He said nothing more, only casting one last look at the planet beneath his feet as it gradually shrank away, its surface mottled with green, and at the tiny figures on the ground, planted in the earth like nails.
Beside him, the angel Vados raised her staff with elegant movements.
Within the crystal ball at its tip, starlike glimmers began to slowly swirl and flow.
There was no roar, nor any tremor.
As though it had suddenly lost all weight, the enormous Universe Cube steadily and silently rose from Planet Sadala's surface, ascending slowly.
A silent current of air swept through the plaza, blowing Kale's hair backward.
The silver runes across the cube's surface grew brighter and brighter until they became a pure, dazzling silver streak.
"Whoosh—!"
The streak tore through the sky, leaving only a scorching afterimage on their retinas before vanishing completely into the depths of space.
The atmospheric pressure in the plaza returned to normal.
Kale remained kneeling there. Several seconds later, she took a deep breath and slowly rose, bracing herself against her knees.
She lifted her head and stared at the patch of sky where the cube had disappeared, her gaze locked firmly in place.
Only the eternal stars remained, flickering coldly.
She clenched her fists so hard that her knuckles turned white, the slender lines of muscle standing out clearly along her arms.
The wind from Sadala's star swept past, carrying the scent of the wasteland as it brushed across her tense cheeks.
She gritted her teeth, and a silent vow rolled through her heart:
"Lord Chen Feng..."
"You have to win."
Meanwhile, in a forgotten buffer zone between the Sixth Universe and the Seventh Universe, countless light-years away.
A nameless planet floated there.
It hung alone against the curtain of eternal darkness,