The vacuum exploded.
A vertical pillar of crimson light erupted from the center of the crater, piercing the morning mist and carving a hole straight through the low-hanging clouds. The shockwave tore across the wasteland, uprooting the skeletal remains of the stone pillars and grinding them into pebbles before they even hit the ground. The earth groaned, a deep, tectonic shudder that rippled outward toward the distant gates of Grey-Rock.
Eren's arm was the conduit for the blast. His sleeve disintegrated into ash, revealing skin that pulsed with glowing red veins. The Attuned threshold didn't just break, it vanished, consumed by the sheer volume of Resonance he had forced through a singular point.
Aden felt the State of Equilibrium buckle. For the first time since they had stepped onto the cracked earth, his heels slid backward.
