There was another hidden room in the laboratory.
The "Aldebarans" carried a pitch-black iron coffin out of the hidden room and stood it upright before me...
"So the gift you brought me is a coffin? That's pretty ominous, isn't it?"
"What are you thinking? Of course, the gift I meant was the coffin... pfft, the thing inside the containment box."
The lead "Aldebaran" patted the box, and Azura immediately pounced on it, blissfully rubbing her face against it.
Clearly, the coffin held a massive amount of darkness.
"This containment box was specially made, which is why the contents inside were preserved when the Earth Crystal sealed away the darkness."
As Aldebaran explained, she undid the seals on both sides of the box.
Each one released a cloud of black mist, but not a single drop went to waste. Azura absorbed it all.
"What exactly is it?"
"A backup plan I specially prepared for you."
After carrying Azura away from the coffin, Aldebaran opened it.
"..."
Inside the coffin was a humanoid figure roughly similar to me, secured with restraint straps.
She had long white hair, dark skin, two curved horns sweeping back from her forehead, and enormous, powerful forearms and wrists below her elbows.
"Great Hand? She wasn't sealed away?"
"She had no intelligence of her own. Strictly speaking, she was merely my puppet."
Aldebaran patted my shoulder.
"I once promised to give her to you. Now it was time to fulfill that promise."
With so much darkness, I could even travel freely between Earth and the moon.
"Your body is very special now. It can contain the darkness needed for the Great Will to descend without being noticed by Earth's Will... so take Great Hand with you as well."
Aldebaran's gift was Great Hand. I really hadn't expected that...