"BANG!"
The Lost One's third face was also smashed flat by the Monarch.
The three-faced metal head had successfully sealed half the power of six of the Monarch's Dominions, but the effect was far from fatal to him.
As for its attacks—its special Path power was quite terrifying. Against any other Astral God, even one a full tier higher in power, it would have been a difficult opponent. But against the "Monarch Sphere," its pitiful basic attack stats couldn't even break through his defense.
The Monarch Sphere form was a perfect sphere composed of pure gold and rainbow diamond (on the surface) in a 2:1 ratio. Its incredibly high resistance on both the physical and spiritual planes meant that the vast majority of The Lost One's attacks could, at best, leave a scratch on the "golden" parts that lasted for half a second.
Even with the powers of [Immortality] and [Beauty] greatly weakened, it was not an enemy The Lost One could defeat with mere "biting" and "roaring."
After forcing out the Outer God's final Dominion with a sealing ability—
"CRACK!"
One of The Lost One's faces completely caved in. Metal fragments that had formed its "skin" and a blood-like "black sludge" splattered everywhere.
Seizing this opportunity, the Monarch completed his transformation from the sphere into the Grand Sovereign Entropy Dragon.
The Monarch Sphere was defense-oriented, and its available attack methods were rather limited. To completely kill the Outer God before him, he had to use his combat form... not to mention that "IX," who was holding down three other Outer Gods in the distance, was clearly beginning to struggle.
"SWOOSH!"
The sea parted to either side.
As the dragon's wings unfurled, a brilliant golden light radiated out into the farther reaches of the Abyss. All the black sludge that had mixed with the seawater was melted into dark particles...
...which flowed into the Monarch's body.
That's right.
The Monarch could absorb the power of the Outer Gods. Even for a Path he had never seen before, the Path of Order displayed an "unusual" capacity for assimilation.
The Dominion power stripped from The Lost One silently entered the Grand Sovereign Entropy Dragon's body with each breath he took.
If the front of the dragon's body shone with an incomparable radiance, then this power from the Outer Gods (the Abyss) traced faint patterns in hard-to-see places—under the wings, at the base of the tail, in the center of the claws.
Or perhaps, this external Abyssal power was merely "deepening" the demonic runes that were already there.
"IX" did not notice this, and the Outer Gods were equally oblivious to the change.
"Thrum."
The Grand Sovereign Divine Ring lit up.
Golden flames surged like a tide within the dragon's maw. The Monarch either did not notice or did not care about the changes to his body.
The Lost One had exhausted its tricks, and over forty percent of its power had been consumed in the struggle. It could no longer pose an effective threat to the Monarch in the short term. For the current Monarch, the Grand Sovereign Entropy Dragon was his purest offensive form: the ratio of Imaginary to Quantum energy reached a state of absolute 1:1 balance. In this state, any ability he released, whether against an Astral God or an Outer God, would inflict devastating damage.
The six-Dominion fusion technique, named [Radiant Breath], possessed destructive power that came at the cost of defense!
"WHOOSH—"
A pillar of light shot straight toward The Lost One!
"VZZZZZZT!!!"
In but a brief moment, the powerful Outer God, The Lost One, was instantly vaporized in the depths of the boundless Quantum Sea. Immediately after—
"VSHHH!"
"IX" also unleashed its full power.
The shackles extending from the chaos suddenly transformed into a raging tsunami. The Astral God of Nihility released the origin of its Path without reservation, forcefully carving out a domain belonging to "the Tree" within the Quantum Sea for a short time.
The other three Outer Gods were firmly bound in the very center of the Nihility domain.
"..."
The Monarch understood "IX's" intent.
It had learned from Idrila's "semi-successful" experience and possessed an advantage the former did not (the Astral God of Beauty had no Inverse Followers). Furthermore, it was executing its plan in a domain that the Imaginary Tree could "just happen" to see.
"Good luck."
The Monarch did not speak these two words aloud.
The "inversion" of the [Path of Nihility] should be the [Path of Existence]. This Dominion already had a more comprehensive and powerful master: Existence was contained within Preservation; it was Qlipoth's power.
Even so, the relationship between Qlipoth and "IX" was not hostile.
The Monarch had his suspicions as to the reasons... but he couldn't be bothered to think too deeply on it!
"VMMMM!!!"
The [Radiant Breath] did not stop.
After annihilating The Lost One in a single blast, the brilliant pillar of light swept across the Quantum Sea, heading toward the three Outer Gods restrained by "IX"—
"VZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!!"
---o---
The Abyss slowly fell quiet.
The Monarch's attack had a significant effect; the three Abyssal Outer Gods were directly purified, and "IX" had simultaneously fulfilled its long-held wish.
The stalemated Lost Fleet also retreated in haste after suffering over eighty percent losses. This was a fairly good result for the expeditionary fleet. It wasn't that the Monarch didn't want to intervene, but he also needed time to recover.
The Dominions that had half their power sealed would not recover immediately with The Lost One's demise. In addition, there was the [Radiant Breath] he had just used—the attack was very fast to cast and its name sounded simple... but an ability that could completely annihilate multiple Astral Gods at once was anything but simple.
Using "Order" as a medium, that breath attack had utilized the power of a total of six Dominions: "Propagation," "Voracity," "Trailblaze," "The Hunt," and "Remembrance."
In other words, a full two-thirds of the Monarch's Dominions had entered a "cooldown" state. He was not yet an Astral God, after all, and could not wield the power of the Paths as he pleased.
And during this brief cooldown period...
"Not good!"
"Vshhh—"
The slightly relieving sound of vaporization transformed into an apocalyptic scene in that instant—forty percent of the massive expeditionary fleet's starships vanished in a flash!
"DONG!"
"BZZZZT!!!"
Like cold water hitting a hot oil pan, a tremor that reverberated through both the material and spiritual planes caused the Quantum Sea to boil as it never had before.
In the next instant—
Nous, the Astral God of Erudition; Yaoshi, the Astral God of Abundance; Mythus, the Astral God of Enigmata; Xipe, the Astral God of Harmony; and Aha, the Astral God of Elation.
Five Astral Gods appeared simultaneously in the Quantum Sea in their true forms.
---o---
"What happened?"
The scene before them completely exceeded all scenarios hypothesized in the original plan.
Just now, at the same moment "IX, the Astral God of Nihility" died, the power of its Path, "returning to its original owner," had opened a path to the Imaginary Tree (the star-sea universe). The Monarch, thanks to a Dominion he had not yet used, "heard" a distress call from the Astral Gods.
The Monarch acted decisively, overloading his own Dominions and "liberating" his followers to forcefully pull the five Astral Gods he had barely "caught" through the subspace fault and directly into the Quantum Sea.
That's right.
The Monarch had "liberated" 40% of the Astral God followers. Through the instantaneous Path resonance, he was able to pull the Astral Gods directly to this location. This was a plan that had been decided upon with the various Astral Gods before the expedition, and it was a reality that every participant knew they might face.
However, the plan was not supposed to be enacted so soon.
"Thank you."
"Just in time. Any later and it would have truly been 'too late'," Nous said, expressing the gratitude of the five Astral Gods.
"Qlipoth has been corrupted," Yaoshi stated immediately after Nous, dropping an explosive piece of news.
"How is that possible?"
As one of the oldest and most powerful Astral Gods, Qlipoth absolutely possessed the strength and confidence to "guard the star-sea universe alone."
The expedition had not even found the main Outer God yet. How could Qlipoth have been the first to be corrupted!?
Besides, if the Abyssal Outer God was powerful enough to corrupt even Qlipoth, how could the other Astral Gods, who were far inferior to Preservation in that regard, possibly survive?
Wait...
"Where are the other Astral Gods?"
"..."
There were no novices among the five Astral Gods present. Even the youngest, Nous, possessed combat power equal to the others. Never before had there been a scene of them all falling silent like this.
"Nanook ambushed Qlipoth," Xipe suddenly revealed the shocking truth.
"!?"
"Their strengths should be on par," the Monarch stated. He wasn't questioning Xipe's intelligence, but the matter was riddled with questions. Qlipoth's combat power might be less than Nanook's, but for the latter to defeat the former... the "defense" of the Astral God of Preservation was no joke. Even if Nanook appeared in his true form, he wouldn't necessarily be able to take down Qlipoth.
And it was certainly impossible in a short period of time!
Although the flow of time between the Tree and the Sea was different, after the Empire's long-term management, the membrane between them along this deep-dive path was already very thin. Coupled with the Path power the various Astral Gods had voluntarily "cultivated" for this plan, the time-flow ratio would absolutely not exceed 1:10.
It wasn't as if Nanook and Qlipoth had never fought before. The current state of the star-sea universe (before the rise of the Empire) was largely due to a "duel" between the two that spanned tens of thousands of years.
In other words, it was impossible for them to determine a winner in a short time.
"Nanook alone, of course, would not be enough... but the Final Monarch intervened."
"?"
Xipe's answer made the situation even more confusing.
Nanook could not defeat Qlipoth. If he had taken the initiative to attack the Astral God of Preservation, and the latter had the Final Monarch's help...
It wasn't impossible for Nanook to be killed instead—unless he had already solved the balance issue with the Paths inside him, otherwise, if he attacked with his full power, it was highly likely the Paths within him would cause him to explode.
His fate could very well mirror that of the original Astral God of Order.
"..."
"The Final Monarch sided with Nanook?" After a brief pause, the Monarch brought up the only possibility.
"Correct," Mythus confirmed the most incredible idea.
"Nanook attacked Qlipoth's true body."
"Their battle should have been inconclusive, but Qlipoth is not skilled in offense. Nanook's attacks quickly spread to the numerous [Celestial Comet Walls] and [Subspace Crystal Walls] maintained by the [Great Attractor Substrate]."
"The destruction of the [Subspace Crystal Walls] would lead to a sharp decline in the defensive power of 'mortals'."
"The Abyss's corruption cannot only target Astral Gods. If mortals cannot resist the Abyss, the Astral Gods alone are meaningless."
"And the destruction of the [Celestial Comet Walls] is not without consequences... We would lose a reliable means of 'isolating the corruption'," Mythus relayed the situation to the Monarch without reservation.
"Did you intervene?"
"Of course."
"We could not rule out the possibility of Nanook 'using the expedition as an opportunity to return to the universe,' and the threat he posed could not be ignored."
"To ensure the expedition plan was not affected," Mythus continued, "Fuli led the other Astral Gods to intervene immediately. Fuli's strength is only slightly weaker than Qlipoth's and Nanook's. With him and nearly twenty other Astral Gods helping, Nanook should have known to retreat."
"However, Fuli was intercepted by the Final Monarch."
"With his strength, he naturally wouldn't be killed by the Final Monarch, but with the Final Monarch's abilities... Fuli's will-form was trapped in a time loop."
"Ouroboros sided with Nanook. It took the Fuli trapped by the Final Monarch and threw him into a Paradox Space. Although Fuli managed to 'grab' Ouroboros on his way out and sent them both in, the loss of one of our main forces was unavoidable... With both space and time sealed, even Fuli will need at least tens of thousands of years to get out."
The battle was likely more spectacular than any could have imagined.
"..."
"The Final Monarch was corrupted?"
The Final Monarch was an emissary of the Imaginary Tree. Its very existence was to resist the Quantum Sea and eliminate those who defied the Tree's rules.
The expedition to the Abyss was born of the Imaginary Tree's will. The Final Monarch should not and could not be on the opposing side.
"We don't know."
"We did not sense the aura of the Abyss from the Final Monarch, but it is best to assume the worst: both Nanook and the Final Monarch have been corrupted by the Quantum Sea."
"You did not mention Qlipoth."
"That's right—" Before Mythus could finish, Aha took over the conversation:
"I blocked a joint attack from the Final Monarch and Nanook. Otherwise, you wouldn't be seeing us here."
Aha's strength was beyond doubt. As an existence who had witnessed the end of the universe, the [Path of Elation] he commanded, which couldn't actually be classified as powerful, was far more tricky to deal with in its strangeness than simple Preservation or Destruction.
However! Aha might be able to go one-on-one with either the Final Monarch or Nanook, but blocking an attack from both at once was simply unrealistic.
"Just now," Aha continued, "Qlipoth's already corrupted will was reawakened by the power of an unknown 'Path'... He helped me take half the force of the blow."
Aha subtly glanced around.
"IX is not here."
"Did he do something?"
"..."
The Monarch told them the secret that should not have been spoken.
"We underestimated him," Xipe and Yaoshi said, one after the other. "Or perhaps, IX and Qlipoth had an agreement long ago."
"None of that matters now," Aha continued. "Now that we're here, while Qlipoth can still hold on for a little longer, we must quickly deal with the source of the corruption."
"As long as we reawaken the Final Monarch and Qlipoth, it won't matter even if Nanook remains stubborn."
"Within the domain of the Tree, the Abyss is ultimately an external force. To control two Astral Gods of the same level simultaneously, this Outer God can't have much power left."
"Otherwise, it wouldn't have to hide in the Sea."
However, just as Aha's voice fell—
"Is that so?" a new voice echoed.
"Aha, then for what reason... do you think I allowed you all to enter?"