Inside the crack is a deep, dark passage filled with complex energy pipelines and unknown runes.

"Go in!" Bai E was the first to dive in.

Astra glanced back at the approaching pursuers and artillery, gritted his teeth, and operated his mecha to follow.

After they entered, the crack began to slowly heal itself, temporarily isolating the outside artillery and pursuers.

The inside of the passage was silent, with only the slight humming of the mecha thrusters and occasional faint glimmers flowing through the energy pipelines.

They cautiously advanced deeper along the passage.

Along the way, they saw more dormant defensive facilities and constructs, but it seems because they passed a certain "authentication," these facilities were not activated.

No idea how long they had been advancing when the passage suddenly opened up.

They arrived at a vast, empty hall.

The dome of the hall soared to an unseen height, with walls carved with incomprehensible reliefs depicting the birth and death of stars, the rise and fall of civilizations.

In the center of the hall was a complex three-dimensional structure floating mid-air, composed of myriad dark golden energy runes, resembling a miniature universe model or perhaps a control terminal.

And right beneath this structure sat a figure silently on a throne made of the same pale metal, plain in design yet filled with majesty.

It was not corporeal, more like a projection formed by condensed spiritual energy, information stream, and some cold will.

It showed a vague human silhouette, clad in a traditional robe, crowned with a triple diadem, holding a scepter.

Its face was indistinct, only the position of its eyes burned with two icy blue flames as if able to see through the ends of space and time.

As Bai E and Astra's mechas stepped into the hall, the figure on the throne slowly... lifted its head.

An indescribable will, vast as the star sea, ancient like time itself, yet cold to the extreme, flooded the entire hall like an invisible tide, weighing on their souls.

A calm, indifferent voice without any emotion yet seeming to echo directly in the depths of the soul slowly resonated:

"Outsiders... you have finally come before me."

The figure on the throne, those burning blue flames, calmly gazed at the two mechas stepping into the hall.

Vast, ancient, and cold will rippled like an invisible ocean, not immediately showing aggression, more like assessment and evaluation. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

After a brief silence, Astra was the first to break the stalemate.

He had never expected such an ancient life far beyond current human understanding to exist inside this ruin.

But regardless, now it must be faced.

He took a deep breath, trying to handle the situation with the dignity and composure expected of the Golden Federation's royal etiquette.

He operated the "Destiny Arbiter" mecha to slightly lean forward, making a simplified tribute gesture.

"Ancient entity..." Astra's voice through the mecha's loudspeaker carried respect and tentativeness.

"We are explorers from the current era's Golden Federation, my name is Astra. This is Bai E from the New Bauhinia Republic. We mean no offense to your slumber, only that our civilization is facing a great threat and hope to find knowledge and power here that might help us."

The figure on the throne, its blue flame flickered slightly, as if "looking" at Astra.

That voice echoing directly in the soul sounded again, still indifferent but seemingly with an indescribable undertone.

Like the weariness of long-accumulated time, or perhaps some cold sarcasm.

"Golden Federation... New Bauhinia..." It slowly repeated these names, the syllables ancient and obscure, "Is it... a new era of civilization? How long has it been since the cataclysm that ended everything?"

"Cataclysm?" Astra keenly caught this word.

"We call it 'Golden Fall' or 'Twilight of the Gods.'

The voice of the ancient will was calm and unperturbed, beginning to narrate a history sealed at the end of time, "In an era so distant it's unimaginable to you, there once existed a civilization in the material universe, glorious to the extreme—we called them the 'Creators,' and perhaps your records refer to them as the 'Golden Humans.' They were not a single race but a symbiotic union formed by multiple intelligent races when both spiritual energy and technology reached unimaginable heights. They reshaped star systems, molded planets, and could even interfere with cosmic constants to a limited extent, undisputed masters of the material universe."

Its gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, returning to that long-extinct era.

"With them existed naturally-born entities in the material universe, more ancient and fundamental—divines of the material universe. They are manifestations of certain rules or concepts, not the 'higher-dimensional gods' formed from the aggregate thoughts of intelligent beings you're familiar with. 'Creators' and these divine entities were not subordinate, more like... neighbors, or... 'collaborators' maintaining cosmic balance."

"However, the balance was broken after a war." The tone of ancient will showed the first minimal fluctuation, a cold pain etched in the foundation of existence.