The scheme failed, causing the Mother of the Stars to frown.
His face was as gloomy as the sky before a storm, and thick, leaden clouds gathered on his face, forming an extremely ominous emotional fluctuation.
A sharp, cold glint flashed deep within His golden-brown eyes, and the Hammer of Earth tightened slightly in His palm, the knuckles making a soft cracking sound from the force.
What made the Mother of the Stars even more uneasy was the chain reaction caused by the failure of her plan— the Lord of Truth saw her weakness and confirmed that He was indeed at a disadvantage.
Although the Stars Doomsday" attack just now blasted the Lord of Truth to the edge of the Astral Realm, Lord of Truth managed to stabilize himself at the last moment by using the Spirit Saint Domain as an anchor point, thus avoiding being expelled from the Astral Realm as the Mother of the Stars had wished.
In this process, the Lord of Truth must have noticed a subtle change in the power of the Mother of the Stars —the fluctuations like a candle flame in Gale, the seemingly fierce yet ultimately weak decay, and the sluggishness that, while still substantial, clearly lacked some of its "vitality."
This means that the Lord of Truth has determined one thing: the foundations of the Mother of the Stars are crumbling.
In suppressing the Astral Realm Will, She consumed too much of Her essence. In the ongoing battle with the Lord of Truth, She continuously lost blood and was injured. Even the strongest being cannot withstand such double depletion. The "perfection" She previously displayed was merely an appearance; the truth is that the Mother of the Stars has entered a period of irreversible decline.
Meanwhile, the other Eternal were also closely watching the battle. After hearing the Lord of Truth say, "Have you forgotten what I'm carrying on my shoulders?", their eyes flickered, and it was unclear what they were thinking.
The threads of cause and effect in the hands of the Goddess of Fate trembled slightly, as if reweaving some new possibility; the River of Time in the eyes of the Lord of Time rippled strangely, as if re-examining a neglected branch of time; the branches of the World Tree, which had been stretching out, paused slightly for a moment, and a complex thought flashed in his aged eyes; even the Lord of Frost and Thunder's frenzied battle intent paused briefly, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the Lord of Truth and the Mother of the Stars, his fingers gripping the Frost and Thunder Staff tightening and relaxing slightly.
However, the latter are all scabies, so there's no need to worry too much about them.
While the shift in the attitudes of the Eternal was subtle, in the face of this ultimate showdown that would determine the Fate of the Astral Realm, any third-party force was merely a secondary variable. The truly crucial element was the battle itself.
Right now, the key is to do everything possible to win the battle against the Lord of Truth.
Even if we can't win, we should retreat as much as possible, leave the Astral Realm, and find a way to make a comeback.
The Mother of the Stars ' thoughts raced through her mind as she rapidly considered various possibilities during lulls in the battle.
There is still some time before the Destruction Tide arrives. Given the Mother of the Stars's understanding of the Chaos Sea, even if she loses this battle, there is still a chance to turn the tide.
The Chaos Sea holds too many unknown realms, too many hidden ruins, and too many ancient beings slumbering. As long as one can leave the Astral Realm alive, there are plenty of ways to rebuild one's power, wait for the right opportunity, and make a comeback.
The Lord of Truth naturally understands this as well.
Within a void of information space—a shared consciousness level after the fusion of the Trinity, unrestrained by any external physical laws, where the speed of thought could Infinity the speed of light—the voices of Logo, Lancelot, and Gustavo echoed each other.
"We absolutely cannot let the Mother of the Stars Escape!" This was Gustavo's voice, carrying the resolute decisiveness unique to the Abyss Warden. He knew all too well what it meant for a being like the Mother of the Stars to escape—a deadly threat that could return at any moment, an Eternity time bomb that could explode at any time.
"The question is, what should we do?" Lancelot said in a deep voice. Although he held the title of "Earth Guardian" in the Astral Realm and had countless connections with the Earth lineage, Lancelot had no intention of showing mercy to the Mother of the Stars. He knew very well that in a battle of this level, any hesitation or soft-heartedness could lead to utter destruction.
A moment of silence filled the information space. Then, Logo's voice rang out, calm and resolute. "It's simple. Show the enemy weakness, lure them in, and then suppress them."
"To feign weakness?" Gustavo paused slightly.
"He is currently at a disadvantage, but not yet truly hopeless. If we show any signs of 'waning strength' before Him, He will surely seize this opportunity to launch a final, fierce attack. As long as He takes the initiative to penetrate deeper and pursue relentlessly, we will have the chance to completely suppress Him with a long-prepared counterattack at His most desperate moment."
"Are you confident?" Lancelot asked.
"There's no absolute certainty," Logo's voice remained calm, "But it's the best choice."
"Let's do it that way then."
The three consciousnesses quickly reached a consensus. The information space dissipated, and the consciousness of the Lord of Truth regained control of the body. The change in his expression at that moment—from Lancelot's high fighting spirit to the balanced and composed posture of the three—was captured by the Mother of the Stars.
To the Mother of the Stars, it was a clear sign: the internal coordination of the Lord of Truth was failing, and the unity of the Trinity was becoming unstable due to the protracted battle.
He didn't know that this was a "flaw" that Logo had deliberately revealed.
The Mother of the Stars made a decisive decision and held nothing back.
The Hammer of Earth trembled violently in His hand, and the deep brown power of the substance on the hammerhead suddenly began to change color.
The transformation was extremely violent, as if the entire world's crust was overturned, ignited, and burned in an instant. The brown faded, replaced by the surging colors of flames—crimson, orange, and gold intertwined, as if the core of the brightest star in the entire astral Astral Realm was being pressed into a hammerhead!
A surge of elemental power erupted around the Mother of the Stars! The four primordial elements—earth, fire, water, and wind—constantly rotated, alternated, and evolved around her, forming a dynamic balance that defied description. Fire begets earth, earth begets metal, metal begets water, water begets wood, and wood begets fire—the five elements found a subtle reflection within the four elements, and all elemental power, under the will of the Mother of the Stars, surged and roared like living things.
He used some unknown method to suddenly transform his own earth power into a boundless sea of fire.
Moreover, this transformation was not a weakened replacement—the oppressive feeling of the sea of fire was no less than that of the pure earth power before! Each flame contained a high temperature sufficient to incinerate a star field, and each tongue of fire carried a terrifying heat sufficient to scorch the laws. The entire sea of fire spread out in an overwhelming manner, completely transforming the already shattered battlefield of the Astral Realm Core into a fiery inferno!
The Lord of Truth was in the midst of this blazing sea of fire. Even with His supreme Triune constitution, He still felt a burning pain that penetrated to the very marrow of His bones.
Layer upon layer of defensive barriers continuously appeared on His body, devouring Black Hole. These Black Hole frantically devoured the flames surging towards Him, attempting to dissolve the Berserk fire elemental power into nothingness. But the flames were too dense, too fierce, and too Berserk. Each layer of Black Hole barrier was filled, burst, and annihilated by the massive amount of flames the instant it formed, and then the next barrier would form and burst just as quickly.
The terrifying burning sensation of the flames caused the Lord of Truth excruciating pain throughout his body. The flames weren't just scorching his physical form—while the Eternity Chaos Saint Body was powerful, it was still susceptible to being eroded by the ultimate sea of fire conjured by the Mother of the Stars ' magic—even more terrifyingly, the flames were also burning his soul. Every wisp of fire within the sea of flames carried a burning power targeting the soul, and his soul seemed to be melting away, emitting a silent tremor.