Chapter 1176: Instinct of Redemption

After several seconds, the "Circle of Inevitability" finally utilized the stabilized tributary of fate to break free from the influence of the "Darkness" symbol.

Yet, neither He nor the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises continued to fight; both simultaneously looked toward the edge of this star region.

There, illusory mirror surfaces shattered, and the three-headed, three-bodied, six-armed Lu Mian appeared, wrapped in greenish-yellow rotting flesh, burning with deep, pitch-black flames.

That massive body, laden with rotting flesh, was continuously collapsing inward toward a certain point. First, it was the center chest, then the right arm, and then the left abdomen, inside which vaguely lay a deep, dark point that seemed to hide the entire universe.

Each collapse caused the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises's premonition of danger to intensify several times over, and she quickly realized that the development of events might not be what had been anticipated.

After Klein fully awakened and accommodated the "Sefirah Castle," he had only consulted with two high-ranking beings to discuss the subsequent response and formulate plans based on different situations: one was Lu Mian, who possessed a chaotic vortex face and the feminine and masculine aspects of the "Original Creator in the Mirror," and the other was the "Evernight Goddess" Amanises, who held the authority of "Concealment," to avoid leaking the matter of his awakening and those plans.

—The "Wheel of Fortune" Will Auceptin only knew in the "City of Night" that Klein had awakened and had received his help to accommodate the Uniqueness, but he was unaware of the specific details.

Therefore, the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises had long known how the "Root of Calamity" Lu Mian would deal with the "King of Decay" and what would happen in the process. Now it seemed that everything that needed to be done had been done, but the result appeared to have encountered some problems.

The expected result was for Lu Mian to create power belonging to the Fourth Pillar, allowing the "King of Decay" to be killed along with himself, and to completely annihilate the feminine and masculine aspects of the "Original Creator in the Mirror," the consciousness of Cheek, the consciousness of Alista Tudor, and the consciousness of the "Dragon of Disaster."

If Lu Mian relied on the fact that the "Root of Calamity" and the "Destroyer of Heaven" were part of the Fourth Pillar to endure longer in that devastating blow, the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises could withdraw the power she shared with him, making the terror belonging to the Fourth Pillar impossible to maintain. The "Lord of the Mysteries" Klein would then use methods like reproducing "Rebirth" and "Grafting" to give Lu Mian a chance to survive. However, in this way, the mess of consciousnesses inside Lu Mian would also be continued, and whether he could maintain a fragile balance remained an unknown.

Now, this result was being realized, but it seemed that something even more terrifying was brewing.

A moment later, the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises discovered that strange scenes were appearing around Lu Mian's body, which was collapsing rapidly:

There was a vast universe that had lost all vitality, as if frozen; there was a deep darkness that swallowed everything, attempting to compress it into that final point...

The "End" symbol, the "End" symbol that stood in opposition to the "Creation" symbol... This should not have appeared; the universe had not reached its end, and the Fourth Pillar could not be born... The gaze of the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises suddenly solidified.

She thought of a possibility:

Inside Lu Mian were not only the powers that composed the Fourth Pillar but also the symbol of the "King of Decay" and the feminine and masculine aspects of the "Original Creator in the Mirror." When the power representing the "End" and those symbols belonging to the "King of Decay" encountered the feminine and masculine aspects of the "Original Creator in the Mirror," which finally had the chance to collide in this destruction, there might be a chance to sublimate from the "End" power into the "End" symbol!

One must know that "Whatever can go bad, will inevitably go bad" was also included in those symbols.

And once the "End" symbol appeared, even if only for a very short time, it would be a very terrifying thing. At best, all living beings in this galaxy, including the "Great Old Ones," would die completely and be unable to revive; at worst, the entire universe would restart!

The "Eternal Darkness" Amanises immediately withdrew the "Death," "Eternal Solitude," and "Twilight" powers she had shared with Lu Mian, but the body, consciousness, and spirit of the "Root of Calamity" Lu Mian were still collapsing, without stopping.

The arrival of the "End" symbol seemed inevitable.

Just then, the "Circle of Inevitability" abandoned the golden giant Buddha representing the "Key of Light" and returned to Lu Mian's side through the Astral World.

Seeing this, the "Eternal Darkness" Amanises recalled the "Lamp Genie's" hint and did not stop Him, only following the "Circle of Inevitability" back to the original battlefield to monitor closely.

The "High-Dimensional Overseer's" attacks on the Celestial Master and the "Heavenly Emperor" phantom slowed down. He had already prepared to ascend dimensions and instantly flee this galaxy, but this did not necessarily ensure He would be safe.

The "Primordial Hunger," which was gnawing on Grisha Adam, also stopped. Acting mainly on instinct, He had a tendency to flee.

The mercury-colored body in the center of the "Circle of Inevitability," with its bitter face, pointed toward the Astral World, causing the "Angel of Redemption" fighting at the edge of the universe to instantly return to His front, turning into silver-black light and returning to His embrace. The remaining "Sinners" did not understand what had happened and, without the protection of a Sequence 1 Angel, chose to leave the battlefield entirely and return to the Divine Kingdom.

Immediately after, the pitch-black body on the left and the body composed of redemption light on the right of the "Circle of Inevitability" simultaneously caused an illusory River of Fate to emerge. The main trunk was the past that had already occurred, and the tributaries were the future that was about to become reality.

That future was already destined; every tributary represented the same outcome.

These two bodies of the "Circle of Inevitability" each formed a hand seal. The "Future Redemption Body" caused a new tributary to be born out of thin air in the mercury-colored tributary that no longer had other possibilities or developments—a tributary that could prevent the "End" symbol from appearing.

The "Past Sinner Body" caused the figures of the "King of Decay" in the past within the River of Fate to become the "Circle of Inevitability" Himself one after another, while the original figures of the "Circle of Inevitability" became the "King of Decay" one after another.

The "Substitution" symbol!

This was the highest level of the "Art of Substitution."

Feeling His past being rapidly "substituted," the "King of Decay" did not resist, even looking forward to the "Circle of Inevitability" succeeding.

He saw the light of redemption.

When Lu Mian's body had collapsed more than halfway, the "Present Suffering Body" of the "Circle of Inevitability" separated a Sequence 1 self composed of redemption light and also formed a hand seal toward Lu Mian.

Suddenly, the rotting body of the "King of Decay" inside Lu Mian and the Sequence 1 body of the "Circle of Inevitability" miraculously swapped; one returned to the outside world, and one went inside, completing the "substitution."

Now, what Lu Mian accommodated was no longer the "King of Decay," but the Sequence 1 clone of the "Circle of Inevitability."

Once the "King of Decay" broke free from Lu Mian's body, He was instantly wrapped in layers of golden armor, but multiple cracks had already appeared on the surface of His body, piercing through the gold and rotting flesh, inside which deep, pitch-black flames were still burning.

The "King of Decay" did not linger, entering the Astral World and fleeing far away.

Even with the "Mother Tree of Desire" treating the wounds on His body, it would take sixty years to recover; if He did not receive corresponding help, it would take hundreds or thousands of years. He certainly dared not remain in this star region again, nor dared He return.

The "Eternal Darkness" Amanises did not pursue, monitoring the "Circle of Inevitability" while helping the "Celestial Master" and the "Heavenly Emperor" phantom.

After losing those symbols of the "King of Decay," the collapse of Lu Mian's body and the appearance of the "End" symbol slowed down significantly, but they were still continuing.

When the "Mother Tree of Desire" helped the "Goddess of Fate" "fix" her consciousness and spirit from afar, preventing them from being stolen by the "Lord of the Mysteries," Klein was not annoyed but delighted.

Above the gray fog in the infinite heights, a marionette that Klein had hidden in advance returned to this star region, appearing near the "Supernova Dominator" whose fate had been stripped away.

Read the content one by one, not missing a single word!

From the beginning, Klein's true target was the "Supernova Dominator" in a weakened state after suffering the "Final Judgment," where many symbols could not be used. He first dealt with the "Goddess of Fate" precisely to make the "Mother Tree of Desire," who had not yet recovered, fully help her eldest daughter. In this way, it would be difficult for the "Mother Tree of Desire" to be distracted and interfere with his subsequent actions against the "Supernova Dominator." She was not the "Lord of the Mysteries," and everyone had their own strengths.

Under normal circumstances, one of Klein's marionettes would certainly not be a match for a complete "Great Old One," but the current "Supernova Dominator" had suffered the "Final Judgment" and had not yet recovered or returned.

Klein, wearing a top hat and a black trench coat, took out another "God-Sinner" Beyonder characteristic covered in viscous black liquid. He raised his cane, which was inlaid with stardust, and transferred the massive star cluster—which had not yet been associated with reality and whose symbols like heaviness and density could not yet be used—from the rejected environment into an oddly shaped object that looked like both a tree and a person.

As the "God-Sinner" Beyonder characteristic looked like it was about to be burst, an illusory light door stained with a greenish-black luster flew out from Klein's body.

The projection of the light door landed on the "God-Sinner" Beyonder characteristic, immediately stabilizing it and causing it to change rapidly, forming a transparent and dreamy star-patterned crystal.

Then, Klein threw this star-patterned crystal into the Spirit World and continued to seal the Spirit World.

This was to prevent the "Mother Tree of Desire" from helping the "Supernova Dominator" escape.

Of course, a "Great Old One" like the "Supernova Dominator," whose consciousness, spirit, Sefirah, Uniqueness, and Beyonder characteristics were all present, and who was not in a state of waiting to be revived and was very close to reality, could not be completely sealed.

In another two or three minutes, He would be able to naturally burst the seal and come out from within the "God-Sinner" Beyonder characteristic, and even if the "Lord of the Mysteries" Klein reinforced the seal later, he would not be able to delay it for too long.

But two or three minutes was enough for the current battle situation.

If victory was achieved, the "Lord of the Mysteries" Klein would still have plenty of time to recover the "God-Sinner" Beyonder characteristic.

When using symbols with all his might to seal the "Supernova Dominator," Klein gave up on "stealing" the consciousness and spirit of the "Goddess of Fate," letting her regain her body.

This was also an opportunity.

Klein's trench coat fluttered, and seizing this opportunity, he used the "Fooling" symbol on the "Goddess of Fate."

He had originally expected the "Mother Tree of Desire" to interfere, but both he and the other party learned of what had happened on that other battlefield.

Klein did not hesitate, opened a "Door" to the star region where Lu Mian and the others were, and left behind a high-frequency flashing figure, "deceiving" the "Goddess of Fate" who had been hit by the "Fooling" symbol, making her foolishly enter the Spirit World, which had briefly opened its seal, wanting to go to the "Key of Light" from there.

A huge maze quickly appeared around the "Goddess of Fate," and the Spirit World was sealed again.

For a "Great Old One" in the "Fate" domain, one could walk out of the space-time maze purely by luck and use the River of Fate to escape the Spirit World, but that would be a matter of tens of seconds later.

(End of chapter)