Late on the fourteenth day, in a sunken area on the outskirts of the core zone, a medium-sized demon came to a stop.
It had traveled from the southern containment zone through underground fissure passages at great speed, reaching the core zone several hours ahead of the other demons from the same area.
After arriving, it did not continue inward. It hovered at the edge and observed for some time before slowly moving in and joining the flow of the outer mist belt.
When the stripping signal reached its position, its soul body underwent several pronounced contractions and expansions.
When the fluctuations ended, its soul body stopped those irregular contractions. Debris no longer drifted from its edges, and it ceased responding to the outside world. What remained of it was then slowly enveloped by the surrounding black mist, its outline no longer clearly discernible.
By dawn on the fifteenth day, every demon in the containment zone had completed the stripping process.
The mass of black mist at the center of the core zone had grown denser than it had been over the previous two days. Its center was nearly opaque, yet it could still be seen slowly expanding outward.
It no longer required external force to sustain it. Its very existence was enough to maintain its form.
The scattering of debris from its edges had largely ceased. Even the tiny particles that occasionally drifted away from the main mass would soon be drawn back into it.
It was an extremely slow, nearly imperceptible contraction, like the edges of old cloth curling inward after lying still for years.
There was no obvious layered structure within the main mass, nor were there any identifiable nodes or boundaries. It seemed to have been compressed into a single uniform aggregate without internal gaps.
Ellen