Chapter 222: The Madness of the Shadow Eye and the Rift Countdown

The “Shadow Eye” turned around, his purely black eyes—devoid of any light—sweeping over the observers on the platform, his twisted smile widening with a chilling mix of fanaticism and pity, as if gazing upon a flock of ignorant moths that had strayed into a sacred temple.

“Poor lost souls… you cannot understand… this is the true path of evolution—for elves… and for all life!” He opened his arms as if embracing the chaotic, raging Shadow Engine below, where purplish energy flowed from the corrupted seed, swirling around him and making him appear like a god—or rather, a demon—of darkness. “Order will rot. Only by embracing the chaos of annihilation, merging into this great tide, can one attain eternal rebirth!”

His words were mad and obsessive, yet carried a strange persuasiveness, pounding against their minds alongside the deep hum of the Shadow Engine and the hissing of the spatial rifts.

“Fuck your bullshit!” Grona roared first, her massive battle-axe pointing at the Shadow Eye. “Drop that seed! Or I’ll chop you into firewood!” Her roar, like thunder, forcibly shattered the eerie atmosphere.

The Shadow Eye’s black eyes turned to Grona, his lips curling into a sneer. “Savage orc… your strength stems from the roar of bloodline. One day, it will destroy you in madness. But we… shall transcend the bonds of flesh…”

Before he finished speaking, Ali moved! She knew reasoning with such a madman was pointless—only action mattered! Her figure shot forward like an arrow merging with shadow, leaping instantly from the observation platform and landing precisely on a trembling maintenance passage. Her toes tapped the surface, propelling her at astonishing speed toward the Shadow Eye’s platform, her short blade aimed straight at his vital point!

“Foolish!” The Shadow Eye sneered, not even moving—only lifting a single finger.

The purplish energy swirling around him instantly coalesced into several twisted, tentacle-like energy whips, shrieking as they tore through space, lashing out at the charging Ali! Their speed far exceeded any enemy they had faced before!

Ali’s pupils contracted. Her body twisted to its absolute limit, barely dodging two strikes, parrying the third with her blade—but the fourth energy whip struck her abdomen with brutal force!

Boom!

Ali was hit as if struck by a high-speed hovercar. She spat blood, flying backward and crashing hard against the edge of the observation platform, barely avoiding a plunge into the energy abyss below. Her old wound tore open again; blood rapidly soaked her clothes, her breath growing faint.

“Ali-sis!” Lingna screamed and rushed over.

“Overestimating yourself.” The Shadow Eye calmly retracted his energy whips, as if swatting away a fly. “Within this space dominated by my master’s power, I am the law.”

He refocused on the box in his hands, pouring even more purplish energy into the seed. The last sliver of green dimmed visibly; the seed’s shape began to warp, its surface now marked with faint, eye-like eerie patterns.

“Zero! Disrupt him! Grona, prepare for a frontal assault!” Lingna’s eyes burned red as she tried to staunch Ali’s bleeding. “Now!”

Zero’s console immediately fired several interference beams—but before they reached the Shadow Eye, they were effortlessly deflected and absorbed by his surrounding purplish energy field. Grona roared, her powered armor’s thrusters firing at maximum output, launching her like a cannonball down another maintenance passage, her battle-axe blazing with crimson battle aura.

Yet the Shadow Eye didn’t even glance at her. He merely waved his hand casually.

Boom!!

On both sides of the maintenance passage Grona charged down, explosions erupted without warning! Massive metal components and energy conduits shattered as if torn apart by an invisible hand, hurling violent energy streams straight at Grona. Clearly, the Shadow Eye’s control over this place surpassed imagination—he could trigger explosions at will.

Grona had no time to react. She crossed her battle-axe before her and braced.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The consecutive blasts swallowed her. Her powered armor blared overload alarms. The shockwave hurled her backward, slamming her into the observation platform’s railing, crushing it into twisted metal. Her armor suffered multiple critical damages—she was immobilized.

Overwhelming! Total power domination! In this environment, the Shadow Eye was nearly invincible!

“Useless… your struggles only make the ‘Dawn’s’ corruption… more delicious.” The Shadow Eye reveled in the seed now nearly entirely purplish, its last faint green glow flickering like a dying candle.

Just as Lingna felt despair creeping in, Zero’s console suddenly emitted a sharp, urgent alert—different from the alarms.

“Anomalous surge detected in Shadow Engine energy! Core chaotic vortex stability plummeting! Spatial rifts expanding! According to energy modeling… the engine will undergo total overload and collapse upon countdown completion!”

A massive, blood-red holographic countdown appeared above Zero’s console:

【00:03:27】

【00:03:26】

…!

Beneath the countdown, a small line of text read: “Consequence of collapse: Complete spatial structure rupture, triggering chain dimensional collapse. Affected range: Unknown (minimum: this star system).”

The Shadow Eye clearly sensed the engine’s anomaly. For the first time, his fanatical smile froze—replaced by a flicker of shock… and even greater, wild excitement?

“Ha ha ha! Here it comes! Finally! Faster than expected!” He didn’t panic—he grew more ecstatic. “Collapse! Tear apart! In this great destruction, open the gate for my master’s descent!”

He didn’t care about the consequences of the engine’s collapse. He craved it. His goal wasn’t merely to corrupt the seed—he intended to use the engine’s catastrophic energy to blast open a massive, stable portal capable of allowing the Devourer of Worlds’ true body—or a far larger fragment—to pass through!

He must be stopped! The seed must be reclaimed—or the collapse prevented—before the engine detonates!

But how? They couldn’t even get close to him!

The countdown ticked on mercilessly.

【00:02:15】

【00:02:14】

…!

Lingna stared at the blood-red numbers, at her wounded comrades, at the mad and powerful Shadow Eye, at the seed on the verge of total corruption—and a crushing wave of helplessness and despair washed over her.

Is there… truly no way?

As her gaze swept over the chaotic vortex of energy below, a mad idea—born from Lin Mo’s earlier reckless act—flashed like a final spark in her mind.

Energy… detonation… leverage…

The Shadow Engine’s energy was so wild and chaotic—what if… what if she could divert even a fraction of it toward the Shadow Eye? Even a tiny amount might cause massive disruption—just as Brother Lin Mo had done!

But who? How? Zero was heavily damaged. Grona and Ali were incapacitated. Only…

Lingna’s eyes fell upon her own right arm—the crystal limb, riddled with cracks, yet pulsing with strange power.

A reckless plan formed instantly in her mind. Extreme risk. Nearly certain death. Possibly accelerating the engine’s collapse.

But there was no time to hesitate!

The countdown kept ticking.

【00:01:03】

【00:01:02】

…!