Chapter 89 Igniting The Null-heart

• The silence in Xylos's core chamber intensified, becoming a tangible, suffocating weight. The surrounding crystalline walls absorbed all light, turning into windows into utter blackness. Phantom currents of cold, vacant energy swirled around the Veilkeepers, pressing in, threatening to erase their thoughts, their wills, their very essence. This was the Oblivion Engine's direct counter, a chilling assault designed not to inflict pain, but to unmake.
• Elara, her hand pressed against the immense, dark surface of the dormant Heartstone, felt the vast, silent hunger of pure nothingness attempting to consume her own light. The Moon-Tear Shard flared desperately, its vibrant luminescence struggling against the encroaching nullity. This wasn’t like battling the Shadow Weaver’s despair, which resonated with existing emotion. This was an entity that sought to silence all feeling, all thought, all existence.
• "It’s trying to drain us!" Dr. Reed gasped, her voice strained, clutching her head as a wave of profound apathy threatened to extinguish her scientific curiosity. "It’s not attacking, it’s… absorbing!"