"Faster?"
For the first time, a flicker of genuine bewilderment surfaced in Sutherland's mind.
Then a searing pain from her very core replaced it.
Something was wrong with the enormous heart that served as the source of her Divine Kingdom and her power.
The moment Dawn's palm touched it, he forced the absolute, irresistible concept of "motion" into its circulatory system.
That heart was part of her body, the physical embodiment of her Divine Authority.
Every beat, every flow of energy, followed a precise set of laws meant to nurture the ultimate Blood Plague.
Now those laws had been broken.
The heart no longer beat with a steady, powerful thump... thump... It shuddered wildly, so fast it had lost all rhythm.
Pop! Pop-pop-pop!
Across its surface, the thick blood vessels connected to the entire Divine Kingdom began bursting one after another.
The dark-red divine blood did not spray outward. An invisible force dragged it back into the heart, churning it into a chaotic vortex of energy.
The ultimate curse, moments from taking shape and powerful enough to blanket all of South America, roiled like a pot of soup brought instantly to a boil, unable to break through the lid.
"No... stop... my power..."
Sutherland's voice turned shrill and distorted.
She tried to seize control of her heart again.
Her Divine Sense became countless invisible tendrils that plunged into the heart, trying to force the runaway Kinetic Energy to settle.
But her intervention did not calm it. It was like jamming crowbars into a mass of gears already spinning out of control.
Crack!
A sharp sound came from inside the heart, like a bone snapping.
Dawn remained on the altar, his palm pressed against the enormous Creation as it began to deform. His expression did not change.
He could clearly feel