The Fortress had risen with astonishing speed, and its collapse was hardly any slower, though nowhere near as clean-cut as its construction. At that moment, smoke and dust swept across the great river's north bank, shrouding the Wilderness and temporarily blotting out most of the details.
Yet in the near-shore area, it was still possible to see that the Fortress's construction had drastically altered the North Shore's terrain, severely deforming the original riverbank. River water poured into it and clashed with the lingering blood-red glow inside the ruins, sending steam billowing up. That steam mixed with the dust and smoke churned up by the ruins, reducing visibility by another level.
Dull explosions sounded from deeper within.
Savage shadows seemed to struggle amid the vapor and dust, but they quickly lost their last momentum and broke apart one after another.
Ronan did not wait for the dust to settle. He needed to confirm the outcome now. He had intended to simply "walk over," but before leaving, he remembered something and caught the Paged Notebook, which had begun to sway unsteadily in the air.
The notebook he had reassembled was no longer flipping its pages with a flutter, nor was it burning. Its outer cover now bore a layer of charred black, and its edges had curled slightly dry, but it remained largely intact. During the burning, some force had protected it from harm in the intense heat.
Ronan vaulted over the deck's edge, stepped on the air, and walked toward the dust-filled region on the North Shore. At the riverbank, the Stitching Monster giant Octopus faced the approaching Ronan. It withdrew its flailing posture, quietly lowered its body, then collapsed into mud.
Ronan did not care. Halfway there, he placed the title page bearing the "Sixteen-Word Formula" back into the notebook.