The end of the vertical passage was not a solid platform, but a vast space that suddenly opened up.
Neos was the first to leap out of the passage, his boots striking the cold, smooth floor with a soft impact.
He swiftly swept his gaze across the surroundings.
This was a grand hall.
The space was immense, its dome suspended high overhead. Only sparse dark-red points of light, like an inverted field of stars, barely outlined its contours.
At the center of the hall floated a "heart."
It was a dark-red crystal sphere over thirty meters in diameter, its surface covered in honeycomb-like holes.
Countless energy filaments of varying thickness, glimmering with streams of data, extended from those holes like blood vessels and nerves, connecting to every direction of the hall.
At the crystal sphere's core, an even deeper shade of dark red slowly rotated like a pupil.
The Hilling Mainframe.
The Abyssal Hilling Empire's central hub in this universe, the node that controlled every fleet and every Apostle.
It was right there, within reach.
Yet there was more than the mainframe in the hall.
Along the walls, over a hundred Apostles clad in dark-red crystal armor stood in neat rows like sleeping statues.
Their heads were bowed, their hands hung at their sides, as if they had guarded this place for Eternity.
The instant Neos entered the hall—
Every Apostle raised their head at once.
More than a hundred scarlet "eyes" lit up simultaneously, locking onto this band of uninvited guests.
A cold system prompt rang directly through every corner of the hall:
[Unauthorized information infiltrators detected.] [Threat level: Level 8.] [Eradication protocol initiated.] [Execute: extermination.]
The instant the final syllable fell, the nearest Apostles moved.
A flash of dark-red light, and they had already appeared around