The air was thick with a pungent burnt smell. The dark, chaotic magic gradually seeped into the sacred corridor. The crystal passage had already taken on a dull, ashen hue, while the ancient starship's defensive systems struggled to resist the invaders with the little energy they had left. Yet they were steadily losing ground.
Blue-white beams crisscrossed through the air, rapidly coalescing into a crystal barrier that was clear and translucent. Yet moments later, sparks began to crackle across it. Vibrations grew stronger by the second, accompanied by harsh tearing sounds from the other side. In just a few minutes, the crystal barrier was covered in interwoven black cracks.
With a bang, the black cracks burst apart. The crystal wall exploded into a sky full of dazzling fragments, and three figures wrapped in dark magic charged through the final barrier.
At the very front was "August VII," clad in the Pope's holy robes. This "pope" had been completely transformed by Chaos power. Terrifying black patterns covered his skin, his veins bulged one after another, and the muscles throughout his body had swollen. He was nearly two meters tall, making it hard to believe that not long ago he had been an old, frail man in his twilight years. In his hand, he carried a black longsword that looked like a fragment of the universe. Its energy seemed to be eroding and altering his bodily structure. The arm wielding the sword had already swollen abnormally, becoming a full circle larger than his left arm and even bursting through his clothes.
The second was the former Guardian Knight, Lavinia. This once-female Knight had also become severely corrupted. The black patterns on her skin and her crimson eyes had completely ruined her appearance. Though the female Knight had never been particularly beautiful, these