Season Star and Evergreen were building their Divine Kingdom in Magic City, while Night Cherry Tangle and the other two had arrived in Europe's Black Forest.
The gray-green mist carried a cloying stench of rot. It clung to every withered branch.
No birds sang here. No insects chirped. There was only the wind moaning through the dead forest.
"Every second in this damn place is torture!"
Dawn kicked a dead tree out of his way, sending rotten wood chips flying.
His lungs felt as though they had been filled with swamp sludge. Every breath came heavy and slow.
It was more than physical discomfort. Even his Divine Soul seemed coated in a layer of ash.
"Don't rush in. The air here is poisonous, and it's steadily eroding our Divinity."
Mirror held out her hand. A small prism spun in her palm.
Its surface rapidly dulled, shattered, then formed again.
That was the Withering Authority at work.
It was constantly bringing everything around it to an "end," including the power of law Mirror used for defense.
Night Cherry Tangle said nothing. His senses had already reached deep into the forest.
Viewed through End Judgment, the vast Black Forest was no forest at all.
It was an enormous living creature.
Every tree and every fallen leaf was an extension of its body.
And the Twin Gods were its heart.
Their Divinity had fused with the entire forest. There was no separating one from the other.
Fighting them here meant fighting an entire forest tainted by Divine Might.
"We can't charge straight in," Night Cherry Tangle finally said. "They'd wear us down until we died."
"Then what? We can't just stand here and wait!" Dawn sounded agitated. He hated being forced onto the defensive.
"My Mirror Maze would be eroded too quickly by