The enormous blue serpent hovered before us, its vast body coiling through the void in slow motion. Each shift of its form bent the surrounding space as if gravity itself answered to it. The single horn on its head carried a faint glow, sharp and condensed, while its gaze remained fixed… not on me, but on Vivi.
I understood it immediately. This was not arrogance. To it, I simply did not exist.
"Billion…" Vivi's voice echoed softly through our link.
"I know," I replied.
Before anything else could be said, a pulse spread from the serpent. It wasn't an attack, but something far more primitive. A form of communication, raw and unrefined, driven by instinct rather than thought.
"Surrender. Resonance."
The meaning formed directly within the space around us. There was no depth behind it, no negotiation, no awareness beyond its purpose. It felt less like a conversation and more like a command repeated endlessly.
Vivi tilted her head slightly, observing it with quiet curiosity.
