My chest tightened.
The Executor’s Halo had activated without my will.
And then, as if that was not enough, something far worse happened.
At first it was subtle. A warmth beneath my skin. Then a prickling sensation in my veins. I looked down just in time to see faint wisps of crimson mist seeping directly out of my arms, my neck, my hands. Not from my core. Not from my channels. From my blood itself.
My breath caught.
The mist thickened in seconds, pouring out faster, heavier, until it wrapped around me like a living shroud. I could feel it answering something deep inside me, something ancient and hungry that I had never consciously called upon.
"No—" I muttered, trying to suppress it.
The crimson mist did not listen.
It surged violently, gathering above my head before snapping into a single concentrated beam that shot straight upward into the void. It pierced through layers of space like a pillar of blood-red light, vast and overwhelming, stretching so far that even my perception struggled to follow its end.
The battlefield froze.
Every demon, every phantom, every abomination slowed, then stopped. Even Ragnar halted mid-motion, his club half-raised, his massive form turning slowly toward me. Aurora’s lightning faltered. Knight’s shadows thinned. Silver’s wings paused in mid-beat.
Then the Eternal reacted.
His head snapped toward me with frightening precision.
I felt it before I truly saw it. A pressure unlike anything else. It was certainty, cold and absolute. My eyes locked onto him across the void.
He stood above the second defense layer, seven to eight feet tall, his ash-gray skin matte and smooth like polished stone. His build was lean and perfectly balanced, every line of his body measured. Thin, fitted garments clung to him, dark and seamless, etched with small glowing runes that pulsed faintly with restrained power. His white hair was combed neatly to one side, unmoving despite the chaos around him.
And his eyes.
Pure black. Like glass. No iris. No pupil. They reflected everything and nothing at the same time.
I tried to rein in the crimson mist. I tried to suppress the Halo. I reached for my Psynapse, my Essence, my will.
Nothing responded.
For the first time in a long while, I was not in control.
Without taking his eyes off me, the Eternal raised one hand. Calm. Unhurried. As if everything unfolding was expected.
At that exact moment, Saleos’s blazing fire crescent tore through the void, crossing the space between the first and second layers, roaring with laws of fire and destruction.
The Eternal slashed his hand sideways.
A thin black beam fired from his palm.
It struck the fire crescent head-on.
There was no explosion at first. Instead, the black energy spread across the blazing arc like a disease, crawling over it, devouring it, erasing it piece by piece. The fire vanished in seconds.
Then the shockwave hit.
The void buckled. Space screamed. Demons were thrown back, abominations shredded, layers of debris blasted outward in every direction. Even I was forced to brace myself as the pressure slammed into my body.
Slowly, the crimson beam rising from me began to weaken. The mist receded, sinking back into my blood as if dragged down by unseen chains. The pressure around me faded. The laws loosened. My body returned to normal.
I stood there, my heart pounding.
The Eternal finally spoke. His voice was young, almost like a teenager’s.
"Executor."
The word hit me harder than any attack. I cursed myself silently. I had hidden for so long, planned so carefully, and still my presence had been dragged into the open like this.
"You hid yourself well," he continued, his gaze still fixed on me. "Well enough to grow this strong."
There was no anger in his tone. No surprise either. Just acknowledgement.
Then his eyes moved away from me and swept across the battlefield.
In that instant, the tower behind him pulsed.
A ripple spread outward from it, vast and absolute. I felt space itself tighten. Lock. From the first defense layer to the third, the Eternal’s domain sealed the region like a lid snapping shut. Spatial paths folded inward. Long-range movement froze. The void felt heavier, constrained by invisible walls.
My eyes narrowed.
This was not a simple defense.
From near the rift, the Eternal army responded.
Phantoms surged forward first, their forms blurring as they accelerated toward the second layer. Abominations followed in waves, their mass so dense it looked like a living tide rolling through the void. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Deathmist poured out next.
It flooded forward like a cosmic wave, spilling from the core layer in overwhelming volume. It swallowed light as it moved, thick enough to dim the distant stars until the void itself looked bruised and sick. Laws twisted inside it, corrosive and alive, eager to consume anything that did not belong.
The Eternal spoke again, his voice echoing everywhere at once.
"Activate all defenses. Initiate every attack protocol."
His gaze returned to me, those black glass eyes locking on without blinking.
"Request reinforcements."
The words settled like a death sentence.
"A new Executor is present," he said calmly. "He must not be allowed to leave alive."
The battlefield exploded back into motion.
The Eternal forces surged harder, faster, no longer testing or probing. This was no longer a cycle of pressure and retreat. This was extermination.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my racing thoughts into order.
So this was it.
The moment everything changed.
I had wanted to test them. To poke, to observe, to prepare. Instead, I had drawn the full attention of an Eternal who knew exactly what I was.
My fingers curled slightly.
’Fine.’
If hiding was no longer an option, then restraint was pointless.
I reached out through our link, my thoughts sharp and fast.
’Saleos, you handle the army. I will deal with this Eternal.’
Even before his response reached me, my body began to rise, lifting above the shattered debris of the first layer. Broken stone and drifting fragments fell away beneath my feet as the void opened up around me.
More orders followed.
’Knight, take Steve, North, and Primus. Move toward their core layer. Lyrate, go with them and support.’
A flicker of acknowledgment rippled back through the link.
’Ragnar, Aurora, Silver. Push toward the second layer. Coordinate with Saleos.’
I finished issuing commands just as the Eternal fully turned toward me.
His attention settled on my rising form, complete and undivided. The battlefield seemed to shrink in that moment, as if everything else had become background noise. The deathmist around him slowed, swirling more deliberately, responding to his will.