The sky over Eric’s Earth was no longer gold.The Celestial Lung, which had only just begun to breathe life into the gasping survivors, was struggling. The shimmering white particles that Eric had fought so hard to create were being stained. A thick, oily black smoke was seeping out of the golden veins of the World Tree’s trunk. It wasn't smoke from a fire; it was the [Demonic Miasma]—the concentrated rot of a world that had failed its digitization and turned into a graveyard of data.Inside the Gaia-Dome, the air was growing heavy. It tasted like rusted iron and bitter almonds."Master, the World Tree is undergoing 'Reverse Photosynthesis'," the AI reported, its voice trembling with systemic stress. "The Sapling you exported to the 'Iron Empire' is being force-fed the corruption of that server. Because the Sapling cannot process the volume of miasma in Uncle Eric’s world, it is utilizing the 'Parent-Anchor' protocol."Eric gripped the edge of his command console. "It’s redirecting the

The world had stopped screaming.For the first time in years, the horizon was not a jagged line of red mist or a violet tear in the sky. Instead, it was a soft, undulating curve of sapphire blue. The "Great Drain" that had once turned the Earth into a salt-choked graveyard was now a memory, replaced by a miracle that defied the old laws of geology.When the Abyss Dragon—the transformed Ocean Emperor—had finally exhausted its fury in the Iron Empire, it had not returned as a conqueror. It had returned as a titan seeking rest. Guided by the "Mobius Loop" Eric had woven, the dragon had brought back the water it had stolen, but it was no longer the salt water of the old world. It was "System-Pure" water, enriched by the mana of the Abyss and filtered through the roots of the World Tree.As the oceans refilled, the planet itself had expanded. The "Senior Administrator" authority Eric had briefly held before his abdication had triggered a final, global terraforming event. The Earth’s crust h