Chapter 1017 Broadcast and Sermon (1/2)

Based on the information left by the Ultimate Sublimator Collective, Joshua learned much of the secrets surrounding the Evil Gods and the Chaos.

One of them was that the numbers of Evil Gods was basically endless.

In the first place, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective itself was not an ordinary viral creature, but was a special Extraordinary lifeform with fundamental attributes revolving around corruption, rapid evolution, and the fast ability to adapt. Should nothing unexpected occur, it would probably become a special Void Behemoth through natural change and evolution, spreading and breeding in the units of galaxies and cosmoses, and would have been unlikely to become the aberrative but powerful alternate space entity it had been.

However, when it had grown to a particular quota—in units Joshua was familiar with, it was surpassing Legendary-advanced and reaching up to the limits of Legend and having built a massive barrier lair in its own homeworld, it was invaded and attacked by a large horde of Evil Gods.

With the power that the Ultimate Sublimator Collective had commanded then, repelling the ordinary Evil Gods would not have been a problem, and it would have just been slightly more difficult when it came to having multiple Evil Gods invade at once, just as fleeing in the case where defeat was inevitable was no problem at all. Soon, however, it realized that something was not right after getting rid of the fourth batch of those invaders of Chaos.

It was not only itself that was facing Evil Gods invasion—in the very galaxy where it resided, every single civilization was being assaulted and corrupted by the Chaos…an offensive that simply continued and appeared to have no end.

The legions of Chaos spawns that had swarmed out of nowhere, along with the Evil Gods themselves, vanquished all civilizations along their way with terrible might, painting billions of living worlds in ashes, reducing them to dust.

Still, it was precisely in that age of war against the Evil Gods that the Ultimate Sublimator Collective noticed a considerable number of strong civilizations that had held off the Evil Gods' advance in its own galaxy. There had even been a supremely formidable machine civilization that drove rainbow war machines the size of worlds to roam along space, killing one Evil God after another along their journey while collecting Evil Gods as research samples and attempted to unravel their secrets…if not for the Evil Gods' invasion that had forced those powerful civilizations to reveal their trump cards, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective would have been the one suffering when it eventually expanded to their location, and would have perhaps been completely destroyed.

Either way, that galaxy was consumed by the fires of war during the period. The Ultimate Sublimator Collective hence abandoned its lair, and lacking any shame of typical intelligent life, it sneakily stayed behind the Evil Gods, following them as they invaded other civilizations, after of which it would defeat both the Evil Gods and the civilization, assimilating them…in that period, it had rapidly grown until eventually most civilizations and Evil Gods were harmless against it. In fact, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective even believed that it was chance for it to surpass its own limit within the warring galaxy, with no one being to stop it.

That is, until that one day had come to pass.

The Ultimate Sublimator Collective itself had been doing its usual day-to-day hunt of Evil Gods and civilizations when it abruptly felt a presence that left ten thousand worlds quaking, emanating from the very edge of the galaxy and the stillness in the other side of space.

Then, the entire galaxy itself was torn apart by someone like a blank sheet of paper, split into two entirely different directions. A rift of profound darkness firmly stabbed itself into the stars, forcing countless worlds away from their old planetary systems as they were flung to endless distances.

”If the Evil God of Fertility you speak of is a Demi Saint Evil God and the most powerful one known to the observed Multiverse, there is no doubt that the one I encountered then was another Evil God of the same evil as well.”

In the information it left, the Ultimate Sublimator Collective had named the entity that was so powerful that its mind had been left to despair, and was forced to flee pathetically to another galaxy.

”The Evil God of Upheaval.”

***

All things had been in motion—violent motion, at that.

Before that darkness truly manifested itself, the galaxy had already been plagued by one cataclysm akin to a natural disaster. That being said, it was not the usual natural calamities like earthquakes or tidal waves, but a spatial distortion that extended throughout every single world.

The energy in some worlds was withered to low tides, just as some energies in other worlds would suddenly be brimming with no reason. There were also realms that had fallen into a dark age like no other, while others were exposed to restless brightness that never been seen before—there was cold, hotness, eternal light, or eternal day, not to mention that there was dramatic shifts in the supernatural across worlds.

As ether circulations that kept small worlds together collapsed, there were untold numbers of worlds that collapsed into dust.

Psionic energy went amok, leaving both World Wills and every mind in incomparable agony.

Elements, mana, and lifeforce were left distorted, prompting all that had form and matter to lose the preset balance and hence perish.

That single disaster had allegedly led to the birth of many Evil God Embryos similar to Disparity, Calamity and Collapse as numerous worlds fell consecutively under the might of the Demi Saint Evil God. As those world fragments entered other worlds, more Extraordinary upheaval similar to what happened in the world of Simboa would occur, further strengthening the disturbance of the Evil God of Upheaval. Those were motions that were completely different from what the diverse civilizations knew: in large worlds that were mostly fine or in the tightly defended homeworlds of advanced civilizations, the upheaval would still continue. Some included a change of physical state, chemicals that no longer reacted to other elements, while certain metals became unbreakable or suddenly very fragile, with all complex and detailed production coming to no effect.

All theories that functioned by revolving around a standard Multiverse were all moot in the face of the assault of the Demi Saint that changed universal constants. Even when the greatest civilization of the galaxy attacked deliberately and defeated Upheaval itself, intent on stopping the chain of collapse across the stars, it all proved futile—they had assuredly stopped it for a period of time, but in the end, as the core planetary system of that civilization quietly met its demise, the entire cosmos itself had fallen.

If not for the Ultimate Sublimator Collective being remarkably adaptable in various environments, its rapid rate of evolution along with its nature as a collective lifeform that would not be killed just because one of its own body parts went missing, it would have perished in the fallout left by the Evil God of Upheaval…that was why it had fled the fallen galaxy in panic, heading to other locations across the cosmos.

That was also where the question came in: how many Demi Saint Evil Gods were there?

The Ultimate Sublimator Collective simply did not know.

Still, when it had headed out for the space of another cosmos, it observed the icy flame blazing across the cosmos.

It was dark and dancing, a flickering flame of coolness.

It was the radiance of the Evil Gods along with their shadows…with legions of them that completely enfolded the entire cosmos, spreading endless across the cosmos.

”I was no longer able to observe every detail in the cosmos I once resided. It had simply vanished into the vast and borderless Silent Void. I could not see anything at all, because there was nothing there: neither the light of worlds, nor the presence of the Extraordinary.”

”It had seemingly vanished into thin air and become nonexistent, as if it had never come to be. Be that as it may, I found the corpses of other galaxies or even entire cosmoses in the Silent Void, and that was when I almost understood the origins of the endless empty space spanning the Multiverse: in the age when the Initial Flame still shone normally, the entire Void had been filled with worlds. There were no galaxies or isolated realms such as the cosmos at the time, but every world was combined into one massive, endlessly expanding and complete Multiverse.”

However, the Evil Gods had destroyed those worlds.

Joshua could already guess the truth behind it all: that the Evil God was born 160 years ago in the temporal frame of reference for the vicinity of the Initial Flame. Moreover, starting from that time until the moment when the Wise One of Psi came to be, every single civilization would become an Evil God after they were destroyed…while the endless Void of the Multiverse were those infinite worlds that could have been civilized in the past.

In other words, the number of Evil Gods were…

”It means nothing. The battle against the Evil Gods is meaningless because they are capable of consuming everything, so instead of engaging in the eternal war against the endless legions of Evil Gods, it would be better to search for the Initial Flame—heading to the birthplace of everything and end the source of darkness enshrouding the Multiverse.”

Joshua really understood the idea of the Ultimate Sublimator Collective, as well as that of the Sage and the other Wise Ones.

That was why he could discuss engage Imperator Amos and negotiate, suppressing his desire to fight—in the face of the oncoming cataclysm of Evil Gods where all things would be left in ruin, even the tiniest fraction of strength was precious and must be secured.

However, it was only ever a beautiful wish because both Joshua and Imperator Amos were not individuals good with words, unless it came to proving their words.

Therefore, after a brief few exchanges, Joshua had lost his patience and issued his ultimatum.

”Agree, or it is war.”

Imperator Amos simply laughed coldly. ”That is not up to you to decide.”

With that, the two attacked almost at the same time, colliding in the Void.

***

The true forms of both individuals—even their clones—were not present. They had simply materialized their consciousness out of thin air, but under their domination, energy and matter around them converged and manifested as a part of themselves under their control, becoming their combat clones. Space no longer held meaning to individuals such as them, and any place where their will could extend was within their reach.

In the darkness of the Void, Joshua had conjured a giant silver arm that could catch a world and grasped at the location of Imperator Amos. Within that palm, the dimensions were repelled while everything else was being compressed without restraint. Anything caught would unquestionably be squeezed into a singularity.

However, Imperator Amos had manipulated the invisible forces of ether, directing it into a surge that assembled into countless translucent bony joints that rotated and flickered in pale fluorescence and was almost indestructible. Bloating power stopped space itself from retracting, before connecting together into a single form as if it were a long whip forged from worlds, wrapping around Joshua's arm.

Crack—the bone joins coiled like a gigantic serpent and was about to snap off the giant silver arm. Ether and Steel Strength were in friction, mutually nullifying and eroding as if they were having a melee in the tiniest scale possible, before spreading to the profound Void, their clash creating terrible light that illuminated the entire planetary sector.

Boom!

Just as the Amoses, who were in nearby planets, were left puzzled and fearful, amidst profound rumbling, world and dimensional tremors, the battlefield of the pair began to shift.

As supernatural light that shone intermittently left all of the Amos Court in astonishment, the lights of worlds were dying one after another. Joshua did not want to involve innocent beings, just as Imperator Amos did not want to leave his own home in a mess—therefore, they left the Amos frontier, although the uninhabited systems between the Court borders to the former Takurian frontier proved to be unlucky. The champions' battle destroyed stars, breaking worlds and piercing one realm after another, even directly used as materials they would use to fight.

”What happened?!”

A watcher in the surrounding border sentry points of Amos Court could not understand what was happening at all. All he could do was shudder as he watched the shockwaves of energy that had incinerated most of the spell circles seen with the surveillance apparatus, along with those observation nodes that were being destroyed one after another. He was at a loss and started to mumbling to himself.

”World destruction—they are collapsing in a chain!”

In the Court Frontier, the face of a General turned abruptly as he hurried into the Void while keeping his eyes fixed at the distance. Being a Legendary champion and one of the top-ranking individuals of the Court, Caledonia was stationed at the very front in the war against the Takurians—but even he was trembling.

Because the presence of the Imperator was tangling with the power of an otherworld champion, crumpling the many planetary systems which were used as a buffer zone against the Takurians!

”It's the Grand Patriarch of the Takurians invading! As I've thought, their disappearance isn't just an illusion!”

”Still, they should not be that powerful—and where is the fleet?”

All at once, all of the Court's armed outfits were at their most alert state. But even as they assembled, they were unable to find any trace of the enemy, with countless champions only able to look around blankly. Nonetheless, there were those who know their place—being aware of their own ability, it was impossible for them to join in the battle of the Imperator and the otherworld champion since they would not be of help, only dying for no reason at all.

Meanwhile, near the borders, many merchant ships transporting cargo through the Void also picked up on the unusual happenings in the surrounding worlds. All of them hurriedly stopped their vessels, intent on avoiding the battlefield that had suddenly appeared dead ahead—but although the battle did not actually continue shifting ahead, the shockwaves were still spreading. As the dimensions rippled profoundly and visibly, the light of planets emanated, leaving the Amos merchant ships soft in their appendages and almost immobile.