The Epic Tale of Chaos vs Order

Chapter 2273: Unleashing the Power of Chaos

"RUMBLE!"

The entire Heart of the Root trembled, but this time the shudder did not come from pain or from damage inflicted upon it. No—this one rose from the dark and corrupting aura spilling through the newly formed portal, an aura so immensely powerful that for a breath, it washed across all the layers.

A thrill, a sharp current of excitement, and an overwhelming sense of triumphant purpose flashed through the eyes of every Champion and Higher Lord of the Root. They felt that presence, recognized it instantly, and exalted in it. Their purpose had been achieved. They had done the impossible. They had completed the portal that connected them to the rest of the Root in the Emptiness.

"Hahahaha—we won!"

The King of the Root roared with unrestrained joy, laughing as he shouted with every scrap of strength left in his body. It had been a brutal struggle. They had faced anomalies that defied reason itself. Every moment had threatened to collapse into disaster. Yet none of that mattered now. They had succeeded. The portal was open. The end of the Nine Empyrean Suns Universe was at hand.

Across the battlefield, the forces of the Nine Empyrean Suns Universe felt it too—the corrupting, abyssal pressure that flooded from the portal. It washed over them like sinking into the deepest pit of a cosmic ocean, one made not of water but of darkness, rot, and hollow hunger.

Despair gnawed at their resolve, hollowing their minds, cracking their spirits. Visions clawed into their consciousness: worlds twisted and mutilated into nightmarish landscapes of undying flesh, eternally decomposing yet never perishing. A realm of perpetual decay.

None felt this more deeply than Cain.

His eyes remained locked on the portal, and unlike the others, he could see clearly what waited on the other side—an ocean of rotting flesh stretching beyond comprehension, countless eyes writhing within it, each one turning toward him. Toward everything he cherished. Ready to swallow them whole, to bind them into a single ravenous hive-mind for all eternity.

And all of it was his fault.

Destroying the Decapitated Head in time—preventing the portal from ever completing—had been his responsibility. And he had failed.

"NO!"

Cain shouted with all the strength left in his lungs, refusing to accept that destiny, refusing to bow to the horror clawing its way into reality.

"There must be something—anything—I can still do!"

His mind burned with a desperate, fevered intensity. There was time for only one act now. A single move. But what could he do? Even his strongest strike could no longer surpass the Guardian of the Root, who now stood fully regenerated between him and the shattered head. And the moment the abominations on the other side crossed the threshold, everything would be over.

His mind, his soul, and his will strained together, clawing for an answer—for the answer. For the one power that could still change the course of reality.

The one power born from everything he had endured.

It was in that instant—when everything seemed lost, when the fate of the entire universe balanced on a single precarious thread—that Cain’s eyes ignited with a brilliant, blazing scarlet light.

The presence of The Flow flickered within them, but only faintly. For something greater, something deeper, now eclipsed it. A force that had been growing inside him for longer than he understood. A power not born from dominion or obedience, but from connection.

It resembled the Power of Order, yet stood entirely apart from it. Order made you the core of the universe, bending all things toward your singular will. But this—this power did the opposite.

It bound you to everything, sharing your strength with others and taking their strength in return. It placed you at the center of the cosmos not as a tyrant, but as a sun—illuminating, warming, empowering. And those around you, in turn, nourished you with their own radiance.

A symbiosis deeper than the soul.

It was...

"Chaos."

At the moment he spoke the word, Cain’s back trembled violently. Plasma wings—like the ones that had manifested behind the Red King—burst into existence.

They fused directly into the fabric of reality, and instantly, the eyes of every man and woman from the Everstrife Empyrean World began to glow with the same bright scarlet light.

And it did not stop there.

More and more eyes ignited across all layers—faint scarlet threads connecting their bodies and souls, weaving them into him. In a heartbeat, Cain felt himself tied to millions, each person channeling a portion of their strength into his being. It was an overwhelming state, pressing against his ego, threatening to crush the limits of his soul—yet it was the answer he needed.

An Endsphere manifested in his palm, a scarlet point burning at its center. The power of every connection fused into that singular point, and in the next breath, a Zero-State Sphere formed—pure end.

There was no time to think. No time to breathe. Only time to act.

The Zero-State Sphere elongated, compressing itself into the shape of a spear as Cain poured the last five petals of Death Energy into it. Then, with everything he had, he hurled it.

The spear ripped through the shockwaves still radiating from the Decapitated Head’s screams. In the next instant, it struck the Guardian of the Root square in the chest, blasting the abomination backward as though its monstrous frame were weightless. It pierced fully through, carrying on without slowing, slamming into the ancient skull—

—and shattering it completely.

Cain’s eyes widened with fierce exhilaration as he watched the head explode into fragments. The portal flickered, trembling violently, its stability unraveling. The suffocating dark aura receded as the connection faltered.

But just as the portal was about to collapse entirely, it convulsed. Expanded. And for a fleeting moment, two massive soul forces manifested from within, merging into the surrounding flesh and decay.

Cain’s victorious grin faded. Those souls... their strength was undeniable.

But there was no time to think. No time to question. The world-energy surging into him was already fading.

"Everyone—we won," he shouted, voice echoing across the layers. "Now let’s get the hell out!"