The crimson sky above the Crystalline Forest didn't just darken; it began to bleed heavy, viscous droplets of "Narrative Ink" that sizzled upon contact with the glass leaves. Aegis stood tall, his Level 7 frame pulsing with a violet light that pushed back the encroaching shadows. The betrayal of the Origin Core had left him scarred, but in those scars, he found a new, terrifying density.
Kael shivered as he watched the forest warp. "We have to move, Aegis. The air... it feels like it's trying to forget us."
Aegis tightened his grip on the Origin-Eater Spear. "Let it try. The world has already revealed its face. It isn't a goddess; it's a parasite."
From the depths of the shifting woods, a figure emerged. It was not a beast or a sentinel, but a mirror image of Aegis himself—though this version was dressed in the golden Tier 99 armor he had lost. The reflection's eyes were blank, white voids.
