Chapter 35: Your Evil, My Path
Even the Black Mist Mother Entity could not withstand the combined force of nine deities and thirteen Legendary experts—a power capable of effortlessly annihilating a world and suppressing multiple space-time domains.
The billions of extending black mist tentacles struggled with all their might, but no matter how vast the tide of energy, it could not overcome the targeted suppression of nine completely different divine powers. Unwillingly, they were forced to bow under this pressure, finally dispersing into clusters of mist.
The massive black mist began to slowly contract and condense. During this process, large numbers of damaged individuals were expelled by the Black Mist Mother Entity, turning into worthless metallic sand. The originally vast sea of energy was bound by various divine powers, its movement becoming incredibly difficult and sluggish until it nearly came to a halt.
[……Ugh.]
A painful psychic wave swept across the entire void, containing a powerful mental impact that could cause ordinary lifeforms to lose their sanity, shatter their souls, and become vegetables. But the deities and Legendary experts present all possessed firm minds, the kind almost impossible to defeat with pure mental attacks. So this struggle of the Black Mist was once again futile. William, the Mind Master, even casually wrote a piece of erroneous code and inserted it into the Black Mist Mother Entity's psyche. Though useless, it sufficiently demonstrated his ease.
Yet even so, the Black Mist Mother Entity had never left this space-time domain from start to finish. If it wanted to flee, it could have long broken into pieces, extracted a clone. Before the nine deities sealed space-time and unfolded the multi-dimensional array, the Black Mist Mother Entity could have retreated at any time. Even if the thirteen Legendary experts fought to delay it, they could never have severely wounded the Black Mist Mother Entity, at most causing it to lose some of its least important mass.
In response, the Black Mist Mother Entity silently contracted, transforming into a smooth black sphere, unfolding its final defensive domain. Layer upon layer of translucent space-time barriers stacked outside it, quickly reaching a thickness nearly comparable to a world barrier.
But against the combined high-end power of the entire Mycroft Civilization, this defense was merely a veil that could be casually lifted.
As the God of Protection and Change silently altered the form of space-time, dissolving all the originally indestructible spatial barriers, what was revealed before everyone was the Black Mist Mother Entity's true body—still capable of fighting, but already destined for defeat.
[……You have won. We have failed.]
Seeming to realize this, the Black Mist Mother Entity no longer persisted in meaningless defense. Its smooth spherical surface began to writhe and transform, finally forming a colossal face.
It was a 'face' composed of countless rotating gears, extending pistons, infinite conduits, coolers, focusing mirrors, calculation matrices, energy storage pools, and thousands upon thousands of surging, bizarre micro-structures arranged together. This face was as twisted and abstract as a Picasso painting, almost beyond belief. Each of its constituent parts had strange and peculiar structures. On this countenance was a massive eye, its white formed by blazing white energy light mist, while its pupil was a dim, dying world about to extinguish.
The silent Alpha Sanctuary World.
This pupil gazed at the gods and legends who were contracting the multi-dimensional array, tightening the cage, without the slightest change: [You have defeated me, proving your power surpasses the possibility of the Final Barrier. According to the protocol set by the Creator, the Black Mist as a whole will immediately cease all actions and fully assist the victor in confronting the Terminator… This was the original plan. As the Creator's construct, I should have done this.]
Using a cold, calm psychic wave to vibrate the void, the Black Mist Mother Entity stared with its abstract eye at those who wore strange expressions, whispering and discussing among themselves, seemingly debating the possibility of its words. It spoke word by word: [But I will never assist you, despicable Mycroft people.]
Such intense emotion, such intense hatred, made Joshua, who had originally thought the Black Mist merely operated according to a fixed plan with mechanical thinking, pause in surprise. He suddenly realized—how could a powerful mind that had traversed the multiverse for thousands of years possibly be bound by the original Creator's protocol?
The Black Mist Mother Entity had not constructed the Final Barrier because of the Sanctuary Civilization's plan. It had thought, judged, and finally decided to construct the Final Barrier with its own will!
[No one ever saved us, ever saved the Sanctuary! The Mycroft Civilization triggered the space-time quake, attracting countless Evil Gods here, yet never considered cleaning up after such an act.]
The Black Mist Mother Entity's psychic vibration was almost a roar, but soon, this mental wave capable of causing harm was coldly suppressed by the deities controlling the array. Yet even so, the Black Mist Mother Entity insisted: [Was what they did not enough? The Creators abandoned the innate selfishness of living beings, using all their intelligence to make this multiverse brighter. They patiently taught other weak races to grow, gave them perfect living spaces, allowing different civilizations to flourish.]
[But they were exterminated, all of them, because of you.]
[Now, you are destroying the only thing they left behind.]
Hearing these words, none of those present—whether gods or legends—were shaken in the slightest.
"From what I know alone, it destroyed the former Silaie World of the Bloodmoon Abyss, turned the Chronos World into wasteland. It triggered the Abyss's mutation, bridged the Five-Colored Dragon God and the Abyss forces. It wandered among the stars, destroying many worlds."
Joshua spoke thus, not caring at all about the Black Mist Mother Entity's accusations, but narrating calmly: "The Black Mist and the Black Mist Mother Entity are predators roaming the multiverse. Their existence has an extremely negative impact on our civilization's development. That's why I've always called for everyone to search for their lair and eliminate them as much as possible."
"The operation was very successful. We had no casualties, just the Nature Mentor and the Sword Saint expended too much energy and need some rest."
To this, the Golden Dragon King silently nodded. He was one of the direct victims of the Black Mist's conspiracy. Nostradamus also immediately affirmed Joshua's words: "Correct. Such an existence with extreme malice toward our civilization should be directly destroyed, leaving not a single remnant."
Barbarossa interjected: "The Black Mist still has an enormous energy reserve. It will be difficult for us to eliminate it in a short time."
"Then seal it, use it as an energy source to extract." The Sword Saint said flatly: "Just like sealing a World Will. With last time's experience, I won't fail."
No one, not even the most kind-hearted and gentle Nature Mentor, paid the slightest attention to the Black Mist Mother Entity's words. The Seven Gods of Humanity, the Fishman God, and the Metal Dragon God were also communicating through divine telepathy.
"The Sanctuary Civilization was indeed an ally of the Radiant Civilization, but we are not the Radiant Civilization, and it is not a representative of the Sanctuary Civilization."
The God of Wisdom and Choice's thoughts vibrated regularly: "The ancient covenant has ended. It is an ancient evil nearly equivalent to an Evil God. I suggest sealing, or direct destruction."
"Destruction." The God of Order and Destruction replied simply: "Direct destruction."
"We have reached the limit of divinity. We cannot leave such a terror, requiring nine of us to suppress, for future generations."
The God of Love and Decay spoke softly, raising her head to gaze at the void's far end, her eyes somewhat lost but returning to firmness: "Destruction."
"Destruction." "Pulululu." "Destruction. (Draconic)" "Destruction."
The gods reached a unanimous opinion. They bowed together, gazing at the colossal Black Mist, then said in low voices: "The risk of sealing is too great. We cannot ensure the seal will last until the day the Black Mist Mother Entity loses its ability to act. The gods believe we should directly destroy the Black Mist Mother Entity's physical form, preserving only some sub-entities as samples sealed in the Boundless Heaven, as research subjects for the artificial collective intelligence lifeform project."
No one had any objection to this decision. Even Joshua, who regretted the loss of the vast amount of civilization data destroyed by the Black Mist in its database, was the first to nod in agreement.
No gain is worth the danger of the Black Mist Mother Entity. No matter how regrettable, the absolute safety of the civilization must be ensured.
As for the relationship between the Sanctuary Civilization and the Radiant Era a thousand years ago, the right and wrong between them, the sorrow and grief, the responsibility and fate—that was not something they needed to understand or consider. At least, Joshua didn't care. He merely gave the gods a suggestion.
"In World One, there is a black hole—in magical terms, roughly a space-time singularity—very suitable for destroying the Black Mist Mother Entity, ensuring it has absolutely no chance of revival."
"Feasible."
"But the Black Mist Mother Entity is too massive. We can't directly stuff it into World One."
"Split it apart. Disintegrate the Black Mist Mother Entity's self-will. We'll use several years to disperse its body and banish it into the singularity."
"The energy consumption is large. It might occupy many resources."
"It won't. Its body itself contains enormous energy… Moreover, this requires far fewer resources than sealing it. We can also attempt to extract its database."
Soon, the gods reached a unified opinion. They remained at the nine nodes, reinforcing the seal of the multi-dimensional array, gradually solidifying it in this void. They truly seemed intent on setting up a space-time rift here, banishing the Black Mist Mother Entity bit by bit into the black hole, completely erasing this ancient existence.
[The Mycroft Civilization remains so arrogant.]
To this, the Black Mist Mother Entity spoke thus. Its tone no longer held joy or sorrow, naturally no hatred either. It said calmly: [You will pay the price.]
"We have already paid the price."
The Legendary experts had begun to teleport away one after another. The last two to leave, Joshua and Israel, heard the Black Mist Mother Entity's words. The warrior said nothing, while the old Pope turned back. He also replied with a calm psychic voice: "This time, it's your turn."
With that, the two opened a space-time passage together and left this void. One could see the colossal multi-dimensional array still slowly contracting, completely suppressing the Black Mist.
And at the other end of space-time, World One.
Joshua, who had crossed back to this battlefield, was about to contact the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground to open another space-time passage and return directly to the Mycroft World. This time, he had first eliminated a mass of Black Mist, then fought a great battle with a group of Black Mist and the Black Mist Mother Entity, and then joined forces with numerous legends and gods to suppress the Mother Entity. It was unimaginably exhausting.
He had originally only wanted to find the location of the Grand Database and incidentally check on the exploration team's initial findings. Who knew why it had turned out like this, staging such a grand divine war.
"The Black Mist Mother Entity is almost an Evil God… It just doesn't see itself that way."
At Joshua's side, the old Pope sighed. After leaving that void, Israel's face showed some fatigue, his expression carrying a trace of pity: "It is so evil, terrifying, twisted… But even so, it still considers us despicable. I wonder what image we, as inheritors of the Radiant Era, have in its eyes, and in the eyes of other civilizations."
Joshua replied in a matter-of-fact tone: "Naturally, villains, evil—even more frightening neighbors than Evil Gods, in their view."
"Is that so."
The old Pope, who had been a good person all his life and done good deeds all his life, couldn't help but pause briefly, then said with a bitter smile: "So it is…"
Before Israel could continue his lament, Joshua turned to meet his gaze. The warrior's psychic wave was clear and direct, without any concealment: "Your Holiness, do not be troubled by the Black Mist Mother Entity's words."
"Any hero or strong person who persists in their beliefs, who exhausts all their strength and gives everything for their race and civilization, is undoubtedly a villain in the eyes of other races. Even the Sanctuary Civilization, that altruistic existence, might not be liked by all civilizations."
"This evil is our glory."