The Innkeeper

Chapter 2467: He broke into my house once

"Eclipse what the hell are you doing? Do you want to destroy the universe?" Destiny roared as she looked at the thousands of red chains on the Eclipsecrawler sentinel! Thousands of chains! That meant that Eclipse had destroyed thousands of Mature realms!

How was such a thing possible? How could such a thing escape Destiny’s notice?

She looked at Eclipse horrified, unable to understand what was going on. This was far beyond just a simple scheme. This was no longer even about Destiny herself! There was something else going on, but she had no idea what.

Eclipse didn’t answer, and instead placed a hand on the Eclipsecrawler Sentinels face, caressing it as if it was an old friend. In truth, it had been. Every single member of her race had been turned into these sentinels back during the Primordial Age. As the foremost race concerning matters of karma, their race had been refined one by one, while they were alive, turning them into the perfect tools to wield karma.

Destiny herself had acquired a few, absorbing their destined mastery over the law of Tether, turning that mastery towards destiny rather than karma.

Only Eclipse herself had escaped back then. Not a single other member of her race had been born since, for their entire destiny, fate and even karma had been devoured. Of course, after Eclipse reached the pinnacle of the universe, she could have brought back her race any time she wished. But she hadn’t.

One would think that after such a history, Destiny would anticipate that Eclipse would target her, but that wasn’t true. Back during that chaotic age, there were none who were sinless, and there were many others who had provoked Eclipse even more. Heck, Eclipse had just as much reason to attack Fate as Destiny, for she too had been guilty of creating a few of those sentinels.

When Eclipse withdrew her hand, the sentinel shattered, and the red chains of karma attached to that thin thread, and found their way to Destiny. The chained woman screamed, not just because she was being infected by such intensely dangerous karma, but because the chains that were binding here had begun to shine brightly.

Originally that shine did nothing to her, but as soon as the karma was connected, Destiny felt that all the destiny she had absorbed for countless years was corrupted - as if it was tainted somehow.

She didn’t understand... until she did. Countless races had come to Eclipse. Countless races had willingly accepted sacrifice. That wasn’t so that Eclipse could use their luck to trap Bourdow - that was merely a convenient coincidence. Eclipse had, with their consent, corrupted and tainted the very destiny of their race. Moreover, she had done it in such a way that the taint would not reveal itself until it interacted with the light in these chains!

Destiny opened her mouth to scream at Eclipse, but the only thing that came out was a wild, echoing scream! She still did not understand what these chains were, nor did she know what that light was, but she couldn’t take it anymore.

"DEATH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Destiny managed to roar, not bothering to hide anything. Eclipse was mad - totally mad - and Destiny was beginning to feel a hint of fear at whatever she had planned.

But it was too late to stop now. The moment the karma and the chains interacted, the preparation Eclipse spent two Ages setting in motion was triggered. The Dream Arena appeared above everything.

All across the universe, across the Void, and even Abaddon, the Dream Arena appeared up in the sky. It was entirely out of reach, but its presence could be felt across the universe. Countless mortals began worshiping the arena. Countless Immortals began worshiping it too. All Dao Lords stopped and looked up at it, feeling only a sense of helplessness and weakness they had not felt since they became Dao Lords.

Within the Origin realm, Vaelgorith looked up at the Dream Arena and knew it was time. He finished the process, letting the third Dao Lord die, automatically triggering the tribulation for the Origin realm itself, letting it transition from an Immature realm to a Mature one. This had been a long time coming.

That left only the seven other beings above the Dao Lord realm, who looked up at the Arena with a solemn expression, not expecting things to have taken such a drastic turn. The moment Destiny appeared on the platform, many things were revealed, and they all learned that Eclipse was behind this all. They just hadn’t thought that a mere Dao Lord... could make them feel so oppressed.

Within the Folklore realm, Bob looked up into the sky at the Arena and wiped his tears. He didn’t know what that thing was, but he was sure that the captain was up there. All cool and impressive things inevitably involved the captain.

"Oh lawd," he said with a trembling voice, barely stopping himself from crying out of sheer pride.

The enormous torrents of Dao Essence that Eclipse had gathered over so many years began to fuel the Arena, drying up at a pace that would astound any who knew about it.

Destiny would have screamed again, would have cursed or yelled at Eclipse, but she couldn’t. She finally realized what these chains were... or at least why they were so heavy, to the point where she couldn’t raise her hands at all.

The light in the chains... was the strain of the universe. Destiny was literally, with her body, tied down to the strain of the entire universe. Pure dread filled her being as she looked at Eclipse, oddly reminiscent of how Bourdow had looked at Eclipse when he had been chained up.

’What... the... hell...’

Destiny tried to think, but even her thoughts were weighed down as more and more of the universe’s strain was pressing her down. If her mind were working normally, she might have thanked Eclipse for destroying so many Mature realms and reducing the strain on the universe so much, or she might have already been killed!

Just as Eclipse was about to continue, she paused, and looked behind her. There, right at the edge of the fog, stood Death.

"It has been a long time, Eclipse," Death said calmly, though he kept his distance, his gaze falling on Destiny. "What are you doing over here, if you don’t mind me asking?"

Lex began elbowing Cassandra again.

"Hey, I know that guy," he whispered in her ear. "He broke into my house once."