A bone-chilling terror came without warning, then swiftly faded away.
By the time shock and fear slowly surfaced in Huai Shi's mind, everything was already over.
For that brief instant, the entire world seemed to have fallen into an indescribable pause. Only Huai Shi awkwardly scratched his head and began to wonder—should he politely cry out once, just to show some respect?
And besides, he seemed... unaffected by Gaia's suppression and corrosion?
Great Siming, who sheltered all living things, and Lord of the Clouds, who commanded celestial phenomena and earthquakes, were fundamentally extensions of Gaia. Yet now they stood independent of Gaia's influence?
Was that appropriate?
But as countless questions surfaced in his mind, an incomparably familiar smile seemed to appear before his eyes.
It filled him with helplessness from the bottom of his heart.
As an Ascender of the Heavenly Inquiry Path, he had escaped Gaia's suppression, only to pay the price of being toyed with in the palm of another black-hearted woman's hand?
Whether that was a blessing or a curse was truly hard to tell.
But no matter what, now was not the time to think slowly—at the instant he reacted, Huai Shi's will flowed into the Nautilus and issued the command to charge.
The Nemo Engine shook violently. Blazing flames erupted from its exhaust ports, leaving a scorched red trail across the night sky, accompanied by a fierce, drifting turn.
Heavy outer armor plates were flung from the hull. Mercury-like metal seeped from the gaps and swiftly condensed in the wind, yet that new layer of black armor possessed none of matter's solidity. Instead, it resembled a rift of nothingness, greedily devouring every ray of light.
Return to Ruin!
Now that he no longer had to worry about Gaia's corrosion and control, Return to Ruin opened