Chapter 46: The Beast and I 6600
—The dark galactic center was shrinking, shrinking in a physical sense.
Space was being folded, twisted, destroyed, nullified, and deleted by the battle of the powerful. At this very moment, the dark galaxy's core was like an immeasurably vast abyss, pulling countless stars and nebulae from all around into the 'vortex' of the ongoing struggle.
From the perspective of the soldiers of the Galactic Guardian Alliance on the second spiral arm of the dark galaxy—those who intended to counterattack the Evil God's Minions and sweep away all threats of Chaos from this world—they did not discover the supposedly endless hordes of Evil God's Minions and Evil Gods. Instead, they were shocked to detect through their Psionic Detection Arrays that the center of this galaxy seemed to have cracked open, spewing forth an endless dark spiral.
It was rotating, devouring, and dominating everything around it, intent on swallowing the entire galaxy into its maw, as if it were an abyss capable of consuming the celestial river.
—Fear—
In the Starry World, whether it was the remnants of the Evil God's Minions, the high-spirited Galactic Guardian Alliance preparing to retake Jiayuan, or the ordinary native races and intelligent beings who had not joined the Guardian Alliance and were completely unaware of everything happening in this grand world—all beings with emotions, with minds, or even merely 'living'—all of them, without exception, raised their heads and looked toward the same place.
The center of the dark galaxy. From there came a terrifying tremor, as if a world-destroying behemoth was fighting with all its might, unleashing its power, shattering spacetime, and destroying this creator-made world from its very roots.
Faced with such an inconceivable world-ending force, everyone's heart was filled with panic and instinctive fear—the instinct of their lives, and even the world they inhabited, constantly warned them, telling them that this was no illusion, but the true end of all things.
Even the immortals, and even the powerful individuals at the Infinite Light Realm, changed their expressions in shock, because the existence that gave them this instinctive warning had an energy level so terrifying that it surpassed their imagination.
How to put it... a star with 1.4 times the mass of the sun can become a stellar black hole, but so can one with hundreds of solar masses. Not to mention the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, ranging from millions to hundreds of billions of solar masses—they are all black holes.
Are black holes comparable?
Similarly, are legendary experts, immortals, and those below the rank of Sage comparable?
Under the erosion of the Near-Saint, spacetime was collapsing, the world barrier was breaking down, and the true body of the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate was approaching this world at an unprecedented speed.
Faced with this power, the love, hate, joy, anger, glory, determination, baseness, selfishness, and even the unity or despair of mortals—all emotions were utterly useless. All feelings and cognition could not resist this force.
"My God—what is that?!"
At the second spiral arm, in the temporary base of the Galactic Guardian Alliance, a cry of surprise suddenly rang out. But before the terrified communicator, whose tentacles were trembling, could upload the information to the large screen, accompanied by a soft hum of spacetime, everyone at the temporary base could see through the nearby window the scene that had caused the communicator to cry out.
It was a rift.
The basic structure of the Starry World had cracked. Even the second spiral arm, tens of thousands of light-years away, was greatly affected. A rift in spacetime could be seen—this was not particularly surprising, as for interstellar civilizations of their level, destroying spacetime was not an unattainable technology. What truly shocked them was what was revealed behind the broken spacetime: the infinite, silver-blue, Psionic Energy-glowing root runes of the world's inner structure.
—This was the fact that the Starry World was essentially an artificially created, artificially expanded giant world. The ancient creator had transformed their homeland, attempting to allow this cradle that nurtured them to evolve, expand, and grow infinitely like themselves. The underlying runes of this world were also the prototype that inspired the ancient Sage to conceive of creating a 'super single world.'
This abnormal spacetime rift was nothing to the entire Starry World, but if all the destruction were summed up, it could be seen that its appearance had caused turmoil in millions of stellar systems, affecting hundreds or thousands of intelligent planets and civilizations. In that instant, hundreds of billions, or even more, lives were killed.
Because of this aftershock, civilizations were destroyed, ecosystems were wiped out. Only jump ships with a certain degree of faster-than-light capability could escape the destruction zone brought by the abnormal spacetime through emergency jumps. Those lucky survivors, panicked and fleeing, in the cold, dark vacuum of space, had no time to celebrate their escape before they saw their homeland torn to pieces by the vibrating spacetime. Even stars exploded under this destructive force, turning into fleeting sparks.
[Civilizations are like rain. On the dark sea, they fall silently, blooming into droplets and ripples, but the rain is soundless.]
[The fish know nothing of this, let alone the behemoths lurking at the bottom of the sea. The rain falls endlessly, yet cannot affect the dark sea in the slightest.]
—So... wind is needed.
—A great wind that burns itself fiercely and sweeps everything.
Around the supermassive black hole at the galactic center, the deadly struggle continued. The silver serpent, far larger than a star cluster, was pierced by the cocoon's attack. A massive tentacle plunged into the body of the World Will, forcibly dominating and altering part of the energy circulation system, causing uncontrollable chaos within the Steel Serpent's star body.
Neither the Steel Serpent nor the Triple Veil had any intention of blocking this blow. The moment it was attacked, the World Will simply opened its mouth, directly devoured and consumed part of the alienated and expanded giant cocoon space, then turned it into its own power to further strengthen the barrier of the Starry World.
The simplest and most brutal method of combat, yet it was a comprehensive test of mind, technique, and body across multiple spacetimes. Both sides were doing their utmost to destroy each other's domination of space, vying for the initiative.
At this moment, the two sides seemed evenly matched, but it was obvious that the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, which had reinforcements, and the Steel Serpent, which had no reinforcements and had only recently awakened from slumber, would recover at different rates.
Even with the advantage of terrain and cooperation with the Triple Veil, the fact remained the same. The Steel Serpent of the Starry World was fighting a cross-spacetime battle of such intensity for the first time. It was nearing its limit, with both its thought center and energy core on the verge of collapse.
"I have fought against the Evil Gods, in an era before you were born."
At this moment, the voice of the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate rang out, without any fluctuation or wavering: "I failed. That Evil God was incomparably powerful. Even I, as I am now, cannot claim a one hundred percent victory. A single insignificant strike from it nearly annihilated me and the world I was in at that time. Compared to such an Evil God, other Evil Gods are as insignificant as dust. That ancient Evil God is far older than any recorded history. It is likely the remnant of a multiverse-level civilization destroyed in the distant past."
"But even such a powerful civilization eventually became an Evil God, and there was more than one. It failed, and I may not succeed either. Even if you survive, you cannot resist them, or the existence that created these Evil Gods. Your resistance is meaningless. Only if I succeed can there be a glimmer of possibility to eliminate the threat."
As for what would happen to the other lives in this multiverse after his success, and whether he himself would become an even greater threat, the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate felt it was completely unimportant.
He had always only considered himself.
"Give up. Step aside. Hand this world over to me. You have no cards left to play. No matter how much you delay for that World Will, it is useless. It is destined to lose and cannot stop me."
In response, neither the Steel Serpent, the Triple Veil, nor Joshua showed the slightest sign of being shaken. The warrior's gaze did not even flicker.
"You've got it wrong—I'm buying time for the Steel Serpent? It's the other way around."
The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate was not surprised by this answer. Its voice echoed: "That could be said as well. If I let you do as you please, let you do something to the supermassive black hole at the galactic center, then even I would find it very troublesome. I might even be forced to abandon exploring this world and retreat in defeat. But now, your true body is being suppressed here by me."
"You have no more tricks left."
To this, Joshua, who was currently locked in place, relying only on the divine power infused by the Four God Rings to resist the erosion of the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate with this relatively unfamiliar supernatural force, laughed.
"Strange premise."
He shook his head.
—What makes you so sure that the existence suppressed here is 'me'?
—If the one here is not the true body at all, what would you do?
Without speaking, and without relying on any information leaked by Joshua, the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate itself thought of this possibility. Its thoughts paused for an instant, and then it nervously scanned its surroundings, sweeping across the edge of the supermassive black hole at the galactic center, fearing that in the next moment, a clone of Joshua would pop out of nowhere with two black holes to detonate the central black hole—but such an action would be too massive, nearly an impossible task.
But what if? In the multiverse, 'impossible' does not exist.
In reality, however, nothing of the sort happened. There was not even a hint of it. After confirming this, the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate returned to normal.
"This is your strongest combat body," it said. "I can tell. A large number of your thought organs are within this world—I have seen supernatural lifeforms similar to you, and I am even a supernatural lifeform similar to you. This cannot be wrong."
"But no one said that the strongest combat body must be the true body."
At this moment, Joshua's voice was calm: "There has never been such a rule—because a body is the strongest, perfectly structured, and imbued with the most power, it is therefore the true body. No one has ever said that. In the end, the distinction between true body and clone is merely a biased concept born from excessive 'self-centeredness.' Why should I care about such things?"
"The time is almost up." Saying this, Joshua simply closed his eyes—the silver world, its surface light began to fade, becoming dark and profound, like a cave leading to an endless distance, a deep abyss.
"Thank you for focusing your attention on me. Otherwise, that Steel Serpent and Triple Veil over there probably couldn't have held you back. Of course, if you hadn't paid attention to me, I would have blown up the galactic center."
His voice suddenly became distant, as if coming from an extremely faraway place, carrying a hint of amusement.
"—So, Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, although you are a Near-Saint, you are not yet powerful enough to face both me and the Steel Serpent simultaneously while still making the perfect choice."
"You can dominate everything now, but you cannot yet dominate 'tomorrow.'"
—At the distant other end of the multiverse, the Mycroft World.
As the adopted son of Pope Igor of the Seven Gods, the legendary powerhouse and Paladin Loranda, who had stayed behind in the homeland, had perfectly completed all his tasks. He had sent nearly three billion Mycroft people in the entire world into various fully protected Sanctuary Worlds.
"Be careful. Although we have eliminated most of the Ultimate Beings, we cannot rule out the possibility that some hidden Ultimate Beings might attack you."
In Moldavia, in front of the portal to the Bloodmoon Abyss Sanctuary, where Xiao Guang was hiding, the Divine Mechanism siblings spoke to the weary Paladin. Ying floated in mid-air, watching the last City Guard soldier enter the Sanctuary World through the portal. She said seriously, "Now, we are also entering the Sanctuary World, and you, Mr. Loranda, as the only legendary powerhouse left in the homeland, will be the only person left in the entire world."
"What an honor. This ancient world is now in the palm of my hand alone."
Faced with Ying's slightly worried reminder, Loranda smiled and made a 'everything is under control' gesture. He patted the shoulders of the Divine Mechanism siblings, signaling them to enter the portal. "Go, don't worry too much. Outside the world, Master Nostradamus and Brandon are patrolling. If I encounter danger, they will come to support me at any time."
Dispelling their tension, he sent them into the Bloodmoon Abyss Sanctuary. As the authority holder, Loranda solemnly closed the connection between the Sanctuary World and the Mycroft World.
Then, he flew into the sky. He passed through the thick clouds, looked into the distance, and gazed down at the Mycroft World, now empty of people, with only the bones of many beasts, almost devoid of life.
"Extreme Plague... I didn't expect such an accident to occur before the Evil God invasion."
He muttered to himself, his tone solemn: "No wonder the Seven Gods often tell us that compared to Chaos, the enemy we should most guard against, the greatest enemy, is actually another kind of order."
Because Chaos is like a natural disaster, an earthquake, a typhoon, the sigh of a world after destruction. The disasters it brings can kill billions upon billions of people, but if one is prepared in advance, whether by fleeing or fighting, total annihilation can be avoided.
But a hostile order is different. Just as an earthquake below the level of a planet-shattering event cannot destroy human civilization, human civil war—whether super magic, infighting among legendary powerhouses, or nuclear weapons thrown at each other—can cause irreversible destruction.
Time passed. Gazing at his homeland, Loranda suddenly noticed that, silently, an 'elf' had arrived on the ground below him through teleportation magic, then flew up bit by bit until it stood before him.
"Ultimate Being Neuper, the first case of Ultimate Being transformation in the Mycroft homeland."
The legendary Paladin grasped the Adamantite warhammer at his waist. A gray Holy Light began to rise from him: "Have you seen the error of your ways and come to die? No, I don't think the thoughts of an Ultimate Being are that simple."
In response, the elf, with its optimized, handsome features, chuckled softly, then lowered its head to look at the location where the Bloodmoon Abyss Sanctuary portal in Moldavia had once been.
"I sense the presence of my parents."
It said softly, "Hand them over. They deserve the perfect life form—and my other relatives. They live here. I can sense it. Hand them all over."
"Parents?"
Hearing this, Loranda's expression was somewhat strange. He stared at this Ultimate Being, pondering what so-called 'familial affection' really was. Then, the Paladin, who had been abandoned as a child and later adopted by the old Pope, narrowed his eyes. His Holy Light blazed even brighter, and he said calmly, "Moving familial affection. I envy it. But you don't have that. Monster, Neuper is dead."
"And you, await judgment."
In response, the Ultimate Elf assumed a perfect combat stance.
An instant later.
High above Moldavia, a brilliant light bloomed. The lightning of Holy Light coiled above the clouds, and a torrential downpour suddenly fell.
In the city center, beneath the central square, as the cold rain washed over it, a silver Restorative Pillar began to glow in the empty space.
It was not metal, nor light. Patterns appeared inside the pillar, and a Φ-shaped symbol began to shine.
—It was glowing.
In the secret world where the Seven Gods had once worked, the location of the super ring world, on the giant engineering equipment originally used to shape stars, the Φ symbol lit up, creating a brilliant ripple.
—It was glowing.
Inside the world, in the Boundless Heaven, within the Unified Grand Database, the Siberian named Lotram, once a nameless technician, was in the laboratory, working through the night with over a dozen mages who were the deepest researchers of the soul in the entire Mycroft World. They were combining research data on the soul from several worlds, even from other star rivers, attempting to create a vaccine from a soul perspective to defend against mental pollution, that is, the erosion of the Extreme Virus.
As if sensing something, Lotram looked up. He looked at the location where they extracted experimental data—a silver pillar. He had once been resurrected in that pillar, obtaining the body he now used.
—And that pillar was glowing.
In the Multiverse Star River, among many civilizations, all the nations that had participated in the Mycroft Civilization Conference, received or were ruled by Mycroft, and were struggling with the Extreme Plague, it could be seen that most small cities had been abandoned, leaving only tightly guarded large cities to ensure no infection or corruption.
Groups of dejected, lifeless-looking aliens were lining up, waiting for the official distribution of food. Because the connections between worlds had been cut off, and large city-worlds themselves did not produce much food, to avoid famine, governments that had previously been unwilling to use it began to activate the Exchange System, using the pillars to exchange materials and obtain large amounts of food.
But at that moment, an alien preparing to make an exchange suddenly blinked, involuntarily stepped back half a step, and then stared in shock at what was before him.
—The silver pillar was radiating light.
In the outer world void, the Joshua clone, who had placed a Psionic Energy bug on his head and was lost in thought, began to glow.
In the Bloody Star River, the clone of Emperor Amos turned his countless stormy giant eyes, looking in the direction of Elma and Crele. His gaze was deep. He could sense a strange, familiar aura erupting from the objects worn by those two, which came from that rare powerful enemy, causing them to shine brightly.
In the Starry World, in the Zhongting Star System, within the temple of the Flame Prison God, the Zhongting people who were meditating and praying inside were startled by the sudden light. They opened their eyes and saw that the statue of the four-armed giant god had moved. It extended its right hand, and in the palm of that hand, a pillar held aloft was shining brilliantly.
And many, many other places. Familiar, unfamiliar, personally visited, not personally visited.
Everything, from the Lost Star River to the Multiverse Star River, from the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground to the Amos Royal Court, from the Mycroft World to the Starry World—all of it. Every place Joshua had ever been, every trace left by things belonging to him, was all glowing.
Silver light radiated outward, like a machine being activated, connecting to a power source, then starting up and linking.
Thoughts began to converge. Sealed modules were activated and interconnected, stimulating each other, like the neural nodes of an intelligent life form being activated, reacting, and beginning to think.
A colossal will began to link its thought nodes scattered across thousands of worlds, spanning the multiverse.
—It was never said that the silver world must be the true body of the world life. No one ever defined it that way—
No one had even ever thought about what the true body really was, or what an incarnation was.
What exactly was the so-called 'self-centered' self?
In the Starry World, within the limit space, the silver world, suppressed by the giant cocoon's alien space, stared back at the startled Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, which had sensed the suddenly surging, soaring aura.
"...I see..."
Then, the self-centered beast, the Near-Saint, looked seriously at its enemy through the Emotion Force, at the silver world that had begun to glow again. It seemed to see Joshua clearly for the first time, to see the truth behind this existence.
"You are the same as me."
It said, as if sighing: "You are also a beast."
"Just a beast that lives within civilization, walks within cities, lives alongside ants, using their power to strengthen itself, spread itself, and achieve its own goals."
"No, to be precise, you are crazier than me... I still have the cognitive distinction between 'main body and clone,' but you have none of that. Those are all you, each one is you, but none is the complete you. You are the multitude, but the multitude is not you... Strange world, strange individual—what kind of monster are you?"
"Of course, a human."
The domination space of the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate began to collapse. The silver world, which had been suppressed, began to reclaim the domain that was originally its own, stretching its body, beginning to glow again, and growing larger and more majestic. 'Joshua' said, "And I am myself."
It could be seen that the giant hand of alien space, spanning 280 astronomical units, began to tremble. It was being lifted, torn apart. A force, abundant and inconceivably vast, crossed spacetime, like a sprout lifting a boulder, slowly raising it bit by bit.
It could be seen that cold silver light spread in the vacuum. The Φ-shaped symbol appeared on its surface. And the limit space, which had been suppressing Joshua while simultaneously contending with the Steel Serpent, was retreating step by step, shrinking.
But it still held the final line of defense—that is, the core of the contradictory spiral at the center of the giant cocoon space, which connected to the outer world void, and the path leading to the supermassive black hole at the galactic center.
"I am very clear. I am human. As for what others think, what does that have to do with me?"
At this moment, Joshua's calm voice could be heard: "The universe must obey my will. The fundamental forces must heed my command."
"A mere man-made definition should be described by me, determined by me."