The dark red torrent of Destruction swallowed most of the space where the "crystal bud" had once stood.
The violent power of Order Zeroing forcibly dismantled and erased every crystal structure, energy current, and even space itself that it touched.
In its wake, it left a steadily expanding void, its edges flickering with ominous dark red arcs of electricity.
The entire Tranquil Garden shelter let out a groan of unbearable strain. Violent energy shockwaves spread in every direction through the crystal structures, and countless cracks webbed outward.
The "Piercer" hovered at the edge of the explosion, his deep blue optical eyes calmly scanning the area plowed through by his Order Zeroing Cannon.
There were no life signals, no lingering energy, and even the fundamental structure of matter had been completely annihilated. The targets appeared to have been thoroughly eliminated.
Yet deep within his incomparably precise detection protocols, a faint, nearly nonexistent sense of discord returned.
It was not residual energy or matter, but... a "fold" in space at the core of the attack's detonation.
An extraordinarily brief yet abnormally intense disturbance had occurred there before rapidly subsiding.
As though something had, at the final moment, "slipped" away by a method beyond the dimensions of conventional detection.
"Report: the life signals of target 'Starlight,' unknown individual 'Ming Xin,' and shadow unit 'Ying Sha' vanished an instant before the attack struck.
"A spatial phase disturbance exceeding the threshold has been detected. Its characteristics are suspected to be... an application of the High-level Shadow Law.
"Preliminary assessment: the targets have urgently escaped the current coordinates through an unknown method, entering the deep Shadow Plane or a similar dimensional interlayer," a guard reported after a swift analysis.
"The Shadow Plane..." Data streams accelerated once more beneath the Piercer's faceplate. "Intelligence update: Shadow unit 'Ying