"Backlash?"
Angley a cold laugh, the curve of his lips illuminated by the silvery-white numerical symbols, carrying an almost manic composure.
So what?
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the scattering fragments of law in the Void, landing on the Federation spellcasters glaring at him from afar—of the nine Grand Sage, four had already suffered severe injuries from the tearing of the Weave, Kalista's elemental torrents were dimmed to almost extinguished, Selena's spatial perception was scorched by the Flame of Fate, Oberon's timeline was in complete disarray, Torik's construct had shattered in the backlash. The others also suffered injuries, but the anger and killing intent in their eyes, born of betrayal, were more chilling than any attack of law.
"For a greater and brighter cause," Angley's voice suddenly rose, as if declaring to himself and to everyone, "Even if I am shattered to pieces, I will not hesitate!"
Upon hearing this, even the Mother of the Stars, who had been facing away from Angley, turned around.
The eyes formed by the twin nebulae silently gazed upon the God of Wisdom kneeling in the Void, offering neither praise nor disdain, but only a calm, almost indifferent, scrutiny. It was like a farmer watching a livestock willingly enter its pen, feeling neither joy at its docility nor contempt for its foolishness—it was simply acting on its instincts, nothing more.
The Lord of Time stood beside the Mother of the Stars, the light on the Time Sword in his hand slowly fading. He turned his head to look at Angley, a strange look appearing in his eyes that reflected countless timelines.
Although as Eternal, having cultivated to this level, one should be quite indifferent to external things like face, the Lord of Time still didn't expect that Angley simply didn't have this concept at all.
The grand pronouncements, the so-called "greater and brighter cause," are nothing more than pretexts for opportunism and pandering to the prevailing winds. But for Angley, these pretexts seem to be deceiving not others, but himself—He needs to use these self-indulgent slogans to cover up the baseness deep within his heart that even he himself is unwilling to face.
No, Angley didn't even consider it despicable; it was simply a choice.
In other words, Angley is capable of anything as long as he can join the winning side.
And that is indeed the case.
In order to surrender, he tore apart the Weave, personally killed those Weave administrators who had once followed him, betrayed Dale, betrayed Mystra, and betrayed the entire Adrian Federation.
The Mother of the Stars has seen many such beings.
Throughout His long life, at every major upheaval and every turning point in history, there were always such "Sage" who stepped forward to assess the situation and choose the side they believed would win. Some judged correctly and reaped rich rewards; others misjudged and became sacrifices to the victors.
Is Angley the former or the latter?
The Mother of the Stars doesn't care.
Because no matter what kind of Angley is, to Him he is just a pawn. Use him when he is useful, and discard him when he is not.
You may leave now.
The Mother of the Stars spoke calmly, without turning her head as she spoke, her gaze passing over Angley and landing on the Magic Pioneer in the distance.
"You are not needed in the upcoming battle."
"Don't worry, I will reward you accordingly for your efforts."
These words were spoken casually, as if dismissing a servant. But Angley as if he had been granted a pardon, and was overjoyed. He hurriedly bowed deeply, his forehead almost touching his knees.
"Yes, sir! Thank you, senior!"
Angley rose from the Void, and silvery-white numerical symbols swirled wildly across his body—not out of excitement, but to accelerate the healing of his internal injuries.
When the Weave Weave was torn apart, its backlash severely eroded its laws. Although Mystra was ambushed, the Weave itself was, after all, comparable to a twelve-star Miracle Creation. Forcibly tearing and peeling it away would come at a heavy price, even for those with the highest authority. Large sections of the silver-white law network within Angley's body had already broken, the once smoothly functioning digital symbols had become intermittent, and the light of many core nodes had dimmed to the critical point.
More importantly, there was the backlash from countless spellcasters in the Adrian Federation.
The Weave has a connection, deep or shallow, with every Federation Mage, especially the high-ranking Mage, whose souls are almost deeply bound to the Weave nodes. When Angley tore apart the Weave, causing a large number of Weave administrators to explode and die, the Mage connected to the souls of the dead also suffered varying degrees of backlash. This backlash, through the remaining connections in the Weave, directly affected the very essence of Angley's laws—not through physical attacks, but through punishment at the level of "cause and effect": you broke the contract, and you must bear the consequences.
Beneath the silver-white numerical symbols on Angley's body, faint dark purple cracks were visible. These were the wounds left by the backlash of cause and effect, densely packed like a spider web covering his entire body. These cracks were still slowly spreading, and if not repaired in time, they would eventually erode Angley's core laws, causing his realm to fall or even collapse completely.
Therefore, Angley must leave the battlefield as soon as possible and find a safe place to heal his wounds.
He turned around, preparing to fly back the way he came.
"Want to leave?"
The voice of the Dale, Magic Pioneer, came from afar, deep and calm, yet carrying a chilling sense of oppression.
Angley froze.
He slowly turned his head and saw that indivisible, intense Radiance suddenly burst forth from Dale's lowered eyes.
That Radiance is not energy, nor is it a law; rather, it is the embodiment of elemental power condensed to its extreme—the primordial light of the elements extracted by Dale from the origin of the dimension after the Elemental Dimension was conquered, without any transformation. Its temperature cannot be measured because its essence is not "heat," but the concept of "burning" itself; its brightness cannot be described because its essence is not "light," but the original state of the act of "illuminating" before its birth.
This Radiance was enough to easily evaporate an entire plane of existence.
The Mother of the Stars moved.
He did not use the Chaos Stele, but simply slowly extended a palm.
The hand was as heavy as a mountain, its skin imprinted with the veins of the earth and the coordinates of the stars, each Dao Pattern radiating an ancient golden light. The hand moved slowly, even slowly—slowly enough that every detail was clearly visible, so slowly that Angley even had time to let the thought, "Will He be able to stop it?" flash through his mind.
Then, the elemental light collided with that palm.
There was no explosion, no impact, and no violent release of energy.
The intense Radiance, powerful enough to evaporate a vast plane, vanished the moment it touched the palm of the Mother of the Stars, like a raging flood crashing into a majestic mountain range—splashes of water everywhere, the torrent shattered, transforming into countless fragments of elemental light that drifted, annihilated, and returned to nothingness in the Void.
The mountains will not be shaken by the impact of the flood, because they are an integral part of the earth.
The palm of the Mother of the Stars is like these "mountains".
"Dale."
The Mother of the Stars withdrew her hand, placed it behind her back, and her gaze fell on the Magic Pioneer.
Are you still going to put up a stubborn resistance?
His voice was calm, without sarcasm or Intimidation, only a calm statement of facts.
"Submit to me now, and I will give you, and the Adrian Federation, a chance."
"You should know that your Federation needs you."
As she spoke, the Mother of the Stars slowly merged the half of the Weave, which was still dripping with dark purple Magical Energy, into her body.
The Weave trembled in His hand, not from resistance, but from sensing that it was about to merge with an existence far beyond its own level. Dark purple threads spontaneously wrapped around the Mother of the Stars ' arm, elemental Radiance flowing wildly on the threads, and then—merged into His body.
The aura of the Mother of the Stars began to rise.
The rise was not an explosive growth, but a steady, tidal expansion. It was like dropping a drop of ink into clear water; the ink wouldn't instantly cover the entire glass, but it would spread in all directions in an irreversible and natural way.
His presence expanded in the Void.
Originally, the Mother of the Stars stood there like a majestic mountain range, heavy, solid, and unshakeable.
Now, this mountain range begins to grow, from a mountain range to a plateau, from a plateau to a continent, from a continent to—a birthing planet, a forming galaxy, an expanding universe.
His aura became increasingly unfathomable, as if he were not a person standing there, but a vast and boundless Chaos Sea, without beginning or end, Infinity limit Endless.