Space never stopped trembling, its dull reverberations echoing through the cosmos like the heartbeat of some ancient beast.
Shattered slabs of Yomi-Hirasaka floated in midair, each carrying lingering dimensional vibrations, only to be seized by pitch-black vines that had appeared without warning.
The vines were like a sentient torrent of ink, surging from every crack in the rocks.
Fine tendrils intertwined in the air, swiftly weaving themselves into wrist-thick cables.
Countless cables then twisted into massive black ropes, binding the scattered rocks tightly together.
Unit-01 hovered above the center of the ruins, its red eyes like two dancing flames as it stared at the ever-expanding structure.
The AT Fields surrounding them trembled in ripples, and the invisible pressure sent the rubble below floating slightly off the ground.
"The aggregation is still accelerating!" Maya Ibuki's fingers danced across her keyboard.
Her fingertips almost blurred with speed. Cold sweat slid down her temples and dripped onto the console, spreading into a small wet patch.
The data curves on the main screen shot upward like abruptly rising peaks, climbing almost vertically as red warning lights flashed incessantly throughout the command center.
"The energy fluctuations are already more than three times those of the previous Yomi-Hirasaka! They're devouring and nourishing one another, strengthening this structure with every second!"
Before she finished speaking, the gathering structure suddenly let out a deep roar, like ten thousand ancient bells ringing at once, making everyone's eardrums ache.
Under the immense pressure of the vines, the once-scattered rocks cracked and creaked. Their edges gradually dissolved until they joined into a single honeycomb-like mass.
The black energy of the rocks and vines intertwined, tracing intricate, twisted patterns across the structure's surface like ritual totems carved into an ancient stone tablet.
The structure's outline grew increasingly distinct. It was no longer