The Empress moved instantly.
Her hand closed slightly, and her celestial energy surged outward, forming a barrier around the expelled inferno before it could spread even an inch further, trapping it completely within a sphere of pure, refined power, isolating it from everything else within the tent.
Inside that containment, the inferno reacted violently.
It lashed against the barrier, its form shifting, compressing, expanding, trying to break free, trying to escape, but there was no weakness to exploit, no gap to slip through, because the energy holding it was absolute, unyielding, far beyond anything it could overcome.
The Empress's gaze remained steady as she watched it.
Her fingers tightened slightly, and the sphere began to contract slowly.
The inferno writhed more violently as the space around it shrank, its movements growing more erratic, more desperate, the heat intensifying within the containment as it resisted with everything it had left, but it did not matter.
