"Hiss—"
Simmons took a deep breath, holding his breath.
Beneath the black spire before him, a portal cracked open, a surge of cold wind swept the dust off the ground, slapping against his muscular calves.
Simmons lifted his leg to continue forward, entering the spire.
But just at that moment.
Boom!
A clap of thunder streaked across the sky, and Simmons seemed to sense something.
With a look of unexpected astonishment on his face and his muscles tensed, he instinctively looked up only to see the previously empty, cloud-swirled top of the spire. Suddenly, a narrow fissure split open, extending toward both sides, as crimson chaos energy streamed outward.
Immediately after, an unbelievably colossal figure stepped out, its iron-black body and broad shoulders.
Covered in crisscrossing streams of flame, it rhythmically rose and fell with his breathing.
