Golden light poured from that eye, illuminating the entire hollow.
The golden patterns flickering along the Bronze Pillars blazed to their utmost brightness the instant the light descended, then went dark the next moment. The oppressive pressure that clung to them like maggots to bone vanished with it.
The Flesh covering the hollow collapsed explosively beneath the golden light.
Wherever the golden light reached, the Flesh drained of color piece by piece, losing its vitality from surface to core and turning into a layer of dead ash.
The passage they had entered through was swept by the golden light. The blocking Flesh collapsed inward, revealing a narrow gap barely wide enough for a person to pass.
Klaus did not waste that instant.
As soon as the pressure weighing on him dissipated, the power that had been forcibly pinned down surged back. He no longer tried to force out the afterimage he had kept ready to throw. Green light flared around him as he grabbed Lu Yuan and Adrian, who were closest to him. Dark green Crystals burst from beneath his feet, and the three of them vanished in an instant.
At the same time, the Blue Knight's threads tightened.
She left most of her threads behind, retracting only a few strands around herself. With her other hand, she grabbed Margaret and the Attendant by their wrists and charged into the passage blasted open by the golden light.
The Great Ascendant was the last to leave.
It was as though he had been singled out. A faint layer of golden light covered his entire body, and when that golden eye opened, it seemed to have marked him as something to be purged as well.
The Gears around him gave off a rapid clattering. Steam blasted from his joints as he forcibly