The scene was nothing short of inexplicable to outsiders. Actually, almost everyone inside the Leviathan-class ship couldn't explain the scene depicted on the vessel's many screens.
The lingering, crackling, and massive horizontal lightning bolt was hardly surprising, especially considering that Khan was involved. Many of the soldiers inside the giant vessel had seen him do far crazier stuff. A big, oddly oriented spell was basically ordinary at that point.
Instead, the cracks expanding from the lightning bolt did manage to shock the audience since they didn't exactly break anything. There was nothing to shatter up there in the air, only the sky itself.
The cracks on that invisible surface even bent the sunlight, refracting it as if passing through water or a layer of thick glass. The untouchable had just gained a physical form. The sky wasn't mere air anymore. It was a proper film that could be peeled off.
