Northern stood over Maw'Thoraxis's corpse, hand hovering above the chitinous armor. Around him, the domain was dying. The walls had stopped pulsing. The gravitational distortions were fading. Reality was slowly knitting itself back together.
"Aoi. Begin analysis."
[Analyzing defeated entity...]
[Maw'Thoraxis data processing...]
[Warning: This entity is significantly more complex than previous copies]
[Estimated time to full analysis: 3 hours, 47 minutes]
Northern settled into a seated position on a bone platform, hand still pressed against the corpse. "Take your time. I want everything."
The analysis began.
Through Shingan's layers, Northern watched the essence patterns unravel. The adaptive armor mechanisms. The form-shifting biology. The phase capabilities. The regeneration framework tied to distributed soul cores.
All of it mapped. Catalogued. Understood.
[Analysis 34% complete...]
But something was wrong.
[Analysis 34% complete...]
The percentage wasn't moving.
