Just as the Abyssal Mainframe overloaded.
Neos barely opened his eyes. Through his blurred vision, he saw his crystal insignia flashing wildly between red and blue, so fast that the colors nearly blended together.
Mio abruptly lowered her head and looked at the terminal screen on her wrist, which was flickering just as erratically. A dazzling light burst from her eyes, as though hope had been ignited.
Elysia looked up, Shalish stopped her soft laughter, and everyone's attention was drawn to this sudden anomaly.
Yet before anyone could understand what this anomaly meant—
The next moment, an even stranger change occurred.
The Apostles attempting to approach the mainframe suddenly began convulsing violently!
The dark red crystal armor covering their bodies emitted unstable light. Their movements became utterly uncoordinated, as though they had suddenly lost their unified source of commands—or had been implanted with conflicting action protocols.
One Apostle even swung its energy blade without warning, slashing at the companion beside it!
Chaos began spreading through these killing machines that had once been absolutely obedient and absolutely efficient.
"Did we... succeed?" Mio was the first to react. Her gaze was locked tightly onto the terminal screen on her wrist.
At some point, the frenzied red and yellow flashes on the screen had stopped.
Now, the dark red background that had represented the Abyssal Network was receding from the tiny screen like a tide.
Replacing it was a pure, stable color carrying a faint, gentle sheen...
Green.
The green that symbolized a normal Hilling Empire network connection, symbolized order, symbolized "home."
Then, a line of unmistakably clear Imperial standard text appeared against the green background:
[Connection restored. Supreme Wisdom link stable. Permission override complete. Welcome home.]
Mio's breathing stopped in that instant.
She suddenly looked up at Neos, then at