Ethan drew on his white lightning and the spatial power he'd just stolen, trying to pry a passage open in the boundary.
Arcs of electricity skated across the surface in a frantic spread, but all they left behind were ripples that vanished almost immediately. His spatial blade carved into it too—only managing to scratch the faintest, shallow mark between the two layers.
To punch through here, to enter the real Inverted Layer…
Was far harder than he'd expected.
Lily released only a wisp of her strength.
A soft glow seeped out from inside Ethan, spreading along his black particles like a slow tide. It wrapped the rejecting boundary completely, coating it end to end. The surface that had been hard as welded steel suddenly shivered, rippling like a taut membrane that had finally lost the force holding it rigid.
Ethan didn't even have time to adjust his stance.
The space under his feet dropped out.
All resistance vanished at once.
