The Queen's eyes became suns.
The transformation was neither gradual nor gentle. It was a violent, instantaneous eruption of absolute, blinding light that swept across the ruins of the academy plaza, drowning the battlefield in a tide of pure brilliance. It was not a destructive force designed to burn flesh or vaporize stone, but rather a conceptual shockwave of pure Authority.
It was the kind of power that existed long before the first cultivator ever channeled spiritual energy, before the first kingdoms of humanity rose from the dust, and before reality itself learned how to name its own parameters.
Under this supreme light, the ruined landscapes, the jagged mountains, the shattered sky, and the trembling seal all vanished, submerged beneath a sea of unyielding, golden radiance.
### The Cry of the Void
For the first time since its arrival on this plane of existence—and perhaps for the first time in recorded history—the Hunger Beyond screamed.
