The blinding light faded as abruptly as it appeared, replaced by an oppressive silence. I blinked, my enhanced senses reeling, trying to make sense of my new surroundings. I was no longer outside the Tower of Babel. I was inside.
The room was vast, impossibly so, and perfectly spherical. There were no visible seams, no discernible walls or ceiling, just smooth, obsidian-like surfaces that seemed to absorb all light, making the ambient glow emanate from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The air was still, heavy, devoid of any scent or sound, even the subtle hum of the city I had grown accustomed to. It was a space designed to disorient, to overwhelm.
My instincts screamed at me. This was not a natural place. It felt… ancient. And hungry. My Death Aura, normally a comforting cloak of power, felt strangely muted here, as if the very air itself was too dense to allow its free expression. The mark on my hand, the -80%, throbbed, a cold pulse against my skin.
There was nothing else in the chamber. No furniture, no doors, no windows. Just the perfectly curved, dark surfaces stretching into infinity. My eyes, accustomed to discerning the faintest movement in the darkest ruins, could find no hidden passages, no subtle mechanisms. It was a perfect, impenetrable void.
I tried to speak, to test the acoustics, but no sound escaped my throat. The silence was absolute, somehow active, like a living thing that swallowed all vibration. I moved, my steps light, testing the floor. It felt solid, unyielding. I extended my hand, my Tongue of Corrosion ready, and touched the surface. Nothing. No decay, no crumbling. It was impervious to my touch, absorbing my power without a hint of reaction.
A chill, colder than any I had felt in the desolate city, snaked up my spine. This place was beyond my current understanding of the Tongue of the End. My powers, which had allowed me to dominate a ruined world, felt insignificant here, like a child's toy.
I stood there, alone in the boundless chamber, the weight of the last two years, the countless deaths, the endless struggle, settling on me. Had it all been for this? A silent, empty prison? The absence of a discernible path forward, of any challenge to overcome, was more unsettling than any monster. I had fought, grown, transformed, all to reach this singular point. And now, there was nothing.
The utter stillness was maddening. My senses, deprived of external stimuli, began to turn inward, focusing on the hum of my own internal energies, the faint resonance of the Tongues within me. The -80% mark pulsed again, a silent reminder of the journey yet to be completed, of the limitations I still possessed. Whatever awaited me in Babel, it was beyond conventional combat. This was a test of a different kind. And I was completely unprepared.