The ancient city continued to tremble, as though something terrifying were breaking free of its cage. This had once been Takamagahara, where myth said the gods had dwelled, and now those ancient gods were about to awaken.
Caesar, Chu Zihang, and Lu Mingfei had been completely absorbed by the Feathered Serpent God and the Embryo. Minamoto Chisaki had also gathered the safety locks quickly, so no one noticed the transformation taking place deep within the ruins.
Within the ruins, countless grotesque figures were tearing through their fetal membranes and crawling across the seabed. Their long lower bodies writhed and slithered like snakes. These monsters looked much like Amon's Dead Servant puppets, all human above the waist and serpentine below. The difference was that the Dead Servant puppets were living creatures, while these were all dead things.
They too had been Hybrids in life—the ancestors of the Eight Clans of the Serpent. They had built Takamagahara. After death, they had been processed through alchemy and buried upright within the foundations, serving as the city's guards. The Embryo's blood had awakened them.
The Corpse Guardians had slept for too long, so long that even their joints had rusted stiff. Their writhing movements resembled stranded fish. Yet nourished by Dragon Blood, every deadened nerve was rapidly reviving.
The enormous feathered serpent writhed excitedly through the sea, rising and falling, sinking and floating. He let out a low hiss that traveled far with the currents, appearing clearly on the sonar Kassel College used to monitor the ocean floor.
The ripples shook violently.
"Was that... that dragon's roar?" Professor Schneider's face looked as grim as a corpse's.
"He's probably cheering for the return of his Monarch..." Manstein said heavily.
"The White King... has awakened?" Guderian voiced the possibility in a trembling tone, his face deathly