"Ah, the apparition of the universal Will is here." Lex narrowed his eyes as he continued. "Then I'll have to hurry."
The devouring accelerated. The massive continent, that was already caught in the pull, now drifted faster toward the Maw.
Opposite, the cosmic Eye of the universe glowed as runes danced across its pupil, swirling faster and faster until a beam of searing golden energy shot out and slammed toward the Maw.
The beam struck before the continent could be consumed.
"Thank the stars for that unknown ally…" the Gene Fanatic said, his voice shaking with relief. "If not for it's intervention, we'd all be dead."
But his relief vanished as he watched more closely.
The beam didn't damage the Maw instead it vanished, swallowed whole, like everything else.
The Eye's beam dimmed. The colossal presence began to flicker. Then, a voice echoed across the universe, emotionless and mechanical:
[ First plan: FAILED — Enemy disrupted execution.]
[Second plan: FAILED — Enemy strength exceeds universal output.]
[Initiating contingency: MUTUAL DESTRUCTION.
Scanning for the enemy's true body… ]
The beam paused its flickering pupil.
[ Target not located within the search parameters… expanding the search parameters ]
Suddenly, countless Eyes appeared—piercing through the fabric of space beyond the universe's edge. Their gaze swept across the surrounding Voidsea
Again, the voice boomed:
[ No hostile forces detected.
Recalibrating search methods. ]
At that moment, the laws of the universe shook. Across every realm, every dimension, down to the smallest subatomic particles, eyes appeared, shifting, and searching.
But even they returned the same result:
[ No hostile forces detected. ]
At the location of the Cosmic Door, the laws of the universe trembled, and tiny eyes appeared but they found nothing.
There were no laws in the door's vicinity to detect, no threads for the Will to read. The door existed in a completely separate dimension, one the universal Will could neither touch nor perceive. It simply wasn't strong enough.
Lex stood still, arms crossed, watching the scene unfold from beyond the universe.
"In just a few seconds," he said, "it scanned us countless times."
He glanced at Luna beside him.
"But for all its cosmic awareness, it lacked one critical instinct—doubt. Had it been more like a sentient creature—curious, emotional, aware of its own blind spots, it might have realized we were never within its domain to begin with."
Luna nodded in agreement. "Indeed. That's what makes you an anomaly. By now, the Crolis you mentioned would've been the supreme ruler of this universe… if you hadn't personally intervened."
Back at the Maw, the scene was grim. The continent had been fully devoured.
Not a single trace remained; not bone, not dust, not even memory. The concept of existence itself had been erased. Elsewhere in the universe, none remembered the place, the people, or the civilization that once thrived there.
All had been forgotten by the universe.
But not all had been consumed.
The Eighteen, the last surviving apex beings resisted.
They had pooled their energy and forged a desperate, flickering barrier of light. Surrounded by darkness thick and suffocating, the glow inside their shield was the only thing that kept the void at bay.
Their faces were dimly lit, their expressions drained.
Vorex let out a bitter breath.
"Who would've thought, just a few cycles ago we stood above all life. Feared by entire civilizations, worshipped by some, unchallenged in power."
Dresmas chuckled quietly, though there was no joy in it.
"That's the nature of fate," he said. "Fickle. Unforgiving. We never truly know what tomorrow brings."
Then, silence.
Until one figure stood.
He stepped forward without a word and walked into the dark. No one tried to stop him.
There was no need. Each of them knew their turn would come. He simply chose to face the inevitable first.
The moment he left the barrier, his form unraveled, atom by atom, erased entirely. In less than a second, nothing remained.
Time passed. None could tell how long. Then another followed, driven by the pressure, the eerie silence, and the knowledge that no help would come.
One by one, they were swallowed by the devouring darkness, until only Merita and Quintessa remained.
They looked at each other in silence, then stepped forward together, accepting their fate.
As soon as their bodies contacted the darkness their bodies began to unravel, first their skin, then their bones. When it reached their souls, a powerful voice erupted from both of them at once:
"Who dares touch our fragments?"
A radiant shield of light burst forth, stopping the devouring force instantly.
At the same time, somewhere in the Voidsea, in a chaotic universe hidden deep within the storms of space, two women opened their eyes inside a cave-dwelling.
Their faces were unmistakably that of Merita and Quintessa, but not the same.
These were their true bodies, their temperaments infinitely more refined and their presence exuding a powerful aura.
They staggered in pain, clutching their chests. Rage flickered across their celestial features.
Without hesitation, they each drew a talisman, burning with primal symbols. Chanting ancient spells, their voices shook the heavens.
The very atmosphere distorted, the skies cracked, and time itself flickered.
Powerful consciousnesses swept toward their cave-dwelling from nearby realms, but none dared enter.
"Who angered the disciples of the God Emperor?" one voice murmured, cautious.
"How would we know? We're like you, trying to know," scoffed another.
"Lin Zhu, must you always bark louder than your bite?"
"Oh? You want to find out what my wrath feels like?"
"Enough!" another voice snapped. "Now's not the time for pissing contests. If we don't pacify the God Emperor's disciples, we'll be turned to dust before we finish this sentence."
"Tch. Lucky day for you." Lin Zhu grumbled.
••••
Back inside the maw, as Quintessa's true memories flooded into her soul fragment, her aura surged. Her soul form ignited with brilliance, and her eyes gleamed with celestial fire.
Her vision and memory synced with her true body, and so did her fury.
"How dare you touch me; a disciple of the God Emperor," she thundered into the darkness, her previous temperament of a leader disappearing.
"If you do not let me go now, I swear I will sacrifice every universe in this void region to fuel my treasure."
The threat was not hyperbole, but a vow.
Merita floated beside her, already channeling secret threads of fate, covertly locking onto the coordinates of Lex's universe through the karmic link he was using.
Lex's brows furrowed. His relaxed posture stiffened, the godlike calm fading from his features.
"What, the hell is happening?" he muttered. "How did a weak girl become someone who can refine entire universes?"
Luna hovered beside him, her expression now grim.
"It must be the Oracle Drive," she said.
"We assumed the light was cleansing threats, but what if it was simply, scanning? Identifying threats while marking paths? And now, it connected us to something, or someone, far beyond our grasp to erase us."
Lex's gaze sharpened.
"Then the weapon isn't just valuable anymore, it's priceless."
Luna nodded as she said, "Indeed. But that's not our biggest concern right now."
Lex's eyes narrowed. "I know… It's the entity inside her."
Luna shook her head. "No, not just an entity. That is her true soul. The girl we saw before, she was only a fragment."
Lex leaned back slowly, the weight of revelation sinking in. "So they're not pawns. They're pieces. Soul fragments of Dao Seekers from the Voidsea. And those beings want them back so badly, the first thing they do is threaten us."
He exhaled, letting the idea settle, then glanced at Luna.
"What do you make of this 'God Emperor' she invoked?"
Luna floated silently for a moment, then spoke "If they are truly disciples of someone with the title God Emperor, then master, we're dealing with a force that rivals my first ancestor—a true Dao emperor powerhouse."
Lex leaned forward slightly, his fingers tapping against the armrest of his recliner. "So, we offended disciples of someone who stands at the peak of the Voidsea," Lex said solemnly.
Luna didn't respond immediately. The silence itself was heavy.
Then she added, "If he notices what's happened here—if he realizes his disciples' fragments were devoured, even briefly—we won't just be dealing with retaliation. We'll be facing absolute annihilation."
"What terrible luck," Lex muttered, half amused, half annoyed. "The first universe we try to devour, and we run into the final boss right out of the gate. All because I played it cautiously and now we painted target at our back."