The distance between us was vast.
He hovered just outside the rift, suspended near its shifting edge, while I remained far away, positioned above the battlefield. Under normal vision, from back when I was human, I wouldn’t have even been able to see him at this range.
And yet, we were looking directly at each other.
"Who are you?" his voice spread across the void.
I raised an eyebrow slightly.
He didn’t know me. After everything I had done so far, I had assumed my name had already reached them all.
"Who are you?" I asked in return, my tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.
There was no pause.
"I am Sek," he replied, "the forty-seventh general of the Legion of Iron and Flame."
Forty-seventh? I narrowed my eyes slightly.
How many were there in total?
"I am Billion Ironhart," I said. "Sovereign of the Blue Spiral Galaxy."
For a brief moment there was silence.
"A Sovereign... from the Blue Spiral?" Sek said, his tone shifting slightly. "Since when did a galaxy like yours produce one?"
I didn’t answer that.
Instead, I spoke again.
"That doesn’t matter," I said calmly. "What matters is this, are you going to close your little operation here and leave... or do I need to beat some sense into you?"
There was a pause then he actually smiled.
It was small.
"It is... considerate of you to offer me that choice," he said. "Truly."
His gaze didn’t leave me.
"But if I simply turn around and leave," he continued, "I would be betraying the command I have been given."
The silver glow around him deepened slightly.
"So I’m afraid," he added, his voice steady, "you will have to make me leave."
Behind me, I heard a faint chuckle in my mind.
’Boss... that was smooth,’ Aurora said.
’Agreed,’ Knight added calmly.
I smirked faintly.
’What can I say,’ I replied back, ’someone has to set the tone.’
Then I stepped forward and the space between us began to collapse.
Sek did not move immediately. He simply watched me step forward, his expression unchanged. Then something shifted. The silver glow around his body deepened, and a pressure spread outward from him, slow at first, then rapidly expanding across the space around us.
"I suppose," he said calmly, "we begin here."
"Roaring Tide," he muttered and his domain unfolded. The space behind him distorted, then gave way.
A vast river formed, flowing through the void, made entirely of the same black crystalline substance as the spikes. It moved like liquid, thick and heavy, yet carried the sharpness of solid crystal within it. Its surface rippled, folding into itself, constantly shifting as if it could take any shape at will.
The moment it appeared the void cracked. Thin fractures spread around the river as it flowed, unable to fully bear its weight. Every movement of it carried pressure, dragging against space itself, distorting everything around it.
The river didn’t stay behind him. It moved and flowed outward. Then it began coiling and encircling.
Sections of it rose and twisted, forming shapes, walls, blades, massive limbs before dissolving back into the current and reforming elsewhere. It wasn’t static. It was alive in motion, adapting constantly.
I felt it, the laws of gravity, sharpness and many other concepts embedded in it. Anything caught within that flow would be crushed, slowed, consumed under its weight before it could even react.
Sek raised his hand and spoke.
"Void Dispersion."
The effect was immediate and overwhelming. The massive black crystalline river behind him did not surge forward like a wave; instead, it shattered outward in a violent release, breaking into countless fragments that spread across the entire battlefield.
What had once been a single flowing mass now became an all-encompassing storm of dark particles, each one carrying the same weight and density as the original construct. They did not drift aimlessly but expanded with intent, seeping into every corner of the war zone, embedding themselves into floating debris, fractured space, and even the areas occupied by both armies.
I could feel it everywhere. The battlefield was no longer divided. It had been claimed.
My expression grew serious as I realized what he had done. This was not an attack meant to overwhelm in a single direction; it was complete control over the environment itself.
Sek’s hand lowered slightly, and his voice followed once more.
"Void Revival."
The scattered particles responded instantly.
Across the battlefield, they began pulling together, converging into dense clusters that rapidly took form.
In some areas, they merged into massive beast-like constructs, their shapes unstable yet powerful, roaring as they came into existence.
In others, they hardened into weapons—blades, spears, and jagged formations that launched themselves toward the Naga forces. The Eternal army adapted seamlessly, using these newly formed constructs as extensions of their assault, pushing forward with renewed force.
The pressure on our side increased sharply.
I could see my summons engaging from multiple directions, adjusting to the sudden escalation, while the Naga formations began to tighten under the strain of fighting both the legion and these newly formed constructs.
Around me, the particles began to gather as well.
At first, it was a thin stream forming in the air, but it quickly thickened into a dense flow, circling my position. That flow expanded outward and then broke apart, reshaping itself into humanoid figures.
Within seconds, thousands of them had formed, each one carrying the same heavy presence as the original river.
They moved together, their advance unified, the sheer number of them distorting the space around me as they closed in from all directions.
"Nice trick," I said under my breath as I closed my eyes.
Instead of reacting outwardly, I let my perception expand again, but this time with intent. I did not focus on the battlefield as a whole. I narrowed it down, isolating a single element within the chaos.
The black crystalline substance.
It stood apart from everything else. Even among the deathmist, the constructs, and the shifting fragments of space, it was distinct. It carried a different weight, a different signature. It wasn’t natural to this battlefield, it was created, shaped through fused laws.
That made it easier. I let my awareness attach to it.
Once I locked onto it fully, I spoke quietly.
"[Right to Anchor.]"
It had been a while since I used it. The moment the command took form, the law responded.
[Right to Anchor: Within the Domain, select any physical, elemental, or law-based condition and bind it to a fixed state. While anchored, it cannot rise, fall, speed up, slow down, or transform until the Executor releases it.]
This situation was perfect for it. I selected the substance itself. And I anchored it.
A ripple spread outward from me, moving across the entire battlefield in a single wave. It passed through everything Nagas, Eternals, drifting space, broken fragments and then settled onto the black crystalline matter.
And in the next instant everything stopped.
The constructs froze exactly where they were. The beasts halted mid-motion, weapons suspended in the air, humanoid forms locked in place as if time itself had been cut away from them. Even the particles that had yet to fully form stopped mid-transition.
The entire field of Sek’s domain lost its motion.
I opened my eyes. A small grin formed on my face as I looked toward him.
His expression did not change. But I could feel it.
The resistance.
His domain pushed back, trying to move, trying to reassert control, but it met something it couldn’t easily bypass.
My Right.