My gaze drifted toward a nearby street where a lone phantom floated between buildings.
Two minutes later the phantom no longer existed. The encounter had been quick.
A spatial barrier isolated the area. A single strike shattered its defenses. Deathmist was devoured before it could release a warning.
The entire process lasted less than thirty seconds.
Now all that remained was the disguise.
I examined the remains thoughtfully.
The upper portion of a phantom’s skull resembled a helmet more than an actual head. Dense black metal curved around the face while numerous channels allowed Deathmist to flow continuously through the structure.
A few modifications later, it fit comfortably over my own hood. I glanced at my reflection in a nearby window.
"It is good enough."
The final step required a bit more creativity. Fortunately, Deathmist wasn’t particularly difficult to imitate for me.
I allowed a small portion of my own deathmist to leak outward. Dark mist immediately began flowing around my body.
By the time I finished, the disguise was convincing enough to fool a casual inspection.
I pulled the hood lower. Adjusted the phantom helmet. Then stepped onto the street.
The Control Tower loomed above me in the distance. Its black eye insignia seemed to stare directly at my approaching figure.
I smiled beneath the mask.
Tomorrow morning I intended to kill an Eternal. Tonight, however, I was going sightseeing.
The line of phantoms ahead of me moved forward at a steady pace.
One by one, individuals approached the entrance, crossed the threshold of the formation, and disappeared into the tower beyond. Every few seconds faint ripples of energy spread across the black stone plaza beneath our feet before fading away.
By the time I reached the front of the line, I had already deciphered most of its function.
The formation wasn’t particularly sophisticated by my standards. Its primary purpose was to identify the unique rune signatures branded into the souls of authorized personnel. The moment someone stepped into its range, the formation compared that signature against its stored records and either granted or denied access.
Unfortunately for its creators, it also relied heavily on Deathmist as an intermediary layer. The instant my turn arrived, I allowed the Deathmist surrounding my body to thicken.
Dark mist rolled outward. The formation awakened.
Countless runes beneath the plaza lit up simultaneously.
A wave of invisible energy swept through me.
For a brief moment I felt the formation attempting to probe deeper, searching beneath the Deathmist for the soul hidden underneath.
I smiled behind the mask.
"Good luck with that."
The Deathmist I was projecting wasn’t merely a disguise. It was an entire false identity wrapped around my actual soul. The formation encountered exactly what it expected to encounter.
A phantom.
The scan completed and the runes dimmed.
I walked through the entrance without slowing down. The moment the doors closed behind me, I vanished.
Space folded around my body. A fraction of a second later I stood completely hidden within a pocket of distorted space, invisible to both sight and perception.
Only then did I begin exploring.
The Control Tower was even larger inside than it appeared from the outside.
Dozens upon dozens of floors stretched upward through the structure. Massive elevators connected the various levels while streams of administrators moved continuously between them.
At first glance the tower looked remarkably ordinary.
Then I started looking closer. The lower floors were dedicated almost entirely to research.
Deathmist research.
Soul research.
I moved silently through laboratories filled with black crystal containers holding screaming souls. Researchers recorded observations while specialized formations extracted memories, emotions, and fragments of soul force from the captives.
One room contained hundreds of preserved eyes floating inside transparent containers.
Another contained severed souls suspended in liquid Deathmist while researchers dissected them piece by piece.
I paused outside one chamber.
Inside, a group of souls hung suspended above a circular platform.
Their screams never reached the outside world. The formation surrounding the room absorbed every sound. Administrators carefully removed portions of their souls before documenting the effects.
The victims remained conscious throughout the process.
I continued upward.
The next several floors focused primarily on administration. Of all the things I had expected to find inside the headquarters Eternals, middle management had not been high on the list.
Thousands of years of corruption.
Countless worlds conquered.
Godlike beings ruling entire sectors of existence. And somehow they still ended up creating paperwork.
Humanity truly was a universal disease. Eventually my exploration led me toward one of the highest levels within the tower.
The floor was noticeably different from everything below. At its center stood a massive circular chamber surrounded by observation balconies and private meeting areas.
A conference room.
An actual conference room.
A polished black table stretched across the center while dozens of seats surrounded it in a circular arrangement.
I stared at it for several seconds.
Then I chuckled.
Apparently even Eternals needed meetings.
The phantom hadn’t been lying. This was almost certainly where the daily gathering occurred.
My amusement quickly faded as I began analyzing the room. The problem became obvious almost immediately.
Taking the Lacome Eternal here would be difficult.
Very difficult.
Not because I couldn’t kill it. The issue was everything that came afterward.
If I unleashed my full power inside the tower, the resulting fluctuations would be noticed instantly. Other Eternals would react. Verilux might react.
And attracting Verilux’s attention sounded remarkably stupid. Which meant I needed a cleaner solution.
A kidnapping.
My eyes slowly drifted toward the center of the room.
That could work.
A small smile appeared beneath the phantom mask.
Several hours later an intricate network of miniature runes had been hidden beneath the conference chamber itself. To anyone else they appeared indistinguishable from the surrounding architecture.
To me they formed the first half of a specialized teleportation array. The second half required considerably more effort.
I left the tower.
Returned to the Ironhart Post.
Entered the Soul Sea.
And began constructing the destination point.
The process consumed most of the day.
Layer after layer of formations spread outward across the isolated region of the Soul Sea. Concealment runes. Suppression runes. Spatial distortion runes. Soul force dampening runes.
Anything that could prevent outside detection. Anything that could ensure the Eternal disappeared without leaving a trace.
By the time I finished, the artificial sky above the Soul Sea had already begun darkening.
Satisfied with the result, I activated the final sequence. The entire area vanished beneath multiple layers of concealment.
Even significant soul force fluctuations would remain trapped inside. As evening settled across Region Four, I returned to the Control Tower one final time.
The formation at the entrance accepted my disguise without question. Moments later I was once again hidden within distorted space inside the conference room.
The massive table sat empty.
I settled into a corner and closed my eyes.
Tomorrow morning the Lacome Eternal would walk into this room expecting another routine meeting.
Instead, it would be disappearing into a hidden prison beneath the Ironhart Post.
And if everything went according to plan, none of the other Eternals would even realize what had happened until it was far too late.