"Crack-creak-!"
It was not the sharp snap of breaking metal, but a sharper, more piercing scream. The instant Umbreon's teeth, laden with all the Dark Moon Stone's violent energy, touched the energy device's core conduit, time seemed to stretch.
Under the corrosive force of Dark-type energy, the high-strength alloy conduit instantly twisted, warped, and buckled like butter touched by a branding iron. Inside it, the energy flow, already extremely unstable from operating beyond capacity, was like a flood that had found an outlet through a broken dam. That sudden external force completely shattered its equilibrium.
"Hum-boom-!!!"
An immensely deep, muffled roar, seemingly rising from the depths of the earth, came from inside the device. It was not loud, yet everyone present felt their heart skip a beat, as though an invisible hand had clenched it hard.
Immediately afterward, alarms in every corner of the underground base sounded their highest-level warning, sharper and more mournful than any before, filled with despair and finality.
The sound was no longer a simple buzzing, but a wail powerful enough to pierce eardrums and shake souls.
A cold, synthesized electronic voice, devoid of any human emotion, thundered in everyone's ears through the broadcast system like a pronouncement of death:
"Alert! Alert! The energy core has suffered an irreversible structural rupture! Energy core rupture!"
"Warning! A devastating explosion will occur in the base in ten seconds!"
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
The cold numbers struck everyone's hearts with precise, measured blows, like funeral bells counting down.
At that moment, every trace of color drained from Lorelei's face.
For the first time, the face always covered in frost and arrogance truly revealed an emotion she had never imagined would appear on it-pure, undisguised horror, and the disbelief of someone witnessing the most absurd thing in the world.
Her ice-blue eyes