# Chapter 16: Departure! The End, the Final Prelude (8000)
Intelligent life always feels fear and sorrow towards changes in the things they are most familiar with.
But intelligent life also continuously grows and perfects itself through repeatedly adapting to change and creating change.
And Transcendent Beings have far stronger adaptability in this regard than ordinary people.
Because they can witness longer spans of time and create greater changes.
They can personally witness their hometown rise from a small village in the mountains to become the holy city of a great civilization. They can personally witness familiar rivers change course because of their own power or the power of others flowing in different directions.
There are too many things they can witness—from mountains collapsing into plains, from valleys rising into high peaks. They can even witness the extinguishing and rebirth of stars and moons, the destruction and replacement of suns... The more powerful a Transcendent Being is, the more difficult it is to cause emotional fluctuations in them through such changes. It's like how ordinary people wouldn't consider moving furniture in their own house as anything significant.
Not to mention existences that surpass ordinary Transcendent Beings—beings called Deities. It's hard to imagine what change in things could make them feel fear and sorrow.
But that is precisely the case.
Even Deities feel fear and sorrow towards changes in the things they are most familiar with.
Starfall Era 862, February 19, Mycroft World standard time unknown, Lost Star River Abyss, outside the Genesis Maelstrom.
The God of Life walked through the void of the Abyss, wandering aimlessly like an ordinary person pacing back and forth in an empty space to clear their mind.
She was reminiscing, recalling the distant past, memories related to herself from thousands of years ago.
Among the upper echelons of Mycroft Civilization, there was a secret that wasn't really a secret—where did the Seven Gods come from? For the general public, this was a question that didn't need consideration. But for those close to godhood, those Deities, and those who wanted to surpass Deities, figuring out the origin of the Gods would definitely bring tremendous benefits to their own strength.
Originally, even the Seven Gods themselves didn't know the answer to this question. However, during that battle against the embryo of the Death Evil God, the long-buried truth was finally revealed during that expedition to the deepest part of the Abyss. Everyone learned the origin of the Seven Gods, and the Seven Gods all learned their own origins.
They were awakened remnants, embers that responded to the Saint's call and awakened.
They too were once human, members of the masses, the Vanguard Bulwark that resisted Chaos in the previous era.
Many powerful experts suddenly understood. They finally comprehended why the Seven Gods would protect Mycroft Civilization without any reason, why these incredibly powerful existences would always keep their gaze fixed on the living beings of this world—because they were born for this, guardians who died for this, watchmen spanning two eras.
Their doubts were answered, but the Seven Gods themselves, who had recovered their memories of being human, fell into great confusion.
Too many changes.
Whether it was the difference between this newly born Starfall Era civilization and the Radiant Era, or the difference between themselves as former Radiant Era powerhouses and themselves as the current Starfall Era Seven Gods... The scenery of their homeland had long since disappeared. Of the seven continents that once existed, only one remained. The landscapes of their homeland had long since vanished. The current Mycroft and the past Mycroft had not a single shred of similarity.
All these changes were so vast that even Deities would be stunned. Even extreme, terrifying thoughts would rise from the deepest levels of their consciousness.
Is all of this really still worth protecting?
Everything I loved, everything in my memories, has vanished with the wind. The world has undergone tremendous changes. Even the bloodlines of familiar people have gradually been severed over thousands of years. Apart from the name being the same, is this current Mycroft still the one I once swore to protect with everything, including my life and soul?
No answer.
"The only thing that doesn't change is Chaos."
The God of Life raised her head. At this moment, she was at the deepest part of a World Star River. Looking up to gaze at the distant Multiverse Star River was like a person at the bottom of a deep well of space-time, looking up at the sunlight and blue sky at the well's mouth.
She could see that at the boundary of the enormous, infinite Multiverse Star River, darkness was spreading and encroaching.
Whether it was the guardians or the worlds being guarded, everything had changed. But the enemy alone had not changed. In the fleeting passage of time, within the Reincarnation of rotating worlds and civilizations, even the memories of Deities became Blurred and began to dissipate. But this hatred and the heart for struggle had never faded from beginning to end.
So soon, the Deities emerged from this confusion and moved forward firmly again, protecting everything now. But the God of Life, who was called a strong candidate for the title of 'Strongest God,' had never stepped out of this small circle in her heart. She was still confusedly reminiscing, searching for the differences between past and present.
The flames of war in the Biros Star River grew increasingly fierce. The collision between Evil God's Minions and civilizations gradually escalated. As the leader of the grand alliance, Mycroft Civilization naturally had to set an example. So the time left for the God of Life to reminisce was not much. All seven Gods would soon go to the front lines together to support the already white-hot battlefield. And today, before leaving, was the last bit of time the God had set aside for herself to reminisce.
"Teacher, this really is different..."
Stopping at the boundary between the Genesis Maelstrom and the Abyss, the God of Life lowered her head. Her veil completely concealed her expression, but her muttering revealed endless pain and confusion: "I can go fight the Evil Gods, even die gloriously again. Even if it's just for those living beings who believe in me, those children who sing my name, I am willing to swear again to protect all things. But this Mycroft Civilization... the Mycroft Civilization without you... the change is too great."
"But..."
For some reason, the God recalled a long time ago, before she had fallen into slumber and before her memories were sealed. It was also in the deepest part of this Lost Star River Abyss, a conversation with that one.
She still remembered that existence, who had become unfamiliar, when leaving the Extreme Dark Abyss and heading towards the source of the First Flame, said with a smile.
"It's okay, Eve. You don't understand now, but later—maybe a few hundred years, maybe a few thousand years—in the endless life of a Deity, you will always understand."
He said this. The Saint's voice, even today, she remembered with extreme clarity: "It's all the same."
"As long as it's human... no, as long as it's civilization."
"Then it's all the same."
That Saint who once deeply loved humanity had changed. He had become too vast, too magnificent, leaving those who had once approached him and knew him at a loss. Transformed into an infinite existence, his will enveloped the Multiverse, causing changes called 'Holy Light' to affect all existing beings.
He once loved individuals, loved family and friends. But as the long years passed, family and friends all dissipated, leaving only like-minded people called Saints still following. The infinite life of a powerful Transcendent Being allowed him to gain many things, but also wore away many things. No—it wasn't emotions. His heart was still burning hot, even growing deeper with the passage of time.
His love still existed. The God of Life was completely certain of this. But... when he left, this love was distributed to the infinite Multiverse.
It's all the same.
How could it all be the same?
What an uncomfortable change this was for the civilizations and individuals who once exclusively enjoyed his love.
The God of Life sighed, raised her head again, and looked towards the distant void. Her gaze returned to firmness.
A weak posture, revealed once in a place no one knew about. Next, it was time to fight as a God. She was far from that fragile, far from that sentimental. She was the God of Life sung by the people, the guardian and protector of all life. Compared to this duty, the sadness and confusion of that former girl, those memories that no longer mattered, could just be discarded.
After all, compared to worlds and civilizations, the ones that had changed the most were the Gods themselves.
But still, there was one scene that the God of Life did not discard, but hid in the deepest part of her heart.
It was a pure white courtyard, located in a holy fortress suspended in the sky. Beside a tower burning with holy flame, a young girl sat on a bench in the courtyard, holding a book in her hands. A gentle elder stood behind her, explaining the secrets in the book to her.
A cool breeze from a distant place passed through the courtyard, making the plants sway. The strands of hair by the girl's ears scattered. The yellowed pages of the thick book turned. The elder's laughter was still clear.
"Not bad, Eve." At that time, he was still an existence belonging only to Mycroft Civilization, only to them, only to her.
"You truly are my best disciple!"
The laughter dissipated.
A pure white divine light, just like back then, lit up, crossing half a star river.
And the other six divine lights also lit up simultaneously from six other different places, converging at one point.
In the distance, Chaos encroached, darkness spread. At this moment, it was another era's Reincarnation. The old enemy reappeared, calamity descended again. But compared to before, this time Mycroft was not fighting alone.
"It's time to fight."
Accompanied by the enormous space-time tremor of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground activating, the Gods said this. They looked at each other, then smiled.
"It's also time for revenge."
Then, depart.
Starfall Era 862, February 19, Mycroft World standard time 11:24 PM, Multiverse Star River, Biros Star River, the forefront of the Pioneer Fortress cluster, the front line.
In the hazy and uncertain void, the radiance of the Great Magic Tide mixed with the starlight of many world stars, forming a dim misty light belt. The intense light from the main cannons of many fortresses was like supernova explosions, repeatedly illuminating the battlefield, piercing through the light belt, shattering the constantly approaching tide of darkness.
This was not the peaceful and stable rear of the Multiverse Star River, but the Biros Star River fortress cluster that had been engaged in battle with the vanguard of the encroaching Evil God army for a full two years—the so-called forefront of the front line.
Steel, or materials even harder than steel, formed fortresses that were like nails rooted in the void. Countless fortresses combined into a giant formation, creating a disturbance source powerful enough to interfere with the edge of the entire star river, preventing any non-friendly existence from Casually jumping or moving. In other words, unless the entire fortress cluster was completely destroyed, basically no enemy could cross this front line.
But now, at the forefront of this giant fortress cluster, tens of thousands of fortresses had already fallen, shattered, and completely lost their function.
A steel fortress clearly in human style stood in the void. Countless runes rotated around the fortress like rings. Centered around it, the dark void of space-time turbulence was filled with the wreckage of warships and the corpses of various Evil God's Minions. One could even see fragments of other fortresses burning with energy flames, pushed into the distance by the surging Magic Tide.
The styles of the warships were mostly Mycroft style. But the Evil God's Minions were diverse—some were like giant insects, ugly monster shapes; some were simple geometric shapes, even black things like rectangular prisms, cubes, and triangular prisms. One could even see, among the dissipating corpses, strange minions like light wheels that were constantly dimming. Just by looking at their appearance, they didn't seem like Evil God's Minions at all. Even as they dimmed, these light wheels still released strange energy, disturbing all surrounding Fluctuations.
"Damn it, why haven't the reinforcements arrived?!"
A relatively intact fleet was rapidly sailing through this void filled with wreckage and corpses. They continuously fired concentrated cannon fire like light streams towards the rear, blasting the scattered Evil God's Minions that kept chasing them into nothingness. And one could see that the leading warship was not in human style. It had a semi-transparent surface armor, a streamlined spindle-shaped outer body like a biological warship. It was waving hundreds of floating transparent tentacles, creating an invisible force field, tearing apart a large group of aggressive Evil God's Minions into debris in the void.
No, this was a biological warship.
Inside this leading biological warship, a young black-haired captain was holding a communication formation, roaring and saying something to the other end of the formation. But because the communication was too noisy and unstable, he soon became so angry he wanted to throw the communication formation to the ground. Fortunately, the captain had a relatively good temper. In the end, he just sighed: "Forget it. The Grantier fortress is also under attack. It's normal to have no reinforcements. Damn it, why have the minions of the 'Isolation Evil God' been increasing so much lately? This communication formation is completely unusable!"
"Could it be that the Evil God's Main Body themselves are about to arrive?"
"It shouldn't be that fast."
A gentle female voice could be heard, sounding within the warship. It wasn't an auditory hallucination, but truly the warship's own voice: "According to observation and analysis, the main Evil God army still has a few years before arrival. After all, they have no wisdom or self-will, so their speed has always been stable and mechanical, easy to predict."
"Then that's really bad. If the Evil Gods were coming soon, it would prove they're nothing special. But if it's still going to take this long, given the trend of increasing war intensity, I'm afraid that by the end, without the Evil Gods even making a move, the entire Pioneer Fortress cluster will be destroyed by their minions."
The veteran fleet commander, Commander-in-Chief of the 'Mycroft-Midgard Joint Fleet,' Kerelei shook his head. He said somewhat helplessly: "Erma, what should we do? If it weren't for your power, our fleet would probably have been completely annihilated in that last encirclement by the minions. Now that the other fleets have been scattered and we have no reinforcements, if we don't hold our position, I'm afraid we can only continue to flee."
"If there were other options, I wouldn't recommend holding our position. After all, we just witnessed with our own eyes that the number of Chaos minions this time is unexpectedly large. Just within this fortress war zone, there are over seven million mature Chaos minions. Those are vast void beasts that, when landing in a world, can put multiple Gold-rank experts in a difficult fight just by themselves."
The biological warship—more precisely, the Amos person and newly promoted Legendary expert Erma—said this calmly. Her tone wasn't panicked. After all, with her strength, if she couldn't defeat the minion encirclement, she could at least lead the team to break through. At least she and Kerelei were not in danger. But even an Amos person wouldn't simply abandon their comrades: "However, although we can't count on reinforcements from other fortresses, I remember that the reinforcements from your Mycroft Civilization's Headquarters should be arriving around this time, right? Anyway, given the fortress's Sturdiness and our strength, we can safely hold out for a few months without problem."
Hearing this suggestion, Kerelei fell into silence.
Since being brought back to Mycroft by that Lord from the Bloody Star River, as a prominent figure of the time, he had returned to the fleet Full of Glory. As someone valued by that Lord, even granted special equipment, naturally no one would make things difficult for him. Coupled with the subsequent self-awakening of Erma, who overcame the Extreme Virus with her own will, he quickly returned to the ranks and even got the opportunity to command a joint fleet.
This wasn't difficult. With Erma's personal teaching and his own diligent study, Kerelei's already decent talent was fully developed. But the better he performed, the greater the challenges he faced. Soon, he and the entire fleet were transferred to the front line, beginning a defensive war against the Evil God's Minions that lasted several years.
To be honest, the taste of battle wasn't bad. Apart from having to endure the Loss of familiar people dying and the confusion of familiar fortresses falling and being destroyed, there was nothing bad about it. As a Transcendent Being with firm will, Kerelei could bear this change. A man who grew up in the black tide of the Far South Fortress had long been accustomed to this small sorrow born of Loss.
Compared to these, what he found even harder to bear was 'placing hope on others.'
"Erma, don't joke. You hate this kind of thing the most too, right?" Exhaling a breath, Kerelei shook his head: "If you were the kind of person who would turtle up and wait for reinforcements to save you, you wouldn't have done so many things in the Amos Royal Court back then. We want reinforcement support because we plan to counterattack, not just to save our lives."
"Right, don't even say it. I know. That was just the Evil God army's, the minions', the vanguard's, the scouts', a branch squad's, a probing attack. Yes, such an insignificant attack could chase us Fleeing in Panic."
In the void, there was no sound of explosions. But the energy Fluctuations formed by the destruction of warships and the death of powerful Evil God's Minions would still form spreading ripples on the warship's detection formation, like sounds. At this moment, the ripples on the detection formation were like a lake in a rainstorm—dense, numerous, and chaotic. But Kerelei's gaze still contained 'courage': "But we are also just a small fleet of the Multiverse Star River Civilization Alliance, the Mycroft Civilization, stationed in the Biros Star River, belonging to the Jamard Fortress. If just now there had been even a third of the fleet's scale of reinforcements helping me attack the flank of the Evil God's Minions, I would have immediately turned around and annihilated them."
"Then do you have any good ideas?"
Hearing this, Erma couldn't help but laugh. She prompted: "The Evil God's Minions that were chasing us just now have been destroyed. But if we continue to stay outside the fortress, we'll become targets for other minions. If you don't make a decision quickly, we'll essentially be actively luring the enemy to attack the fortress."
In the Biros Star River fortress cluster, each fortress had a unique aura concealment formation. If not encountered head-on in the void, it was impossible to find the fortress's Main Body by aura Sensing alone. But the fortress itself could still exert the ability to limit teleportation and jumping, trapping enemies in the void, leaving them At a Loss running around, unable to find the target they should destroy. Then they would be picked off one by one by the fortress fleet that could accurately find the enemy and destroyed in sequence.
For civilizations, this should be the most Disgusting fortress cluster. Even with Heaven-Piercing strength, they couldn't exert any of it. But for the Evil God army, it wasn't that troublesome.
Just use military force ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times greater than your fortress area to crush the entire void. Then naturally, there would be no concealed Main Body. Moreover, following the actions of the fleet sortieing from various fortresses was itself a good way to find each fortress.
"I do have an idea."
Issuing several commands to the fleet, Kerelei was about to discuss the next actions with Erma. But just then, a voice came through the communication formation—translated, but still audible with fatigue.
"Thirteenth Star Sector, Bathoniel For... impact... siege... cannot withstand... rescue..."
The intermittent voice could only transmit a few keywords. But anyone could understand that this was a distress signal exactly like the one Kerelei had sent earlier. A fortress was being besieged by Evil God's Minions, could not withstand, and urgently needed rescue.
Such distress signals were received dozens of times every day. After all, this was the front line. It was always in an extremely dangerous state. Who knew when a large group of Evil God's Minions would emerge from the Silent Void and happen to impact a fortress, tearing it to pieces.
"Thirteenth Star Sector, Bathoniel Fortress. That seems to be a fortress cluster of the Toran Star River civilization. Their strength is a bit weak. If they encounter the same impact as us, they indeed can't fight back."
Erma's voice sounded, Hinting with deep meaning: "What's wrong, Kerelei? You're hesitating. But they're not human. Do you plan to go help them?"
"So what?"
Hearing this, Kerelei couldn't help but snort. He raised his head, looking at the biological dome of the warship, and said with a smirk: "So what if they're not human?"
What difference is there between humans... and other life?
It's all the same.
"It doesn't matter. It's all the same."
He waved his hand grandly and said heroically: "Since I can't wait for reinforcements, then I'll become someone else's reinforcements. Anyway, what you said earlier was right. Holding the fortress for a few months is no problem. Let them wait for the Headquarters reinforcements."
"As for now, I will represent Mycroft Civilization and go aid our allies who are jointly resisting the Evil God's Minions!"
The flames of war still flew everywhere.
Countless fleets, relying on Sturdy fortresses, sailed through the void like agile small swords, shredding the countless invading darkness and Evil God's Minion clusters into indistinguishable debris in the space-time turbulence.
But the fortresses were also shattering. The front line was constantly being pressured and retreating. The endless darkness now was just showing the tip of the iceberg. But even so, it was already making the many civilizations jointly resisting it unable to breathe.
And just then, in the Silent Void, closest to the forefront of the Biros Star River front line, a colossal existence like a light wheel, emitting dark star dust, emerged from the infinite dark void. It carried the aura of Chaos and destruction, appearing before all existing beings. Then, it slowly entered the Biros Star River.
In an instant, all communication was cut off. Every fleet and fortress became an isolated island. Everyone wandered Lonely and Fearful through the void, fearing this change.
The [Isolation] Evil God descended.
Starfall Era 862, February 20, Mycroft standard time 4:55 AM. Among the endless Evil God army, the first Evil God arrived at the orderly star river.
Starfall Era 862, February 20, Mycroft standard time 8:21 AM. The Seven Gods of Mycroft, who had also just arrived, joined forces and greatly defeated the [Isolation] Evil God at the Biros Star River fortress cluster.
The [Isolation] Evil God was annihilated.
From this day on, powerful experts from civilizations across the Multiverse Star River gradually descended upon the fortress. The Gods of many civilizations, protectors, countless powerful experts and creations, representatives and sharp weapons of civilizations—all emerged from the deep waters, revealing themselves to others' eyes. All was to resist the endless darkness that was far deeper and vaster than any ocean.
The skirmishes between scouts and vanguard fortresses that had lasted for several years were over. From today, it was the true prelude to the decisive battle between Order and Chaos.
Starfall Era 862, June 10, Mycroft standard time 9:13 PM, Lost Star River Abyss, the very center of the Genesis Maelstrom, the deepest part.
[It doesn't matter. It's all the same.]
Accompanied by a world being turned to ashes by an artificially catalyzed Evil God, and then that Evil God being completely crushed and Analyzed by an even greater force, a voice—vast, as if Piercing Through from the source of all things to the end of all things—thus spoke from this dead eternity.
And an even vaster mind, far more terrifying than the will residing in the Evil God's remnants, descended coldly, completely erasing all these changes.
At the very center of the Genesis Maelstrom, an enormous silver world, like the prototype of an Ultra-Large single world, was situated like a cornerstone at the center of the maelstrom. It stabilized the Hub of the Myriad Realms Reincarnation and replaced the rules within it with its own will.
One could see that around this silver world, countless worlds were arranged like stars on a chessboard, regularly Arranged. These worlds seemed real, yet also like phantoms, existing between reality and illusion. The silver world connected all the worlds, sometimes turning several into Entities, sometimes annihilating several worlds, destroying everything within them.
One could sense that from the destroyed worlds came the aura of Chaos, truly and genuinely belonging to the Evil Gods. But before this newly risen, expanding aura could fully develop, the great existence, not having obtained the information it wanted from it, annihilated it with a thought. The silver world released invisible Fluctuations, while influencing these worlds under its control, also influencing the entire Genesis Maelstrom, causing countless newly Reincarnated worlds to bear special marks.
Another Chaos aura was Gestating, an Evil God was being generated. The dead eternity began to devour Order, causing everything to return to silence.
Another will swept coldly, turning this Chaos into nothingness. But this time, perhaps after countless experiments and attempts, it finally, in this countless Analysis of eternity, collected the last piece of the puzzle, obtaining the information it wanted.
[It doesn't matter. It's all the same. Eternity is splitting.]
[It doesn't matter. It's all the same. True infinity is being born.]
Silence.
Then, speaking.
"Is it all the same?"
From within the silver world came a vast, cold voice. The warrior gazed at the place where the world he had just annihilated had been. He Connected the information in his heart, the information for which he had obtained the last piece of the puzzle. He suddenly understood, then firmly shook his head.
"No. It's not the same."
The silver world began to gradually deform. The four-armed giant slowly extended its hand. What was originally just the rod-like object of the outer world barrier gradually took clear shape as an iron fist. He grasped the last remaining ashes of that world, then brought it before his eyes, carefully observing.
"Ah, I understand. 'Dead Eternity' and 'Eternal Wonder.' So that's it. The mastermind behind the scenes. So this is your intention, your purpose."
No wonder you destroyed those overly developed civilizations, those overly stable existences.
Joshua von Radcliffe let out a long sigh. For the material Multiverse, over a decade had passed. But for the silver world, for the countless worlds that were Generated and destroyed, it was tens of millions, hundreds of millions of decades—even millions of years. The warrior who personally witnessed all this destruction and rebirth felt it was both an instant and an eternity. In this brief yet long time, he had gained something and discarded something.
But most importantly, he had finally found the answer that had troubled him and all previous Sages.
"Mastermind behind the scenes, you say all this is the same?"
"No. It is definitely not the same."