That was a humanoid being roughly Loren's height.
He had a build no different from a human's, with dark magic so dense it nearly took physical form swirling around him.
His face was no longer the twisted visage made of pained faces from before, but one so handsome it was almost demonic.
His complexion was pale as paper, his eyes black as an abyss, and a cold, utterly self-assured curve hung at the corners of his lips.
He wore a long robe condensed from pure darkness, its hem fluttering without wind.
Every movement left behind fleeting black trails in the air, like tear streaks.
He simply hovered silently in the sky, facing Loren and the terrified women below.
He raised a hand and examined his palm, gently curling his fingers into a fist as though adapting to this new, more powerful body.
Then he lifted his head to look at Loren, and the curve of his lips deepened slightly.
"You have waited long enough, mortal."
Chthon spoke, and his voice was no longer that vast roar like the wailing of ten thousand souls.
Instead, it was low and magnetic, yet filled with endless antiquity and arrogance—the voice of a true "god."
"This is... my complete form. So tremble!"
Complete form!
That immense, despair-inducing dark silhouette that had covered the heavens had not been his complete form after all!
That had merely been his initial state upon descending. Now, having reclaimed all the dark magical power scattered throughout the universe,
he had truly regained his proper form, one capable of confronting any Universal Level being head-on!
Loren's expression turned graver than ever.
He could feel it: the current Chthon and that enormous dark silhouette from before were not even on the same level!
If that dark silhouette had merely been a