Five grotesque figures knelt in reverence before a four-meter-tall black altar. Though their forms were vaguely humanoid, twisted limbs, warped flesh, and unnaturally bulging muscles betrayed their monstrous nature.
They were no longer men; if they ever had been.
Their bodies pulsed with an unnatural high vitality, laced with tendrils of dark spiritual qi that writhed beneath their skin. This unholy fusion twisted their features beyond recognition, birthing limbs where none should exist and warping bone and flesh into abhorrent shapes.
Scattered around the altar, dozens of corpses lay strewn across the ground like discarded shells. Not a single drop of blood remained within them. Their spiritual qi and life essence had been completely drained, leaving behind shriveled cadavers that made one question whether they had ever been truly alive.
Atop the altar, a shadowy figure hovered in silence, its form barely distinguishable from the darkness that clung to it like a second skin.
