Internal Cataclysm

As the battle in the forest of the world of Ky'lar between the elemental spirits and invaders intensified, another struggle unfolded...

(¡¡¡¡¡ZWUUUUUUUU-KABUUUUUUUUM...!!!!!)

While in the outer firmament Mireya's existence strained in a divine acceleration, the foundations of her inner world began to undergo a silent and terrifying transformation.

(¡¡¡¡¡SHHHHHWUUUUUUUU-ZLLLLSSSSS...!!!!!)

In that vast astral space constructed from the remnants of countless entities, the boundaries between memories and mystical forms did not break by force, but rather began to lose their existential meaning, infected by an amorphous influence that ascended from the darkest corners of the soul.

(¡¡¡¡¡CRIIIISSSSSS-ZUUUUUUUUUUUU...!!!!!)

The distortion began to manifest subtly on the margins of the Candy Forests, one of the regions born from the assimilation of spiritual fragments.

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRRIIIIIISSS-FIIIIUUUUUUU...!!!!!)

As a result, the confectionery vegetation and sugar-crystal trees did not break or fall; instead, their silhouettes began to lose definition.

(¡¡¡¡¡GLUUUUUUSSS-SHHHHHHHHHH...!!!!!)

Soon the vibrant colors of the area began to bleach, turning dull, while the sugary trunks and leaves trembled erratically, blurring between what they were and a mass of rancid, viscous static.

(¡¡¡¡¡ZZZZZZZZZZ-UUUUUUUUOOOOO...!!!!!)

In this way, the space around the branches grew dense, as if the very concept of matter were tiring of maintaining its form, transforming little by little into a dark, meaningless substance that devoured the surrounding light.

(¡¡¡¡¡BZZZZZZ-VUUUUUM... BZZZZZZ-VUUUUUM...!!!!!)

And once everything was consumed, the infection continued its insidious advance...

(¡¡¡¡¡KHOOOOOOOOOU-ZRRRRRRRRRR...!!!!!)

Soon, the air, usually charged with energy, became heavy and rancid, carrying with it a dull, intermittent humming that came from nowhere.

(¡¡¡¡¡VROOOOOOOOMM-GZZZZZ... GZZZZZ...!!!!!)

In turn, when one of the sugary structures was touched by that formless, abyssal vacuum, its contours stretched and twisted into impossible angles that defied structure, losing all of its substance in favor of an abstract, shifting penumbra.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡KRRR-TSHHH-VROOO-VOID...!!!!!!)

And every zone was invaded...

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRREEEAAK-GLUBBBZZZZZ-VLOOOOSSHHHH...!!!!!)

Beyond the limits of the forest, the City of Gears began to be devoured, while the intricate mechanisms that sustained the internal logic fused with the ascending blackness, warping into vague and unrecognizable forms, mixing the liquefied remains of the forest with the deformed structures of the city in a demented soup.

(¡¡¡¡¡MUUUURRRRR-CHRRRIIII-SLLLLUUUURP...!!!!!)

As the corruption advanced, the adorable and the macabre fused in an aberrant manner.

(¡¡¡¡¡CRAAAAK-CHUUUUU-SZZZZZZZZUUUU...!!!!!)

The aisles of broken toys, the valleys of warm milk cups, and the gardens of blood-stained roses began to collapse onto one another, dissolving their forms.

(¡¡¡¡¡GZRRRRRRRR-SHHHHHRRRR-VUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!)

But that spreading, amorphous stain did not merely erase the contours of the landscape; for it possessed a hungry, parasitic will that sought to assimilate every spark of existence present within the soul.

(¡¡¡¡¡SZZZZZ-GLUUUURP-VROOOOOMMM...!!!!!)

That infection did not destroy the life inhabiting the micro-realms; instead, it claimed it, distorting it until it became part of its own nameless tide.

(¡¡¡¡¡FLUUUUU-KRRRIII-SZZZZZZZZUUUUUU!!!!!)

High above in the bleached skies, entire flocks of gigantic, luminous jade butterflies flapped their translucent wings in a desperate attempt to ascend toward the upper margins of the soul, fleeing the rancid stench that rose from the abyss.

(¡¡¡¡¡FSHHHHH-WWUUUUUUUM-KKHHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)

However, the air itself seemed to become dense and heavy.

(¡¡¡¡¡SHWIIIII-FSSSSSSS-ZLLLLLLUUUUUUU...!!!!!)

Only for immediately afterward, filaments of an opaque, shifting substance to emerge from the blackness creeping across the horizon, stretching out like silent lashes.

(¡¡¡¡¡SHWIIIPP-KRRRSHHH-ZZZZZZUUUUU!!!!!)

Capturing the butterflies in mid-flight...

(¡¡¡¡¡BRRRRRZZZZT-KRRRIII-SLLLLUUUURP...!!!!!)

And immediately, their energetic bodies began to vibrate with violent static, losing their delicate forms as their wings fused with the ascending penumbra.

(¡¡¡¡¡CHUUUUK-VROOOOOOOOOMM...!!!!!)

As a result, their essences were forcibly integrated, becoming dull flashes within the dark mass that continued its advance.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡GUR-GUR-SNAP-SHRRR...!!!!!!)

In turn, below, on the withered hills, panic spread among the creatures that shaped the environment.

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRRSHHH-PLOPLLLL-VUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!)

The candy beasts, beings of sugar and crystal that used to inhabit the gothic and childlike forests, tried to flee in a stampede, but their legs began to sink into the liquefied ground; like a dense, absorbing swamp pulling them downward.

(¡¡¡¡¡GZRRRRSSSSS-GLUBBB-WWUUUUUUUU...!!!!!)

And as the corruption enveloped them, the candy of their bodies turned ashen and viscous, losing all rigidity; while their muffled laments fell silent when their fragmented consciousnesses were adsorbed by the tide, transforming their figures into abstract lumps writhing beneath the surface of the stain.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAK-VROOO-TSHHHH-BOOOMMM...!!!!!!!)

Not even the resistance of towering machinery golems, composed of colossi of iron and bronze that guarded the borders of the floating cities, who attempted to defend, was enough.

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRRRRRAAAAK-ZZZZZZZZT-VROOOOOOOOO!!!!!)

Their internal gears roared with force, releasing flashes of energy to repel the mass creeping up their limbs...

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRR-KLLAAAANK-SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!)

... But in the end, it was useless.

(¡¡¡¡¡SZZZZZZZ-GLUUUURP-KRRRSHHH!!!!!)

The corruption did not crash against their armor; instead, it seeped through the joints of the metals, fusing the springs and mechanical parts with the environment.

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRRREEEEE-FSHHHHHH-WWUUUUUUUU...!!!!!)

Thus, the structures of the giants bent unnaturally, losing their logic and solidity, until the metal colossi became deformed, floating statues that became part of the very pandemonium advancing without brakes toward the core of the being.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZVUUUUUU-BRRRRR-CLANG-BOOOMMM...!!!!!!!!)

However, facing that infinite tide, only one being remained standing in the midst of the collapse, ready to protect the last spark.

"You shall advance no further!!"

In front of the ocean of madness, a colossal presence emerged that defied the immensity of the vacuum.

(¡¡¡¡¡WWUUUUUUUUUM-SSSHHHHHH-GROMMMMMM!!!!!)

Manifesting, the true divine essence of Echidna, stripped of her youthful appearance to manifest as a majestic serpent of astronomical proportions, whose titanic body seemed to have no end as it coiled between the floating realms, confronted the madness.

(¡¡¡¡¡KRRRIIIII-SHWWUUUUU-ZZZZZZZZ!!!!!)

Repelling the tide, her scales, of a radiance so deep it reflected the glow of the inner stars, radiated a golden and ancestral energy that cut through the penumbra.

"Listen to me, every inhabitant who has not yet been assimilated...!!"

With a size capable of enveloping entire worlds, the serpentine deity raised her colossal head above the clouds of static, revealing eyes that shone like twin suns and a crown of mystical horns that vibrated with the accumulated power of eons.

"From this point forward, for the sake of everyone, that thing cannot advance!!"

And in a display of power...

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡GWWRAAAAAAA-SHWIIIING-VROOOOOMMM...!!!!!!!!)

The clash between the Serpent Goddess and the infinite tide shook the foundations of the astral plane with unprecedented violence.

(¡¡¡¡¡WWUUUUUUM-KRAAAAASHHH-GROMMMMMM!!!!!)

When the viscous and deformed mass of corruption lunged to devour, the humongous serpent struck head-on, using her own body as a shield.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡KRA-TOOOOMMM-ZVUUU-FSHHH-CRASHHH!!!!!!)

As a result, the friction between both powers generated a violent cataclysm...

(¡¡¡¡¡GZRRRRRRR-VRAAAAAAAHHH-SHHHHHRRRR!!!!!)

While the tide attempted to integrate and liquefy the deity's limbs, Echidna roared with a fury that made dimensions tremble, releasing blasts of a pressure so dense it disintegrated the deformed silhouettes at the slightest contact.

(¡¡¡¡¡WHWIIIIISSHHH-CRAAAAASHHH-FSHUUUUUUUU...!!!!!)

Immediately after, lashes of her monumental tail swept through entire sectors of the corruption, crushing the fragments of the integrated golems and ashen beasts, forcing the pandemonium to recede in waves of dark vapor.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡ZHHH-KRRRRR-VREEE-BOOOM-DZIN-DZIN!!!!!!)

However, the tide possessed no physical body to tire; it was an infinite ocean of meaninglessness that regenerated instantly, closing back around the titanic curves of the serpent.

"Tsk... Come on, fight, Partner...!!"

But while Echidna, suspended in the center of the chaos, gritted her teeth...

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡BRRRR-KABOOOOMMM-SHWWWAAAAA...!!!!!!!!)

Outside, in the physical firmament, Mireya's silhouette began to tremble violently in the midst of her ascent.

"¡¡¡¡¡VRAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHH-ZRRRRRRR-OOOOOOOOMMM...!!!!!"

Thus unleashing a roar that shook the heavens.