Whoosh!!
The Hammer of Earth fell, and the powerful wind it generated seemed capable of extinguishing all the Astral Realm in the astral plane and blowing out the raging flames at the center of the universe.
Where the hammer's force swept past, everything Stars·Shine shattered, annihilated, and vanished into nothingness—not because of the wind's impact, but because the "soul-annihilating" power contained in that hammer was so strong that even physical existence was affected.
A deafening roar!
The Hammer of Earth fell, but passed right through the body of the Lord of Truth!
The hammer didn't hit any physical entity, any material structure, or even any energy barrier. But it didn't miss anything—the hammer struck something more fundamental, more hidden, and more intangible.
The fundamental rules of the soul.
To be precise, it was the fundamental law upon which all souls within the Astral Realm depended for survival that was severed by the Hammer of Earth!
As a vast realm, the Astral Realm possesses several fundamental rules.
Matter and soul are both entities within these fundamental rules.
They are capable of restraining not only countless ordinary creatures.
Sanctuary, Demigod, gods, and even Main God, Supreme God, and even Eternal are all bound by this fundamental order and rules.
Because the essence of the existence of beings on the side of order is the manifestation of constrained and logical power.
The soul is the source of wisdom, and all intelligent beings, all beings born in the Astral Realm, are subject to this rule, including the Eternal.
As long as the Astral Realm has not been Destruction, and as long as life forms born from the Astral Realm have not yet reached the realm of Third-Step Eternity and are not equal to the fundamental rules and order of the Astral Realm, they will inevitably be subject to the restrictions of this rule.
The target of the Mother of the Stars ' attack was never the body of the Lord of Truth, nor even His soul itself, but rather "the fundamental premise that allows the soul to exist normally in the Astral Realm."
Once that Soul Rule is broken, any being within the Astral Realm, regardless of their cultivation level or whether they are Eternity, will instantly become an existence without any rules to rely on.
Like a fish out of water, like a bird without the sky, like a flame without fuel.
The entire Astral Realm underwent a violent transformation at this moment.
Rumble--!!
Endless lightning bolts appeared across the Astral Realm in an instant.
The lightning bolts possessed an extremely eerie deep gray hue, carrying a unique aura of "judgment" and "punishment." It was the instinctive expulsion reaction of the Astral Realm laws towards things that "should not exist."
In a world that has lost the Soul Rule, the soul itself becomes a "violation of the rules," and such a violation will inevitably lead to the elimination of the rules.
However, the scope of the punishment is far too broad.
Throughout the entire Astral Realm, wherever living beings exist, the Thunder of Judgment will appear.
From the battlefields at the heart of the Astral Realm to the remote planes on the periphery; from the strongholds of powerful beings to the barren planets inhabited by mortals—it is omnipresent and all-pervasive. Such a vast area is such that even with the power of the Astral Realm Will, it is impossible to implement all the judgments and thunderbolts in an instant.
The saying goes, "The law does not punish the masses."
When the number of violators becomes large enough to change the rules themselves, the rules will adjust and evolve on their own.
Even if the Soul Rule temporarily cease to exist within the Astral Realm, as long as the number of affected beings is large enough—large enough that the Astral Realm Will cannot eliminate everyone at once—then these beings can collectively "hold up" this space without the Soul Rule.
As time goes by, the severed Soul Rule will naturally regrow and be "anchored" back into the Law System of the Astral Realm by the collective will of billions of living beings.
This growth will be rapid because the Astral Realm itself is alive, and its rules are an organic whole with self-healing capabilities.
The gap in the middle could very well be only a fleeting moment.
But in that very instant, the Mother of the Stars captured it with perfect precision.
Or perhaps the Mother of the Stars already knew what the consequences of his hammer blow would be, and naturally took countermeasures accordingly.
As the Soul Rule were temporarily erased, all the Eternal on the battlefield fell into a brief mental trance for a moment.
Their souls lost the fundamental laws upon which they depended for existence, like duckweed losing its support on the water. In that instant of blankness, all their thinking abilities, all their fighting instincts, and all their senses were momentarily suspended in the violent shaking.
However, since this pause did not distinguish between friend and foe, or between opposing sides, it did not have a significant impact on the overall battle situation.
The Eternal who were fighting simultaneously fell into a daze and then recovered almost at the same time. The whole process was so short that even the trajectory of their attacks did not deviate.
But the battlefield between the Lord of Truth and the Mother of the Stars is quite different.
Because the Mother of the Stars is conscious.
As someone who personally severed the Soul Rule, the Mother of the Stars naturally made preparations in advance to protect her own soul from being affected.
His soul remained unharmed under the protection of His earthly origin, retaining its complete and clear consciousness.
But the Lord of Truth —in the perception of the Mother of the Stars —fell into a trance, just like all the other Eternal. Lancelot's fanatical smile faded from His face, His eyes became vacant, and His form momentarily faltered.
Now!
The Mother of the Stars seized this opportunity and once again raised the Hammer of Earth. This time, the hammer was no longer an attack on the level of the soul, but a real crushing of matter! She wanted to completely shatter the body of the Lord of Truth along with the core of the Trinity, giving him no chance to reassemble!
The instant the hammer fell, a powerful shockwave emanated from the point of impact between the hammer and the Void. This shockwave coalesced into a massive, towering wall, its surface covered with thick layers of earth and rock, each inch containing a terrifying mass capable of crushing an entire world. The wall crashed back with a deafening roar, exerting an unbearable pressure; wherever it passed, the Void shattered, laws broke, and everything bowed in submission before that pure "mass."
The Mother of the Stars followed closely behind the thick, high wall. Her Hammer of Earth was raised once more, brimming with ultimate power enough to utterly shatter the Lord of Truth. She prepared to launch a final, decisive attack the instant of suppression, taking advantage of the Lord of Truth's dazed state, of his loss of the support of the Soul Rule, of his weakest moment, to completely Termination this battle!