The "grinding" of teeth and the scrape of metal chains sounded exceptionally piercing amid the deathly still, twisted buildings, as though some heavy, suffering being—
was breaking free of its restraints and crawling out of the womb of darkness.
The guiding path of light grew exceedingly dim at the edge of the deep shadows ahead, nearly extinguished, as if even the nexus's remaining guidance system instinctively feared whatever lay there.
Purple-black motes of energy surged madly into the depths of the shadows like iron filings drawn to a magnet, gathering and condensing.
They made the darkness there thicker, more viscous, more... tangible.
A cold madness mixed with Guixu corrosion and the painful will of some twisted remnant of "Order" spread out like a filthy tide.
"Senior, this thing... feels like it forcibly fused Guixu contamination with something belonging to the Observers themselves!"
Ying Sha gripped Shadow Power tightly, his voice carrying suppressed shock. Though his shadow senses were limited, he was extraordinarily sensitive to this kind of distortion and pain.
Ming Xin's gaze was sharp as lightning, already piercing part of the darkness obscuring it. What he saw was an indescribable outline.
It had a roughly humanoid upper body, but it was haphazardly pieced together from solidified purple-black energy, shattered silver metal components, and even charred remains that appeared to be biological tissue.
Its lower body had completely melted and spread out like flowing asphalt, connecting with the corrosion marks and architectural debris on the ground, as if it had "grown" from this polluted land.
Where its "head" should have been, there were no features—only a constantly churning energy vortex, flickering within with painful red light.
Within it, fragmented geometric symbols belonging to the Observer Civilization could vaguely be seen flashing desperately before being annihilated.
It did not attack