(???)
At the center of the Earth, within the vast Consciousness Sea.
The streams of information arriving from the lunar surface grew more intense.
All kinds of information and emotions kept flowing back through the simulacrum factor. Every membrane-wrapped consciousness, myself included, could access and understand this information.
The battle between Enheria and the Zodiacal had yet to be decided.
With the front lines at a stalemate, Enheria's Proxy had even opened the Dark Seal to retaliate against the Zodiacal's actions, releasing the highly concentrated darkness imprisoned inside.
That really was rather like something a terrorist would do.
It was like roasting a bomb capable of destroying all humanity over a fire. The slightest mistake would mean the extinction of civilization... and even the Earth Crystal would be finished.
Such a radical course of action was clearly against the rules.
And so the countless consciousnesses within the Earth Crystal began to connect, merge, and think, considering what action to take next...
Should Enheria's Proxy be punished?
Or should they continue observing how events unfolded?
The bubble-like membranes enveloping the consciousnesses dissolved.
Just as they had before.
Although I was connected too, I still retained some capacity for independent thought. Perhaps my existence was rather special, and I had to remain lucid to maintain the Dark Seal...
Though I could think independently, I could not act on my own.
Every action the Earth Crystal took had to undergo "deliberation" before it could be carried out.
That might sound terribly slow, but time flowed extremely slowly during collective deliberation. Even after holding a lengthy meeting and reaching a conclusion, not so much as a second might have passed in reality.
So from the outside, the Earth Crystal probably seemed like a decisive, emotionless system that maintained the world, didn't it?
"That Proxy