Ethan was floating in midair as well, never once coming down.
He remained completely still, like he'd sunk into an even deeper state of absorption.
Across the Powered Combat Armor's surface, new light-patterns kept flaring on and fading out. The pressure rolling off him stayed locked at a level that felt lethally unstable.
And then—
From the dead center of the energy sea, a completely different ripple spread out.
It started as the faintest tremor. Then it was as if something churned the core from the inside, and a brutally violent storm surged outward in a single sweep.
It wasn't a normal whirlpool.
It was like a chunk of core energy had been torn open by force. Wherever it passed, the surrounding space visibly buckled and collapsed.
Boom!
Right after that, thunderous roaring detonations chained together through the underground.
The center of the energy sea was ripped apart, and an extremely bizarre figure appeared in front of everyone.
