Beyond the visible urban zones, I saw containment fields. Vast fields of abominations were arranged in controlled enclosures, grotesque forms stitched together and cultivated like livestock. Phantoms supervised the operations, moving through the deathmist with practiced familiarity.
These were not random monsters. They were used as reserved soldiers.
I extended my perception further.
Traitors from our universe stood among them, coordinating with them. Some handled logistics, others oversaw transport networks. Their auras carried both Essence and traces of deathmist, their loyalties clearly divided but deliberately aligned with Hollow Star.
Then I saw the portals.
Hundreds of them.
Some were embedded near the breeding grounds, concealed beneath reinforced structures. Others were hidden inside the cities themselves. Each portal pulsed faintly, linked to distant coordinates beyond this planet.
I could not see their destinations directly from here, but I did not need confirmation to guess. The more I observed, the colder my anger became.
The planet core hummed beneath my control, awaiting my next command.
With the world core under my control, my perception did not remain limited to sight or sound. It became something far broader, woven through the veins of the planet itself. I could feel the currents of Essence moving through soil, ocean, forest, and sky. I could sense the faint pulse of life in distant cities and the cold pockets where deathmist still lingered in hidden chambers.
Through that connection, I summoned the Essence.
The response was immediate.
A deep, resonant groan rolled through the planet. It was as if the world itself had stirred from a long, forced sleep. The Essence embedded in its structure reacted to my summons. From plains and mountain ranges, from oceans and dense urban districts, from forests and cultivated fields, green currents began rising.
It did not trickle upward. It surged.
Essence lifted from the surface in countless streams, thin at first and then thickening rapidly. From every city, every district, every hidden installation I had seen through the core, energy rose into the air in visible columns. Even the oceans shimmered as currents of green light broke free and ascended through the atmosphere.
The sight was vast beyond measure.
From orbit, the planet would have appeared as if it were exhaling luminous breath from every point across its surface.
The streams continued to rise, merging high above the world. I guided them upward, gathering them into immense formations that spread across the sky like thick, living clouds. The entire planet became veiled beneath layers of swirling green currents, the atmosphere churning under the weight of collected power.
The clouds shifted under my will. They converged over the locations I had marked, breeding grounds hidden beneath reinforced structures, industrial complexes cultivating abominations, major cities where Phantoms walked openly beside traitors from our universe.
Above each target, the Essence thickened further.
The clouds compressed and rotated, spiraling inward until massive forms began to take shape. Giant palms formed from condensed green light, their surfaces veined with streaks of violet. They were not illusions. They were constructs of concentrated planetary Essence, bound together by my control.
Around each descending palm, I layered spatial ripples.
Violent distortions wrapped around them like rotating rings, violet arcs tearing through the air. These ripples ensured that the impact would not merely crush structures but rend the very fabric within the targeted zones.
When I released them, they fell.
Across the planet, thousands of colossal palms descended at once.
They crashed into breeding grounds first.
BOOM!
The impact flattened the grounds in a single instant. The condensed Essence detonated on contact, releasing shockwaves that spread outward in expanding circles. Abominations were torn apart before they could even register the strike, their twisted forms shredded by the surrounding spatial distortions.
Phantoms within those facilities were caught in the ripples and pulled apart, their bodies unraveling as space fractured around them.
Explosions bloomed across continents.
The next wave struck the major cities I had marked.
Palms slammed into central districts where Phantoms and collaborators had coordinated openly. Towers crumpled. Streets split. The spatial ripples surrounding the impacts sliced through defenders and installations alike, ensuring no concealed deathmist node or hidden chamber remained intact.
The sky across the planet flashed repeatedly as each impact triggered massive detonations. Green light consumed entire sectors before fading into expanding clouds of debris and dust.
The sound was deafening on a planetary scale.
Yet I maintained precision.
Cities where I had seen only traitors without active Phantom presence were left untouched for now. The space portals embedded within structures remained intact as well. I had deliberately shielded them from the descending palms. Their teleportation circles flickered faintly beneath protective layers of spatial redirection.
When the final palm struck, the clouds above began to thin. The planet trembled and the Essence began settling down again.
Breeding grounds were gone. Primary Phantom-controlled cities were erased. The coordinated infrastructure sustaining Hollow Star on this world had been crushed in a single sequence.
Through the core, I felt the balance shift. The dense presence of deathmist weakened drastically.
I exhaled slowly and turned my attention back to the hexagonal world core, now fully suffused with violet light. Its rotation was steady, no longer fed by deathmist but aligned entirely with my Essence. Through it, I reconnected with the planet’s surface and folded space.
In the next instant, I stood once more in front of the kneeling old Naga.
The city around us remained intact. I had left it untouched for a reason.
With a simple wave of my hand, three crimson circles ignited beside me. From within them stepped Silver, Knight, and Lyrate.
Silver was the first to react. "Whoa. Now where is this?" he asked, already spreading his wings. With a single powerful flap, he shot upward and hovered high above the city within a heartbeat, his gaze sweeping the horizon.
I did not waste time explaining everything.
"Lyrate," I said, my tone steady but firm, "I need information from this old man. Everything on Hollow Star, its operations, and how we reach each of their bases in this galaxy."
Her eyes shifted to the Naga, and she nodded once without question.
"Knight," I continued, "go through the cities. I want full details on this planet. Find anything useful."
I paused briefly, then added without softening my expression, "Kill if necessary."
Knight did not respond verbally. He inclined his head once and vanished from sight, already moving.
Lyrate stepped forward and seized the Naga by the collar. He struggled weakly, but after everything he had endured, resistance was pointless. In the next instant, both of them disappeared.
I lifted my gaze to Silver, who circled above with controlled precision.
"Silver," I called.