Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1046: Dead World

"It's over," Kyle said with a shaky sigh. "Almost everyone's dead."

"Almost everyone?" Sebastian asked. "Are there still survivors?"

"Apparently, yes," Kyle answered. "The Karmic Lines connecting to the Supreme World can't reach Ayuvar. I can only see the Karmic Lines of anyone that's in Ayuvar, and right now..."

"There are four. There used to be millions, but now, there are only four. One of them is the Karmic Line between my Elemental and me. One of them is the one we share, and the last two lead to..."

"Swamp Dragon and Fierce Breaker."

"They're still alive?!" Sebastian asked in shock. "But how?! All life in the Main Dimension was eradicated!"

"I don't know," Kyle answered with a shake of his head. "I can't tell where they are. You can't even follow Karmic Lines when you know the Law of Karmic Causality. You can only see the connections when you also see the other side."

"I only know that Fierce Breaker and Swamp Dragon are still alive. I don't know where they are. I don't know what state they are in. The only thing I know is that Star Genesis and Manny are dead. It seems like Swamp Dragon's warning had been justified. If we hadn't brought you to the Elemental Dimension, you would be dead right now."

Sebastian and Kyle fell silent as they thought about Humanity.

Kyle remembered all the people he had fought for. He had saved so many of them while being on the frontlines. He also remembered the group of loyal allies they had created.

Overlord Stygian, Senior Protector Blooddrought, Overlord Cloudhorn, General Regalia, Protector Ziccan, Overlord Riverly, Overlord Sunlight, Major Sovignor, Commander Meristo, the different families in the Tribes...

Everyone was dead.

All the work they had put into gaining allies... worthless.

They wanted to end the war between Humanity and the Demons, and now, the war was over, but in the worst possible interpretation.

How could there be a war when everyone was dead?

Kyle looked at the Karmic Lines in silence. He had never had so few Karmic Lines in his entire life. Even more, a quarter of his Karmic Lines simply represented his connection with his Elemental. Additionally, the Karmic Lines leading to Swamp Dragon and Fierce Breaker might vanish any moment now. Most likely, Fierce Breaker was in the hands of the Overseer, which meant he might die any second now.

Kyle's Karmic Luck was barely moving. He received some positive Karmic Luck from Sebastian, but he also received some negative Karmic Luck from Fierce Breaker.

The world had essentially fallen silent. There was no movement in Karmic Luck, which meant there was no movement in the world. As long as life continued, Karmic Luck changed. Living beings made choices, and every choice changed Karmic Luck.

Kyle looked at the Elementals in the Elemental Dimension. They did not make choices. They had as much power over their decisions as a fire. A fire didn't decide whether or not it should spread. It just did. The wind did not decide to go east or west. The surroundings simply moved it in a given direction.

As he looked at the Elementals, he also noticed that their actions started to change. They moved more from place to place. The reason was obvious.

Since there was no life in the Main Dimension anymore, there were no Demons, beasts, or humans that converted Neutral Energy into Elemental Energy to launch attacks. The steady stream of Elemental Energy, traveling from the Main Dimension to the Elemental Dimension, had been weakened by 99%. The only Elemental Energies traveling to the Elemental Dimension came from the Law Wells.

Sadly, the Law Wells couldn't support the Elemental Dimension by themselves. As the Elementals lost access to their food, they would start moving. The weaker Elementals would be killed and consumed by the stronger Elementals. This was a normal part of the cycle, but this time, there would be no new Elementals.

With time, the Supreme World would notice the drought of Elemental Energy in Ayuvar, and it would refill it. However, the density would be much lower.

The Main Dimension was dead, and while the Supreme World wouldn't allow the Elemental Dimension to die, it would still deteriorate.

As Kyle looked at the four Karmic Lines, he also looked at the negative space. He looked at the space where Karmic Lines were supposed to be.

Sebastian noticed that Kyle seemed focused on something and decided against interrupting him. He also wanted some time to think about their new reality. How were they supposed to advance? How were they supposed to comprehend Laws? How could they appear in the Main Dimension again? Where were Swamp Dragon and Fierce Breaker? What was their plan?

Kyle felt his perception warping. He still hadn't recovered from the damage he had received after cutting two Karmic Lines. His Core was still leaking Energy, and the surroundings still seemed distorted.

Cutting the two Karmic Lines had injured Kyle's Spirit. It had injured his very foundation. His Spirit dictated his existence, and when his Spirit said that he was supposed to have a tear in his Core, he was supposed to have a tear in his Core.

Kyle didn't know if these injuries would ever heal. Most likely, they would heal at some point in the future. If the God of this Cosmos truly believed that there was no way to redeem oneself, he would have made it so that anyone with a True Sin Aura would die. If the God of this Cosmos didn't believe in second chances, he wouldn't have made the advancement bonuses temporary.

Yet, would Ayuvar get a second chance? There was no life in the world anymore, and creating artificial life was strictly prohibited. How was Ayuvar supposed to recover?

As his perception warped, Kyle felt the four remaining Karmic Lines become much clearer. Something inside of him was trying to find any other Karmic Lines, but there just weren't any.

Things seemed to become clearer and blurrier at the same time. Everything Kyle knew about Energy seemed to become more abstract. Concepts he had been sure about in the past didn't seem as clear anymore. Just mere hours ago, he could have explained how Yang-Fire worked with logical clarity, but now, he wasn't even sure anymore.

Everything just seemed so relative. He thought that his home would survive. He thought that his friends would survive. He thought that he would get out of this mess.

No matter how much his perception warped, no new Karmic Lines appeared.

It was actually over.

There was no one left.

He wanted to save his home, but his home no longer existed. His home hadn't been the world but the people living in the world.

At that moment, Kyle also remembered his last conversation with Lara, and a dark feeling of finality appeared in his chest.

He didn't need to see the world to know that it was dead.

His Karmic Lines told him as much.

He remembered the trees, the mortal empires, the soldiers, the corpse mountains, the frontlines, the Shields, the Spears, the Demons, the Tribes...

Everything was gone.

His home was destroyed.

This was a dead world.

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