop breathing. Then two presences awakened.
The world shook.
The sky trembled. Soul force throughout the region surged violently as two overwhelming auras descended upon the city.
The two Eternal Overseers had arrived.