Meanwhile, the battle outside finally reached its turning point.
The War Machine bomb plummeted from high above just as the massive energy sphere buried underground exceeded its limit.
The two forces erupted at once.
The explosion tore through the mechanical base, a pillar of light punching from deep underground into the sky. The spatial prison collapsed first, followed by distortions that twisted the surrounding space and time.
Catheryn locked onto the outside world through the Umbral Servitor she had sent away in advance. Everyone still held her hands, keeping them together as spacetime ripped apart around them.
Space inverted.
When the surroundings stabilized, they were back inside the sheet-metal-and-glass room where everything had begun.
A blond man stood before them.
He held an umbrella and laughed at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with mockery and the excitement of having completed his mission.
At first, everyone assumed it was Silas.
