You think you can win like this?
The Nightmare Hydra's voice changed, from its previous agitation to icy coldness, and from icy coldness to an absolute calmness that transcended anger. In this calmness, its nine heads simultaneously opened their eyes wide, and dark purple flames burned in its eighteen pupils.
"You awaken the heart, and I corrupt it. You Purification the mist, and I create more mist. You deplete my power, and I draw more power from countless dimensions."
"This is a war of attrition, a Lord of No Void. And in a war of attrition, it comes down to who has the greater resources."
Dark purple flames erupted from the Nightmare Hydra's body, instantly turning the surrounding hundreds of miles into a sea of fire. This was no ordinary fire, but a "Fire of Despair" formed from the nightmares of countless living beings, capable of burning everything tangible and intangible.
The seven-colored light of the Land of the Heart began to dim under the scorching Fire of Despair.
The Lord of No Void's expression changed.
He hadn't expected Nightmare Hydra to have this trick up its sleeve. The Fire of Despair was one of Nightmare Hydra's most trump card, rarely used because each use required a massive amount of Nightmares Essence. But once unleashed, its power was enough to make any being of the same level wary.
"You think you're the only one with a trump card?"
The Lord of No Void raised the Spear of Illusion high, its tip bursting forth with blinding light. That light pierced through the Fire of Despair, through the mists of Nightmares, through the boundaries of the Land of the Heart, illuminating countless planes throughout the entire Fantasy Dimension.
In all planes, all living beings saw that light.
No matter what they were doing, no matter where they were, whether they were awake or asleep, they all saw that light. It was a seven-colored, warm light, full of hope and dreams.
That was the Lord of No Void calling to them.
We urge them to contribute their efforts.
One plane, two planes, ten planes, one hundred planes, one thousand planes, ten thousand planes, billions upon billions of planes...
Countless rays of light rose from countless planes, converging into a river of light that traversed the Fantasy Dimension, flowing into the Land of the Heart and into the body of the Lord of No Void. These rays of light contained the dreams, hopes, courage, love, and faith of countless beings; they were the collection of all positive emotions and the crystallization of all beautiful fantasies.
The Lord of No Void's body expanded and sublimated continuously in the light, transforming from a human form into a pure sphere of light burning with seven-colored flames. The diameter of the sphere expanded from one zhang to a hundred zhang, from a hundred zhang to a thousand li, from a thousand li to tens of thousands of li, and then expanded geometrically until it finally enveloped the entire Land of the Heart.
The Nightmare Hydra's Fire of Despair were instantly suppressed to the extreme in the face of this seven-colored sphere of light, like a candle flame facing the sun.
"This... is impossible..."
For the first time, a tremor appeared in the Nightmare Hydra's voice.
"Nothing is impossible." The voice of the Lord of No Void resounded from the sphere of light, like the judgment of a god. "This is my dimension, my people, my faith. You are not facing just me, but all living beings, all dreams, all hopes throughout the entire Fantasy Dimension."
You devour despair, while I hope for hope. Despair can consume much, but hope can create everything.
The seven-colored sphere of light suddenly contracted, condensing into a single point, and then—exploded.
It didn't explode outwards, it exploded inwards.
All the light, all the power, all the hope were compressed to their limit in that instant, and then, in a way that transcended all physical laws, they blasted into the Nightmare Hydra's body.
The nine heads of the Nightmare Hydra simultaneously let out a heart-wrenching scream.
His scales shattered in the light, His body burned in the light, and His eighteen eyes bled in the light. The afterimages of the countless worlds He had devoured began to struggle, resist, and tear apart under the light, escaping from His body.
The Nightmare Hydra is being dismantled from within.
"No--!!!"
He struggled frantically, resisted desperately, and tried desperately to regroup his power. But the seven-colored light had penetrated deep into his very essence, and every act of resistance only hastened his own disintegration.
The Lord of No Void watched this scene, but felt no joy whatsoever.
Because He knew that He Himself was also burning.
Mobilizing the power of the entire Fantasy Dimension to attack the Nightmare Hydra in this way consumes an astronomical amount of resources from Him. His Eternity body is under unprecedented pressure, and countless fine cracks are spreading across His very essence.
If the battle cannot be ended before Nightmare Hydra collapses, then it may be Hydra itself that collapses first.
This is a high-stakes gamble.
The gamble is that the Nightmare Hydra will disintegrate faster than it will collapse.
Just as the battle between the Lord of No Void and the Nightmare Hydra entered its most critical moment, a golden crack suddenly appeared above the Land of the Heart.
The crack appeared without warning, without any foreshadowing, without any fluctuation, as if it had always been there, only to be "seen" now. The edge of the crack was not shattered space, but distorted time—on one side of the crack, time was flying forward; on the other side, time was flowing backward madly.
The Lord of No Void sensed the crack.
Warning bells rang loudly in His heart.
The rift wasn't formed naturally; it was deliberately opened by some force. The ability to create a spatial rift in the Land of the Heart space without His notice meant that the opponent's strength was at least on the same level as His, or even—
The crack widened suddenly, and a huge golden dragon claw emerged from it.
The dragon claw was covered in golden scales, each scale inscribed with intricate time runes. Its five claws were like five sharp swords, each capable of tearing through dimensional barriers. The dragon claw's target was not the Lord of No Void, but the energy link between the Lord of No Void and the Nightmare Hydra that connected the light of countless planes.
"Stop!"
Lord of No Void could utter a cry of alarm, the dragon's claw had already grasped the energy link and yanked it sharply.
The seven-colored light dimmed by two-thirds in an instant.
At the same moment, beings from countless planes felt a violent dizziness, as if something had been ripped from their bodies. Those who were contributing their strength collapsed and lost consciousness; those Fantasy Travelers who were fighting against the Nightmares Mist suddenly found their weapons incredibly heavy.
Lord of Time!!!
The Lord of No Void's voice was filled with anger and disbelief.
From within the crack, a colossal figure slowly emerged.
That was a dragon.
A dragon whose body was larger than most planes. Its scales were not ordinary gold, but a "Eternity gold" that transcended the concept of gold, radiating an unchanging majesty under any light. Its wingspan was enough to blot out the Starry Sky, and each flap would create ripples on the timeline. Its eyes were like two spinning clocks, one reflecting the past and the other the future, but not the present.
The Eternity Dragon of Time.
Lord of Time.
One of the oldest Eternity realms in the Astral Realm.
The Lord of No Void had met Him several times. During some important events of the Astral Realm Will, they had briefly met, exchanging pleasantries and testing each other. In the Lord of No Void's impression, the Lord of Time was a taciturn and uncontested being, who had never been interested in the conflicts in the Astral Realm and had no ambition for power or territory.
But now, the Lord of Time has sided with Nightmare Hydra.
"Why?" The Lord of No Void's voice trembled slightly—not from fear, but from the rage of betrayal. "You are one of the oldest beings in the Astral Realm. You have witnessed the rise and fall of countless dimensions. You should know the immense damage the Nightmare Hydra inflicts on the Astral Realm when it devours the Fantasy Dimension. Why are you helping Him?"
The Lord of Time did not answer immediately.
His clock-like eyes slowly turned, sweeping over the Lord of No Void, then over the struggling Nightmare Hydra, and finally landing on the source of the Land of the Heart.
You don't understand.
The voice of the Lord of Time was deep and resonant, as if it came from the very end of time. Every word carried the weight of time, making it hard to breathe.
"Don't understand what?"
"They don't understand the meaning of Eternity."
The Lord of Time loosened its grip on the energy link—because there was no longer any need to hold on. The energy link had snapped, and the connection between the Lord of No Void and countless planes was completely severed. The light that had once gathered around the Lord of No Void now drifted away in the Land of the Heart like a kite with a broken string.
"You guard the Fantasy Dimension so that the Astral Realm can better digest the devoured planes," the Lord of Time said slowly. "You are a competent guardian, even a great one. But you have a fatal flaw—you are too young."
"Young?"
"You were born in the middle of the Astral Realm expansion, and your understanding of the Astral Realm comes from the teachings of your elders, as well as your own observations and reflections. But you did not experience the early history of the Astral Realm, nor have you witnessed the true face of the Astral Realm Will."
The Lord of Time's voice carried an emotion the Lord of No Void had never heard before—fear.
"The Astral Realm Will is not the benevolent, all-encompassing being you imagine. It is a monster, a monster far more terrifying than the Nightmare Hydra. The Nightmare Hydra devours the Fantasy Dimension, at most paralyzing the Astral Realm's digestive system for a period of time; but if the Astral Realm Will completes its final evolution, it will devour the entire multiverse."
"What are you talking about?" The Lord of No Void frowned. "The Astral Realm Will is the guardian of the multiverse, it is—"
"That's what it made you think," the Lord of Time interrupted the Lord of No Void. "Why do you think you were chosen to be the guardian of the Fantasy Dimension? Because you're the most suitable? Because you're the most powerful? No, it's because you're the easiest to control, the easiest to believe those high-sounding words."
"Shut up!" The Lord of No Void's voice was filled with rage. "You have betrayed the Astral Realm, betrayed all living beings, betrayed—"
"Betrayed what?" The Lord of Time's voice suddenly turned shrill. "The beings in those Astral Realm? Those dreams broken down into basic energy during the digestion process? You think you're protecting them? No, you're helping the Astral Realm digest them!"
The Lord of No Void was stunned.
"Every story you skillfully concluded, every Legend you guided to completion, ultimately ends up being digested by the Astral Realm, becoming nourishment for the Astral Realm expansion. You are not a guardian, you are an executioner. You are not protecting those beings, but rather the Astral Realm's efficiency in assimilation."
The Lord of Time slowly approached the Lord of No Void, his golden dragon claws gleaming with a cold light in the glow of the Land of the Heart.
"But I chose a different path."
What road?
"Destroy the Astral Realm's digestive system." The Lord of Time's gaze fell upon the heart. "Prevent the Astral Realm from absorbing any more planes. Give those planes dragged into the Astral Realm's gravitational pull a chance to break free, a chance to regain their freedom."
"So you're helping Nightmare Hydra devour the Fantasy Dimension? That doesn't make sense!" the Lord of No Void roared. "Nightmare Hydra devouring the Fantasy Dimension will only make things worse! It won't let those planes go; it will turn them all into its own food!"
"I know."
The Lord of Time's answer was unexpectedly calm.
"Therefore, the Nightmare Hydra is merely a tool of mine."
The Lord of No Void was stunned once again.
"Tool?"
"My goal was never to let Nightmare Hydra succeed." The Lord of Time's voice carried a chilling laugh. "My goal was to make Him believe He would succeed, to make Him devote all His power to devouring the Fantasy Dimension, to make Him pour all His strength into the process. Then, in His weakest moment—"
The Lord of Time clenched his dragon claws tightly.
"I'll reap the rewards."
The atmosphere in the Land of the Heart suddenly plummeted to freezing point.
In reality, what the Lord of Time said was all a psychological maneuver to win over the Lord of No Void.
He concealed his true purpose, concealing the Astral Realm Will as a super boss, with the aim of striking at the Lord of No Void and protecting the determination of the Fantasy Dimension.
As for why the idea of harvesting the Nightmare Hydra was mentioned, it was a test to see if a seed could be planted in the heart of the Lord of No Void, so that this guardian of the dimension would help him before his death and lay a trap for the Nightmare Hydra.
Whether it will work out or not is another matter, but language doesn't cost money, so you can use it however you like to deceive. The Lord of Time may seem taciturn, but he is actually an extremely cunning being. He is also very adept at using the power of the mind.
The Lord of No Void stared at the Lord of Time, trying to discern something in those clock-like eyes. But He saw nothing—no lies, no deception, no sincerity, only an absolute rationality that transcended good and evil, right and wrong.
"You're not doing this for freedom, not for justice, not even for the Destruction the Astral Realm," the Lord of No Void said slowly. "You're only doing it for yourself."
"Maybe."
The Lord of Time did not deny it.
"But at least, I was honest."
The golden dragon claw swung down fiercely.
The Lord of No Void raised his illusionary spear to block, but he had already exhausted too much power in the previous battle, and with the energy link severed, he was unable to draw new power from the plane. The spear shattered instantly under the bombardment of the dragon's claws.