Light that originally had no form now manifested into threadlike beams, then flowed into the Engineering Cube like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
As photons poured in, the area where they stood seemed to have had its brightness artificially lowered, rapidly darkening.
Until a lightless Black Domain formed upon this land.
"We've been discovered. Recover the cube and retreat, quickly."
The lookout lowered his voice in warning.
For outside the Black Domain, photons—originally merely one kind of particle in nature—had come alive. Each one seemed to possess life as they began encircling the Black Domain, making probing movements that clearly carried intelligence.
"Damn it, why so soon? The light energy we've collected isn't enough yet.
Teams One and Two, prepare to provide cover. This is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. We must collect enough light, or the base will no longer be able to operate."
Hearing the leader's words, the lookout removed an ornamental ring from his arm.
The instant he took off the ring, a thin energy barrier immediately appeared over his body. Then he charged out of the Black Domain and sprinted wildly in the opposite direction.
Freed from the Life Suppression Ring's restraint, the aura of a living person instantly flooded this barren world.
Everything that had already become divine sensed him, and greedy saliva dripped from every mouth.
The first to catch up were those lights.
Under the same conditions, it should have been impossible to see light chasing a person, yet one glance was enough to sense it—the fleeing lookout was being pursued by light.
Then it was not only the light. A portion of the gloomy clouds overhead split away and chased after the lookout as well.
Then came the mountains and rocks, the sparse vegetation growing upon them, and in the end, even