Deep within Pangaea Castle in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, in the Flower Room.
The eternally tranquil atmosphere was shattered by a heart-rending
wail of agony, as though a piece of a soul had been gouged out!
"Aaaaargh!!!"
The hazy black shadow seated on the cushioned couch-Imu-
was twisting and writhing!
Wails poured wildly from the shadow, instantly sweeping through the entire Flower Room!
Exotic flowers and plants withered and died beneath that aura, while the clear stream turned muddy and turbulent!
Standing in attendance nearby, Gunko went pale with shock at the sudden upheaval.
"My lord! What's wrong?!" Gunko instinctively tried to step forward to help, only to be forced back again and again by the rampaging aura.
"Dead... dead!!"
Imu's voice emerged from the shadow, no longer its usual detached, aloof murmur.
"My 'people'... are dead!! Two of them!!"
The abyssal contract was not a gift without a price.
The bond connecting a contract holder to the source-Imu-was not merely a conduit for power, but a deeper binding of life and existence.
When a contract holder was utterly destroyed, especially through a technique like Heaven Lock: Soulquake, which annihilated both matter and soul directly,
the backlash would travel along the contract's channels and strike straight at Imu's essence!
This backlash was far fiercer, far more direct, and far more damaging to its very foundation than when Gern's Spark had burned its projection while it possessed Saint Nusjuro!
Losing two of its most important Agents and highest-level contract holders in one stroke
was not merely a loss of fighting strength for Imu, but a direct blow to its authority over "eternity" and a wound to its essence!
"Gern Reginald Sigma!!!"
Imu's wailing finally became a roar of utter venom.
It had even shouted Gern's full name.
"I... cannot