The voice lingered.
Not in the air.
Not in the wind.
Inside John's mind.
It was neither male nor female, old nor young. It carried a strange warmth that stood in stark contrast to the suffocating pressure filling the hidden realm.
**"...You have finally come..."**
John instinctively raised his guard.
His claws dug into the air as he hovered.
*"Who are you?"*
There was no immediate reply.
Instead—
The pillar of intertwined golden and black light pulsed once.
A ripple spread through the hidden realm.
Every living creature froze.
The corrupted champions remained kneeling.
The World Tree's leaves stopped falling.
Even the mana flowing through the air seemed to hesitate.
Then the ground beneath the roots split apart.
---
**CRAAAAAAACK!**
The sound echoed across the entire dimension.
Ancient roots, thicker than mountain ranges, slowly separated.
An abyss opened beneath them.
It wasn't merely a hole.
It was a cavern so vast that John couldn't see its bottom.
