I swept my perception across the core layer once more, slow and thorough this time.
After destroying the last two portals, I did not allow myself the comfort of assumption. If the Eternals had learned anything from conquering countless worlds, it was patience. Traps layered inside traps. Reinforcements hidden behind contingencies. I extended my Psynapse outward, threading it through fractured space, broken structures, and the lingering echoes of sealing laws that had not fully dissipated yet.
Nothing answered.
The core layer was finally exposed.
Only the rift remained. For the first time since we had entered this battlefield, the Eternal side had nothing left between us and the source.
I did not waste the moment.
My domain was still active, its pressure hanging over the battlefield like a second sky. Violet clouds rolled slowly, heavy with lightning and law. I lifted my hand and turned my attention downward, toward the phantoms still scattered across the core layer.
