In the quiet between heartbeats, something opened.
A tiny rift.
Midair.
No wider than a needle's eye.
From within it came a soundless chord—like breathless tension strung tight across a battlefield.
Aris stared at it.
The Sovereign mark on her hand burned.
Leon raised his hand—
CLANG
A pulse of golden Shell Reverb slammed into the rift, closing it.
But not ending it.
A single glyph remained behind, hanging in the air.
[YOUR BEAT WILL BE ERASED]
[SOVEREIGN NOISE WILL BE DELETED]
Aris looked to Leon.
"They're not just watching anymore."
Leon's gaze burned.
"No."
"They're declaring war."
The glyph tunnel felt alive.
Pale gold and soft blue threads of Shell Pulse wrapped around them as they moved. Aris tried not to flinch as the floor beneath her feet flickered with compressed memories—battle imprints, rhythm echoes, flashes of Sovereign confrontations long past.
Roman noticed her tension.
