The moment Elara channeled power, the Helix Sentinels reacted with blinding speed, deploying their primary weapon: the Temporal Net.
The net was not visible, but Elara felt it—a massive, overlapping array of relativistic proofs designed to slow every variable within the area to near-zero motion. It was a net of absolute causality.
Thorne roared, slamming his runic staff into the ground. A field of raw, brute Foundation Qi exploded outward—a chaotic burst of inertia. It was a pointless defense in Realm 4, as the Sentinels' Relativistic Proofs simply flowed around the slow-moving energy.
"Futile," the Sentinels droned. "Your kinetic force is predictable."
But Elara hadn't asked the Nomads to fight. She had asked them to create noise.
"Lira, now!"
Lira, utilizing her Unmaker skills, didn't fight the Temporal Net; she introduced a micro-sequence of Relic Realm magnetic noise into the Sentinels' temporal proof. It wasn't enough to break the net, but it was enough to make the net's parameters fuzzy for a microsecond.
Elara capitalized on that flicker of uncertainty. Channeling the Controlled Entropy Battery (CEB) in her arm, she executed her first successful Causal Strike. She didn't move; she simply unmade the Temporal Net's adherence to reality for a space of one foot directly in front of her.
A small hole, a Zero-Causality Rift, opened. It was a spot where the Helix's Great Theorem briefly did not apply.
"Go!" Elara yelled, pushing Thorne and Sira through the rift. They tumbled out the other side, instantly accelerating at full Newtonian force due to the sudden removal of the temporal dampening.
The capsule detonated, a contained burst of magnetic energy that created a temporary shield of electric noise, further disrupting the Sentinels' precision.
"They are unstable! They resist the Net!" the Sentinels exclaimed, shocked by the localized unmaking.
Elara grabbed Lira and jumped into the rift herself. She landed running, the CEB thrumming under control. The Sentinels' predictable response would be to form a Temporal Funnel—chasing them by collapsing the time around their targets.
"Orrin, give me the calculus!" Elara commanded internally.
"Predictive Model: Confirmed. They will attempt to funnel us toward the Grand Clock Tower, the Realm's most stable point. You must move laterally at maximum unpredictable speed," Orrin supplied.
Elara ignored the city grid, sprinting diagonally across the precise geometric path. She injected tiny, controlled jolts from the CEB, making her own trajectory mathematically intractable—a path the Helix computers couldn't solve without committing massive processing power.
The Sentinels, forced to calculate her chaotic movements, hesitated. Their predictable speed was based on clean variables; Elara was now a blur of calculated, unpredictable entropy.
"We need a jump point!" Lira yelled. "They are gaining! My light-shadows can't phase through the city's causal anchor!"
Elara spotted their goal: the Dojo of the Immutable Past. "Back to the Dojo! It's the only place with a Causal Splice-Point—it's a weak spot in their temporal weave!"