When all of Sandora's attention was tied up by Viska, Glory Star Fortress's bombardment, and maintaining the extraction of emotional energy across the universe, the suppressive field enveloping the Abyssal Hilling fleet vanished.
The change was subtle at first.
The dark-red data streams across the hulls of the Abyssal warships, which had been thrown into command confusion and restricted firing authorization by Sandora's will, regained their stable, efficient flickering rhythm.
Then came the qualitative shift.
The Sovereign-class fortresses' three law-based weapon systems switched from standby mode to combat mode.
An invisible field of order spread instantly outward, centered on the Sovereigns.
The Kree Empire's last warship still capable of firing completed its final charge. A cyan-blue beam of Destruction tore through the void, shooting straight toward the bridge of the first Sovereign.
When the beam entered within roughly a thousand kilometers of the Sovereign, its speed did not decrease, nor did its energy reading weaken. Yet the instant it touched the "Apocalypse" order field, its "intent to attack" and "destructive nature" were forcibly "fabricated" into "a harmless display of energy flow."
It continued forward, even passing through the seemingly empty space outside the Sovereign's bridge. Then it converged again behind the ship and shot toward a distant debris field that had long since been emptied, setting off a meaningless explosion.
The warship's captain and crew witnessed this scene, which defied all physics and logic, through their monitors, and their minds briefly crashed.
Before they could understand what had happened, a dark-red beam crossed space and reduced the warship, along with the last will to resist within it, into fundamental particles.
The Shi'ar Empire's Phoenix warship fleet chose a more resolute approach.
Dozens of surviving Phoenix ships overloaded their engines to the limit. The final embers of the Phoenix Force gathered