My eyes never left Saleos.
Even within the slowed time and locked space, his Essence churned.
Slowly. Trying to resist the laws.
Fire law thickened around Saleos, heat bleeding into the void and warping space at the edges of my control. Even with time slowed and space locked, his Essence did not stay still. It churned, pressed, tested every boundary I had placed on him.
His eyes met mine. In that instant, I knew there was no pretending anymore. He was resisting.
The ticking echoed louder in my ears.
I did not hesitate.
I willed the door to shift, and space twisted violently as I triggered the first jump. The battlefield tore away from us as I dragged all five of us before Saleos could fully break free.
We appeared right above the core layer. The moment we arrived, the strain spiked. Splitting my focus to manage the transition loosened my grip for a fraction of a second, and Saleos took it without hesitation. His battle instincts were sharp. He moved the instant my control slipped.
His domain surged outward.
Space rippled violently as fire law exploded around his body, heat flaring hard enough to ripple the space around him. At the same time, Phegor’s wooden cocoon began to shake. Shadow layers cracked as something inside slammed outward again and again, each impact sending vibrations through the sealed wood.
The ticking of the clock grew louder.
The door trembled.
I felt it creak as both demons pushed against its effects.
I forced it open again.
Just a little.
The sound of the clock deepened, each tick heavy and slow, pressing against my skull. Time thickened once more, dragging everything down enough to keep them from breaking free.
Pain stabbed behind my eyes.
"Knight," I snapped.
He appeared in front of Saleos instantly, his entire body trembling as he extended his shadows. They wrapped around Saleos like living chains, and biting down hard. Shadow and law collided as Knight forced the demon’s domain inward through sheer control and will.
’His domain is resisting,’ Knight’s voice echoed in my head, strained and tight.
I nodded and reached deeper.
I began to cut the Essence flow feeding Saleos’s domain, not completely, but just enough. Fire dimmed slightly. The pressure eased by a narrow margin, barely enough for Knight’s shadows to close fully around him.
Knight gave a single nod.
That was my signal.
I triggered the second jump.
Space tore again as we were dragged through it, reappearing between the core layer and the second layer.
Saleos moved the instant we arrived.
He had been waiting for that window.
The shadow cocoon exploded outward as he broke free, fire roaring along his horns as his eyes burned red with fury. Essence surged violently around him, compressed and focused. In front of his chest, a small rotating sphere of fire formed, no bigger than a nail.
But I could feel it. It was his law construct beginning to form fully. It was dense and dangerous. If it went off, my entire effort so far would have been for nothing.
My blood ran cold.
That thing carried too much power.
I shifted the door’s effect immediately, forcing the time distortion toward the spinning sphere. The construct resisted, but then began to unravel. Its rotation slowed, structure collapsing inward as the pressure tore it apart.
Saleos noticed.
His jaw clenched hard.
Between his horns, another sphere began to form.
Smaller.
Sharper.
I felt a flash of respect despite myself.
This demon was dangerous and persistent.
And that was exactly why I answered with equal force of mine.
"[Essence Rebellion]," I muttered.
The effect was instant.
Saleos’s internal Essence went wild. Flows reversed, collided, and tore against each other in violent disarray. His body trembled and control shattered for a brief moment, just long enough.
I pushed.
Hard.
The door opened just an inch wider.
This time, I let go of the restraint that allowed Lyrate and Knight to move freely. Safety was no longer an option. Authority was. Time and space locked completely, freezing everyone within the zone except me.
The door shook violently.
Blood leaked from my right eye, warm and thick.
My vision blurred.
But I held.
With a final push, I forced Saleos into complete stillness. His Essence locked. His domain crushed inward. Fire froze in place like a broken statue.
And then I jumped once again.
The world snapped into place around us.
Cold air.
Reinforced stone.
A sealed hall.
The door slammed shut as I released the construct. The Oblivion Cube vanished, its dial finally returning to a normal, steady rhythm.
We were inside. And Saleos was finally in our hands.
I wiped my face and cleared the streak of blood from my skin. Behind me, Knight let out a slow, controlled exhale, the kind that only came after holding too much tension for too short.
I reached inward, into the Dawn Core, and released the restraint I had placed on it. Streaks of energy rushed into the generator core like a flood breaking through a dam. The pressure in my chest eased, though the dull ache in my head remained.
"So," I asked, keeping my voice calm, "how long did it take?"
"Slightly more than two seconds," Knight replied.
"Three?" I asked again, just to be sure.
"No," he said firmly.
"That’s good," I murmured.
In a little over two seconds, we had crossed from the void battlefield to the second layer and into this sealed hall. Even now, that fact felt unreal. I took a deep breath, ignoring the pulse of pain behind my eyes, and finally turned my full attention to Saleos.
He stood at the center of the hall, unmoving, his gaze locked onto me like a blade that had found its target. Beside Lyrate, the wooden cocoon containing Phegor shuddered faintly. She had one hand pressed against it, calmly reinforcing the dense, law-woven wood as vibrations rippled from within.
I stepped forward and smiled.
"It’s good to finally meet you, Commander Saleos. I’ve heard quite a lot about you."
He held my gaze for a heartbeat longer than necessary before answering.
"I don’t have time for games," he said coldly. "I have a battlefield waiting. I want answers. Where is Dravon? And where, exactly, have you brought me?"
As he spoke, his aura began to rise, heat pressing outward as he prepared to strike.