Everything went silent.
Too silent like someone unplugged the world.
The light pouring out of Mira's body carved gold lines in the air, trembling like harp strings plucked by a god. The warehouse once cracked, cluttered, dusty suddenly felt too small. Not big enough to contain two forces devouring each other.
The creature stopped moving.
Not out of fear.
Not out of defeat.
But to observe.
"POTENTIAL… 50%… TOO… FAST…"
Its voice no longer sounded like a broken machine.
There was a hint of emotion anger, awe… maybe both.
Ensaria's voice rang inside Mira's mind, tight and unsteady.
"Mira… its second form is about to manifest. When that happens, everything from the previous battle won't matter anymore."
Mira swallowed her breath.
"I'm ready."
"NO," Ensaria snapped.
"No human is ready."
The creature bent its body… not like a human, but like something unbound by bones. Shadows slid off its skin, dripping onto the floor like black liquid searching for its next shape.
Kael stepped back behind a pillar.
"Bro… bro… bro… what is it"
Rhen yanked him away.
"Don't look directly. High-tier Envoys can crash your brain just from watching their transformation."
Too late.
Kael had looked for one second.
"OH SHOOT MY BRAIN'S GETTING HARD-RESET"
Eren grabbed his shoulders.
"Stay with me. If you pass out, it only gets worse."
Shadows climbed back up the creature's body, layer by layer, forming an organic armor grown from darkness. Its silver eyes elongated, turning into thin swirling strands like spinning blades of light.
Ensaria whispered fear in her voice for the first time.
"The second form… the core shadow…"
Suddenly, the whole warehouse went dark.
As if every light in existence was pulled out at once.
Only one thing remained:
Two silver eyes now spiraled.
Mira's throat dried.
"This… is different. Way different."
The creature spoke again deeper, clearer.
"Guardian Sync… 50%.
Envoy Sync… 72%."
It lifted its head.
Its "skin" was no longer skin, but fractured black glass reflecting Ensaria's light like a shattered mirror.
"I am… the second form."
Eren drew his blade.
"If this is 72%… at 100, Edenveil's done."
Rhen unsheathed his second sword an unspoken sign he was ready to fight till death.
"No turning back. We hold him. At least until Mira stabilizes."
The creature tilted its head again no bones, no joints, just a smooth, impossible motion that made the human body seem primitive.
"Guardian of Eden… surrender."
Mira raised her chin.
"Not happening."
Ensaria hissed.
"Mira don't provoke it. The second form is smarter."
But Mira stared straight at the creature, unwavering.
"I've seen Eden's future in the Time Rift. I know what was lost. And I'm not letting this world fall the same way."
The creature answered slowly.
"You… saw Sefir."
Eren whipped his head toward Mira.
"SEFIR?! He appeared? Where?! What did he"
The creature cut him off.
"Sefir is the traitor."
Ensaria's glow flared sharp emotion.
"Mira. Do not listen to him."
Rhen narrowed his eyes.
"Traitor? What's that supposed to mean?"
The creature pointed at Mira with a blade of shadow growing from its arm.
"Sefir… opened Eden's gate.
Sefir… summoned the fall.
Sefir… handed Ensaria to the New Guardian."
Ensaria growled.
"That lie is their oldest weapon. Don't waver."
But Mira Mira remembered something else.
When Sefir touched her shoulder in the Time Rift… there was a strange emptiness.
Like someone who had lost their home.
"Did Sefir… actually"
Ensaria screamed inside her mind.
"MIRA, DO NOT OPEN THAT DOUBT"
Too late.
The creature touched the floor with fingers now shaped like obsidian shards.
The ground cracked like boiling glass.
Shadow rose.
Forming a massive circle.
Kael stared in horror.
"Bro that's not an attack. That's a portal. A portal to"
The creature finished the sentence.
"To summon my primary shadow."
Ensaria shrieked.
"If he summons the primary shadow… we all die."
Mira stepped forward.
"I'll stop him."
Ensaria tried to stop her.
"Not yet! You're unstable! Your body will shatter!"
But Mira was stubborn.
Light gathered in her palms like a small sun.
The creature watched.
And smiled.
A cracked, impossible smile.
"You… are half.
I… am full."
It stepped toward the shadow circle.
Eren recognized the moment.
Rhen recognized the moment.
Kael recognized the moment.
It was the moment the world broke.
Eren roared:
"MIRA STOP HIM NOW!"
Rhen lunged.
Kael forced a manual resonance despite trembling.
Mira thrust her hand forward.
Golden light exploded.
It struck the creature
And for the first time…
the creature staggered back a single step.
But it didn't fall.
It didn't retreat.
It simply… lowered its head.
And when it looked up
Its spiral eyes spun like a storm.
"Barrier… registered.
Synchronization rising.
Second form… evolving."
Ensaria panicked.
"MIRA BACK OFF THE THIRD FORM IS COMING"
That was the word that should never appear in this chapter:
third form.
But it was too late.
The creature raised both arms.
Shadows surged.
The circle on the floor cracked open revealing something no human should ever see.
Eren swallowed hard.
"Oh God… he's calling the core shadow…"
And from the portal
something began to crawl out.
A massive black hand.
Fingers like fractured obsidian forced to fuse again.
Mira stepped back three times.
"W-what is that…?"
Ensaria answered with pure terror.
"The Primary Shadow.
An entity that"
BOOM.
The warehouse shook like the world slipped off its axis.
Ensaria finished:
"that even Eden could never tame."