The Opening Doors

"'Miracle' has disappeared."

Colin looked around and found that all the aberrant creatures had collapsed to the ground.

Steam rose from their bodies as they continuously evaporated.

The giant tree formed by the Twisted Holy Father was also vanishing with dreamlike speed.

Meanwhile, countless prayers from Survivors echoed in his mind, many of them confused about what had happened here.

Colin quickly responded with his divine sense. After calming them down, he took in the world, which now felt "utterly pure."

"However, 'Dusk' hasn't disappeared yet."

Colin raised his head and looked toward the dusky sky. The mist above the dome had unknowingly dispersed quite a bit.

White light drifted through his eyes, and his gaze instantly stretched an immense distance. Then he saw—no, more precisely, made out—something unusual.

Somewhere unimaginably high in the sky, colossal black thorns slowly turned, spreading across the entire heavens.

Compared to them, even the Twisted Holy Father, which had once connected heaven and earth, could only be called a sapling.

They covered and shrouded the entire sky overhead. Colin vaguely realized that this thing might have enclosed the entire world within itself.

Then the Prompt confirmed it.

[You realize that these "Thorns," like a cocoon, have encompassed the entire world within their domain.]

"So this is the source of 'Miracle'?"

Colin muttered to himself. Suddenly, it felt as though he heard certain "emotions" with his ears—extremely painful emotions emanating from those "Thorns."

It—or rather, She—was in pain.

[When extreme emotions resonate with Her, who is currently mired in suffering, then amidst that resonance, that "blood" flows onto mortals.]

"...Are you speaking in riddles again?"

Colin was speechless, but he quickly understood what it meant.

Then he suddenly realized that his earlier speculation about the Mother of Suffering and Thorns had