The battlefield went deathly silent.
Again.
It was not because of the looming black fracture, nor was it due to the shifting weight of the Hunger Beyond. It was not even because the legendary First King had officially re-established communication from beyond the celestial seal.
The silence descended because the First King—the primordial architect of the realm, the absolute peak of the Sovereign Path—sounded unmistakably, profoundly nervous.
Every single entity present on the plaza caught the shift in vocal frequency.
The Queen's Mercy opened her golden eyes to their absolute limit. The Founder projection stared blankly, looking thoroughly horrified, while the Old Bastard's jaw dropped like a man who had suddenly remembered a catastrophic mistake he committed ten thousand years ago. Behind them, the First Sovereign physically took a clear step backward.
*Fascinating. Entirely fascinating.*
