Beneath the darkness, something enormous stirred.
The monster that had once destroyed Elegia was now slowly revealing its hideous visage in the physical world.
It rose from the black rift like an island surfacing from the seabed.
Black mist coiled around its body, twisting, churning, and condensing in the air until it formed an enormous humanoid upper body, floating in midair and blotting out the last rays of the setting sun.
Its face was deathly pale. Its right eye was an empty socket, black and bottomless; its left eye flashed with a red X-shaped mark. Its mouth was full of uneven fangs, its lips split all the way to its ears in a hideous, twisted expression.
Long arms like piano keys extended from its shoulder blades, with fine strings wound around their joints. Each string trembled slightly, giving off a low, droning hum.
It wore a tall top hat with a broad brim, and flaming skulls floated around its neck as a necklace. Those skulls had once been living people, residents of Elegia-the dead who had perished in the flames, their souls devoured, never to find peace.
Black emotions took shape as flames, compressed from anger, fear, despair, and hatred, now gathering in its mouth.
Boer raised his left hand and flicked a finger.
A blue arc leaped from his fingertip and struck Gordon.
Gordon opened his mouth, wanting to shout something, but he vanished before any sound came out.
At the other end of the island, on a beach near the bay, Gordon staggered into view.
His feet sank into the soft, wet sand, and his body swayed, almost falling. He looked up at the distant sky shrouded in black, at the enormous monster floating in midair, at its top hat and necklace of flaming skulls.
"Uta..." His voice