Benjamin withdrew his true body and sent the puppet back out, then passed along what he had discovered.
Before long, four teleportation flashes appeared almost simultaneously at the marked coordinates nearby.
Chloe emerged from the Teleportation Array. The moment she found her footing, she blurted out, "Are you sure? Is it really man-made?"
Benjamin nodded. "Almost certain."
As he spoke, he raised his right hand.
Hum—
The Magic Network Terminal in his hand projected an enormous model of elemental currents. Countless lines of light crisscrossed and flowed slowly through it.
At first glance, the currents still looked chaotic. A closer look, however, revealed a great many highly repetitive rhythms.
Even some of the seemingly random turbulence followed remarkably stable cycles.
Edgar stepped forward almost the instant the model appeared. His gray-blue eyes fixed on the paths of light and blazed with excitement.
"That's right! These operating patterns—this didn't form naturally. Absolutely not!"
He swiftly raised a hand and traced dozens of runes in the air, superimposing them over the elemental currents.
Several key nodes in the model immediately expanded.
"Look here. This flow seems completely irregular, but each time it completes a cycle, it changes in response to the surrounding currents. And here—"
He spoke faster and faster, excitement rising in his voice. "Elemental currents in nature could never form a repetitive sequence with logic this precise on their own, unless—"
"Someone designed it," Benjamin finished, looking toward the vast Elemental Black Hole in the distance. "This isn't a natural disaster at all. It's an artificial device that created an anomalous zone after losing control under certain conditions."
"Or—it never lost control," Tori muttered.
In an instant, Benjamin sensed the shift in the air.
Earlier, when they looked at the Elemental Black Hole, their eyes had held gravity, wariness, and