Elsewhere.
Wailing Wastes, Jiting Ruins.
"The mechanism's unlocked!"
Encore spun around excitedly as she watched the central elevator activate.
"Well? Did you find any clues about yourself in the residual images here?" Aalto asked Tide Sis.
Standing inside the central elevator, Tide Sis shook her head.
Every person or thing she had encountered so far had been another riddle wrapped in a mystery.
She lowered her head and reached out to smooth Ling An's fur.
Sure enough, only Ling An in her arms offered any real reassurance.
Clack! Boom!
The central elevator started up, slowly descending underground.
Darkness swallowed them in an instant.
Then dim lights came on, illuminating the enormous thing before them.
"This is..."
"That's right. This is probably what those Jiting people were building," Aalto confirmed.
A mechanical entity assembled from countless parts hung overhead.
Its body gave off a menacing gleam beneath the lights.
Ling An frowned slightly.
This was probably what he had sensed inside Jiting earlier.
"Wow, what a huge metal monster!" Encore exclaimed.
"The Data Beacon's signal is coming from this Mech Abomination. Did it swallow it?" Aalto wondered, rubbing his chin.
"Let Encore have a look!" Encore bounded beneath the Mech Abomination, craning her neck to inspect it.
"Hey, Encore!" Aalto cried in alarm.
Suddenly, the support arms suspending the Mech Abomination began to shake.
Aalto rushed forward and pulled Encore back.
The next second, the Mech Abomination crashed to the ground.
The entire Jiting facility shook with it.
"It's waking up!" Aalto warned urgently.
Before he finished speaking, a striking, black-clad figure shot past him.
Aalto blinked in a daze and looked toward where Tide Sis had been standing.
Only Ling An remained there, helplessly spreading his hands.
Tide Sis was the very definition of someone who let her actions do