The Australian desert was perfectly, flawlessly silent. The cosmic audit was over, and the Universal Anomaly remained standing.
Ren didn't need to bark orders or establish a localized comms relay. His newly forged Tier 0 architecture connected him to the four thousand Universal Praetorians at a sub-atomic level. They weren't just soldiers anymore; they were extensions of a living, breathing administrative override.
"Board the fleet," Ren projected.
The four thousand pitch-black anomalies rose from the fused black glass in absolute unison. They didn't march to the twenty hotwired stealth transports hovering above them. They simply ceased to obey terrestrial gravity, floating upward in a massive, terrifyingly synchronized column of absolute density, seamlessly re-entering the dark troop bays.
Chloe remained on the edge of the crater. She looked up at the pristine blue sky, then back to the Abyssal Sovereign.
