As the seal shattered completely,
the Saint Emperor descended.
Masses of dense, dark clouds surged along the horizon.
They were as black as an overturned pool of ink and churned at terrifying speed.
They squeezed and collided with one another, their color deepening as though they meant to swallow the entire world.
Soon, the heavy clouds blotted out the sky. Day turned to night in an instant, plunging the entire continent into chaos and darkness. Fierce winds howled in from every direction like starving wolves. With the force of mountains toppling and seas overturning, they uprooted thick trees and hurled them into the air. Sturdy houses swayed precariously in the gale, and countless roof tiles were swept skyward like falling leaves.
Then bolts of lightning as thick as buckets tore through the dark sky like ferocious flood dragons. Every strike came with deafening thunder, as though heralding the collapse of heaven and earth. The ground trembled beneath the thunder's vibrations, sending forest beasts fleeing in every direction while terrified birds careened through the sky. Everything foretold an earth-shattering event.
Within those ink-black, wildly churning clouds, something strange suddenly stirred.
It was as though an invisible hand had torn an unseen opening in the pitch-black clouds. A pair of eyes slowly opened. Like two cold moons radiating an eerie glow, they gazed down upon the earth with utter indifference.
Azure light flickered in those eyes, as though they concealed the universe's deepest secrets, or held boundless majesty and power. The moment they opened, heaven and earth seemed to freeze. The wind stopped instantly, the lightning ceased darting about, and even the earth-shaking thunder fell abruptly silent beneath their gaze.
Everyone below felt a terrifying pressure strong enough to freeze their souls, as though the owner of those eyes could destroy the