From the pristine, silent grandeur of the Heart of Law, they came!
They did not tear through reality with the chaotic violence of Paradox or the raw force of Origin.
Theirs was a more profound, more unnerving method of travel. They commanded existence to be orderly, and in the swirling, lawless chaos of the space between Folds, a path simply... appeared.
It was a bridge of absolute precedent, a corridor of juridical certainty, a straight, unwavering line of silver-white light that imposed its will upon the unstructured void.
They materialized in the region of Collapse where the Nullvein Gravewake Folds had once been, their arrival a silent, synchronized flash of silver and gold.
Dukes of Law, their forms radiating an authority as constant and as unyielding as the passage of time, were at the forefront.
Behind them, a host of Royal, Honored, and Prime Living Laws fanned out, their collective presence a chilling wave of absolute Law in this realm of endings.
And then they saw it.
It was a blasphemy. A glorious, breathtaking, and utter blasphemy against every principle of law, order, and known reality they held dear!
Where there should have been only the chaotic, swirling remnants of a dead Fold, a fortress of impossible beauty and unknown design now stood.
A bastion of vibrant blue and gold light, its semi-translucent walls revealing the tantalizing, impossible glimpse of a thriving wonder within- barely observable.
Great bastions, each existing in multiple dimensions simultaneously, studded its perimeter like defiant jewels, and from its highest spires, potent auroras of blue and gold rivers flowed out and around the entire structure, a celestial moat of pure, protective authority.
The assembled Dukes frowned, a collective, silent expression of profound displeasure.
Duke Justinius, a being whose form was so perfectly symmetrical that it seemed to hurt the eyes, his power a crushing 700 Trillion in Complexity, was the first to speak.
His voice was the sound of a verdict being rendered. "Our perception is being denied. Our authority is being repelled."
Royal Law Tristesse, her own Complexity feeling almost insignificant in the presence of these ancient pillars of Law, floated beside him.
Another Duke, a woman named Themis whose eyes seemed to hold the weight of every law ever written, stepped forward.
"This is not the work of a standard authority," she said, her voice a low, analytical hum. "The way it repels our will is not a direct counter, but a fundamental disagreement with the premise of our entry. This feels... older. More fundamental."
Her gaze sharpened with a dawning, terrible comprehension. "This is the signature of a Principle."
The word hung in the dead air, a weight heavier than any physical mass. A Principle. A fundamental, fold-shaping law of existence, one they did not know and did not control, had been made manifest here!
"Then we test its limits," another, more aggressive Duke declared, his form wreathed in chains of golden light. "We see what this โPrincipleโ is made of."
HUUM!
They began with a gentle probe. A united push of their collective wills, a wave of pure, conceptual intent that washed against the Aegis.
It was like a soft breeze against a mountain. The blue-gold walls shimmered, but did not yield.
They escalated. They began to exert their authority. Conceptual gavels, each the size of a moon, materialized and smashed against the barrier.
Chains of precedent, woven from the very history of law, sought to bind and constrict the structure!
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