The voice... it spoke directly into his mind, and it took only a second of thought for White to realize it was his Darkness.

White understood the words, and it forced him to rise to his feet.

The change was immediately picked up by the others.

They had seen him sitting without showing much interest, yet all of a sudden, he was standing on his feet.

"We should be onto them in ten seconds now."

Snow’s voice echoed through the room as White turned to Galaxy Altherion, who just happened to be staring right back at him.

"Got something?"

He asked, and White replied,

"You might want to put on your armor too, Galaxy Altherion."

He said before turning to Callisto and Phinx.

"And maybe ask them both to remain inside for the first few minutes of meeting them."

"You want us to sit out of it?"

Phinx asked, turning back to him in disbelief.

"They’re here..."

The voice echoed again in White’s mind, and he paused his reply, turning his eyes outward instead.

The footage had yet to even show the ship, but White, with his sharp senses, could easily zoom into the far distance, and there he found it.

A humongous golden-colored jet... or at least that was what it was supposed to be.

Right now, the jet was stained in dark colors, and dark mist radiated from its body as it slowly floated forward in the void like a ghost ship.

The footage caught up six seconds later as the ship came to a slow stop.

They all stared silently at the jet before Snow’s report came in.

"Our scanners can’t detect any life from the jet... Captain."

She said, but Galaxy Altherion’s eyes had narrowed to pins.

As much as those words sounded true, and there was indeed no life coming from the ship, he could feel his own Light Essence Core reacting violently as if it had come upon a natural enemy.

"Phinx, Callisto."

"Yes, Captain."

"Yes, Captain."

"Stand by."

He ordered.

"Snow."

"Yes, Captain?"

"Remain here, and be prepared to turn the ship back at my command."

He ordered.

"Llumino, White."

He called out to them both.

"We move out."

The hatch opened in the next moment, and all three men stepped out of the jet.

With their power, they could all easily hover in space, coming to stand before their jet, all eyes fixed on the dark, misty vessel.

No words were spoken at all, only silence, but then the ship itself, which had been slowly moving, came to a complete freezing stop.

Around ten more seconds of silence passed before the hatch beneath it opened, sending pitch-black shadows drifting out.

What followed next was a sickening smell and aura that made Callisto and Phinx, back in the jet, flinch backward.

It was the unmistakable aura of death, and then,

STEP!

The sound of footsteps increased out from the shadows, and what emerged... was beyond anything the Astral Guard Squad had ever seen.

STEP!

The first being to emerge from the shadows stood at a height that surpassed every single one of them, including White himself, towering nearly six meters tall.

Long white hair flowed from his head down to his calves, drifting through space without weight, every strand carrying a faint black glow at its edges.

Three horns curved upward from his skull, the first rising straight toward the sky before bending slightly inward near the tips, while two shorter ones sat beneath it, extending toward opposite sides of his head.

His face possessed no warmth, pale skin stretched tightly over sharp features, smooth to the point of appearing carved rather than born.

His eyes were completely black, yet at the very center of each iris rested a tiny crimson point that remained unmoving.

Thin dark markings spread from beneath his eyes and disappeared along his throat.

His upper body remained bare, revealing a physique built entirely of lean muscle.

Every muscle fiber was deeply defined beneath his skin, his abdomen segmented into perfectly aligned ridges.

One highly noticeable feature was his arms... they were too long.

Even while standing upright, his fingers reached beyond his knees, each ending in black claws slightly curved inward, with faint distortions continuously rippling around their edges.

A long black garment hung from his waist downward, the fabric endlessly trailing and dissolving into dark smoke beneath him.

His crimson irises settled on the three before narrowing directly at White.

Then, he smiled, revealing rows of uneven crimson teeth slowly exposing themselves from behind pale lips, stretching far wider than any human mouth naturally should.

---

STEP!

A second set of footsteps echoed as another figure emerged afterward.

Unlike the first, this one carried a more humanoid frame.

He stood slightly shorter, though even then he was still easily taller than all of them, standing at around four meters in height, and his presence carried an even sharper pressure.

Long black hair mixed with streaks of white flowed behind him, reaching far past his waist.

Two branch-like horns extended from his skull, spreading upward in jagged patterns that resembled blackened roots.

His face was beautiful... not handsome.

Beautiful in a way that felt deeply unnatural.

His skin carried a deathly pale tone while black markings spread from beneath his neck, disappearing into the loose white robes hanging over his body.

Unlike the first being, his body remained mostly concealed beneath layered garments, though the exposed parts revealed a toned physique with unnaturally smooth muscle definition beneath the skin.

But what truly caught White’s attention was the long, three-meter crimson-bladed katana resting at his waist, dark smoke endlessly drifting from the sheath itself.

His fingers rested lightly over the handle, revealing nails that were entirely black from root to tip.

Then his eyes opened.

There were no pupils, only endless darkness, and within that darkness, multiple crimson rings slowly rotated.

The moment they appeared, the surrounding space released faint cracking sounds as he, too, turned his gaze directly toward White.