Yet we continued forward. Because stopping meant Verilux. Then the guardian entered the Portal Field.
The result was terrifying. It didn’t navigate or avoid. It simply advanced.
Portals shattered against its body. Spatial storms exploded around it. Reality itself seemed unwilling to interfere.
Then I finally saw all three heads. The sight alone was enough to freeze entire armies. The distance between us had become dangerously small.
"We’re running out of time," Silver shouted.
Ahead of us appeared the center. Thousands upon thousands of portals floated throughout the sky.
Some were stable but most not. Every one led somewhere unknown.
Verilux roared.
The entire Portal Field shook. One head opened its mouth. Soul force began gathering.
I could already feel the attack forming. We didn’t have time. My eyes swept across the countless portals. Then settled upon one. It looked more stable than the others.
It was not safe but less suicidal.
"That one."
Nobody argued. The remaining whales immediately changed direction. Behind us, Verilux attacked. A beam of silver destruction crossed the Portal Field. The already weakened space collapsed wherever it passed.
Portals exploded and space shattered. Entire sections of the region vanished.
We accelerated. Then jumped. The whales entered first. My summons followed.
I entered last.
The beam arrived simultaneously and the portal shattered. The surrounding space exploded. The Portal Field disappeared behind us.
Then everything became darkness. And for the first time since Verilux began hunting us, the guardian’s presence vanished completely. The darkness lasted only a few seconds before reality stabilized once more.
Silver waters stretched beneath us once reality finally stabilized. The darkness of the Portal Field receded and the familiar sky of the Soul Sea returned overhead, its countless drifting soul stars illuminating the endless ocean below.
For several moments none of us moved as we silently checked ourselves, making sure that every limb, every fragment of our souls and every piece of our equipment had survived the passage intact.
Escaping the Portal Field had been reckless even by our standards, and nobody could be completely certain that some part of them hadn’t been left behind in one of the countless shattered dimensions.
I was the first to break the silence.
"We’re leaving."
Ragnar frowned immediately. "We just got here."
"Exactly," I replied while looking toward the horizon. "Which means Verilux is already searching."
That was enough to end any argument before it could begin. Nobody needed a reminder of what we had barely escaped. The remaining whales looked even worse than we did. Deep wounds covered their bodies and traces of unstable space still lingered around them from their journey through the Portal Field.
Even so, the creatures immediately resumed moving, their enormous bodies cutting through the silver waters while we followed above them.
Our destination remained unchanged.
Region Five.
According to the information gathered from the resistance settlements, one of the surviving human clusters existed somewhere within that region. The sooner we reached it, the sooner we could begin searching for actual leads instead of wandering blindly across the Soul Sea.
This section of the ocean looked noticeably different from the territories we had crossed before. Massive black crystal formations drifted above the water like floating mountain ranges while thick silver fog rolled across the surface in slow-moving currents.
The soul force here felt denser as well, carrying a strange pressure that made the entire region seem older and more hostile.
For nearly an hour our journey remained uneventful.
Then the ocean exploded.
A colossal tentacle erupted from beneath the water directly under Ragnar, moving with surprising speed despite its enormous size. He reacted instinctively. His club descended in a blur and collided with the appendage, shattering flesh, bone and soul force in a single strike before sending fragments scattering across the sea.
Unfortunately, the attack had only been the beginning.
The surrounding ocean began churning violently as more tentacles emerged from every direction. First a handful appeared. Then dozens. Soon the entire area around us was filled with enormous appendages thicker than mountains and covered in glowing runes.
Massive suction cups lined their undersides, each ringed with rows of rotating teeth that looked capable of crushing entire ships.
The ocean beneath us swelled upward.
Then the creature finally surfaced.
Even after everything I had witnessed inside the Null Realm, the sight managed to surprise me.
The beast resembled an octopus only in the loosest sense of the word. Its gigantic body stretched for kilometers beneath the water while countless glowing eyes covered its head and upper torso. Pure crystal formations protruded from its flesh and every movement generated waves large enough to flatten cities.
Most importantly, the pressure radiating from it immediately identified its rank.
Saint.
Silver stared at the creature for several moments before slowly looking toward me.
"Why does every animal in this place hate us?"
"I don’t think it’s personal anymore," I replied.
The creature attacked before the conversation could continue. Several tentacles swept toward us simultaneously while others attempted to wrap around the whales beneath us. Lightning exploded from Aurora’s hands as she intercepted one of the attacks while Knight folded space around another.
The battle quickly spread across the sea.
Tentacles shattered apart only to be replaced by new ones. Every wound the creature suffered began healing almost immediately as dense soul force poured through its body. Several times it attempted dragging us beneath the surface where its size would provide an even greater advantage, but each attempt was driven back through a combination of brute force and overwhelming firepower.
For a while the fight remained relatively balanced.
Then Ragnar lost patience.
He launched himself forward and brought his club down upon the creature’s head. The resulting impact split the surrounding ocean apart and forced the beast to release a shriek so powerful that the water itself vibrated.
I took advantage of the opening.
Soul force gathered around my fist before condensing into a concentrated strike. The attack crossed several kilometers in an instant and punched directly through the creature’s defenses. A gigantic hole exploded through the side of its body as my attack tore completely through it and emerged from the opposite side.
Silver blood and fragmented soul force erupted from the wound while the monster recoiled violently.
Then everything changed. The creature froze. Not because of its injuries.
Because of something else.
My perception expanded automatically and immediately encountered a familiar presence approaching from far away. Ancient. Relentless. Impossible to mistake.
Verilux.
I closed my eyes briefly.
"You’ve got to be kidding me."