The first warning came in the form of a wail from the depth framework.
Beneath the rainbow light of the Great Arcanum, the Depth Maintenance Needle, as immense as a colossal tower, trembled violently. The once-smooth line on the screen abruptly collapsed, forming a sharp abyss unlike anything seen before.
Then, a calamitous aura as magnificent as a Coronal Mass Ejection erupted from the heart of the Present Realm!
Darkness.
Pure darkness, like a viscous flood. In an instant, it flew out of the Solar Ship, crossed countless miles in the blink of an eye, and upon plunging into the earth, tore open a massive fissure.
Then, a storm rose toward the sky.
A strange, crystalline texture emerged from the darkness and spread in every direction.
Like a ferocious monstrous hand, countless fingers tangled together, unfurling inch by inch as they reached for the sun's projection and clenched around it!
It obscured all light and devoured everything.
A pillar of darkness appeared out of nowhere between heaven and earth, jolting countless Ascenders awake from their dreams.
Amid the overlapping warnings, numerous observation mirrors belatedly adjusted their direction and aimed toward the source of the threat, utterly unable to make sense of it.
Where had it come from, to cross so many blockades and risk interceptors in the Present Realm?
And what kind of monster could trigger such a terrifying celestial phenomenon?
All sunlight vanished, leaving only darkness behind.
Countless tangible calamities shifted into all manner of bestial forms—birds, giant serpents, enormous whales, worms, hounds, and dragons. At last, they gathered into a colossal outline like a mountain range.
Across that immense outline, the long nails once thirsting to devour blood were already covered in cracks. They shuddered in terror, releasing waves of mournful cries as they neared collapse.
They wanted