Chapter 26: Omega Sanctuary
The Dark Domain was an immensely vast expanse of space, a long, narrow region surrounding the Void Great Maelstrom, stretching across an area at least a dozen times the size of a Mycroft World. Worlds One through Eight were distributed sequentially within it, along with numerous scattered, utterly silent dead worlds.
In this domain, all worlds were dim and lightless. Even if light existed, it could not be observed from other regions. Even their coordinates were difficult to determine, making them practically non-existent. Hence, the name "Dark."
But now, the Northern Empire's Foreign Exploration Department was using maximum-power signals to call the team on World Three, located within this non-existent domain, ordering them to immediately cease exploration, remain in place, and await the return teleport.
"Calling Third Squad. According to the judgment of the Empire's official research team, your current situation is extremely dangerous, with a significant risk to life and safety. Please immediately cease all exploration activities, deploy a Restorative Pillar, hold your position and stand guard, and await the return teleport beam. All your intelligence has been recorded; please do not worry about contribution issues. Repeat: Please immediately cease all exploration activities, deploy a Restorative Pillar, hold your position, and be on guard."
The communicator aboard the *Gransayva* relayed the message to the distant team through the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, relying on the power of this ancient wonder. His expression was grave, not only because this message concerned the lives of five elite squad members, but also because behind him, four Legendary experts were conversing in low tones.
To be honest, his legs were trembling so much he could barely stand.
"What happened? Why the sudden order to stop exploration?"
Nostradamus spoke from behind the nearly paralyzed communicator. He had just received word from the warrior and rushed over from the Siberia Plateau, still unclear on the situation. Beside him, Baniel and William, who had been conducting research at the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, kindly explained: "Joshua found traces of an enemy he's fought before on World Three. It's indeed a troublesome opponent, so caution is warranted."
"Yeah, we teamed up to deal with it back then, and it almost slipped through our encirclement."
Hearing this, Nostradamus glanced sideways at Joshua. "An old enemy of yours? Strange, shouldn't they have turned to ash by now? That doesn't seem like your style."
"They did turn to ash. The problem is, there's a *group* of these enemies, not just one."
Joshua shook his head at his friend's jest. Nostradamus was also aware of the Black Mist's existence. After Joshua briefly explained the situation, the old mage nodded in understanding. "You suspect World Three was once a nest of the Black Mist, or a battlefield against an Evil God? That would indeed be dangerous."
The Black Mist was undoubtedly a Legendary-level threat. As a microscopic cluster of magical rune constructs, it possessed extremely strong erosive power and energy-devouring ability. Theoretically, it should also possess intelligence surpassing that of ordinary humans.
And beings below the Legendary level had virtually no chance of defeating a Legendary, unless they mastered Legendary-tier techniques... The dense wreckage on World Three, piled up like a desert, proved that the Black Mist had been destroyed there in the thousands, falling like rain. In everyone's eyes, only an Evil God, or even multiple Evil Gods, could accomplish such a feat.
"I'm going to check it out myself."
After the four Legendary experts had roughly exchanged their assessments, Joshua made his decision. "Dangerous places have their own value. We might find some special information about the Black Mist and the Evil Gods on World Three. They are all our enemies; the more we know, the better."
"Then I'll monitor the other worlds. If danger arises, I'll descend immediately."
Nostradamus nodded slightly and walked toward the monitoring room on the other side. Baniel and William also left.
Since the *Gransayva* was currently located at the edge of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, and the Dominant Will was nearby, Joshua quickly contacted it. The teleportation power of the Sacrificial Ground lit up on the warrior's body. A pitch-black space unfolded in an instant, swallowing Joshua's form.
Meanwhile, the exploration team on World Three was holding their position as instructed, not conducting any exploration.
"Did the information we sent back indicate any particular danger?"
At the front of the hastily constructed defensive position, the captain, who was scanning the surroundings for any anomalies, was quite puzzled and frustrated. He muttered to himself, "From the communicator's tone, you'd think we were about to die any second."
"It's for our own good," the mage, who was maintaining the position's shield from the side and rear, shrugged. "After all, this is another world. There could be dangers we don't even notice."
"I'm just regretting it. We could have found so much more..."
The five members of the exploration team all sighed. Indeed, due to the sudden emergency communication, they had to halt all subsequent exploration plans. Although there were no special conditions within a few hundred kilometers, there might be valuable information farther away that could yield a lot of contribution points. While the captain knew their current haul was already substantial, for the entire Third Squad, it still felt like a painful loss. "What a waste. We can't even use the carriage; we have to walk..."
Before their thoughts could settle, a tremendous roar suddenly erupted from beyond the endless metal desert.
The already tense and alert exploration team was immediately startled. Hearing a sound louder than thunder, like the sky itself was collapsing, they warily looked up at the horizon from where the sound came. What they saw there left them all stunned and speechless.
It was a wall of iron-red dust clouds rising like a city wall, reaching high into the sky. Countless fine metal particles were flung into the air by a colossal force, blotting out the sun... But this wasn't the reason for their shock. What truly stunned them was the land beneath the dust clouds, collapsing as if devoured. The metal sand desert was disappearing in large swaths from the horizon, swallowed by an invisible giant mouth. They could see that in the distance, there was no longer any land, only a pitch-black void.
"What do we do?! Our defensive line can't withstand a natural disaster!"
The alchemist in the team panicked. Although the Restorative Pillar and the mage's protective shield combined could withstand Ultimate-rank attacks, if the entire ground fell into an abyss, they would certainly be in trouble.
"What other choice do we have?" The exploration team was, after all, the elite of the elite. While they were shocked by the sudden situation, they recovered quickly. The Third Squad captain thought for a moment and came up with a solution. "Knight, quickly deploy the off-road vehicle and activate flight mode. Everyone, get in!"
"What about the position and the instruments?"
"Those things are less important than people. Leave them!"
With the order given, the well-trained Third Squad was fully aboard within ten seconds. As the rotors and magical thrusters hummed, the flying off-road vehicle rose into the air on waves of magical energy. In the distance, the 'Great Collapse,' which had been on the horizon, had already reached the Third Squad's original camp. Everyone silently watched their former camp be swallowed by a massive dark chasm, disappearing amidst the surging dust.
If we hadn't been on alert... the captain thought in silence, then shuddered.
"In flight mode, even with the mage and alchemist recharging together, the energy will only last two and a half hours."
The knight piloting the vehicle stared seriously at the various instruments on the front panel. He said in a low voice, "All our energy crystal reserves were in the camp. They're gone now."
"Gone is gone. We were in the air for less than ten seconds before the collapse reached us." The captain could only sigh. "Let's just hope the return teleport starts soon."
Because of minor differences between worlds in various aspects, all exploration team members were below Gold-rank during their first mission to avoid the unique power conflicts of higher Transcendents. According to the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department's plan, all subsequent rank advancements would be completed in the void, aiming for the most perfect adaptability in the future. However, because of this, except for the mage and the clergy who had some flying ability, no one else possessed such power yet, relying on magical-mechanical vehicles like the flying off-road vehicle.
"Wait, look!"
Just as everyone was still feeling conflicted and congratulating themselves on their decisive action, the clergy member suddenly pointed at a collapsed area. "There seems to be some kind of structure there!"
Everyone immediately turned to look in the direction the clergy member was pointing. And indeed, they saw large clusters of black buildings.
After the massive collapse on World Three's surface, which had sunk countless metal deserts and land into the abyss, the entire ground was a pitch-black blur, like staring into an abyss from the edge of a cliff. But in this environment, the entire Third Exploration Squad noticed that deep within the collapsed area, amidst the surging dust, black buildings were emerging from the rolling metal sand.
They could see that these black buildings were huge, majestic, and spectacular, possessing a unique artistic beauty. Their domes alone were several kilometers wide, covered in various strange erosion scars, as if they had withstood countless attacks yet still stood firm. But the most severe damage seemed to be on their black surfaces. Intense magical fluctuations emanated from them, making it easy to determine that these buildings had been subjected to continuous, massive magical radiation exposure, which had turned their surfaces so black.
These black buildings had been buried under thick metal sand for a thousand years. They hadn't been swept into the abyss by the sand but stood firm. The Third Squad flew silently at high altitude, gazing down. Their eyes pierced through the swirling dust and the metal clouds rising from the depths of the earth. They could see the rolling magma layer deep within the mantle, where massive geological changes were occurring—the very cause of the great surface collapse on World Three.
What happened to this world?
The question echoed in everyone's hearts. They pondered it with dread. They had never witnessed the power of Legendary beings, nor experienced the natural disaster of a world's destruction. They couldn't even imagine what kind of catastrophe or war could create such a spectacle—the original world buried under a metal desert, its very essence severely damaged, occasionally swallowing everything on the surface.
But now, they didn't need to imagine. As space-time fluctuations spread, a hand reached out from somewhere, grabbed the flying off-road vehicle, and threw it, along with its occupants, back to the other side of space-time. After ensuring the exploration team's safety, Joshua stepped out of the space-time channel created by the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, looking down at everything happening below.
"Indeed, there's something strange."
He said in a low voice. "The style of these buildings is very similar to the Sanctuary civilization I saw before... It shouldn't be a civilization destroyed by the Black Mist, but a part of the Sanctuary civilization!"
But even knowing this was of little use. In Joshua's Steel Force vision, he could directly see the interior of the buildings. Inside, all information and any possible documents had long been turned to ash by high-energy radiation, leaving only the main structure. In silence, the warrior pondered for a moment, then flew straight up into the sky.
Soon, he pierced the atmosphere, reaching an altitude of hundreds of thousands of meters above the surface. At this height in the Mycroft World, he would be nearing the world's edge. But even now, Joshua didn't feel any sign of approaching the void, meaning this world's limit was far greater.
Soon, the warrior flew out of the atmosphere at a speed of tens of kilometers per second—if that thin gaseous sea could still be called an atmosphere—and entered a pitch-black starry sky.
Then, he confirmed his hypothesis.
Joshua looked down at the dim, broken sphere beneath him. He nodded slightly, finally confirming that this so-called World Three was not a single continental world, but a spherical celestial world. World Three itself was a shattered planet.
It was a planet with a quarter of its mass destroyed. Its northwestern hemisphere had a massive gaping hole, from which countless hazy dust particles escaped, forming a dust cloud region several planets long. Its surface was covered in a layer of iron-red metal sand, which buried all surface structures while also preventing the planet's complete collapse.
Yes, the Black Mist did not destroy this world. In fact, it was protecting it, preventing it from shattering due to its severe wounds. But it was a meaningless effort. Joshua sensed no life on this planet. Even souls had completely dissipated over the millennia. He couldn't perceive any information.
After confirming the surface information, Joshua turned and scanned the void. He was now in the orbit of World Three. He could see that the world's sun was a dark red, appearing very large but extremely dim, with numerous black regions surging on its surface... This was a red giant nearing extinction. Its original position was not here, but far away at the center of the star system.
Clearly, this world had once directly encountered the Plenty Evil God. The star had been induced to explode by the Evil God, becoming a red giant. The Black Mist had clearly tried to protect this world but failed utterly. The countless wrecks piled up into a star-covering desert, but to no avail. The buildings on the shattered planet had their surfaces blackened by radiation, and everyone died in that spectacular explosion.
Joshua flew rapidly through the zero-gravity space, accelerating to two-thousandths of the speed of light, cruising the surrounding cosmic space. He indeed found many traces of battle. In the outer dark space, there were also many drifting iron-red metal clouds—the remains of the destroyed Black Mist. In the darkness, Joshua also sensed faint residual Chaos energy, the scent of an Evil God. But there were no Evil God remains nearby, only a trace of its presence.
Joshua even found an asteroid about one-fifth the size of World Three. But after more than ten minutes of analysis, the warrior confirmed it wasn't an asteroid, but World Three's moon. It had been knocked out of its orbit by the clash of two powerful beings, drifting in the darkness. He could even see the massive impact crater on the moon's far side.
Besides these, Joshua also found many floating remains of massive runic arrays and crystal structures in the orbit of this drifting moon. He flew closer to examine the markings on these civilization artifacts. Joshua confirmed they were all symbols of the Sanctuary world.
**[Omega Sanctuary Affiliation]**
**[Federal Central, Nock Research Institute]**
These space stations and magical construct remains, floating in the planet's orbit, had received far more stellar radiation than the buildings on distant World Three. But they were many times more durable, so much so that their markings were still clearly visible. After deciphering the text, Joshua felt a flicker of familiarity... The name 'Nock' was common, but he seemed to have heard it somewhere before.
After a moment, the warrior, searching his database, widened his eyes. He remembered where he had heard that name.
"It was from the mouth of the Sanctuary civilization's leader when they were invaded by the Evil God!"
Joshua turned, staring at the shattered planet behind him. He said in a deep voice, "Master Nock, the creator of the Black Mist. His team inscribed the core runic array of the Black Mist... If the building on this moon was the research institute of Nock's team."
"Then this planet is undoubtedly the manufacturing plant for the Black Mist prototype, their birthplace!"
Just as Joshua was shocked by his discovery.
On World One, Priest and his team were cautiously approaching the edge of a massive surface fissure, preparing to closely examine this world's unique heavy metal circulation system.
They were working with great enthusiasm, each performing their duties, operating various instruments, analyzing the composition of high-temperature gases erupting from the crustal fissures, and determining the world's basic elemental makeup. Just moments ago, when instruments indicated that this planet possessed immense adamantite reserves, everyone hugged each other in excitement, almost losing their composure.
"Hahaha! According to current information, the adamantite reserves deep underground in this world are three hundred times that of the Mycroft World! Maybe even more! We've hit the jackpot!"
"Although mining will be difficult, a massive adamantite vein like this is enough to attract Legendary experts! We've finally found a valuable vein!"
Priest was also very excited, but he calmed everyone down. "Don't get too excited. Our mission is to explore the world; contribution points are just a bonus. Besides, our core objective, finding the Unified Grand Database, is still nowhere in sight. If we actually find that, *that* would be the real bounty!"
Hearing this, everyone calmed down a bit. Now was indeed not the time for loud celebration. He was right; the exploration wasn't over, and their mission wasn't complete. Celebrations could wait until after their return.
And just as everyone resumed their work, including Priest, none of them noticed.
Outside the world's atmosphere, in the endless darkness, strands of black mist infiltrated the atmosphere. They merged with the metal clouds, then fell as rain-like liquid, descending into the world, seeping into one world fissure after another... They descended silently, without any sound or vibration.
And one such strand of black mist happened to fall towards the surface fissure where Priest's team was located. It turned into rain, falling into the abyss.
Everyone was still analyzing the gas components erupting from the planet's depths. They worked diligently, unaware of anything amiss.