The storm dove toward the prison wound beneath the Gate.
"Sarya!"
Kael's voice echoed through the chamber, but she was already moving.
The moment the collapse-born entity surged downward, the bridge connection between them stretched violently across the lattice. Pain exploded through Sarya's nervous system as billions of resonance strands tightened around her consciousness like chains pulled too fast.
The Hollow answered immediately.
The darkness beneath the Gate expanded.
Not outward.
Upward.
Black harmonic distortion climbed from the wound in slow twisting streams while the crimson fractures across the Gate brightened hard enough to stain the clouds red.
Across Earth, people dropped to their knees as resonance pressure rolled through the atmosphere.
The observing mass accelerated.
"INTERCEPTING."
Massive weapon structures unfolded around its body as it tore through local space directly toward the descending storm.
The balance branch reacted just as quickly.
