Sea and sky lay deathly still, all things silent.
Even the waves had grown feeble, barely clinging to life.
Across the mottled gray-black sea, gashes still lingered, like shattered crystal.
Those crisscrossing fractures spread through sky and water like blades, effortlessly severing anything that intruded.
Behind the gashes, eerie rainbow light flickered into view, vanishing in an instant.
No one knew where they led.
After weathering so much, the Pillar of Depravity still towered between sea and sky. Compared to before, however, it seemed a little shorter.
Beneath the Pillar of Depravity, darkness rose like flames. Through the hazy gray mist, countless bizarre buildings and fantastical scenes dimly emerged.
The Shadow of Deepdark was gradually coming into contact with the Present World.
Many workshops had even broken through the lock's blockade and completed their ascent, gathering around the Pillar of Depravity as though they were a single entity.
They connected to one another, sustaining and forming one another, making the whole structure ever more stable.
No matter how savagely the vast radiance overhead battered them, they remained immovable.
Flames rose across the pale firmament. Neither sun nor moon remained. As though set ablaze, it radiated terrifying heat every moment.
The numbered Masterwork from the Taiyi Ring continued to exude its fearsome might, constantly draining the Pillar of Depravity's power. At even an instant's lapse, it would descend from the sky and burn everything to ashes.
As for the Spiritual Substance consumed every moment, to an organization the size of the Association, it scarcely amounted to a drop in the ocean.
Now, above the shattered sea, the Pillar of Depravity and the projection of Celestial Pivot stood opposed.
In the distance, more colossal shapes gradually converged across the sea. Workshops from every quarter, having received the news and summons, were gathering