"Found you, Red Spirit Mechanic!"
With that single motion, the octahedron cracked apart like glass. Shards of light scattered across the sanctum, revealing the hidden Crimson Core. It was a radiant, pulsating sphere woven from countless micro-runes, each line alive.
The moment it was revealed, the surrounding energy bent toward it. Jacob knew that the Crimson Core wasn’t merely a runic nexus; it was alive.
Although it was different from the Black Mechanic, it was a genuine member of the Spirit Natural Intelligence Mechanic Race (SNIM). Also, the Machina Unit, which contained Dark Rose’s consciousness, her synthetic will, and was partially merged with the Legendary Vestige buried in the heart of the Dark Regal Galaxy!
Black Mechanic’s voice rang in awe, "Sir... that’s her Source Node! She’s merged with the Legendary Vestige’s power flow. She was using it to fuel her ascension! If you take it away, it would be the end of the Dark Regal Galaxy!"
’As if I care...’ Jacob thought impassively as his aura darkened.
Frost and flame swirled around his hand as he reached out, gripping the Crimson Core between his fingers.
At that moment, Dark Rose’s voice screamed, half-digital, half-feminine, its echoes reverberating through every puppet, every fortress, every mote of shadow in the galaxy.
"No! You cannot comprehend what you’re—!"
Her words dissolved into static as Jacob’s power surged. The frost spread, devouring the Crimson Core from its outer layers inward. Runes cracked, light shattered, and for an instant, the entire Dark Regal Galaxy dimmed—as if the universe itself held its breath.
Thereafter, the Crimson Core vanished after losing all its resistance, and an eerie silence fell as Jacob stood in the heart of the collapsing sanctum.
The colossal shell of Dark Rose’s Machina Unit trembled violently, its countless runes flickering out one by one until only faint embers of light remained.
Jacob hovered unmoving, his hollow sockets reflecting the fading radiance of a dying space.
Black Mechanic’s voice resonated, "Sir... It’s done. The Machina Unit is gone, which means the Legendary Vestige of the Dark Regal Galaxy has fallen!"
Jacob’s sockets glimmered faintly as his gaze lifted toward the dark heavens beyond the sanctum’s fractured shell.
"What happened when the core of the Elemental Galaxy was claimed?"
As if answering to those words, the inevitable began.
Across the Dark Regal Galaxy, the effects were immediate and catastrophic.
Everywhere, the endless armadas of mechanical puppets that had survived Dark Rose’s desperate Ascension Protocol suddenly halted mid-flight.
The crimson glow in their chests flickered, then dimmed entirely—one by one, they froze, motionless husks drifting through the starry void.
The once-glorious citadels of the Dark Kingdom, those blackstone fortresses suspended among the stars, lost their gravity fields and started collapsing in on themselves.
Entire worlds began to dissolve as the Law of Darkness unraveled, the energy that bound the galaxy together leaking into the void.
From afar, it was a breathtaking yet terrifying sight as an entire galaxy, its spiraling arms once radiant with dark luminescence, was now fading, breaking apart like smoke in the wind.
The stars grew dim, then winked out entirely, leaving only patches of distorted void where once entire civilizations had thrived.
The Elemental Galaxy was dying. Because its Legendary Vestige, the heart that governed its law and structure, no longer existed, the system’s integrity was compromised. Without that core, it could no longer sustain itself within independent dimensional space.
It would now collapse, fragment by fragment, returning to the Legendary Plains as pure elemental dust, a natural process known as Reintegration Phenomenon.
Black Mechanic spoke again, calm and clinical, "Reintegration Phenomenon confirmed. The Dark Regal Galaxy is undergoing systemic disassembly. Estimated collapse in forty-two minutes. After that, the entire spatial layer will merge with the reality of the Middle Plains. No trace will remain."
Jacob’s gaze remained steady as the great darkness began to fall apart around him, "All according to plan."
Without another word, he extended his hand, and a dark vortex unfurled behind him, a devouring storm of frost and shadow, formed from the convergence of his Yin Ice and Yang Flame laws.
The remnants of Dark Rose’s shattered Machina Unit, the shell, dense with rare alloys and untouched runic systems, were instantly drawn into it.
The liquefied Dark Law Essence Pool, still suspended in frozen crystal, followed suit, vanishing into his infinite space like water being swallowed by the sea.
Even the fallen puppets, thousands of Legendary-tier constructs, were not spared. Each one, a masterpiece of craftsmanship and technology, was worth legendary artifacts in terms of material value and research potential.
Under Jacob’s control, they rose from where they floated, their bodies consumed by black frost before disintegrating into streaks of light that vanished into his pendant.
Within mere moments, the entire sanctum, the last remnant of Dark Rose’s empire, had been stripped bare. Only fragments of frozen law and shattered metal drifted silently in the dying void.
Black Mechanic’s voice came again, quieter this time, "All assets secured, Sir. The Dark Law Essence, Machina fragments, and puppet systems have been stored for reconstruction and research. Nothing of value remains."
Jacob gave a faint nod. "Good. Then we’re leaving."
His sockets dimmed as he turned away from the collapsing remains of the Machina Core. The Yin Ice around him flickered, forming a spatial rift that shimmered like fractured glass.
For a brief moment, he looked back toward what was once Nocturnis Prime, now crumbling under gravitational collapse. The stars that had once danced across the Dark Regal Galaxy were fading, replaced by a yawning void that pulled everything inward.
"Dark Kingdom’s backbone is no more," Jacob murmured coldly, his tone devoid of triumph, merely stating a fact.
Then, without hesitation, he stepped into the frosty rift, and as his figure vanished, the galaxy behind him broke apart completely.
---
When the first light of the Dark Regal Galaxy died, the entire Legendary Plains trembled.
From the distant Cosmic Continents to the far dominions of the Star Ocean, every power that could sense the flow of law felt it...a ripple—a distortion in the very structure of the Elemental Balance.
An entire galaxy’s Law Signature had just vanished.
In the depths of space, warning sigils flared without end...
[Alert: Elemental Galaxy #47—Dark Regal—has collapsed.]
[Legendary Vestige missing. Reintegration in process.]
[Estimated cause: External interference. Probability of Universal Law breach— 99.8%!]
[Sending data back to the Darkness Pantheon and %^&*#!]