The destruction of the three Eternals changed the rhythm of the battlefield entirely. The figures who had hovered in confident formation moments ago now reacted in visible shock, their composure fracturing as they tried to think of a way to get out of the predicament. I did not allow them the time to reorganize.
Chronostep unfolded again.
The air around me thickened as time bent to my will. Movements slowed for everyone except me. I stepped through that altered flow and moved toward the remaining figures who had taken to the sky.
The insectoid was the first I reached. Its limbs were already shifting to unleash another sound distortion, but within the slowed field its motion appeared stupid. I drove my fist forward into its chest slowly admiring the feeling of my fist being driven into the body.
The impact ruptured its chitinous frame from within, and its body tore apart in a violent burst of fragmented shell and darkened fluid before the sound of its own attack had even formed.
I did not pause. With another step, I was standing in front of the Aqua woman. I had never had a long interaction with her race before, but she was beautiful. Unfortunately, she chose to side with Hollow Star.
She had begun weaving a spiral of condensed water around herself, but the current froze half-formed in the slowed stream. My palm connected with her abdomen, and I released a concentrated shock of repulsion. Her body rippled like water at the point of contact and then burst apart like mist in the wind.
Two more Upper Transcendents were in the process of lunging, attempting to reinforce the collapsing formation. I stepped between them, one hand striking the jaw of the first, the other driving into the chest of the second. Both impacts carried controlled bursts of internal force. Their bodies detonated in opposite directions.
Time resumed its normal flow.
The echoes of destruction arrived all at once.
Above the shattered domain shield, like fireworks the upper transcendents were gone, completely causing panic in the people watching from below.
The masked Naga woman, Igza, moved toward me, her blade forming in her hand instantly. She was fast, far faster than others. Her eyes burned with focused fury as she drove the weapon forward in a clean, decisive thrust.
I smirked and sidestepped effortlessly and brought my leg upward in a sharp arc. My heel connected with her face.
The force carried through her skull without resistance. Her head exploded outward in a spray of shattered bone and dispersing law fragments.
"Paths do cross," I said quietly as her body dropped down below.
At last, only the old Naga remained.
He had not fled.
He stood several meters away, sword raised, scales tightening along his jaw as his eyes followed my movements.
When I turned toward him fully, he thrust his blade forward.
From its tip, a narrow spatial projection shot toward me, a concentrated, needle-like blade. It moved quickly.
I raised my palm. The spatial needle struck my hand and then burst apart.
"Too weak Mr. Old looking Naga."
His eyes widened.
I snapped my fingers.
The space around him trembled and then locked. It was not a crude freeze. It was layered compression at multiple coordinate points, binding both his body and the surrounding field. He attempted to counter immediately, his own comprehension of space surging outward as he tried to destabilize my hold.
But his comprehension and Essence control was nowhere near me.
The freeze held firm.
"You are talented," I said calmly as I approached him through the air. "But you miscalculated the difference."
His muscles strained. Veins pulsed beneath scaled skin as he poured effort into breaking free. The sword trembled in his hand but could not advance even a fraction.
I stopped directly in front of him.
Fear was unmistakable in his eyes now. It was no longer concealed. He understood the outcome.
"I said I needed one of you alive," I reminded him quietly.
I placed my palm over his head.
The Abyss Core awakened.
This time I did not hold back.
Runes began tearing free from his body in dense streams, far more refined than the fragments I had drawn from the Feran. His specializations were clear, deep comprehension in spatial manipulation, refined layering techniques and other aspects.
They flowed into the dawn core.
He screamed as his laws were stripped away, but the sound was muffled within the spatial freeze. His aura thinned rapidly as his mastery collapsed layer by layer.
Within my Dawn Core, the influx of refined spatial comprehension condensed into a focused surge and merged with the volcano representing Spatial Mastery.
The volcano trembled and then increased in height little by little and finally I heard the notification.
[Level 3 -> Level 4]
The sensation was not explosive, but profound.
His resistance faltered as the devouring continued, and I stopped only when his level had dropped to the low 200s.
When I removed my hand, his body sagged within the frozen field, barely conscious. I released the spatial lock.
He collapsed to his knees, his sword slipping from his grasp.
Below, the three members I had captured earlier watched in shock. I looked at the Feran.
"I have no use for you anymore," I said, and slashed my hand through the air. A spatial blade formed along the arc of my motion and tore forward. It passed cleanly through the three, severing their necks in a single smooth line. Their bodies collapsed where they stood, lifeless before they touched the ground.
For a brief moment, there was only the distant echo of shouts and the low hum of damaged systems failing across the city.
Then the movement began.
My perception extended outward, sweeping through the city once again. I saw civilians and operatives working with Hollow Star alike breaking into a frantic retreat.
Some ran blindly through the open plazas, while others moved with practiced coordination toward elevated platforms at the edge of the district.
Those platforms housed transport crafts—sleek vessels already powering up, spatial matrices forming beneath them as Essence gathered in thick concentrations.
The fluctuations were unmistakable. Large-scale spatial activation. Coordinated evacuation.
They were trying to escape. Anger crossed my face. I simply exhaled and allowed the Essence of the world to answer me once more.
A massive ripple burst outward from my position.
It spread in every direction like a shockwave through water, invisible to the naked eye but overwhelming in force. The green Essence saturating the city surged in response, turning violent under my command. It crashed into the activating crafts just as their spatial engines attempted to lock onto distant coordinates.
The effect was immediate.