Dale's body swayed in the Void, the hole in his chest continuing to widen—not in a physical sense, but as "Fate's " denial of his existence spread throughout his body. Golden Flame of Fate burned along with silvery-white magical light, and with each inch burned, Dale's laws weakened.
The crown of the Ancestral Tree of Life trembled violently, and billions of leaves simultaneously emitted a piercing rustling sound, as if it were angry—angry enough that even the leaves were trembling.
"Fate!"
The voice of the Ancestral Tree of Life is no longer the whisper of the forest, but the roar of the entire forest ablaze.
Do you know what you're doing?!
The World Tree projection remained silent, but the two golden suns in its eyes suddenly shone with an extreme brightness, so bright that the surrounding Void began to melt. Countless phantoms of worlds appeared behind it, each trembling, as all the worlds it connected to simultaneously sensed its wrath.
A cold smile appeared on the Ruler of the Abyss's lips, but in his eyes burning with black flames, there was no mockery, only a complex emotion mixed with surprise and wariness.
"Interesting," said the Ruler of the Abyss, his voice as deep and resonant as the Abyss. "So you've been acting all along."
The Abyss Warden remained silent, but his right hand pressed firmly against the cover of the Black Book, and some thoughts that had been suppressed in his heart quietly sprouted and reappeared.
Golden flames of war burned in the single eye of the God of War of the Astral Realm, bursting from its socket and transforming into a burning battle banner in the Void. He gripped the battle blade on his right arm, the laws of war on the blade surging Berserk due to his master's emotions, slicing the surrounding Void into countless fragments.
Asmodeus, the Lord of Hell, flew in from afar, covered in blood, with only a pair and a half wings spread behind him, and dark red blood of original sin still clinging to his broken horns. There was no anger on his face, only a cold, almost cruel smile.
"Fate," the Lord of Hell's voice was hoarse, "I felt something was off about you from the very beginning."
"But I never expected you to be one of the Earth Mother Goddess's people."
The Goddess of Fate stood in the Void, her golden dress billowing in the wind, her face still veiled. She did not look at the angry Eternal; her gaze was fixed on only one person— the Mother of the Stars.
"You ask me, do you know what you're doing?"
The Goddess of Fate spoke softly, as softly as a whisper in the wind, yet every word was clearly audible to everyone present.
"Of course I know."
"I've known this since the beginning of time."
His thoughts traveled through Endless years, returning to that ancient era when the Astral Realm had not yet taken shape and the Material Dimension was still a chaotic void.
At that time, there were no Astral Realm, no heavens, no Eternal, only an Eternity stillness and nothingness.
The first grain of dust with "mass" condensed in nothingness—it was the Earth Mother Goddess, the first step in the material world from nothing to something. But in the process of condensing, that grain of dust encountered a problem: it needed more matter to grow itself, but there was nothing in nothingness except itself.
At that moment, a second faint fluctuation appeared in the void.
That was a Fate.
It is not the Fate of the Goddess of Fate, but the Fate of the material universe itself—it is destined to come from nothing, from small to large, from simple to complex. This thread of Fate is like an invisible silk thread, guiding that speck of dust to attract more matter, to aggregate, to evolve, and to grow.
The dust sensed that Fate and, using it as a guide, began its long journey of evolution.
Billions of years have passed. Dust has grown into the Astral Realm, from the Astral Realm the first life forms were born. From these first life forms emerged the first civilizations, and from these first civilizations arose the first new Eternal — the Goddess of Fate.
The moment the Goddess of Fate was born, she sensed that ancient thread of Fate — the Fate of the Material Dimension itself, the path that the Earth Mother Goddess had once used to guide her. And the source of this thread pointed to that ancient Eternal had grown into the most powerful being in the Astral Realm.
Mother of the Stars.
From the moment of her birth, the Goddess of Fate owed the Mother of the Stars an unpayable debt—without the guidance of Fate, there would be no evolution of the Material Dimension, no evolution of the material universe, no birth of life, no concept of "Fate" without the birth of life, and no Goddess of Fate without the concept of "Fate".
Therefore, the Goddess of Fate has been the Mother of the Stars since the beginning of time.
This is not a choice, this is destiny.
For countless years afterward, the Goddess of Fate continued to work for the Mother of the Stars.
Her duty is simple: to disrupt the Astral Realm, keeping all the Eternal preoccupied with infighting and preventing them from paying attention to the true intentions of the Mother of the Stars.
Behind every great war of the Eternal in the Astral Realm lies the shadow of the Goddess of Fate.
The fateful duel between the Ruler of the Abyss and the Abyss Warden is also influenced by the Goddess of Fate. She instilled the Fate factor that "the Abyss will eventually be sealed" into the consciousness of the Abyss Warden, making it his lifelong obsession; and she instilled the Fate that "the Abyss will eventually devour everything" into the subconscious of the Ruler of the Abyss, so that he can never stop his expansion.
Two Eternity beings, woven together by the Goddess of Fate, became mortal enemies. Of course, the help provided by the Earth Mother Goddess, also known as the Mother of the Stars, was indispensable in this process; otherwise, they would have been discovered long ago.
Countless years have passed, and their battle has never ceased, nor will it ever cease—for the threads of Fate have never been severed.
Everything—all the great battles, all the hatred, all the carnage—was merely a Goddess of Fate, clearing the path for the Mother of the Stars.
Now, the chess piece has reached its final move.
After Dale was severely damaged, the situation on the battlefield underwent a fundamental change.
The original seven-against-two situation has turned into six-against-three: the Ancestral Tree of Life, the World Tree Projection, the Ruler of the Abyss, the Abyss Warden, the God of War of the Astral Realm, and the Lord of Hell, against the Mother of the Stars, the Lord of Time, and the Goddess of Fate whose identity has just been revealed.
However, the numerical advantage of six to three is powerless in the face of an absolute disparity in strength.
The Mother of the Stars once again raised the Chaos Stele, but this time her target was not Dale, but the God of War of the Astral Realm.
You will soon perish.
The Mother of the Stars ' voice was devoid of emotion, as if stating a fact.
The stone tablet fell down.
The God of War of the Astral Realm did not retreat.
It wasn't that he didn't want to retreat, but that he couldn't—behind him lay the direction of the Immortal Continent. If he retreated, the Mother of the Stars ' next target would be that already scarred magical holy land.
At this time, supporting and helping allies is helping yourself.
Golden flames of war burned in the single eye of the God of War of the Astral Realm, and the ultimate mysteries of the laws of war were condensed on the battle blade on his right arm. Although his body was covered with wounds, his fighting spirit had never been so high.
"Come!"
He roared as he faced the falling stone tablet.
The moment the battle blade collided with the stone tablet, the entire Void was illuminated as bright as day.
The God of War of the Astral Realm's body slid backward upon impact, his feet carving two burning trails in the Void, each step shattering a piece of space. His battle blade began to crack under the crushing weight of the stone tablet, the cracks spreading from the tip to the base, until finally—it shattered.
Fragments scattered and flew everywhere, each fragment transforming into a new battle blade, hovering around the God of War, creating a spectacular scene of thousands of blades firing simultaneously.
"War does not end when weapons shatter!"
The God of War of the Astral Realm roared, and ten thousand battle blades around him shot out simultaneously, raining down on the Mother of the Stars like a storm.
The Mother of the Stars simply waved her left hand.
"Materials Recycling."
The blades suddenly lost power mid-flight, not because they were destroyed, but because their "matter" was taken back by the Mother of the Stars —every blade was made of matter, and matter had no independent status in the face of the Mother of the Stars.
The battle blades transformed into the most primordial particles, drifting away into the Void.
The Ancestral Tree of Life and the World Tree projection have joined forces.
It was not an attack, but a defense—because they knew that with the power of the Mother of the Stars, victory could not be achieved through mere attack. Only by holding the front line could they find an opportunity to counterattack.
The World Tree projection spreads out all its branches, expanding its world power to its limit. Each branch is a pillar of a world, and each leaf is a projection of a universe. They intertwine to form a super defense network composed of countless superimposed worlds.
From the canopy of the Ancestral Tree of Life, green light of life cascaded down like a waterfall, pouring into the defensive network projected by the World Tree. The Power of Life revitalized the withered branches and allowed the fallen leaves to regrow.
"Symbiosis of All Things: Life and the Wall of the World"
The voice of the Ancestral Tree of Life emanated from its canopy, carrying a calm that transcended anger.
"This barrier is supported by all living life and all existing worlds."
You can crush matter, but you cannot crush life and the world combined.
As the Mother of the Stars gazed at the barrier formed by the intertwining of the light of life and the power of the world, the two vortexes of creation in her eyes spun slightly faster.
"The sum total of life and the world?"
He repeated softly.
That's just a more complex form of matter organization.
He lifted the Chaos Stele and slammed it down on the barrier.
The moment the stone tablet made contact with the barrier, the entire Void fell silent.
It wasn't because the sound was absorbed, but because the impact of the collision between the two forces exceeded the threshold at which the phenomenon of "sound" could occur. The space, time, laws, and causality around the point of collision were all reduced to the most primitive nothingness, and even the concept of "Void" was erased.
On the trunk of the Ancestral Tree of Life, the crack suddenly widened, and golden sap gushed out like a spring.
The World Tree projection trembled violently, its branches broke off one by one, its leaves withered one by one, and the world projections went out one by one.
But the barrier did not break.
It's not because it's stronger than the Chaos Stele, but because the power of life and the world, in terms of the attribute of "persistence," surpasses the overwhelming power of a single substance.
The Mother of the Stars retrieved the stone tablet, her brow furrowing slightly as she looked at the slowly healing cracks in the barrier.
"Interesting."
"Then smash it a few more times."
On the other side of the barrier, the Ruler of the Abyss and the Abyss Warden are battling the Lord of Time and the Goddess of Fate.
The Ruler of the Abyss's Abyss phantom has expanded to one-third of the battlefield, with chaotic Abyss energy surging within, forming an absolute chaotic domain where no laws can exist. Although His twin blades were shattered by the Mother of the Stars, He has drawn two new giant blades from the Void, the black flames on the blades even more intense than before.
"Abyss - Endless Samsara."
The Ruler of the Abyss slashed with his crossed blades, opening a massive Abyss rift in the Void. What surged from the rift was not energy, but "Samsara"—all souls that fall into the Abyss will experience Endless Samsara within Abyss. Each Samsara is a new torment, and each torment will strengthen the power of the Abyss.
The body of the Lord of Time was swallowed by the Abyss rift, plunging him into Endless Samsara.
But in less than three breaths, He emerged from the crack.
Time is superior to Samsara.
He raised the sword of time, its blade imbued with the law of "time acceleration," and with a single strike severed the connection between the Abyss rift and the Ruler of the Abyss.
Your Samsara needs time to complete.
"And I am time itself."
The Ruler of the Abyss's lips twitched, and he slashed out with his twin blades once more.
Meanwhile, the Abyss Warden turned a new page in the Black Book.
The pages recorded the name of a vanished realm, once part of the Chaos Sea, but utterly collapsed in an unknown catastrophe, leaving only a remnant of its will. The Abyss Warden inherited the legacy of this surviving realm, thus rising to become Eternity being. Now, it releases this will, transforming it into a massive black chain that coils around the Goddess of Fate.
"Sealing Boundary Burial Technique."
Black chains coiled around the Goddess of Fate like pythons, and the sealing power on the chains began to erode her laws, attempting to seal her into that extinct realm.
The Goddess of Fate looked down at the chains binding her, a slight smile playing on her lips beneath her veil.
"Seal?"
The threads of Fate cannot be bound by any seal.
"Fate and flow, and flow, Eternity freedom!!"
Countless golden threads of Fate appeared on the surface of His body. These threads were as sharp as blades, cutting the black chains into pieces.
Scattered fragments drifted through the Void, like heavy hammer blows striking the heart of the Abyss Warden. His pupils contracted slightly, and his right hand pressed against the cover of the Black Book, preparing to turn a new page and unleash his ultimate killing move.
But then, He heard a voice.
The voice did not come from the Void, but appeared directly in the depths of His consciousness.
"The Abyss Warden"
It is the voice of the Mother of the Stars.
Do you want to Destruction the Bottomless Abyss?