These transcendent beings... despite being sucked into a terrifying black hole, showed wide grins on their foes.
They were utterly helpless against the black hole. But they didn't show any fear. They opened their mouth as if they were trying to laugh. But no sound escaped their mouth as they were stretched and pulled into the expanding abyss.
Up above, the battle of the illuminated beings faltered. The sudden appearance of the black hole was a great interest... even to illuminated level characters like them.
Then, a wave of profound, deranged joy emanated from the seven illuminated beings of the Celestial Alliance.
"It worked!" The figure from the Undeath Sect shrieked. "Yrenlobeng! The Lost Paradise! It opens!"
Without hesitation the seven illuminated beings from the Celestial Alliance abandoned their opponents. They charged into the black hole. Roaring in triumph. Showing no sign of fear at all.
These seven people were different from the unwilling victims. They were not sucked in. They entered it willingly.
Their forms shimmered bright just before they vanished into the swirling void. Emitting victorious vibe of the plunderers. The ones who were eager to claim whatever power lay beyond.
The six illuminated beings from the Grandmoon Kingdom exchanged quick, resolute glances. Their faces were grim.
The Moonlight Queen's jaw was set. Her eyes were burning with fierce determination. "We cannot let them have whatever they wanted down there." She declared. Her voice rang with intense authority. "The destination... might lead to a place of unspeakable power."
"True!" The prime minister nodded. "There might be a chance for an untold danger inside. But there is also a high chance of a great opportunity inside. If they control it, all will be lost."
With a unified, decisive motion, the five champions of the Grandmoon Kingdom charged to the black hole too. They plunged themselves into the swirling vortex. Their auras flared one last time before they too disappeared into the consuming darkness.
Master Gerath looked at the two great dragons he summoned through sacrificing his arm. He looked at his missing arm and sighed. And then, he also flashed into the spatial hole. Following the others. Leaving the arena to the terrifying silence of the void.
The two dragons he summoned roared their last defiant challenge... before disappearing into nothing.
Jack, was still on the ground. He could feel the black hole's suction intensify. It was a physical force. Pulling him forcefully. Dragging him forward. It wasn't a status effect that his [Mythical Adaptation] could handle.
He gritted his teeth. Digging his heels into the collapsing earth. Fighting the suction power with every ounce of his strength.
He could see more and more fainted civilians closer to the vortex were already spiraling away. Their limp forms disappeared into the black hole's event horizon.
And Jack soon realized that it wasn't jus physical suction power that tried to lure him to the spatial hole. He could feel strange mental entrancement tried to affect him. Urging him to jump into the black hole. But the [Entrancement Immunity] from his [Mythical Adaptation] quickly nullified it.
His frowned. It was alright for him to stay in his current location to fight the power of the black hole's suction. But, if he tried to do so while moving, that would be terribly difficult.
He was strong. But he wasn't the opponent for such mystical phenomenon. Even staying in place wasn't that easy. Jack was gradually losing ground. While... more and more civilians were thrown into the vortex of the unknown.
Rune flew around him. Frantic. Her crimson light was dimming under the crushing pressure.
"Such a damned situation!" Jack swore in a desperate whisper.
He could abandon these civilians to escape from the stadium. Or he could follow the illuminated ones. Throwing himself into the unknown by letting his body by sucked into the black hole.
Gritting his teeth, Jack decisively made a choice. He chose neither choice. Instead, his hand darted to his [Spatial Belt]. Grabbing the [Switch Medallion] kept inside.
"Switch!" He muttered. Inserting a little of his mystic energy into the 'fake' artifact. Nobody might be watching at the moment, but he didn't want to take an unnecessary risk.
A blinding bright light erupted from the medallion. Pure and white. It flared outwards. Momentarily pushing back the encroaching darkness of the black hole. It was a flash of raw energy. Tinged with spatial vibration.
Unseen due to the bright light, Jack activated his [Incarnation Shift] and his human body transformed. It shimmered and distorted. His form dissolved into a swirling vortex of spectral energy. One that wasn't affected by the pull of the black hole's suction.
When the light faded, Jack's human body was gone.
In its place hovered Jack Mystery. A translucent specter. Both mysteriously ethereal and crispy clear at the same time. Materializing where Jack Night once stood.
The specter wore his signature attire... a spectral top hat, a featureless mask, a pristine tailcoat, and a billowing, majestic cloak.
His presence was untraceable. Emitting a chill that defied the heat of the collapsing arena. He was no longer flesh and blood now. But pure, conscious spirit.
The specter was detached from the physical world in many ways. He was unaffected by the black hole's suction. The great pull that had consumed almost everything else simply washed over him. Becoming the pressure he perceived but did not feel in the same devastating way.
After all, he was an anomaly. A breach in the universal rules of physics.
"Rune!" Jack Mystery intoned in a low, echoing whisper. A sound that was very different from the human voice he had just possessed. "Plan the most efficient path. Target... saving as many as possible. Priority... innocent people. Guide me!"
Rune had also been affected by Jack's transformation. She was now in the form of a wisp. She seemed to gather herself after hearing the instruction. Her light brightened. Shifting to a steady, resolute turquoise.
Jack Mystery assessed the situation with cold, calculating eyes. His crew members, and many unconscious civilians, were safe in the Mirror Mansion. The black hole was still slowly consuming everything in the stadium. It was still sucking a great number of spectators still trapped here.
These people were doomed. He couldn't save them all. He knew this with brutal certainty. But he could save some of the rest.
Guided by Rune, he moved. Floating and flying in a calculated path. The hand mirror Jack Night had held before was now hovering beside the specter. Controlled by the telekinetic power of his [Mysterious Anomaly].
The [Mythical Mirror Realm] which linked the mirror to the gateway to his Mirror Mansion rippled. The connection wasn't cut despite his transformation.
The hand mirror darted forward. Its movements were swift and precise. Completely under Jack Mystery's direct, mental control. The specter followed it. His movement made him look like a silent, ghostly blur.
Jack phased through the debris of the stadium. Ignoring the dying struggles of the transcendent invaders and the insect monsters trapped under the collapsing pillars.
He swept across the ground. His incorporeal body passed through the solid object easily. It could also manipulate objects and people with a tiny percentage of his anomalous power.
He spotted a cluster of fainted children, all wearing the same uniforms. Their small forms were tumbling towards the black vortex.
With a precise application of [Mysterious Anomaly] telekinesis, he pulled them back. Using an irresistible force, he redirected their flying trajectories towards the Mirror Mansion's 'entrance'.
The glossy surface of the hand mirror rippled. Its portal was activated. Swallowing the children whole into the Mirror Mansion.
He moved on. An elderly couple was next. He threw the pairs, whose faces were peaceful in unconsciousness, into the mirror.
Then, a group of fainted young adults got their turn to be taken to safety. Followed by a family of four. And then a young couple...
Jack worked with a terrifying efficiency. He was a specter of salvation amidst the encroaching doom.
He was racing for time though. So, he didn't waste time to lift and move the ones he rescued gently. Instead, he threw and shoved them roughly. Accelerating his rescue speed significantly.
He saved many... But, many more were sucked into the black hole. Too many. He was just a single specter, however powerful. The sheer scale and nature of the black hole was beyond his ability to fully counter.
Jack gritted his teeth and ignored the ones he couldn't save. He focused on the ones he could reach and save.
He rescued dozens more. One after another, the unconscious forms vanished into the waiting safety of his personal pocket dimension.
Still... for every person he saved, five more vanished into the swirling maw of the [Yrenlobeng Pearl]'s creation.
The bad news... the black hole was still expanding. A silent, hungry force that was threatening to consume everything. The arena, the city, the very island of Grandmoon... All seemed to groan under the threat.
Jack continued his work... until there were no more within his reach. No more living people were in the arena now. They were either sucked into the ominous black hole, or tucked safely within his personal Mirror Mansion. He had done all he could.
It was then that the ground beneath his levitating, spectral feet buckled. The stadium's remaining structures groaned and collapsed.
But the good news was... the black hole also collapsed. The terrifying dark vortex grew smaller and smaller. Its suction force got weaker and weaker. Until it... completely disappeared. Turning back into the ominous black pearl. The [Yrenlobeng Pearl].
"What the hell..." Jack muttered a faint whisper. All of those people trapped inside the black hole... would they have any chance to return?
He had no desire to come close to the pearl. His intuition said it was extremely dangerous. He felt that it was waiting... Waiting for a prey. Waiting to unleash the black hole calamity again.
Jack immediately directed his [Eyes of Judgement] toward the silent, floating black pearl.
[Name: Yrenlobeng Pearl]
[Type: Living Artifact]
[Durability: Indestructible]
[Special Ability: Spatial Gate to the Lost Paradise]
[Description: This creature is linked to a hidden spatial realm known as the Lost Paradise. It desires to bring every living creature within its reach, especially human, to the realm to repopulate it. Only a 'fated person' that acquired the [Yrenlobeng Heart] within the realm could control it.]
Jack speechlessly looked at the description. After a while, he finally muttered another curse. "What a load of crap! It's a damned... human-trafficking living object."