My summons reacted immediately. Within moments all of them were rushing toward the opening.
I followed. All of us shot across the battlefield while the beam descended toward the portal from above.
I could feel we won’t make it before the beam so I turned to face the attack.
Soul force erupted from my body.
The silver-violet energy surrounding me immediately transformed as layers upon layers of runes appeared throughout the sky. Space trembled. The atmosphere distorted. Even the Soul Sea below became unstable as the pressure continued increasing.
The Eternal Saints’ expressions changed.
They recognized the attack.
"Absolute Destruction."
The words escaped one of them before he could stop himself.
I pulled my arm backward.
Then punched.
The motion appeared simple.
The result was not.
A gigantic rune manifested before my fist and immediately shattered apart. The fragments began rotating at impossible speed while absorbing everything around them. Soul force rushed inward. Space rushed inward. Even light seemed to bend toward the center.
Then a beam erupted forward.
Silver-violet destruction crossed the battlefield and collided directly with the Hydra’s attack.
The impact shook the entire region.
For a brief moment neither beam moved.
Then both exploded.
The collision unleashed enough force to tear apart entire sections of the sky while shockwaves erupted outward in every direction.
Verilux roared.
I didn’t stay to watch. The moment the collision bought me an opening, I turned and shot toward the portal.
The entrance was already becoming unstable.
Cracks spread throughout its surface while the destruction generated behind me continued catching up.
A second later I crossed the threshold.
The combined force of my attack and Verilux’s beam finally reached the portal and detonated. The opening collapsed instantly. The passage shattered. Every trace of the gateway disappeared from existence.
********
The moment I crossed the collapsing portal, the violent pressure of the battlefield vanished.
For a brief instant my vision distorted as reality twisted around me, then the sensation disappeared and I found myself standing within what appeared to be an endless void.
Darkness stretched in every direction. Nothing except a single tunnel of silver light extending forward through the emptiness like a pathway carved directly through space itself.
Andrea and the three Transcendents were already waiting ahead of us.
The moment she saw us emerge, relief briefly appeared on her face before immediately being replaced by urgency.
"Don’t stop. Keep moving."
Without waiting for a response, she turned and rushed deeper into the tunnel.
The others followed instantly.
I exchanged a glance with my summons before we accelerated after them.
The tunnel stretched endlessly ahead while streams of soul force flowed through its walls. Ancient runes appeared and vanished continuously throughout the structure, giving the impression that the entire passage was somehow alive.
As we moved, I gradually noticed something strange.
The tunnel wasn’t fixed.
It shifted, bent and djusted itself. Almost like a river rather than a road.
I increased my speed until I was moving beside Andrea.
"Where exactly are we?"
She didn’t slow down.
"In the Soul Sea."
I frowned.
"This doesn’t look like any Soul Sea I’ve seen."
"Because we’re beneath it."
That answer immediately got my attention.
"Beneath it?"
Andrea nodded.
"The entire city floats above the surface. Most people think that’s all there is. It isn’t. There are layers below the sea that even the Eternals don’t fully control."
"The tunnel?"
"One of them."
Her gaze remained fixed ahead. The Prime Territory was becoming far more complicated than I initially thought.
We continued moving. Only a few moments passed before the tunnel suddenly trembled. The vibration wasn’t particularly strong.
Yet the expression on Andrea’s face changed instantly.
She looked back.
Then cursed.
"It found us."
A heavy silence followed those words. None of us needed clarification. There was only one thing capable of finding us.
Verilux.
The tunnel shook again. This time the vibration was significantly stronger. Cracks briefly appeared along the surrounding walls before rapidly repairing themselves.
"Move faster," Andrea said.
Nobody argued. Soul force erupted around our bodies as we accelerated deeper into the passage.
The tunnel blurred around us. Silver light stretched into endless streaks while the distance behind us vanished beneath our speed.
Then I felt it.
A disturbance.
My perception exploded outward. Something was approaching extremely fast. It was an attack.
I immediately turned my head.
"Ragnar."
The giant ape didn’t ask questions.
He reacted instantly.
The moment my voice reached him, he twisted around and raised his hand toward the far end of the tunnel.
Soul force erupted around his arm.
Then Forces.
Countless layers of force manipulation condensed before him while space visibly distorted beneath the pressure. An instant later a beam of silver destruction appeared behind us. The attack filled the entire width of the tunnel.
Even from this distance I could feel the terrifying amount of power contained within it.
Ragnar grinned.
Then punched.
The accumulated force exploded outward.
Instead of meeting the incoming attack head-on, Ragnar’s ability transformed the surrounding space into a gigantic repulsive field.
The beam struck it.
The tunnel immediately shook.
The entire structure bent beneath the collision while cracks spread through the surrounding walls. Endless waves of soul force erupted throughout the passage and surged past us like a raging storm.
For several moments neither force gave way. Then Ragnar roared and pushed harder. The repulsive field expanded. The incoming beam slowed. Then reversed. The attack was literally pushed backward through the tunnel.
The resulting backlash sent tremors throughout the entire structure.
Even Andrea looked shocked. Then her expression turned grim.
"That only bought us time."
As if to confirm her words, the tunnel shook again.
Only this time the vibration was far worse. Several of the runes embedded within the structure shattered completely.
Then we heard Verilux’s furious roar. The moment the roar reached us, every strand of hair on my body stood upright.
The creature had somehow found a way to follow us. The tunnel continued trembling while larger and larger sections of the surrounding walls began collapsing inward. It almost felt as though the Hydra was trying to force its way into a space that had never been designed to contain something of its size.
"We’re almost there," Andrea shouted. I looked forward. A distant light was shining ahead.
It was a portal.
The tunnel behind us suddenly twisted violently. A gigantic crack split through the entire passage. For a brief moment I thought I saw something beyond it.
A colossal eye. Silver-black scales. And endless darkness.
Then the crack sealed itself. The roar that followed shook the entire tunnel.
Everyone accelerated. The portal expanded before us.
Andrea entered first. The three Transcendents followed immediately afterward. Then my summons and I followed immediately after.