Silence.
For a single heartbeat, the entire hidden realm became unnaturally still.
The hurricane winds that had raged across the skies vanished without warning.
The endless storm clouds stopped moving.
Even the countless glowing leaves drifting from the World Tree hung motionless in midair, as though time itself had forgotten to flow.
John felt every muscle in his body tense.
His instincts screamed.
Not with fear...
But with absolute certainty.
Something had awakened.
Something ancient.
Something that had never truly died.
Far beneath the enormous roots of the World Tree, the pillar of intertwined golden and black light continued to surge toward the heavens. Unlike ordinary mana, the energy radiating from it carried two completely opposite auras.
The golden half felt warm.
Peaceful.
Ancient.
It reminded John of the World Tree itself.
The black half...
It felt empty.
Not darkness.
Not death.
Emptiness.
A hollow existence that devoured everything around it.
