The twisted stone statue trees looked like a horde of demons dancing wildly, stretching to the end of the mist.
Hasegawa Shinichi stood before the altar and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, the moment that decides our survival has come. As you all know, the Kirin Immortal Palace is about to open, and the Ether Association is about to purge Black Cloud Stronghold. We are all Fallen, on the Association's kill list. When the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken. You all understand that."
He was a gaunt, gloomy man. A vicious scar like a centipede ran across his face, while white exoskeleton covered everything below his neck. He had clearly mutated to a certain extent.
He gripped a long tachi, his gaze grim. "Although we have dealt with the Association's first batch of lackeys, judging by their style, their fiercest retaliation will soon begin. There are too many of us. We cannot run."
"Only evolution is the one way out."
He paused. "Once that lord's power revives, we will welcome... true evolution!"
The Grave Diggers members fell to their knees one after another and slit their wrists with daggers.
"For true evolution!"
Drops of blood flowed across the parched earth, forming an ancient, bloody array. Countless strange lines spread outward, lighting up with scarlet radiance—sinister and eerie!
Besides the Grave Diggers members, quite a few people had their hands and feet bound, forced to kneel on the ground.
Among them was a short-haired girl struggling on her knees, her bloodstained face possessing a wild beauty.
Their wrists had been slit as well, blood streaming out.
It was not just blood.
There was spirituality too!
Within this bloody array, everyone's spirituality was draining away alongside their flowing blood.
Amid rumbling thunder, the dry ground split apart. Blood surged