Chapter 42: Nightfall
"They are approaching."
"Something, something extremely vast and powerful, is drawing near to our world."
"Prepare yourselves. My intuition tells me this will be either the initial torch that ignites a prairie fire... or the cataclysmic flood that extinguishes the flames of war..."
Numerous different civilizations made their own distinct choices.
"Initiate the prophecy." Within the Takur Star River, the Annihilation Order, the Twelve Sanctum Star Domain, the aged High Patriarch, who had been meditating with closed eyes, suddenly opened them. His single eye had transformed into an energy vortex resembling a star river, from which an immensely powerful psionic energy fluctuation emanated, containing within it an extremely distinct and unique resonance of divine power.
"Begin the prophecy." He repeated, his tone solemn: "I hear echoes, I hear the wails of ancient wreckage drifting in the darkness... Something unknown has appeared, appearing within the 'Annihilation Prison'!"
In the nomenclature of the Takur Annihilation Order, the void outside the Multiverse Star River was named the 'Annihilation Prison'. The worlds where all things lived were enveloped by the Annihilation Prison, and the Annihilation Prison would eventually devour all star rivers—only by gathering the will and souls of all beings together to create a paradise-like 'Canopy World' could this destined destruction be avoided.
However, becoming a member of the Takur Annihilation Order meant that after death, one's soul would be cast into the Canopy World as foundational material. While this was a form of immortality, it was almost universally unacceptable except to members of the Order itself. Faced with civilizations unwilling to join them, the Annihilation Order would annihilate their physical forms and use their souls as fuel and raw material to forge their heaven.
Now, the Takur Annihilation Order had detected a disturbance within the Annihilation Prison.
They immediately launched a grand prophecy.
Within the Amos Star River, the Bloody Royal Court, the Imperial Throne, the Apocalypse Star Domain, a will fluctuation powerful enough to distort reality echoed across the entire star domain.
"Uncover the truth behind this energy fluctuation."
A will wave, as if forcibly suppressing a raging fury, swept through the minds of every Amos person. Their Emperor, for the first time, issued such a clear command to his successful subjects with such grave seriousness.
Thus, they too began a meticulous detection and listening of the Silent Void.
Beyond this, nearly all powerful civilizations issued similar commands—compared to those young, ignorant, and too immature civilizations and races, these ancient, powerful entities clearly understood that so-called 'anomalies' were 'accidents beyond control', 'unpredictable unknowns'. These were the most dangerous things, and thus had to be investigated and understood immediately.
Therefore, ultra-large-scale precursor arrays covering entire star domains were activated; the most precise and powerful biological detectors were released from planet-sized cultivation chambers; countless ships drifting in the void merged into a gigantic antenna array; and ultra-large negative entropy source detectors, built upon stars and powered by stellar bodies, were being connected to energy sources.
All of them began to operate, to activate, and then, using various different methods, began to peer into the distance.
Methods that young civilizations could never imagine or understand were employed—through scientific, mechanical, elemental, psionic, life energy... Holy Light, magic, and even metaphysical instinctual sensing. Countless methods were now used simultaneously to detect the distant unknown, the source causing all the current upheaval.
Within the Sanctum of the Takur Annihilation Order, the High Patriarch solemnly presided over the ritual, beginning to open a spatial-temporal rift in the distant Annihilation Prison to gather information—with his strength, he naturally didn't need to gather surrounding elements and shape them to collect information like the Third Prophet. The High Patriarch only needed to open a spatial-temporal rift to directly use his own psionic energy and divine power to witness the existence on the other side.
Whoosh—A prolonged sound echoed as the spatial-temporal rift was opened.
Thus, the aged High Patriarch witnessed the following scene.
Within the dark, vast Annihilation Prison, all material with substance had decomposed into silence, fallen into stillness. Anything capable of emitting light, heat, or performing work on other things had completely ceased, as if time itself had been frozen. This was the description of the final annihilation of all things in the Annihilation Order, known as Hell.
But now, within this infinite, utterly silent dark void, there was an exceptionally bright light traveling at high speed.
It was a fleet.
The main body of this fleet consisted of large ship-shaped warships made of some kind of silver alloy. Their appearance and the technology used were very strange and also very advanced. At least, the High Patriarch couldn't immediately see through the nature of the technology or the alloy material. He could only barely discern that the thick silver alloy armor had patches of slightly raised rune plates, as dense and regular as dragon scales. They emitted an energy radiance like neon lights and produced a sound similar to a hum.
Flanking the main fleet, on one side were large ships gleaming with golden light, like small stars; on the other side were irregular warships, dark and dim, appearing like drifting asteroids and world wreckage in the void—overall, the fleet was not large, numbering only nearly ten thousand ships. A fleet of this scale meant nothing to the Takur Annihilation Order; any of their sub-dioceses could easily produce a fleet of this magnitude. But the High Patriarch knew the number of ships was not the point; the point was the level of technology.
He saw, at the very front of this fleet, eight exceptionally strong and massive Void Behemoths. Their appearance was very familiar, seemingly the 'Star Shepherd' race that had disappeared from the grand stage of the Multiverse Star River centuries ago. The Annihilation Order had once tried to recruit these nomads, who seemed to possess unique world-creating technology, but they were refused and managed to evade the Order's subsequent pursuit. But this, too, was not the point. The High Patriarch focused his gaze on the center of these eight Void Behemoths, on a seemingly ordinary silver metal sphere, like a common metal ball.
This sphere brought him a sense of danger far exceeding the combined threat of the eight behemoths—and not just that.
The High Patriarch also detected over a dozen transcendent energy fluctuations of immense power, at least only slightly inferior to the various Prophets. The holders of these transcendent fluctuations were stationed throughout the fleet, and the powerful fields they released even enveloped the entire fleet.
"You again?"
Suddenly, as the High Patriarch was carefully observing the fleet on the other side of the spatial-temporal rift, he sensed an extremely deep, terrifying, and dangerous aura.
In front of the spatial-temporal rift, the figure of a black-haired bipedal upright being appeared silently. His eyes now blazed with a red-hot light like molten metal, directly crossing the spatial-temporal rift to gaze at the other side.
He extended a hand, reaching into the rift, grasping towards the core of the precursor ritual. A dark, gloomy fluctuation, containing infinite chaos and destructive force, followed, instantly striking the millions of powerful psionicists participating in the ritual in the entire Sanctum like a thunderbolt, causing them to fall unconscious one after another—and within the long dream of shock, they all fell into one terrifying dead-end scenario of civilization after another. Chaotic memories became the weapon of the being on the other side, invading the depths of his enemies' minds.
"Damn it!" Naturally, the High Patriarch wouldn't be affected by such a paltry amount of chaotic memories, but he immediately understood that he absolutely could not allow the being on the other side of the rift to probe the coordinates of their star domain—so in the next instant, the High Patriarch closed the spatial-temporal rift, attempting to use the shattering power of the precursor array to sever the hand of the being on the other side.
But the High Patriarch was astonished to find that the rift's edge, capable of cutting most substances in this world, naturally shattered and exploded upon touching the body of the being on the other side. That powerful being's body was a world unto itself, completely unaffected by ordinary spatial attacks!
The High Patriarch was about to employ some follow-up measures to repel this powerful unknown entity. After all, while the other's strength was formidable, it was roughly on par with his own; there was no reason to fear him. But the being on the other side frowned, muttered something in an unknown language, and then ceased his attempts to probe the star domain coordinates.
The tentative exchange ended abruptly.
If anyone proficient in the Mycroft Common Tongue had been present, they would have clearly understood what that powerful being on the other side had said.
"What's going on? So many peepers?!"
...
When the other Prophets hurriedly teleported through spatial-temporal arrays to support the High Patriarch, the precursor prophecy array had already ended. All the unconscious psionicists were being sent to medical facilities across the region for data analysis.
The High Patriarch, who had previously seemed like an ordinary old farmer without any aura, had now donned a full set of magnificent and powerful Patriarchal robes, overflowing with various energy auras. He sat in the very center of the temple, awaiting the arrival of the Prophets.
"...They have already departed."
Facing the Prophets who had just arrived and didn't yet know what had happened, the High Patriarch spoke in a low, extremely solemn voice: "They are coming."
"The storm is approaching. We must make all preparations."
Simultaneously, all civilizations that had launched large-scale void detection experienced uniform, yet vastly different, reactions at their highest levels.
"They seem organized."
From a massive void platform, vast enough to hang over and suppress entire worlds, such a message came. Following it, a huge, sturdy black warship rose, crossing the void, gathering from thousands of worlds into one place.
"Notify all fleet commanders. Issue the highest mobilization order."
The ant-like fleet civilization, roaming the star river with knowledge as its goal, began to shed its ordinary, safe guise. As the previously dim crystals on the hull sections were re-energized and lit, glowing with deep green light patterns, the massive fleet civilization started its engines and changed course.
"...New prey... New food..."
In an empty star domain, a locust-like swarm, blotting out the sky and covering the sun, was towing a star forward. These sky-devouring evil swarms, which built their nests within stellar bodies, never possessed any superfluous emotions. Endless hunger and a craving for biomass rendered them fearless, filled with insatiable appetite.
"Poor creatures, drifting in the void. They need our help and care."
Within worlds controlled by mechanical surveillance, powerful tachyon signals were traveling along subspace circuits to every world. A vast mechanical collective will was awakening. Faced with new objects of care, the task objectives inscribed in their master program were reactivated.
"Logically speaking, couldn't we just communicate with them?"
"How interesting. A powerful civilization from the Lost Star River."
These were the thoughts of all benevolent or neutral civilizations. Faced with a powerful entity from the direction of the Lost Star River, emitting energy waves that stirred the entire Silent Void, they harbored doubts and were filled with vigilance, but more than battle, they yearned for communication.
But for civilizations and individuals whose hearts were filled with destruction and malice, their thoughts and goals were very simple.
"These ugly alien aberrations must be purified!"
The news that an unknown powerful void fleet was traveling within the Silent Void did calm the Multiverse Star River, which was on the verge of all-out war, somewhat. But this was merely the calm before the storm.
Everyone knew the storm was approaching.
And the nightfall for many civilizations was about to descend.