And then—it happened.
No warning. No sound. NO NOTHING!!
Just light.
A flare across the system, as if a star had been born and collapsed in the same instant.
The barrier shattered. Not all at once—but in jagged, violent fractures. Segments broke, then broke again, disintegrating into nothing. What was once a sealed, forbidden region became exposed space—raw, open, and dangerously unstable.
Jarkon had turned to leave, but froze as he watched it unfold on the wide display.
It was breathtaking. And terrifying.
His crew saw it too—across every ship, every rank. Millions across the Minotaur fleet felt the shift ripple through them.
And then came the mana.
It surged, ambient and alive, spiraling into the newly freed zone. The currents twisted space itself, making it shimmer and distort. The whole region boiled with invisible pressure—mana storms forming rapidly, surrounding every inch of The Breath as they slowly began to spiral inward.
The zone was no longer locked.
