Chapter 47: Ten Seconds
Chaos screamed. Surging matter waves and scorching energy flows burned through the profound darkness, the radiance of divine power condensing as never before, tearing the surrounding dead silence of chaos into shreds and black smoke.
When the four-armed steel giant, carrying an unprecedented torrent of matter, began its charge, anything standing in its path—even a white dwarf star—would be shattered into dust. If the warrior now was like a meteor falling from the far side of the cosmic heavens, then the chaos deep within this abyss was an atmosphere of corrosion so thick it defied belief. At the moment the two began to clash and grind, a white flash surpassing a supernova appeared in the center of the Extreme Dark Abyss.
At this moment, within the turbulent seventh ring of the abyss, the six gods who were fully exerting their sealing power opened their eyes, gazing at the sudden flash of light in the abyss. The Dragon God, who was protecting the Five-Colored Dragon Clan as they slowly migrated to the upper layers of the abyss, couldn't help but look back. And at the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, Pope Eagle, who had been there all along, and Nostradamus, who had just returned at that very moment, simultaneously sensed the extraordinary fluctuation with the help of the Sacrificial Ground. Everyone instinctively paused in their actions.
Under the gaze of numerous powerful beings, they could see that the faint flash of light, originally at the edge of the darkness, had suddenly begun to move toward the true core region.
Joshua was charging through the boundless chaos. He transformed into a streak of light, piercing through the thick chaos. A silver flying star broke through layers of darkness, and countless turbulent currents deep within the abyss were forcibly severed and pushed aside as the warrior rushed past them.
But even this earth-shattering charge would eventually come to a halt.
As Joshua truly reached the core region of the Extreme Dark Abyss, even with his strength, he began to feel it was difficult to move forward and had to stop his momentum.
*Pa—hiss*
With a strange and oppressive sound of shattering, another layer of the divine power barrier surrounding Joshua broke. The Dragon God's divine power barrier had long since turned to nothing during the charge. This time, it was the protection of the God of Love and Decay that shattered.
With the help of the 'Beloved Frame,' a sacred artifact that could strengthen the divine power barrier based on the willpower of the bearer, the violet halo had seemed indestructible during the warrior's charge. But just as love will eventually cease, when Joshua stopped, the barrier of Joy and Sorrow immediately shattered, scattering into countless violet light particles.
At this point, only three layers of divine power barriers and sacred artifacts remained around Joshua: those of the God of Life, the one protecting himself, and the God of Might and Justice. There were only two sacred artifacts left.
However, despite paying a heavy price, Joshua had also found the 'Axis of the Abyss.'
He had arrived at the deepest part of the Extreme Dark Abyss.
The whispers in his ears, the wails and cries of the world, countless voices, countless pleas for help sounded beside Joshua. At the center of this former Genesis Maelstrom, one could see the wreckage of countless worlds. Steel particles and chaotic power mixed together, forming semi-solidified mud and sand. The incomprehensible density of chaos had already surpassed the highest level of chaotic power that could be produced in the laboratories of the Church of the Seven Gods. Before energy of this magnitude, even a divine power barrier was merely a relatively thick glass shell.
Taking a step forward, the warrior now felt as if he were walking in strong acid mud and sand. Every move was greatly hindered. To use an analogy, it was like being on the surface of a neutron star—or rather, being surrounded by neutron stars. The high pressure from all directions constantly compressed Joshua's body, as if trying to crush him into something of higher density.
Of course, the pressure here hadn't reached the point of naturally forming a black hole. But even so, with Joshua's power, he could only walk here like an ordinary mortal, barely maintaining a certain level of combat effectiveness.
"It's even more terrifying than I imagined."
The pure white divine power barrier went from radiant to dim in just five seconds. The barrier left by the God of Life could probably hold on for another five or six seconds before dissipating into light particles like the divine power of the previous gods. Even Joshua dared not slack off. In the last second before the God of Life's barrier vanished, he broke through numerous obstacles and finally reached his target—the very core where all the chaos of the abyss converged.
This was a domain of absolute darkness in spacetime. Here, one could not see the starlight of the multiverse, nor any flashes of magic tides or worlds. What existed here were only the wreckage of worlds, fragments of chaos, steel particles broken to the extreme, and toxic negative energy mixed with despairing chaos, filling the entire void like the thickest mud and sand.
And within this extremely dense chaos, something was gestating. Something so terrifying that it could extinguish stars and dim the galaxy. At this moment, Joshua could see that in the center of this absolute dark spacetime domain, a blurry, chaotic mass was slowly rotating, stirring up clouds of steel particles. At first glance, it looked like a dark vortex gate. Dozens of huge, dark spiral arms swept through the abyss, drawing in the purest chaotic power. And at its center, a ring of holy runes could be seen shining, as if suppressing something.
This was the world of extreme darkness, the sealed foundation of the abyss, the central core of the rebirth plan—this was the remnant of the former Genesis Maelstrom, the core of the still-unawakened, unnamed Evil God!
"Good heavens." Exhaling a breath, the divine power barrier of the God of Life also wavered and then shattered. Joshua stared at this vortex gate, which was at least as large as a red supergiant star, and muttered softly, "This thing is like the dust bunnies that form in the basement of my Lord's Manor when it hasn't been swept for too long. How long has it been since it was cleaned?"
Although the central sealed core was spectacular and eye-catching, Joshua remembered his purpose. He hadn't come here to fight this condensed mass, which had nearly formed a super-chaos giant star-level transcendent celestial body. The warrior's goal was the opposite. What he wanted to do was destroy the seal left by the ancient Sage—that is, the ring of holy runes rotating at the center of the vortex gate.
As for why, the answer was simple.
Just as raindrops form around dust particles, and the core of a snowflake is floating dust in the air, this was a simple physical phenomenon. For a power like chaos to condense, it needed a condensation nucleus. If not, while high-concentration chaotic power would indeed condense into various aggregates in different places, it would only result in a dozen or so ordinary Evil Gods of varying sizes. It would never produce an unnamed Evil God whose mere awakening could stir the World Star River.
And the seal left by the ancient Sage, although it initially sealed the foundation of the abyss, stopping the Genesis Maelstrom and calming the chaos, as time passed, endless chaos accumulated. Combined with the sealing units used for neutralization, the power of the Decay Evil God dissipated. The terrifying chaotic power even overwhelmed the entire seal, using it as a condensation nucleus to form the prototype of an 'Evil God Embryo!'
Joshua could see that this Evil God embryo was not yet fully formed. But if one counted its spiral arms, its size in the material world would probably exceed more than half of the solar system. And although the seal appeared tiny within the chaotic gate, in reality, based on the warrior's visual estimate, its diameter was a full two thousand light-seconds.
The seal was so enormous that if Joshua didn't use faster-than-light jumps and simply cruised at sub-light speed, it would probably take him half a day to circle it once.
But destroying this seal was the purpose of his visit.
Initially, the ancient Sage's seal did indeed restrict the chaos. But now, its effect of gathering large amounts of chaos together for sealing had disappeared. It could no longer suppress the ultra-high concentration of chaotic power. Instead, by continuously gathering it, it had molded the chaos into the prototype of an Evil God. The seal, originally used to restrict chaos, had instead become a protective layer for the unnamed Evil God's condensation nucleus. If this seal wasn't broken and the chaotic power it had condensed wasn't dispersed, neither the Seven Gods nor Joshua would have any chance of purifying it.
This was the example already given once before: If the power held by the unnamed Evil God was millions or tens of millions of '1's, then purifying these '1's wasn't difficult. Whether it was the Decay Evil God, with a value of a few hundred, or Joshua and the gods, also with a few hundred, they could use their own power to purify these '1's with almost no cost. They could even purify an amount of chaos far exceeding their own total energy in one go, like starting a prairie fire in a haystack—no missile needed, just a match. By the same logic, the chaotic power spilling out in the outer layers of the abyss didn't even require legendary experts or gods to act. A few Gold-rank and Ultimate-rank leaders could destroy that overflowing power.
But if these '1's gathered, turning from tens of millions of '1's into millions of '10's, the difficulty would skyrocket. Because even a legendary expert with a value of a few hundred would need to launch a proper attack to destroy a chaotic aggregate with a value of '10'.
But would they have time to launch millions of attacks?
The answer was naturally no.
The next example was simple. Whether it was hundreds of thousands of '100's or tens of thousands of '1000's, for the experts of Mycroft, they were all opponents that couldn't be dealt with. After all, if the exponent reached a hundred, it became an 'opponent' that required effort to handle. And a thousand was a powerful 'monstrosity' that required several legendary experts to be on full alert to deal with.
As for thousands or hundreds of beings with exponents of ten thousand or a hundred thousand, that wasn't even in the plan, because thinking about it was useless. Joshua felt that the only thing worth considering was how to die a bit more decently. Not to mention if the Evil God successfully awakened, with tens of millions of '1's condensing into a single 'unique' existence.
This was something that absolutely had to be avoided. And the reason Joshua wanted to break the seal was to shatter this most important core of the Extreme Dark Abyss, which had probably already condensed to an exponent exceeding 'several thousand' or even 'ten thousand'! Fortunately, the other party hadn't awakened yet. This core with an enormous exponent was not a living thing and had no ability to fight back. Furthermore, the Seven Gods had cut off the River Styx and suppressed the outer abyss, preventing it from growing stronger.
As long as this core was shattered, then purifying the rest would be a possible hard battle, not an impossible death wish.
*Crack.*
The divine power shield of the God of Protection and Progress shattered with a bang.
Facing the chaotic super-star-level vortex gate, the unimaginably high concentration of chaos could annihilate a star just by sweeping past it. Divine power barriers were no more durable than eggshells before such power. But Joshua, who had originally stopped, began to move again.
Not only that, but he even took out the last two sacred artifacts given by the God of Life and the God of Protection and Progress, holding them in his hands. In the next instant, the warrior silently clenched his fists and activated their power.
In an instant, materialized life divine power and protection covered the warrior's body. Amidst the radiance, one could see pure white butterflies scattering from the endless divine power light. They rushed toward the chaos, just like their mortal counterparts rushing toward a flame. Each pure white life divine power butterfly annihilated a significant portion of chaotic energy by sacrificing itself. And before dying, these divine power butterflies laid more eggs. Instantly, countless slightly dimmer larvae hatched from them and began to gnaw at the surrounding steel particles and world wreckage.
One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand. The divine power butterflies hatched from the God of Life's sacred artifact, 'Life Cocoon,' almost single-handedly transformed into a swarm, chewing out a half-clear path for Joshua. Next, the sacred artifact of the God of Protection and Progress, the 'Codex of Protection,' began to exert its effect. Pages formed from divine power materialized into solid divine power barriers. Each layer of the divine power barrier probably only existed for ten seconds. But within those ten seconds, protected by hundreds of layers of divine power barriers, even facing the unnamed Evil God's true body, Joshua would not suffer any harm!
Bearing the final blessings of the God of Might and Justice and the power of the sacred artifacts, the warrior finally arrived before the sealed core, the shining runes of the ancient Sage at the center of the enormous dark gate.
The super-giant rune entity, with a diameter exceeding two thousand light-seconds, was constantly dimming under the erosion of the ultra-high concentration of chaos. Joshua could imagine how brilliant it must have been in its prime—probably like the sun, capable of illuminating the entire Extreme Dark Abyss. But now, it was like a dying campfire, with only scattered sparks retaining warmth and light. Without a doubt, when it was completely eroded and destroyed, that would be the moment the unnamed Evil God fully formed and truly awakened.
That was why Joshua had to destroy this seal, which served as the 'condensation nucleus,' before it awakened, turning a 'ten thousand' into ten thousand 'ones.'
And the time he could safely control to achieve this goal did not exceed ten seconds.
**First second.**
*Pa la la la la la*—a series of shattering sounds rang out. It was the sound of the Codex of Protection's barriers being continuously crushed as they faced the river-star-level Evil God.
Joshua took a deep breath. His four arms pressed against his chest, and the core furnace began to brighten rapidly.
**Second second.**
The originally layered, perfectly circular Codex barriers were directly stretched into a teardrop shape by the overwhelming chaotic pressure from the front. In that instant, another few dozen layers of Codex barriers shattered.
Joshua exerted force with his four arms. The armor plates on his chest opened, revealing the burning star behind him. One could see that the star had turned incandescent white, with blue, violet, and other spectral radiations appearing at its edges. The chaotic power was rising without limit.
**Third second.**
Although he hadn't moved, the terrifying mass of the chaotic core slowly pulled the entire Codex barrier and the warrior toward the vortex gate. One could see that the scene was like a sky-swallowing giant whale lurking in the dark ocean depths, opening its mouth to swallow a krill.
The core in Joshua's chest was completely catalyzed to the supernova critical point. The blazing radiance of this transcendent sun even ignited the surrounding deep chaos, lighting dark red, gloomy flames on the outside of the Codex barrier. Instantly, the warrior looked like a Demon King shrouded in hellfire.
**Fourth second.**
The Codex barriers were completely destroyed. The final divine power barrier of the God of Might and Justice took over as the last defensive layer.
Joshua spread his arms, making a gesture as if to embrace. But one could see strange, unfamiliar runes and inscriptions, completely different from those on the Mycroft Continent, extending across his body and four arms. With the critical nova at his chest as the center, the warrior's four arms were like the four pillars of a formation. A massive formation, with the warrior as the core origin point, was rapidly taking shape.
**Fifth second, sixth second.**
The divine power barrier of the God of Might and Justice shattered. The final black divine power exploded, pushing back the constantly pressing chaos, buying the warrior one more second.
At this moment, the formation was fully formed. Joshua's core furnace detached from his body and moved behind him, forming a rotating, giant 'Φ'-shaped formation composed of countless unfamiliar runes and inscriptions. Meanwhile, a new small star took shape within Joshua's body.
The armor plates on his chest closed. He let out a roar, and surging silver radiance turned into mist, firmly protecting the formation behind him.
**Seventh second.**
Having lost all divine power barriers, Joshua faced the most terrifying chaos in this star river with his own body.
Was there any feeling to describe it?
Actually, not really. It was just the inability to breathe, the inability to move, thousands upon thousands of people roaring in his ears, and thousands upon thousands of blades slashing at his face. Feeling the biting erosion of chaos and the whispers that were tens of thousands of times louder than at the beginning, he used his own flesh to block the invasion of chaos.
**Eighth second.**
Even the neutron degenerate state armor began to be stripped away by the chaos. One could see that the tiny armor fragments, upon detaching from the warrior's body, instantly expanded into giant material blocks the size of mountains. And when these material blocks faced the chaos erosion, they were completely blown away like piles of dust. In just one second, the ultimate armor, once indestructible and unbreakable by countless enemies, was mostly annihilated, leaving the tall warrior's body broken and tattered.
**Ninth second.**
Joshua's body disintegrated, completely turning to ashes.