I lifted my hand and summoned Knight.
The circle flared softly, and he stepped out with his usual calm presence. His eyes moved once around the room, and his tail flicked behind him in a slow motion.
"Oh," he said, his lips curling slightly. "So we’re inside the zone already."
I nodded. "Yeah. And it’s worse than I imagined. It’s insane."
Knight’s gaze sharpened with interest. "Sounds like a place worth exploring."
"That’s exactly what I was thinking," I replied. "You and me. We take a look around on our own. No attention. No traces left behind. We’ll need to hide ourselves properly."
A faint grin appeared on his face. "That does sound fun."
"There’s a catch," I added. "Three Transcendent demons are keeping watch outside. I will tell the entire story to you while we explore."
Knight nodded once, instantly serious. "Then we move clean."
I stood up from the bed. "Let’s go."
The space around us folded.
In the next instant, we were no longer inside the bunker.
We appeared silently behind one of the hidden demons, close enough that I could feel the slow pulse of his Essence and the faint rhythm of his breathing. He was sitting cross legged against a deformed slab of reinforced rock, his presence suppressed, eyes fixed on the structure we had just left.
He never sensed us.
Knight and I stood there, perfectly still, shadows among shadows, the chaos of the battlefield humming in the distance.
I let my perception spread fully, no longer holding it back. It expanded outward in all directions, pushing through the chaos of the battlefield until the surrounding region became clear in my senses.
This place was difficult to move through unnoticed. Essence surged constantly, colliding with spatial distortions caused by battles, reinforcements, and emergency transports. Space itself was unstable here. But that instability was also our advantage. With fluctuations happening everywhere, no one was paying close attention to minor spatial ripples.
I locked onto a nearby cargo ship drifting through the third layer and teleported both of us directly onto its upper hull. The moment we arrived, I folded space around us, hiding our presence from the ship’s sensors. Times like this reminded me why mastery over the Space Law was invaluable. Infiltration became trivial when space itself answered your will.
As the ship continued on its course, I began explaining things to Knight, our deal with Dravon, the situation with Commander Saleos, and why we needed to be careful.
Knight listened quietly, his tail swaying as he scanned our surroundings. "So what exactly are we looking for?" he asked at last.
Our stolen ride drifted away from a massive anchored rock and moved toward a cluster of larger structures. From the amount of life force gathered there, it was clear this was an infirmary zone.
"There are several things," I said. "First, an escape route. If everything goes wrong, I want a clean way out. Second, we watch for spies or traitors among the demons. If we find any, we capture them quietly and interrogate them. Third, we locate Saleos and the other key figures managing this rift. If they turn hostile, we need to know who to neutralize first. And finally..." I paused. "I want to see if there’s a way to slip into the other side."
Knight gave a low whistle. "That’s thorough. This won’t be quick."
"That’s fine," I replied. "Aurora can keep Dravon busy. I asked for an hour. We’ll take two, then meet up."
Knight nodded, then his gaze shifted forward, locking onto the distant glow ahead. The rift’s light painted everything in shifting colors.
"I knew rifts were big," he said slowly, "but I never imagined something like this."
I followed his gaze. The battlefield stretched endlessly, layered defenses curving around the void, fleets moving like blood through veins. The scale of it dwarfed Armus’s capital many times over.
"The need to survive pushes people to extremes," I said. "Building a fortress around something that wants to swallow your universe is one of them."
"All right," Knight said at last. "I’ll move ahead on my own. I’ll keep my exploration limited to the second layer. I don’t trust myself to stay completely hidden if I step into the core layer without you backing me."
I nodded. "That’s the right call."
Shadows gathered around him. In the next moment, his form blurred, then vanished entirely from the top of the cargo ship. I kept a thin thread of perception locked onto him as he moved away, slipping toward one of the more remote floating structures that marked the outer edge of the third layer.
Once he was gone, I let out a slow breath.
I expanded my perception further and began sorting through the information flooding my mind. This place was vast, far larger than I had first assumed. The scale of the battlefield wasn’t just intimidating, it was oppressive. Every direction I scanned felt layered with intent, preparation, and violence waiting to be released.
Escaping from here would not be easy.
This wasn’t just a defensive zone. It was a cage.
The third layer alone was terrifying. Massive weapons were anchored into the floating platforms, all of them angled toward the rift with absolute precision. Their cores were fully charged, humming with restrained power.
Even without firing, I could feel the pressure they exerted on the surrounding Essence. If those weapons activated at once, the force released would be enough to erase something at Saint level without leaving much behind.
And those were just the fixed installations.
Patrols moved constantly through all three layers. Disciplined routes, overlapping coverage, and layered response paths. I estimated their numbers quickly. Hundreds of thousands, at least. The weakest among them were Grandmasters. Above them were veteran Transcendents, many resting or rotating through duty cycles, just like Dravon.
This wasn’t a battlefield you could simply run from once things went wrong.
If we were discovered and tried to force our way out, the response would be immediate. Not just local forces but reinforcements pulled directly from demon headquarters. Stronger demons. Ones who wouldn’t hesitate.
I clenched my fist slowly.
At this moment, there was only one viable escape route.
Dravon.
As long as we were tied to him, moving with him, using his authority and presence as cover, we could move freely. The moment we broke away openly, we would be treated as a threat on the same level as the Eternals themselves.
Any other method, forced teleportation, large-scale spatial shifts, or open combat would only trigger alarms powerful enough to drag the attention of beings I had no interest in facing yet.
I exhaled again, steadying my thoughts.