Duke studied it with narrowed eyes. "It's grown, it has reached the limit of an SSS Labyrinth and can't evolve further due to the restriction of this world, somehow, despite the agitation, it's surprising the beasts inside haven't yet broken outside."
"You know a lot," Isolde looked at Duke and said. She stepped forward, and frost formed subtly along her shoulders, rising like a mantle, crystallizing in patterns too precise to be accidental.
Another roar. Closer this time.
The portal surface convulsed as something massive struck its inner boundary. The impact sent a shockwave of destabilized mana rippling across the chamber floor, and the sigils along the walls burned brighter, straining.
Duke rolled his shoulders. "Well," he said lightly, though his eyes had gone sharp and still, "politics was never my favorite part anyway."
Bruce's gaze remained locked on the portal.
