The gradual withdrawal from multiple realms did not look like a retreat. It looked like the largest industrial operation in human history.
Inside the central portal array on the orbital fortress, the air was saturated with cosmic energy and heavy spatial laws. Multiple massive spatial tear, held open by a single Emperor, roared with a deep, continuous bass note that vibrated right through the soles of boots and into the marrow of the bones.
Through the shimmering, heat-distorted edges of the gateway, the scale of humanity's external empire was laid bare.
