Desolate Era

Castles, planets, towers… Ji Ning was able to penetrate any purely physical barrier, no matter how indestructible it was, with ease.

After blinking into the black tower, Ning could still sense the outside world beyond it. Even his mana was able to easily pass through the tower and continue to maintain the reverse-vortex formation outside.

“Who would’ve thought the insides of the tower would look like this?” Ning rose into the air, staring at the area before him.

The black tower merely covered an area of ten thousand kilometers. At the very center of this area was a shadowy black globe that was covered with a veneer of light. It was furiously gobbling up everything being sent to it. The energy that was circulating towards and through the black tower wasn’t impeded by the tower itself at all, and when the energy was absorbed by the shadowy black orb it caused the orb to slowly grow more powerful.

Time ticked on, minute after minute. Eventually, the shadowy globe finished devouring the remaining vestiges of power which the Annihilation Hive had swallowed, at which point it had nothing to feed upon.

“So this is the energy wellspring of the Annihilation Hive?” Ning nodded slowly. He could sense a strange Dao infused into the black orb, one which was contrary to the Dao of their Chaosverse.

“It emanates a terrifying aura of destruction. There’s no way this destructive power came from our Chaosverse. It must have come from the Infinite Void outside.” Ning was extremely certain of this.

“Break!” Ning was in his three-headed, six-armed form and wielded all six Northmoon swords. Sword-light flashed in a dazzling manner, as though six rainbows suddenly had shot out and simultaneously chopped down upon the black tower. It was the black tower which was allowing this engine of destruction to manifest the great vortex in the outside world. If Ning could destroy the tower, the whirlpool itself would instantly disintegrate!

BOOM! A series of loud explosions rang out. Ning’s sword-light was powerful and dominating, but it only managed to cause the tower to tremble. No actual damage was done.

Ning switched from one sword-art to another, trying them all. He tested a soft and corrosive style, a blazing and concentrated style, and a mixture of many other styles as well. None of his many sword-arts, however, were able to do a thing to the black tower.

“Eh? The black tower is absolutely invulnerable. That means I’ll have to turn my attention to the energy wellspring.” Ning frowned as he turned to look at the sphere of annihilation.

It was a dark, shadowy, illusory thing that continued to strive to devour the outside world. Ning had the feeling that the destructive Dao it contained was extremely odd, and he had the feeling that breaking it would be extremely difficult.

“I’ll give it a shot.” Once more, Ning struck out with his swords. Whoosh! The Northmoon swords expanded to become over a thousand meters long as they furiously chopped down towards the shadowy black orb.

Bam! When the swords chopped down on the black orb, they instantly sensed a power pushing back against them. The surface of the shadowy black orb trembled and changed slightly, but once Ning withdrew his swords it quickly went back to normal.

“Break! Break! BREAK!” Ning tried out multiple sword-arts, sending countless streams of sword-light crashing down upon the shadowy black orb. Each time it shuddered and distorted in shape, but every time it quickly regenerated and once more appeared completely undamaged.

“I’m not strong enough. This sphere of annihilation is completely capable of enduring the force of my sword-arts. I can’t truly damage it at all! I can only make it collapse once my attacks surpass its limits.” Ning shook his head. “The Sithe Lord of Chaos truly is incredible. He’s able to manipulate this sphere of annihilation as though it was a mere bauble and even figured out how to teleport it into our Chaosverse. I, however, am not able to budge it in the slightest, much less damage it.”

If he wasn’t able to break the sphere of annihilation, the only thing he could do was keep his avatar here and maintain the reverse-vortex formation indefinitely.

“The Dao within this sphere of annihilation is truly inscrutable.” Ning glanced at the shadowy black sphere, seemingly capable of devouring all things, then once more reached out with his senses to try and understand the laws it contained.

“This Dao is completely different from the Daos of our Chaosverse. Perhaps… perhaps I’ll be able to study its Dao and create a brand new Sword Dao from it!” Ning suddenly was inspired by it. He had once created an Annihilation Sword Dao during his six million chaos cycles in training! That Dao was a purely destructive Dao, but this ‘sphere of annihilation’ was different; instead of simply destroying, it devoured everything around it.

The Five Elements, Yin and Yang, darkness and light… it could swallow literally everything the Chaosverse held, then use it to strengthen itself! This was a strange yet terrifyingly powerful Dao! Ning had the feeling that if he could figure out how to infuse it into his own Sword Dao, it would probably produce an extremely powerful Sword Dao that would be of great benefit to him.

The black tower was impregnable, while the sphere of annihilation was similarly invulnerable. The Autarchs had no ideas either, and so Ning was forced to leave his avatar here! It was better for them to keep an Autarch-class combatant tied up here than to allow the Annihilation Hive to continue its devouring rampage.

Ning’s avatar spent all of its time staring at the sphere of annihilation, attuning to the powerful destructive forces within it.

……

In a dark part of the Chaosverse. Autarch Titanos and the dragon turtle suddenly appeared out of nowhere and appeared here.

“All the various different spacetime continuums are interlaced together here. We have reached the farthest reaches of our Chaosverse,” Autarch Titanos said. Nothing was beyond this place save for endless darkness. If one continued to fly, one still wouldn’t see a true ‘barrier’ signifying the end of the Chaosverse.

The borders of the Chaosverse could not be seen with the naked eye or sensed directly. It was simply a place where many different spacetime continuums were jumbled together. Only someone of Autarch Titanos’ caliber would be able to verify where it all came together. There were actually countless nexus points like this, and all of them together formed the vast, impregnable ‘line’ which separated the Chaosverse from the Infinite Void!

“I’ll send you out,” Autarch Titanos said.

“Thank you, Autarch.” The dragon turtle was very delighted and chose to express it through great modesty.

Autarch Titanos waved a single finger. Slash! He tore through the darkness before him as though it was parchment, revealing a dazzling scene ‘outside’…

This was the beautiful and stunning Infinite Void, a place filled with countless colors. It was truly vast without end and filled with countless celestial bodies, with the Chaosverses merely being the largest and most mysterious of those bodies. It was composed of countless different intersecting spacetime continuums. Anyone could quickly become lost when traversing them.

“The Infinite Void.” The dragon turtle grew excited. Finally. It was finally going home!

“Go. Hide in a distant place and don’t let the Sithe catch you again,” Autarch Titanos said.

The dragon turtle gave Autarch Titanos a grateful nod, then sent its massive bulk hurtling through the great rift within the darkness and into the vast Infinite Void outside. This was its true home, the place it loved. It was vast beyond measure and filled with infinite possibilities and marvels.

When Autarch Titanos glanced at the dazzling lights and sights of the Infinite Void, he couldn’t help but feel a hint of desire as well. He very much wanted to go out and do some adventuring, but his Chaosverse was in grave danger. Their Chaosverse didn’t even have a Lord of Chaos to defend it. How could he be so selfish as to go out exploring at a time like this?

……

Within a vast palace of light. Almighty Iyerre was seated on a throne up high, barefoot as always. He was dressed in gray robes which covered his muscular frame, and his eyes were filled with warmth as he stared downwards at his subjects. Before him was a teeming mass of servants, all of them Exalts.

“The Annihilation Hive has already been solved by the cultivators,” Iyerre said slowly as he gazed at his servants.

Instantly, there was a commotion amongst the many Sithe Exalts.

“I underestimated those cultivators.” Iyerre smiled. “I had thought that I might be able to gain victory through the Annihilation Hive alone! Now, it seems that taking control over this Chaosverse won’t be as easy as I had hoped. Very well then. Since the simplest method has failed… let us go to war! Let the final war begin.”

All of the Exalts raised their heads to stare at the almighty Iyerre. They felt nervousness, anticipation, excitement, and fear.

Had it finally begun? The final war?

“Last time was just a trial run! This time, we’ll fight for real! The local cultivators have managed to produce a complete Eternal Omega Sword Dao, which means they are going to become increasingly powerful. Eventually, they’ll give birth to Omega Emperors! The longer we wait, the slimmer our chances shall become.”

“There’s no way out. Let the final battle begin! If we win, you shall all gain your freedom and receive countless gifts from me for having aided me,” Iyerre said. “If we fail, all of you shall fall.”

By now, Iyerre’s smile had vanished. A terrifying, shocking light began to emit from his eyes. All of the Exalts below him could sense his terrifying will and resolve. “Now go! The final war starts now!” Iyerre commanded.

“Understood!” Frenzied looks appeared in the eyes of all the Exalts. Fear was meaningless at a time like this. All they could do was prepare to fight! If they won, they would have everything they could ever dream of… and in fact, the new Chaoslord Iyerre would give them more than they could even imagine!

All of the Exalts departed, leaving Iyerre seated by himself atop his throne within the palace of light.

Iyerre was smiling again. He murmured softly to himself, “Cultivators, I already know every trick you possess! You, however, have no idea what I am capable of. The war starts today. I wonder, cultivators… how long will you be able to hold out for?”