Everything was over.
Philip stood in a secret bunker room beneath the Forward Base, his gaze lingering on the platform at the center of the room. Its middle had sunk inward, and numerous complex, precise runes were inscribed along its edges. At this moment, the Rune Array was gradually going dark, while countless root- and vine-like Nerve Strands slowly withdrew from the platform and returned to the holes around the room's edges. Within the sunken center of the platform, all that remained was a mass of Biomass wreckage that had completely lost its shape, along with a small amount of thin liquid.
Over the past several hours, the Biomass wreckage had undergone intensely violent mutations and transformations, taking on all manner of horrifying forms. Even someone like Philip, who had fought his way across battlefields, could not help feeling his scalp prickle whenever he recalled what he had seen. But no matter what, that dreadful process had finally ended. Whatever soul had once been trapped within that mass of flesh, its entanglement with this world had now been completely erased.
The rustling of writhing plant roots suddenly came from nearby. Philip followed the sound and saw a cluster of vivid green vines emerge from a hole in the corner of the room. As they writhed, they swiftly transformed into a human-like outline, eventually becoming Beltira's avatar. The avatar gave Philip a slight nod, then turned her gaze toward the center of the platform.
"It is all over," a slightly hoarse female voice echoed through the underground room. "Bertram and his followers have all left this world. I excavated a great deal of useful intelligence from their memories."
"That is good. We have long been at a disadvantage when it comes to intelligence, and now we have finally made progress." Philip