The sunlight on the lawn was still warm, and the breeze carried the fresh scent of broken grass.
Neos slowly let out a breath of stale air.
His divine power's self-repair was taking effect, but slowly—the dark red psionic energy that had invaded his body was fiercely locked in a tug-of-war with the blue psionic energy.
He suppressed the blood surging up his throat and forced himself to concentrate.
Shock was useless. Fear was a luxury.
What mattered most now was figuring out the situation and finding a way to break it.
"So," his voice was steadier than before as he went straight to the heart of the matter, "how do we destroy it? This 'Abyssal Hilling Empire.'"
Sandora turned to look at him.
There was no mockery or contempt in her eyes, only an unfathomable calm.
And beneath that calm lay the faintest trace of exhaustion.
She smiled lightly. It did not seem sarcastic, but more like... a question directed at herself.
"Destroy?" she repeated the word. "Neos, you need to understand one thing: the Abyssal Hilling Empire is also the Hilling Empire. In your view, how should the Hilling Empire be destroyed?"
Neos fell silent.
It was also the Hilling Empire.
Those words chilled him to the marrow.
Of course he knew how powerful the Imperium was—not merely the absolute strength of its upper ranks, but its endless fleets, those powerful Hilling Apostles, its widespread special agencies... It was a colossal entity built upon absolute power, something whose very existence seemed unshakable.
And now, a monster that might possess the same technology, the same structure, even the same "origin" had been saturated with Abyss's madness and desire for destruction.
How could the Hilling Empire be destroyed?
By me?
The instant that thought surfaced, Neos felt an absurd, suffocating