A key characteristic of the Eternal is that after advancing to this realm, they can completely transcend the River of Space-Time of their realm, bringing all true spirits under their control, and from then on, they live freely and unrestrained. Therefore, this realm is also known as the Realm of Transcendence.
After Lancelot and Gustavo ascended to the Eternity level, they gained the same powers.
"I can sense that the flow of time in this Chaos Ruins is different from that in the Astral Realm; it's much slower. This means that we've spent a few years here, while decades, centuries, or even more could have passed in the Astral Realm."
"Since the Mother of the Stars harbors ill intentions, has she already completed her plans and begun her scheme to devour the Astral Realm?" Gustavo asked, his spider eyes deep and unfathomable.
"I don't know." Lancelot's expression hardened slightly, and he shook his head.
"We'll understand these things once we return, but for now, the Astral Realm is clearly not under the control of the Mother of the Stars, otherwise the World Tree would have reacted."
"I wonder how things are going with Logo," Gustavo sighed.
"It should be fine. This guy's talent is higher than both of ours, and his planning and strategy are far more profound. He's probably already closing in, or he already has a sure thing of victory and is just toying with those three guys." Lancelot was very confident in Logo.
"Speaking of which, you've already devoured the fragments of the Spirit Ruins world, so why hasn't your Endless Continent completed its ascension yet?" Gustavo asked, changing the subject.
"How do you know my Endless Continent hasn't been upgraded to a super universe?" Lancelot tilted his head and said with a half-smile.
"What? Then why didn't you advance to the Second-Step Eternity?" Gustavo, quite surprised.
"Because the requirements for advancing to the Second-Step Eternity are much higher, my current accumulation is still far from sufficient. I estimate that I would need to completely devour another super universe before I could meet the requirements," Lancelot sighed.
"Is that so..."
"Well, this level of strength is basically enough. At least it's enough to protect ourselves. Our most urgent task now is to return to the Astral Realm and make contact with Logo on the way back. We'll see what he decides."
"Okay!" Gustavo nodded.
The two then exchanged a glance.
They both left the turbulent and Chaos Sea.
Fantasy Dimension.
The most central area is known as the Land of the Heart.
A century has passed, and the collision between Primogenitor Mountain and the Fantasy Hall has dimmed the light of the Land of the Heart more than ever before.
This sacred space, which has given birth to countless dreams and nurtured countless fantasies, is now being eroded inch by inch by a dark purple Nightmares mist. The mist, like living vines, wraps around every blood vessel, every nerve, and every origin of a dream, greedily sucking up the power of the Fantasy Origin.
The Lord of No Void stood directly in front of the heart, his starlight robes fluttering in the surging power of dreams.
There was no dialogue, no fighting, and not even a glance between Him and the Nightmare Hydra. The two beings of the Eternity Realm stood silently facing each other, like two mountains that had stood facing each other for billions of years, neither willing to make the first move, neither daring to make the first move.
But silence itself is a battle.
Every single second, the Lord of No Void was using his power to suppress the Nightmare Hydra's erosion of his heart. He condensed the power of the Fantasy Origin into layers of light membranes, wrapping them around the surface of his heart to prevent the Nightmares Mist from seeping in. Meanwhile, the Nightmare Hydra was constantly increasing its erosive power, its nine heads simultaneously spewing out Nightmares power, corroding countless holes in the light membranes.
This is a silent tug-of-war.
It's a test of endurance, a test of willpower, a test of who gives up first.
"Your Majesty!"
Dusk Star Elariel's voice entered the depths of the Lord of No Void's consciousness through the mind link. This Supreme God- level Explorer was currently fighting in a plane of the Third Ring Domain, her voice carrying both weariness and a rare hint of exhilaration.
"We've made a breakthrough in the Glazed Sea Plane! A traveler successfully severed the connection between the Dream Conch and the Nightmare Hydra, rescuing the first batch of Dream Conch. The rescued Dream Conch have begun weaving their dreams anew, albeit weakly, but the plane's essence is slowly recovering!"
The corners of the Lord of No Void's mouth turned up slightly.
This is the first good news in a century.
"Continue." His voice resonated through the mental link among all the struggling Fantasy Travelers. "Every plane saved, every Mist Purification, every life rescued buys me time, and heals His wounds. Do not stop, do not give up, do not despair."
"Yes!"
Countless voices responded simultaneously, like countless stars twinkling at the same time.
The Lord of No Void refocused his attention on the Nightmare Hydra before him. He noticed a barely perceptible fluctuation in the Nightmare Hydra's eighteen eyes—anger, resentment, and the irritation of having its prey snatched from its grasp.
The Fantasy Travelers's efforts are paying off.
Each time a plane is saved, Nightmare Hydra loses a source of power. Although this loss is insignificant compared to its vast, Eternity body, it adds up. When the losses accumulate to a certain level, Nightmare Hydra will have to draw power from its Land of the Heart to fill the gaps in other battlefields.
That was the opportunity the Lord of No Void had been waiting for.
Do you think you can win like this?
The Nightmare Hydra's voice suddenly boomed in the Land of the Heart, carrying the fury of an enraged beast. One of its heads lunged forward, its massive maw opening wide, and a dark purple beam of light shot straight toward the Lord of No Void.
The Lord of No Void did not dodge.
He merely raised his hand slightly, and a seven-colored shield formed from the power of illusion appeared out of thin air in front of him, steadily blocking the pillar of light. The pillar of light struck the shield, exploding into a shower of dark purple sparks, but the shield remained completely still.
"Finally couldn't hold back anymore?" The Lord of No Void's voice was as calm as still water.
"Couldn't resist?" Nightmare Hydra let out a low laugh, its nine heads swaying simultaneously like nine giant pythons emerging from the Abyss. "No, Lord of No Void. I just want you to understand one thing—"
The nine heads simultaneously took a deep breath, and the Nightmares mist throughout the Land of the Heart was drawn madly into its gigantic maw as if pulled by a vortex. The mist condensed, compressed, and purified, changing from dark purple to deep purple, from deep purple to jet black, and from jet black to an absolute darkness that no color could describe.
That was the ultimate Nightmares.
It is the collection of the last cries of despair uttered by countless worlds, countless civilizations, and countless living beings.
Your so-called hope is worthless in front of me.
Nine beams of light shot out simultaneously.
Instead of a scattered attack, the nine beams converged into a single stream, like nine rivers flowing into the same ocean. The beam was no more than an arm's length in diameter, but its power was enough to tear apart a plane. Wherever the beam passed, the spatial structure of the Land of the Heart was completely shattered, leaving behind a shocking black crack.
The Lord of No Void's gaze turned serious.
Instead of using his shield to block, he held the illusionary spear horizontally in front of him, tip pointing forward and butt against his chest. Seven-colored light burst forth from the spear, colliding head-on with the dark beam of light.
There was no explosion, no roar, no sound at all.
The two extreme forces annihilated each other the instant they collided, swallowing up all surrounding sounds. The Land of the Heart fell into absolute silence, with only the two beams of light confronting each other in the Void, one shimmering with seven colors, the other as black as ink.
At the boundary between light and darkness, space is constantly shattering, reforming, shattering again, and reforming again, like an endless cycle. Each shattering releases enough energy to Destruction a plane, but this energy is swallowed up by the two beams of light at the moment of its birth, without a single trace leaking out.
The Eternity Realm is not the world-destroying, earth-shattering phenomenon imagined by mortals, but rather the concentration of all power into a single point, to the extreme, to the point of no waste, to the point where every bit of energy is precisely used to eliminate the opponent.
At this level, any waste of even the slightest strength can be the key to victory or defeat.
"Not bad." The Nightmare Hydra's voice broke the silence, tinged with admiration. "Your power is stronger than I imagined. The origin of the Fantasy Dimension, truly lives up to its name."
"There are many things you haven't considered." The Lord of No Void's voice was equally calm, but the hand holding the spear was already trembling slightly.
This isn't a matter of physical strength—the concept of "physical strength" doesn't exist for beings in the Eternity Realm. The trembling is because the Illusion Spear is enduring pressure far exceeding its limits. Although the Lord of No Void has seemingly blocked the Nightmare Hydra's attack, cracks inside the spear are spreading at a visible rate.
They can't hold on much longer.
The Lord of No Void made his judgment.
He did not choose to resist head-on, but at the last moment, he suddenly withdrew the power from the spear.
The dark beam of light, now unobstructed, hurtled straight toward the Lord of No Void like a wild horse.
But the figure of the Lord of No Void vanished the moment the pillar of light touched him.
It wasn't teleportation, nor was it dodging; rather, it transformed itself into pure fantasy power, merging into the very essence of the Land of the Heart. The beam of light pierced through its previous location, slamming into the boundary of the Land of the Heart and blasting open a massive breach.
Beyond the gap lies Endless Void.
The eighteen pupils of the Nightmare Hydra contracted simultaneously.
"You--"
"I said," the Lord of No Void's voice came simultaneously from all directions, as if the entire Land of the Heart was speaking, "There are many things you haven't considered."
The light in the Land of the Heart suddenly surged.
Countless beams of seven-colored light erupted from the heart's blood vessels, nerves, and every inch of tissue, bombarding the Nightmare Hydra from all directions. This was not the power of the Lord of No Void, but the power of the entire Fantasy Dimension —a torrent formed by the convergence of countless planes, countless beings, and countless dreams.
The Nightmare Hydra roared angrily, its nine heads thrashing wildly and spewing out large amounts of Nightmares Mist in an attempt to block the beams of light. But there were too many beams, too dense, and too intense; its mist defenses were torn open in an instant.
The seven-colored beam of light slammed into its body, blasting charred craters into its dark purple scales. The Nightmare Hydra's scales were strong enough to withstand the collapse of a plane, but in the face of the power of the entire Fantasy Dimension, these scales were as fragile as paper.
Damn it!
The Nightmare Hydra suddenly contracted its body, its nine heads pressing tightly together, curling its body into a giant sphere. Dark purple light surged from its body, forming a thick shield on its surface. A seven-colored beam of light slammed into the shield, exploding into a shower of light, but it could not break through for the time being.
This is His absolute defensive form.
In this form, He abandons all attacks and devotes all His power to defense. This is a life-saving technique He honed over countless years in the Eternity Realm, which has rendered invaluable service in numerous battles against beings of the same level.
But at this moment, this form evoked in Him a long-forgotten feeling of humiliation.
He, the Nightmare Hydra, Predator of the Eternity Realm, was actually forced into a defensive posture by a "minor character"—a Lord of a Dimension?
It should be understood that the Lord of No Void is not Eternity being.
He's just a clown who's borrowed dimensional power.
You are angry.
The Lord of No Void's voice rang out again, this time tinged with a hint of mockery.
"Anger made you lose your composure. Losing your composure made you make mistakes. And every mistake you made was an opportunity for me."
The Nightmare Hydra did not answer.
He is waiting.
When the power of the Lord of No Void begins to wane.
While the power of the Fantasy Dimension is immense, the Lord of No Void is not the dimension itself; the power He can command is finite. If He continues to maintain this level of attack, it won't be long before His power begins to decline. At that time—
"You're waiting for my strength to wane."
The voice of the Lord of No Void rang out once more, as if it could see through every thought of the Nightmare Hydra.
But you haven't thought about one thing.
The colorful beam of light suddenly stopped.
It's not failure, but a voluntary cessation.
A flicker of doubt crossed the eighteen eyes of the Nightmare Hydra, but it quickly turned to shock.
Because He discovered that He could no longer move.
It wasn't that He was bound by any force, but rather—the very Land of the Heart was rejecting Him.
The Nightmares mist that had been coiling around the heart was being peeled away, Purification, and expelled one strand at a time. Freed from the mist's corrosive influence, the heart regained its freedom and began to beat violently. Each beat released a powerful repulsive force, pushing the Nightmare Hydra outwards.
"You--"
"You think I'm just attacking you?" The figure of the Lord of No Void re-formed before the Heart, the illusory spear in his hand now more dazzling and sharper than before. "No, I'm awakening the Heart. You've forgotten, the Heart is the origin of the Fantasy Dimension; it has its own will. Although this will is vague and primal, it knows who is enemy and who is friend."
"When it awakens, it will instinctively reject you. And once it starts rejecting you, every second you stay here will require more and more energy to resist this rejection. Your energy expenditure will increase, while mine will decrease."
"This is my dimension, Nightmare Hydra. Here, I have home-field advantage."
For the first time, a flicker of fear flashed in the eighteen eyes of the Nightmare Hydra.
It's not a fear of death—beings in the Eternity realm do not truly die.
It's not the fear of failure.
He had planned for countless years and waited for this moment. If He failed here, if He were banished from the Fantasy Dimension by the Lord of No Void, then all the waiting, all the planning, all the sacrifices would be in vain.
He cannot fail.