The pursuit became a terrifying exercise in relativistic combat. The Helix Sentinels didn't run; they simply compressed the space-time between themselves and their targets. Elara watched as the distance between them closed, not because the Sentinels were fast, but because space itself was collapsing around them.
"They are using Relativistic Proofs to close the gap," Elara panted, injecting controlled chaos into her knees to maintain her erratic, unpredictable sprint. "Thorne, Sira—use your anchors! Make yourselves heavy!"
The Nomads complied, grounding their Foundation Qi with all their might, making their bodies incredibly dense. This acted as a temporary, localized gravity well, slowing the Sentinels' spatial collapse proof slightly.
They burst back into the Dojo of the Immutable Past. Master Hirohito was gone, having vacated the area precisely as predicted.
"The Ledger!" Elara screamed, pointing to the Blade of Temporal Integrity still on its pedestal. "It's a Causal Splice-Point! If we shatter it, the entire Realm's Temporal Anchor will be destabilized, giving us time to escape!"
"Shatter a sacred artifact? They'll hunt us to the Void!" Lira protested.
"They already are!" Elara countered, channeling all her focus into the Blade. She had a better idea than destruction—she would turn the Blade's function against its own Realm.
The Sentinels phased into the Dojo, their temporal fields snapping shut around the chamber. "The anomaly is contained. Surrender, or be temporally erased."
Elara ignored them. She placed her Anchor arm back on the Ledger, pouring the raw, chaotic energy from the CEB into the Splice-Point.
"I am creating an Unstable Causal Loop," Elara declared, her voice ringing with logical authority. "I am commanding the Blade to record a future where the city grid experiences a one-second temporal stutter—a paradox where the light from the sun arrives one second before it leaves the solar surface."
This was an act of pure mathematical terrorism—forcing the highly ordered Realm to process an impossible equation.
The Ledger screamed, overloaded by the raw chaos attempting to define an unquantifiable future. The Nomads braced themselves, and Lira prepared her stealth protocols.
The Sentinels fired—two focused beams of compressed time, aimed at Elara's head.
RROOOOAARRR!
The Ledger didn't shatter; it backlashed. A wave of pure Temporal Noise erupted, not just in the Dojo, but across the entire city of Kenshi.
The Sentinels froze mid-shot. Outside, the Causal Paths of the Samurai collapsed. Every citizen suddenly experienced a one-second flash-forward, then a snap back, resulting in profound, universal confusion.
"Dimensional Jump, now!" Elara yelled. "Orrin, what's the closest stable Realm?"
"Realm 2: The Relic Layer. Coordinates locked. Jumping now!" Orrin replied, as the temporal beacon on his cube activated.
A tear ripped open in the ceiling, glowing with the electric-magnetic shimmer of Realm 2. Elara grabbed her team, launching them through the rift just as the Helix Sentinels, recovering from the temporal shock, began their counter-proofs.