Before the enormous head of the phantom could hit the ground, it vanished into thin air along with its body in a gust of wind.
The phantom disappeared.
But the wind that had scattered the phantom did not disappear!
On the contrary, it became even more unrestrained.
As though it had finally found an outlet for a thoroughly satisfying release.
Before the eyes of everyone kneeling in the hall, it changed from invisible to visible.
Gray!
Swirling, rotating gray.
A moment ago, it had still been drifting slowly past.
The next moment, it was sharp as a blade.
Then, in the following moment, it became boundlessly violent.
Changes!
Endless changes!
There was never a moment of rest.
Even when it became a person!
The gray continued to churn without pause, obscuring the other party's face and body, making him look like nothing more than a mass of gathered gray.
He possessed only the outward shape of a "person."
Facing such a person, everyone in the hall felt terror rise from the depths of their hearts.
An instinct far stronger than when the dragon-like, snake-like phantom had appeared assaulted them.
From the depths of their souls, each of them began to...
Tremble!
When that "person" walked past them, not one dared raise their head to look directly at him. Every one of them sprawled on the ground, pressing the crowns of their heads against the floor.
It was not submission.
It was...
Absolute obedience!
The simplest and most direct sort of obedience: when a creature at the top of the food chain passed by lower life forms, the latter offered up everything they possessed in complete obedience.
Tap, tap tap!
Step by step.
With every step the gray "person" took, their hearts beat along with him.
Each beat wore away at