The Iron Curtain's Arrogance

The Iron Curtain Overlord floated within the Definition Sea, one hundred thousand silver-white silhouettes arrayed behind him in a standard attack formation. His voice exploded directly within the Definition System of every Ember Expeditionary Force member, carrying the weight of a superior's judgment:

"Tuner of the Ember Era. You let civilizations create their own definitions, abandon order, and indulge chaos. This is blasphemy against the Definition System."

Harmonic Leaptone's forty layers of harmonics trembled at once—not from fear, but rage. She stepped forward, her voice icy. "Our 370 million civilizations are doing just fine. We don't need you to lecture us."

The Iron Curtain Overlord sneered. He raised a hand, and one hundred thousand warriors behind him released silver-white light at once—not an attack, but a "display." Within the light appeared a miniature Iron Curtain Universe: hundreds of millions of civilizations operating in perfect uniformity, every civilization's definition compressed into the single trait of "order." There was no color, no music, no emotion—only cold, precise, unshakable order.

"Do you see? This is the ultimate form of the Definition System. There is no need to waste resources on useless diversity. Order—only order—can keep the Definition System running forever."

That miniature world reflected in Myriad Faces' mirror surface, and then a tiny crack appeared in the mirror—not because it had been attacked, but because it felt "disgusted." It had never experienced such a physiological reaction before.

The 3,600 weavers of the Chromaglass Civilization simultaneously tightened their grip on the colors in their hands. Their 69,997 colors shook violently before that miniature world, not in fear but fury—the Iron Curtain Universe had no color. That was a darkness the Chromaglass Civilization could not imagine.

Lin Ye had remained silent the entire time.

He merely stood there, the 23 million stars upon his cloak