Ash naturally recognized one of those bizarre figures—the three thousand twisted masks, the terrifying existence that had once controlled his body, the culprit that had even made him attack his own people: the Grudge-Binder!
It was practically the nightmare lurking in his heart. When that terrifying power had controlled his body and soul, it had felt like the descent of a lord over all living beings.
It was an existence that stood above life and souls alike, leaving one utterly powerless to resist.
"How did I get back?"
Ash asked in disbelief. Even he himself could not believe that he had escaped from the hands of such an existence.
But when he turned to look in another direction, at that figure, he understood.
The instant it entered his sight, it was as though he had beheld a sacred body—something that could not be looked upon directly, desecrated, or described.
Yet Ash still sensed something familiar within it.
"It's you, isn't it, Gerard?!"
"That's right. That is our progenitor," another strange creature beside him spoke, confirming Ash's guess.
Ash recognized Anthony from his tone.
"How did he...!" Ash found it unbelievable. What he truly wanted to ask was how Wu Heng had become like this.
Everyone fell silent. From Wu Heng's earlier words, they had also guessed that perhaps he had not changed at all; perhaps the progenitor had always been this powerful.
The Grudge-Binder, which had had one mask forcibly removed, let out a shrill, overlapping roar from its remaining two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine masks simultaneously.
Amid the bizarre mixed sound, black lines appeared in the surrounding air.
These black lines carried the same distorted black-hole effect. As line after line connected together, the Grudge-Binder's body instantly expanded more than tenfold.
Its entire body nearly turned into a