The Azure Phoenix enforcers poured into the central node under full combat formations. Binding lattices snapped across the open stone. Controlled fire followed in overlapping waves designed to pin and exhaust rather than kill outright. They still wanted the marked vessel intact enough to answer questions.
The residual wills' attention pressed against the scarred claim at the same moment. The permanently elevated resonance turned every pulse of the mark into a low continuous weight that the closed cycle of the god-heart could only partially contain. The first threshold of the Gathering had changed the baseline. There was no longer a quiet state to return to.
Elizabeth's order required no repetition. We broke contact.
