# Chapter 44: Singing to Death
The four deities had already taken their positions at the fourth ring of the sealing array, and could clearly sense that as the gods settled into the core sealing anchors, the originally surging River Styx seemed to be dammed, gradually becoming calm.
The fourth ring seal was equivalent to four great dams, filtering all the chaotic forces and world wreckage from every corner of the Star River. When the Seven Gods completely controlled the outer sealing anchors, losing the infusion and stimulation of external power, even if the unknown evil god had not been dealt with, it would need decades to awaken. After all, for an evil god of such immense scale, the difference between a thousand years and a hundred years was probably not that great—just like the Steel Serpent of the Star Sea World, even the simple action of "concentrating attention" required several days.
But could the Seven Gods hold out for that long? That was indeed an unknown.
Passing through the fourth ring seal suppressed by the God of Love and Decay, the fifth to leave was the God of Life.
This mysterious deity, who hid everything beneath a veil, with unknown gender or appearance, was so enigmatic. Facing the core sealing node on the other side of the River Styx, They slightly shook Their head and muttered somewhat regretfully: "It is very difficult for a hive consciousness to develop civilization, because the essence of life is merely survival, and the survivability of a hive will is simply too strong. They have no motivation or curiosity to make themselves live better, to see a broader world."
"But sometimes, huddling on a planet as happy beasts might be easier and safer than opening one's eyes, becoming a civilization, and then staring directly into the endless void and universe."
At the end of the River Styx tributary was a strange planet, unlike any planet seen before, because in essence, it was the corpse of a 'living being'.
This creature, massive enough to rival a star, had a shape similar to a planet. Its surface was covered in vast, thick layers of ice, several thousand meters thick—formed when the water within the star-life's body cooled and was expelled. Beneath the glaciers could be seen scar-like ridges and organ openings that rose like mountain ranges. Countless wondrous biological organs were arranged in extremely regular patterns on the 'planet's' shell, forming a massive runic array.
It was unimaginable—if this star-life was not born this large, but evolved from a weak, ant-like hive life on a planet, then how long a time, how arduous a development, how many planets it must have nurtured and consumed, how many adventures it must have undertaken, to become such a miraculous form? Its size, every biological organ, and the runic sequences arranged on its surface were all real stories, living epics.
But now, everything was meaningless. It was dead. This hive life civilization that might once have dominated the Star Sea and roamed the void had, along with their bodies and nests, turned into this corpse-like planet. If this world still had a sun, perhaps millions of years later, entirely new life would be born on its remains.
But this world had no sun. It had long been extinguished. The battle between order and chaos had long extinguished all future and hope, turning it into an abyss of despair.
The God of Life said nothing more. They simply left like that, arriving at the corpse of the star-life. With a flash of pure white light, one core sealing array after another, like gears, was activated, anchors were set, and the black hole at the world's center began to 'glow'. A large amount of chaos accumulated in this world was used as filling fuel, thrown into its accretion disk, bit by bit transforming into radiation streams.
Without transforming into a holy emblem, without reciting holy words, the power of the God of Life was so great that They needed no action, no words—merely existing, Their divine power could achieve what other gods could only accomplish with full effort. In the span of a breath, the fifth ring seal was lit by white light, the brilliant radiance of life dazzling and bright, even surprising Joshua slightly.
"To think They are so powerful... No, the only single-domain deity among the Seven Gods, so special—I should have realized long ago."
Only the strong could be unique; otherwise, it would not be admirable specialness but puzzling strangeness.
The God of Life also left behind a divine power spark for Joshua—a thing used to burst forth divine power in times of crisis. Although the warrior bore the blessings of the Seven Gods, plus the Five-Colored Dragon God, making eight deities, he was not a god and could not fully utilize the miraculous effects of divine power, only using it as passive resistance. These divine power entities would allow Joshua to use some divine power in critical moments.
But when Joshua received the spark left by the God of Life, he let out a soft exclamation of surprise: because what They left behind was not a dead object, but a plump, white, silk-wrapped, living 'cocoon'.
Although strange, it was indeed a method the 'God of Life' would use. Joshua accepted the cocoon and continued forward.
By now, they had reached the deepest layer of the Abyss. Beyond the nine hundredth layer of the Abyss, no light could be seen, and the number of world wreckage could not be counted. After all, the layers of the Abyss were complete worlds; incomplete worlds were merely wreckage, like the core sealing anchors the Seven Gods had gone to earlier—most were in world wreckage, not within Abyss worlds.
The layers of the Abyss grew fewer, but the world wreckage grew more numerous. It was very possible that the distance needed to cross the last hundred layers of the Abyss was far greater than from the six hundredth to the nine hundredth layer.
And the God of Protection and Progress, who had been very silent all along, rarely speaking or showing expression, had also reached the time to leave.
"Hey, young man over there."
The God of Protection and Progress, 'Yizhe', who manifested in the form of a dwarf, opened his mouth and spoke in a Common Tongue with a dialect accent. He was clearly different from the other deities, with a much greater degree of humanization. When Joshua heard his words, he turned his head to listen to what he wanted to say.
But the moment he spoke, it was earth-shattering.
"Walking all this way, to be honest, I've recovered quite a bit of my memory."
The stout dwarf deity did not waste words. He stated directly: "Probably that brat Sage was afraid we'd get contaminated—after all, time is the thing that can change everything most, even true gods are no exception—so he added all these rules, restrictions, and set our memories so that if we don't approach certain things, our memories of them remain sealed."
Just this one sentence revealed an astonishing amount of information. Yizhe did not mind Joshua's slightly widened eyes beside him. He just pulled out a pipe from somewhere, put it in his mouth, clasped his hands behind his back, and said somewhat slurredly: "It started five or six thousand years ago. He never explained his plans clearly to us, including that group of foolish disciples of his—even after death, he pulled them up to continue using them, truly giving them no rest."
After speaking, the dwarf deity turned his head to look at the silent God of Might beside him, then at Joshua. His iron-gray eyes were not as agitated as his words; instead, they were calm beyond belief. He sneered and said: "Looks like you're a bit startled? Nothing much. As his inheritor, you should know that the Sage had more than a dozen initial followers, right?"
"Saints." Joshua answered succinctly. He did indeed know this. The warrior was surprised by Yizhe's attitude but not really that surprised by the information he revealed.
To be honest, he had long suspected this possibility. Now it was just reality catching up to speculation. Nothing major.
"Yes, Saints. That's what the whole world called us back then. But actually, that guy only had six disciples. The rest were his technical officers, deputies, bodyguards, and a few freeloaders who did nothing but follow us around writing biographies."
Yizhe, the dwarf deity, shook his head, then continued to Joshua: "I've recovered most of my memories. Before becoming a god, I was the Second Saint, Yizege, the Undying Holy Judgment. I was also the Sage's elder, guardian, and bodyguard in those first few decades. Of course, I became useless later, but that's not my fault—no fool dared to make a move against us."
Saying this, the dwarf deity laughed once, then gazed at the other side of the River Styx.
It was a dead world filled with chaotic six elements, once a gathering place for large elemental life. Magical power mixed with chaotic forces repelled each other, clashed, annihilated, carrying out a continuous cycle of destruction. Any matter entering it would be completely assimilated into chaotic elements.
Looking at this world, he said somewhat nostalgically: "I fought an evil god, died, and was resurrected by his innate ability, becoming a god. If I were to tell the whole story, it would be a very long, very tumultuous epic. But there's no time now, which is a pity... However, I am not just me. The evil god annihilated most of my soul; even he couldn't resurrect me from nothing. That guy must have used something to patch up the missing piece. I imagine the same goes for the other six children besides me."
"You mean the Seven Gods are all Saints who died fighting evil gods in the past?"
Joshua listened silently to the other's words. He nodded slightly, squinted his eyes, and said softly: "Resurrection from death... indeed, it was the 'Authority' the Sage first mastered. I just didn't expect he could even resurrect Legendary experts, even elevate them to true gods."
Joshua could now resurrect others too, but with many conditions, one being that the soul must be intact. Moreover, after resurrection, unless the resurrected person's strength was lower than Joshua's, their power would certainly decrease significantly, since the body was remade, at most reaching Gold Peak.
"That's probably it. Actually, I'm not entirely sure—maybe I'm a Steel Serpent? After all, this world looks a bit familiar, and some of those little ones don't seem like his disciples. They themselves remain silent about it, perhaps because they've started to doubt who they really are. Maybe there's some deeper secret."
"I could keep thinking, but now, I don't want to. My task is not like those children's; it's very difficult."
Yizhe was the most human-like deity. He shrugged, then patted a scale on Joshua's chest armor—since his dwarf form was too small compared to the Steel Giant, he could only reach here. Then, the dwarf deity turned and flew toward that destroyed elemental world.
"Keep it up, young man. If one day you can catch up to the Sage in our place, us old folks left behind, be sure to kick his ass hard."
Iron-gray divine light suppressed the colorful elemental world in an instant. It could be seen that the nameless elemental world had no core sealing anchor, but with massive mass attraction, the chaotic six elements began to converge. Yizhe used his own divine power to forcibly forge a new 'elemental black hole' in this void of an elemental world! It could be seen that in the elemental world mixed with chaotic magical power, a vortex suddenly appeared. This massive vortex was initially guided by 'Divine Power of Change', then began to spontaneously converge and condense due to its own mass!
"Heaven's protection is progress!"
The holy words were spoken. Soon, Yizhe created a brand new core sealing anchor from nothing, connecting to the surrounding sealing anchors. Iron-gray light flashed through the void at the speed of thought, constructing the sixth ring seal!
And in Joshua's hand was the iron-shelled holy scripture with iron chains that the dwarf deity had held earlier. He casually opened it, only to find that aside from the title page, the sacred book was completely blank.
Excessive indulgence is poison, but without the protection of power, no matter how great the revolution and progress, it will be strangled. However, the meaning of our existence is to guard the 'possibility of progress'.
Those who hold 'power', please watch over all beings, for from now on, it is your era.
Write the story.
"Strange old man."
Joshua put the book away. He turned to look at the God of Might and Justice, who had been silent all along.
"Let's go."
The gray-haired knight said softly, and the warrior nodded slightly. One person and one god descended toward the final depths of the Abyss.
"'Life' has the strongest talent among us, without dispute. Hundreds of years ago, when we were still pondering the use of our divine power, They had already begun to advance, moving toward a further realm."
The God of Might and Justice said in a light tone during the descent: "Of course, I didn't know Yizhe was that strong either. After recovering his memory, his control over power increased several times over, and his divine power is so profound that perhaps among the Seven Gods, the strongest is him, who was usually inconspicuous."
"And what about you?"
During the descent, Joshua turned his head. Without any expression, he asked the deity beside him in a deep voice: "I can see that the divine power of the Seven Gods is roughly equal. The outermost core anchors that need controlling are the most numerous, but the further inward, the higher the concentration of chaos. The chaos concentration at the sixth seal ring is dozens of times that of the outermost layer, so the strongest—the God of Life and the God of Protection and Progress—serve as the anchoring deities. Ah, the core sealing anchor of the sixth seal ring was even eroded, or rather destroyed. The difficulty of repairing it is probably unimaginable."
"God of Might, as the suppressor of the seventh seal ring, are you the strongest among the Seven Gods?"
"No."
The God of Might and Justice, 'Xingzheng', shook his head. This gray-haired knight, who appeared quite rigid and solemn, actually smiled freely: "My strength might be said to be the weakest—because the damage to my soul before death was so severe that even the teacher couldn't fully repair my soul. To tell the truth, it's quite unlucky. I even forgot my name from the Era of Radiance, only remembering that I was one of the Sage's disciples... But that's not necessarily a bad thing, because this way, I am purely the God of Might and Justice of the Era of Falling Stars."
"As for why I am responsible for guarding the seventh layer, Radcliffe, don't you understand very well?"
Saying this, the gray-haired deity slightly raised his eyebrows: "Because I'm about to die, aren't I?"
Hearing this, Joshua fell silent.
In the past, to suppress the Steel Serpent of the Mycroft World, the world's incarnation that had nurtured dozens of deities and hundreds of Legendary experts over generations, to seal this Mother of All Things that had nearly been eroded by chaos and turned into an evil god, the gods exhausted their strength, using the Boundless Heaven as a hammer to suppress it within the world's core.
That battle was silent, far less spectacular than the great battles between many Legendary experts and external enemies on the surface, but its danger far surpassed them. One of the Seven Gods, the God of Might and Justice, Xingzheng, had been forced to display power beyond his limit during the final suppression of the Steel Serpent Mycroft, was eroded by the Great Source of the Multiverse, and gradually walked the path of divine annihilation.
Was he weak? Of course not. There were no weaklings among the Seven Gods. But perhaps, to ensure the completion of the seal, he had used just a little too much force. And that little bit determined his future.
Xingzheng was right. He was about to die.
Even now, Joshua could sense that the divine power on the gray-haired deity was constantly rising, expanding, growing stronger and stronger. At the same time, his self-awareness was being assimilated by the Great Source of the Multiverse—this power, perhaps originating from the First Flame, an existence of near-infinite power, was gradually replacing the deity himself.
He was about to return, to merge with the Great Source. This was the death of a theoretically immortal, ageless deity.
By now, the protective domain of the God of Protection and Progress had receded. They had reached the deepest part of the Abyss, closest to the Abyss Nirvana.
Here, there were no traces of any Abyss world. Everything was chaotic darkness. Even the River Styx was completely filled with endless filthy particles, world wreckage, and chaotic forces. The negative energy fluid, which had felt like a vast sea, had become a viscous, gel-like solid in such a filthy environment.
It could be seen that eight divine power glows appeared around the Steel Giant, purifying the surrounding high-concentration chaotic forces. Around the God of Might and Justice, black divine power glowed darker than the darkness itself. All chaotic forces approaching him were instead dominated by him, offsetting against other chaotic forces.
"As you can see, the outer core sealing anchors still exist, but the further inward, the more severe the damage. Here, closest to the Abyss Nirvana, not even a trace of world structure remains. I can't even use the world's mass to shape anchors and make them form."
It was time to say goodbye. Xingzheng walked slowly toward the depths of darkness. This gray-haired deity, leaving in the form of a knight, slowly drew a divine power longsword from his waist. The sword was like water; the moment it left its sheath, surging black divine power rushed forward, creating a long vacuum in the River Styx.
In that instant, Joshua suddenly remembered a long time ago, when he was still at the Ultimate rank, fighting alongside Brandon in the Moldavia Territory against the remnant of the Atmospheric Evil God—
He had seen the final sword light left by a knight in that ancient laboratory sealing the evil god's remnant body, heard his weary words.
That edge, still sharp and shining after a thousand years, capable of splitting the world and cutting through time and space, was almost identical to the divine power longsword now tightly gripped by the God of Justice and Might!
Not only that, but more memories of him... Before the Sage, the man who had directly stated his desire to conquer other worlds using the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground... All impressions began to overlap.
"Once repelled the Atmospheric Evil God, cut off its tentacles—you are the Sage's Third Saint..."
Realizing this, Joshua's expression shifted slightly. His brows furrowed, as if he wanted to say something, but the gray-haired knight, with his back to the warrior, shook his head, signaling Joshua not to speak.
"I am not the Third Saint of the Era of Radiance. Forget everything you once saw. I am the God of Justice and Might of the Era of Falling Stars."
Saying this, Xingzheng's human form began to become illusory, and behind him, black flames burned fiercely, radiating infinite light.
Endless black divine power light immediately formed behind him into a black ring larger than a star. The endless negative energy and world wreckage in the River Styx were instead dominated by this orderly divine power, becoming its raw material. It could be seen that a halo like a star ring formed around the ring, and large amounts of negative energy were purified and converted on the spot—this was the 'divine power contamination phenomenon' spontaneously formed by overflowing divine power.
And the moment the black ring holy emblem took shape, Joshua could almost hear the entire main channel of the River Styx groaning in strain.
"Creeeak!!!"
Black divine power flames burned. All world wreckage and chaotic forces wandering in the depths of the River Styx, near the Abyss Nirvana, began to madly throw themselves toward the flames burning within the black ring, like a nebula attracted by a massive star. This scene was like moths flying into a flame, or ten thousand rivers surging together into the sea.
Even Joshua could sense a vast force, completely different from gravity, forcibly dominating all world wreckage and chaotic forces in the River Styx, surging toward the holy emblem formed by Xingzheng. It could be seen that pieces of black continental wreckage, star fragments, stellar embers after stars had extinguished, all flowed upstream in the River Styx, flying toward him. One divine power array after another, formed by black divine power like gears, condensed around him—these were the sealing runes that only appeared around core sealing anchors!
Unlike the God of Protection and Change, who mobilized the energy and matter of an elemental world to reshape a core sealing anchor, Xingzheng was going to directly create a core anchor from nothing in the River Styx using his own divine power!
"Unlike Them, who said goodbye, what I'm saying this time is farewell forever."
In the center of the black ring, within the fiercely burning divine power flames, an illusory human form revealed a 'smile'. On his forehead, the divine ring rune began to spread and crack. It could be seen that even more surging divine power poured out endlessly from the 'other end', from the other side of the Multiverse Great Source!
"Legendary warrior Joshua van Radcliffe, witness this—what power can a god facing their end unleash!"
Xingzheng's phantom stood in the center of the River Styx. The divine power longsword in his hand was raised high, then aimed at the River Styx and slashed down. In an instant, dazzling sword light split the world. Divine power thunderbolts erupted among the world wreckage, mercilessly roaring, twisting the structure of time and space. With just this one slash, the River Styx, previously sealed by six rings, was severed from where Xingzheng stood!
He had cut the River Styx, temporarily breaking the cycle of life and death in the World Star River. From now on, until the River Styx returned to its original state, the unknown evil god could no longer obtain any power replenishment through the River Styx!
After delivering this slash, the human form of the God of Might and Justice collapsed on the spot, turning into nothingness, leaving only the black ring holy emblem shining in the River Styx.
Faintly, a voice could be heard, like an echo, but extremely solemn and majestic, reverberating in the depths of the River Styx.
"Justice without light requires might to proclaim it."
Civilization needs an arbiter, needs a judge, needs a prosecutor, needs a villain. Civilization needs fairness, needs goodness, needs someone to judge what is good or bad, right or wrong.
Civilization needs justice. But justice does not proclaim itself, and everyone's justice is different. Justice is not order; it is a chaos that varies from person to person.
Only power can maintain order. Only power can turn chaotic justice into orderly law.
Therefore.
Order is power, and power is justice.
Hanging in the depths of the River Styx, the black ring absorbed endless world wreckage and chaotic forces. Its volume constantly expanded, yet constantly shrank. Soon, the distortion of time and space began to deepen around the black ring, and the black flames burning within the ring were like the pupil of an eye. It gazed at the deepest part of the Abyss, where the Genesis Maelstrom once was, with no regret in its gaze, only determination.
"I call upon justice—"
The absolute, final holy words were spoken.
"In the name of absolute might and equality!"
Divine light spread.
Black divine light began to spread. The Abyss world wreckage closest to the Abyss Nirvana was instantly covered by the seventh ring of black divine power light.
Then, extinguished.
The originally dark and turbid River Styx suddenly became clear.
Because all the darkness and chaos, along with the embers after the world's destruction, were completely merged into that celestial body hanging in the center of the River Styx, twisting time and space, completely unobservable to the naked eye. At the very center of this massive seal ring was a dark star eternally sinking within the event horizon. It could be seen that the chaotic accretion disk surged fiercely, just like the dazzling sword light that had severed the River Styx.
The Terminal Star—Black Hole—Seventh Ring Core Sealing Anchor.
That was the final outcome of the God of Justice and Might of the Era of Falling Stars, after burning to his limit.
The Steel Giant looked up at this seventh ring core sealing anchor. He closed his eyes and bowed slightly in tribute.
Marching toward the end, singing to death.
As a warrior, what more could he say?
No need for memorials, because practicing his ideals was the best offering. No need for remembrance, because his mission was one with his own.
Joshua opened his eyes, turned, and left. He continued descending toward the lowest level of the Abyss.
The temporarily severed River Styx was no longer surging, like calm seawater. It could be seen that ahead was still endless darkness. Behind him, the seven-colored divine light could only illuminate a very short distance. The remaining infinite shadows still needed to be explored by himself.
But there was nothing to fear.
Now, Joshua was alone. Before him was the darkness formed by all the chaos of the World Star River.
There.
Was the 'Extreme Dark Abyss'.