By the time Max reached the deepest part of the thirteenth layer, the shock outside the dome had changed in nature.
Earlier, every breakthrough had caused an uproar. Every new layer had been met with gasps, shouts, trembling voices, and wild disbelief. Now, as the projection displayed Max standing calmly at the threshold of yet another boundary, a strange numbness had settled over the crowd.
They were no longer screaming.
They were no longer questioning how it was possible.
They simply watched in pure shock.
Inside the Path to Eternal Flames, Max did not pause. The two buds on the flame branch of the Chaos Tree pulsed rhythmically, devouring the refined energy of the thirteenth layer with frightening efficiency. The surrounding chaotic flame laws bent unnaturally toward him, siphoned away before they could exert their full oppressive force.
He could feel the fourth and fifth leaves trembling intensely. Their saturation was almost complete.
