Before the SOS could leave Gaia, the Tide of Samsara scrambled it.

What was a clean message that passed through the information dimension was reduced to noise.

Noise that manifested in the form of changing reality.

Variables and constants shifted.

People’s heights, weights, volumes, and other parameters shifted in reality itself.

Any change in the information dimension was necessarily correlated with a corresponding change in causal reality.

R̶̗͇̩̯̮͎͕̝͈̒́͂̒͑̍̃̒̊̒̍̿͘͠͠Ǘ̶̧̧͖̟̭̤̪͂́̏M̴̡̫̻̫͖̬͚͓̏̑̅̈́͋̀̔̈́̐̅̈́̕̕B̶̡̼̪͔̱͔̋̚L̶̯̤͖̠͍͓͆̈́̒̈̄̆̊E̴̡̖͐̋͒̃̋!̸̢̯͇̪̘̺͚͚̝͉͔̞̣̃́̋!̷̙͉̯̘̝̯͈͕͎͚͉͕̦̩̙͐͌͐̿͆͆͋̅̌͒!̴̞̠̫̜̞̣͖͌́̿́̅̈́̾̾̈͆̾̔̈́͗͝!̴̛̣̖͖̈́͂͂̈́͊́̓̐͘̕͝͠͝!̸̢̣̹̮̯͇͗̓͌̅͑̃̾̿̆̕͝

The virus tried again.

And yet, once more, the Tide of Samsara scrambled the message.

Scream for help, call for reinforcements, screech for refuge as it tried, the Tide of Samsara had developed the necessary protocols to block the SOS sent by the virus infection. These were protocols developed to prevent a nebular invasion as had occurred when the virus on Gaia had been destroyed more than thirteen years ago.

The entropitrons that composed the Annica Current of the Tide of Samsara could disrupt any message attempted to be sent through the information dimension through the power of chaos. After all, a message was conceptually a phenomenon of order. There was structure. There were associations of information that traveled with the message.

The Tide of Samsara used the power of chaos to simply scramble the message, making them complete noise as the messages left the Planet Amadeus III.

Any virus branches that may have received only noise.

There were not going to be any reinforcements.

There was not going to be any help.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The Tide of Samsara swept across the entire planet, erasing the final remaining bits of the deep-biosphere bacteria.

It was gone.

The world had been recolored.

Heaven and earth within the planet had been completely altered.

Those in outer space gaped at the radical changes in what was now a completely unrecognizable planet.

RUMBLE...

The world around them slowly calmed down.

The land, recolored and reshaped as it was, stopped shaking as violently as it had.

The winds stopped dancing in a wild frenzy.

The roar of the world ceased.

Planet Amadeus III calmed down.

Like a corpse calmed down after struggling against death in life.

A faint silence slowly began to take over the world as a deep sense of uncertainty overtook the people of the world and within the star system.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK...

The homoarachnoids who remained utterly frozen in shock and fear at what they just beheld broke out of their trance as their six eyes became clearer. They glanced around each other, almost as if they had absolutely no recollection of what the hell they were doing on the surface of the planet when they were supposed to be on the inner surface of the planet.

Arastia heaved a deep breath of relief as she calmed down, watching the homoarachnoids lose their maddened aggression. The creatures were clearly shaken by what had just happened, but it was also clear that they weren’t inclined to continue the battle.

Of course, it didn’t change that there was a fundamental enmity and clash of interests between the homoarachnoids and the humans. The latter had come to Planet Amadeus III to extract resources, even if that meant destroying the native species entirely.

Yet, for now, the impetus of conflict had disappeared.

"Rgh..."

The three guardians that protected Ria immediately turned towards Ria as she slowly got up from the ground, groaning groggily. She opened her eyes with a squint as an expression of confusion remained on her face.

"What..." she muttered. "What just happened?’

"Ria." The three of them immediately rushed to her with expressions of concern.

None of them had any idea what was going on with her. She had been utterly frozen in fear shortly before she had been knocked out by Kane’s attempt to leave the planet. For better or for worse, she appeared to be in much better shape, no longer in a state of intense emotion.

"Good, for now, we need to get you off immediately," Arastia demanded. "Let’s get you back on board the Blood Arc. No..."

Her eyes sharpened.

"Let’s get you back home for now."

Her tone didn’t leave her any choice.

And yet, she spoke with the assumption that the threat had passed.

An assumption that was deeply mistaken.

What followed froze all of them to the very depths of their soul.

C̴̡̯̪̱̲̼̲̹̞̥͋͛͋̋͆̚͝͝͝L̷̪͍̣̲̯̬͚̩͉̈́͑͂͛̓̄͑̉̕I̵̛̳̱̼̳͔̹̘̾̀̿̉͐̔̇̃̑͒́͑͝͝C̴̝͍̦͖̫̼͇͚̰̟͊̃̉͘K̸̢̤̝̲͓̬̖̘͕͇̱̊̾͆͘

A single click emerged behind them.

One that shook the entire world.

It rang across the very fabric of reality.

It flowed against the flow of time, reverberating in past, present, and future, defying the law of causality with brazen disrespect.

It permeated the totality of their beings.

It permeated their minds.

Its meaning permeated through consciousness.

"Y̸̲̻͍̞̞̗͖̰͈̺̞̊̓̑̀͆̑̽͗͐̔͠ơ̴̟͚̮̗̻̽̌̓̍̾̿͑͐̿͘͝ǘ̸̪̥̱͓̳̹̾́̒̋͗͋̂͊͑̄͘͠͠.̸̧̣͉͈̟̖͔̬̜̭͕̗̋̆̚̕͘ ̵̢̟̯̜͉̳͓̠̝̞͚͖̠͉̲̈́̌̇̇͗̓̌̽͘̚͝D̵̡̜̮̍̌̑͛̿ā̷͙̤̞̺͇̳̱̦̊̑̄̈́̌͆̓̍͛r̸̜͍̦̺̰̟͓̞̰̭̗̬̅̊̀͂͊̊̈́͘͝͝ẹ̶̢̢̺͎̩̱̼̤͇͙͋̈̔̑̏̑́̔̓̀͐.̶̢̱̩͉̻͓̩̞͖͖̣̗̃̿̆̌̂̈́̉̚ ̵̨̖̰͍̜͍͎͎̟͙̪̏̈́̓͂̄̋͌͊͘͘Ṱ̸̼̙͓͖̑̈́͋͂̎̎̿̓̂͑̒̋͘̚͠ơ̶̢̠̳̘̥̂͊̆͑̃̂͑͌͆̾̕͘͠.̵̜̜̍́̓̈́̀͊͑̉̌̓͛̇̀̐͘ ̷̢̺̞̱̪̖͚͋̊̓́͋͊̈́̎͗̀̀̚͘̚͜Ȑ̵̨̞͍̪̬̝͂͗͗̍̉͜͝ù̸̡̙̩͉̭̫̮̩̰̭͎̰̣͓͌̀̊̏̅̉͛ͅi̸̪̗̟̳̜͊̆͋̄̈́͒̽͠n̴̢̧̛̘͎̦͆͋̅́́̍͑̾͗͑̕͜.̵̢̦̤̺͉̺͍̲̖̖̠̱̆̌̓̑̐̈͗̐͂̆͊̔̔̓̌ ̸̡̛͇̰̦̪̞͎̬̰̜̤̙̫̗̃͗͋͐T̸͇̘͇͈̒̆̇̃͛̑̈̔͊̈́͛͘h̴̙̻͍͚̭̲̐̋̉̊i̴͖͐s̸̢̙̻̻̹̩̏̅̎͒͑̈́̅̌͂̔̚̚̕͝.̸͚͇̲͙̩̪̹̃̏̃ ̶̨͎̙̰̓͑̈́̽̔͆̎͐̓̔̊̐̈ͅO̴̬̪̯̩̻͔̅̑̎̆́͊̈͂̾͋́̚u̷̧̜̳̘̤͓̩͚͆͂̈̂̓́̔͌̏̿̈́t̵͚̬̬̗̼̜̦̭͕̞̱̰̠̗͊̎̄̏͝p̷͔̭̼̋̈́̃o̵͍͎̝̜͎͉̤̝̞̊̈̽̇͘͝͝s̵̡̰̥̠̙̰̩̃̀̀͋͌̀͑̃̇ẗ̸͎̱͇̫̠̯̳̩̹̬̦̘̟̬́̄̇̾̐͑͂̎̓̃̑̊̑̽̅?"

In that moment, a raw, unadulterated fear emerged in the depths of the pits of their stomach. Their hearts tingled with gut-wrenching nervousness as their nervous systems, their entire bodies, were consumed by a single emotion. They broke into a cold sweat, utterly frozen in place.

The world around them had changed.

No longer was the fabric of reality the ultimate arbiter of causality.

No longer were the laws of reality absolute.

The very nature of reality had shifted.

It wasn’t merely a vast canvas of space and time, colored with matter and energy.

No.

The world was... a web.

Reality was a web.

Everything was connected to everything else through unfathomable strands of causality and information in a tapestry of connections that exceeded their wildest fathoming.

At the very center of that web was a single being.

STEP

Chills crawled across their bodies as a presence so astronomically powerful that it could only be described as that of a god emerged behind the three of them.

They were among the strongest.

The pinnacle of the hemosapien race.

A Martial Corporeal.

A Transcendent Candidate.

And yet, before the might of the being behind them, they were naught but nexuses in the webs that wove the tapestry of reality.

Every instinct in their body screamed at them to run.

Every muscle in their body roared for reprieve.

Every cell in their body sought escape.

And yet, they were frozen where they stood.

STEP

STEP

STEP

STEP

STEP

Each step she took sent reverberations.

Not through land.

But through information.

As if her very presence was a cosmological singularity in the information dimension.

She walked past the three pathwalkers, entirely uninterested.

She emerged right in front of Ria, gazing deep into the depths of her amber pupils with her divine gaze. Ria’s expression erupted with horror and despair as she found herself gazing into the six eyes of a god among mortals.