The Abyss Warden's body stiffened abruptly.
This was His lifelong obsession— to Destruction the Bottomless Abyss, to make that evil plane that had devoured countless civilizations, that vicious tumor that had utterly annihilated everything He once possessed, disappear completely from the Astral Realm. He fought for this for countless epochs, battled the Ruler of the Abyss for countless years, and even joined forces with the Goddess of Fate, all in order to find a way to completely destroy the Abyss.
But the Abyss is too vast, too vast for any Eternal to destroy alone, even with the combined power of another Eternal.
unless--
There is an entity powerful enough to determine the Fate of the Astral Realm, or a wave powerful enough to overturn everything crashes down.
I can help you.
The Mother of the Stars ' voice was calm as still water, but every word was like a hammer blow to the heart of the Abyss Warden.
This is the deepest, most direct, and most essential form of seduction, even though the words themselves do not carry any seductive meaning.
"The essence of the Bottomless Abyss is also an extreme form of matter."
"And I am the master of matter."
"I can transform all the layers of the Bottomless Abyss into earth."
"Then... let it collapse."
The Abyss Warden fell silent.
The silence lasted a long time.
So long that the Ruler of the Abyss noticed His abnormality.
"What are you doing?" The Ruler of the Abyss stared warily at his nemesis.
The Abyss Warden raised his head, his black eyes showing no hesitation, only a deep-seated determination that had been suppressed for countless years and had finally found a way out.
"The Abyss should not exist!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Abyss Warden turned to the last page of the Black Book.
That page didn't record any dimensions—it was blank.
Blank space signifies "the present moment that is happening now".
The Abyss Warden reached into the blank page with his right hand and pulled out a black spear formed from the power of sealing.
The spearhead was aimed at the back of the Ruler of the Abyss.
Thrust out.
The spear pierced the body of the Ruler of the Abyss.
Black Blood of the Abyss gushed from the wound, each drop transforming into a burning Abyss sea of fire in the Void.
But the Ruler of the Abyss did not fall.
He didn't even turn around.
He simply looked down at the spearhead protruding from his chest, a chilling smile playing on his lips.
The voice of the Ruler of the Abyss was hoarse, like an echo from the Abyss, but there was no pain in his tone, only a knowing "as expected."
He turned around and grasped the spear that had pierced his body in his right hand.
Do you think I don't know your hatred for the Abyss?
"Do you think I don't know you've been searching for a way to Destruction the Abyss?"
Do you think I wasn't on guard against you?
"Prison Lord, you idiot!"
The Ruler of the Abyss clenched his fist, and the spear shattered in his hand, turning into black fragments that scattered in all directions.
The Abyss Warden's pupils contracted sharply, and its body retreated rapidly.
But the Ruler of the Abyss acted even faster.
His left fist slammed out, its surface ablaze with black Abyss fire, and struck the Abyss Warden's chest with tremendous force.
The power of that punch was enough to shatter a peak-level world.
The Abyss Warden's body was sent flying backward, crashing through several spatial barriers before finally slamming into the World Tree's projection of a defensive barrier, leaving a spiderweb-like crack on its surface.
The Black Book slipped from His hand and fluttered in the Void, its pages rustling.
The Abyss Warden slid off the barrier, a trickle of black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. His chest was caved in, and countless ribs were broken, but there was no regret in his black eyes, only a stubbornness that said, "Even so, I will not give up."
"You're wary of me," the Abyss Warden wiped the blood from his mouth, his voice hoarse, "But you can't guard against the Earth Mother Goddess."
The Mother of the Stars ' gaze fell upon the Ruler of the Abyss.
"A good choice."
His tone was as flat as plain water.
"You're more cautious than I thought."
The Ruler of the Abyss turned to face the Mother of the Stars, his eyes burning with black flames, filled with vigilance and apprehension.
"I will not allow anyone to Destruction the Abyss."
"The Abyss is mine, and it can only be mine."
The Mother of the Stars nodded slightly.
"Then die in the Abyss."
Just then, an ancient, decaying will, filled with Endless madness and chaos, resounded from the depths of the Void.
That is the will of the Bottomless Abyss itself.
The Abyss Will sensed the betrayal of the Abyss Warden, the hostility of the Mother of the Stars towards the Abyss, and that the outcome of this war would determine the survival of the Abyss.
It did not hesitate.
Countless layers of Abyss interfaces trembled simultaneously, and a black torrent of energy shot out from the core of each interface, converging into the body of the Ruler of the Abyss.
These energies are not laws, not power, but the "existence" of the Abyss itself— the Abyss Will is sharing a portion of its origin with the Ruler of the Abyss, granting Him the power to contend with the Mother of the Stars.
The body of the Ruler of the Abyss began to swell.
It is not an expansion of volume, but an expansion of the concept of "Abyss" in Him.
Behind Him, the Abyss phantom suddenly expanded, from covering a third of the battlefield to covering the entire Void. The phantom was no longer a "projection," but the Abyss itself summoned into reality.
Each layer of the Abyss was clearly visible in the phantom—from the outermost Myriad Abyss Plain to the Bottomless Pit at the bottom, the structure of each layer, the demons of each layer, and the laws of each layer were precisely presented in the phantom.
The Ruler of the Abyss's eyes no longer burned with black flames, but instead transformed into two complete Abyss Cores—the embodiment of the Abyss Will, proof that the Ruler of the Abyss and the Abyss Will had become one.
"Second-Step Eternity."
The Ruler of the Abyss spoke, and his voice was no longer hoarse, but resonated throughout the entire Abyss.
"I've finally... waited for this day."
His body slowly rose from the Abyss's phantom, and thirty-six pairs of wings unfolded behind him—not the pair and a half that had been damaged before, but brand new wings condensed from Abyss energy. Each pair of wings was imprinted with a coordinate map of the Abyss's interface, and each feather was a small Abyss rift.
The six horns on his head grew back, thicker, darker, and more twisted than before, covered with the most ancient runes of the Abyss. Ten Ancient Ring of the Abyss lit up simultaneously, each ring representing a Miracle Creation —and the dark red ring on his left middle finger, which had never lit up before, now shone brightly; it was the Ruler of the Abyss's deepest trump card, the Heart of the Abyss.
"Earth Mother Goddess!"
The roar of the Ruler of the Abyss echoed through the Void, carrying with it the madness and fighting spirit suppressed for three eras.
"Bring it on!"
He charged toward the Mother of the Stars, his thirty-six pairs of wings flapping simultaneously, each flap tearing a Abyss rift in the Void. What emerged from the rift was not a demon, but the Abyss Will itself—the aggregate of madness, chaos, and Destruction from countless eras, the resentment and unwillingness of all souls that had fallen into the Abyss.
As the Mother of the Stars watched the Ruler of the Abyss towards her, a complex expression appeared for the first time in her eyes, which were formed from nebulae.
It wasn't fear, nor vigilance, but rather a sense of regret.
"You think that Second-Step Eternity can defeat me?"
He said softly.
"You think that the Abyss Will will allow you to bridge the gap between us?"
You're too naive.
The Mother of the Stars raised the Chaos Stele, its golden patterns shining brightly to the extreme, so bright that even the light of the Abyss's phantom was overshadowed.
"Matter - Absolute Suppression."
The stone tablet fell down.
The Ruler of the Abyss met the attack with both fists.
The moment the fist and the monument collided, the entire Astral Realm trembled.