Evolution

The moon had risen into the sky.

The battle between Gomorrah and ORT raged on. Neither giant showed any sign of stopping.

Gomorrah still held a slight advantage overall. Her ability to suppress healing kept ORT from regenerating.

But dragging this out was no solution. They had to find another way.

Ishtar had long since returned, and the Bull of Heaven stood nearby. In sheer size, it dwarfed both Gomorrah and ORT.

But size meant nothing against ORT. Back in the Lostbelt, countless strikes from the bull's hooves had failed to hold it back for even a second. They couldn't count on this mightiest of divine beasts.

The bull seemed to know its limits, too. It simply watched, with no intention of joining the fight.

"Ishtar, can you hear me?" Yuan Shikai asked.

"I hear you. What is it?" Ishtar replied.

She sounded upset. After all, there were only two possible outcomes now.

They would either seal or kill ORT, or ORT would devour the planet.

If she had reversed Proper Human History and remade the world, she could at least have preserved the planet. Now, the worst possibility was that nothing would remain.

"I'll find a way to pin ORT down," Yuan Shikai said. "Have the Bull of Heaven hold down its right leg. I'll have the Great Divine Envoy hold down its left, then open a wound from the front and see how badly we can hurt it."

ORT suddenly spat out threads that stuck to Gomorrah in an instant. The worst had happened: ORT had evolved.

Until now, its mouth had only produced sound waves and swallowed things. Now it could spin silk.

The threads stuck to Gomorrah's abdomen and pulled hard, trying to drag her to the ground.

Even a strike from Excalibur couldn't sever them