The capacity of [The Throne] was, after all, limited.
The followers of the Astral Gods who had journeyed to the Quantum Sea represented less than a third of their total number. A vast number of followers remained in the star-sea universe, responsible for defending various sectors of the Tree's canopy under the unified command of the "Interastral Peace Corporation."
However, as engine flares more numerous than the stars themselves streaked across the deep space, the followers of the Astral Gods who should have been allies, now appearing in the star systems surrounding [The Throne], turned their cannons toward the expeditionary fleet.
"No Astral Gods."
This assessment was the best-case scenario, but also an expected one. Astral Gods were not so easily eliminated. To corrupt an Astral God and give birth to an entity like an "Outsider" required a long period of transformation.
The Final Monarch's surprise attack could heavily wound the Astral Gods, but it could not annihilate them all. If it did, the Path powers that couldn't be "assimilated" in time would return to the Imaginary Tree. It might even lead to the immediate birth of new Astral Gods of the same Path to replace the vanished ones.
Therefore, the many Astral Gods who had intervened in the conflict between Nanook and Qlipoth were most likely still alive, though their circumstances were probably dire. A clue could be seen in the state of their followers: they had not been completely Abyss-ified like the Lost Fleet. They had merely had their Paths invaded by a vast amount of quantum energy, causing their wills to be manipulated... no, to rapidly tilt toward "frenzy."
Their consciousness was not entirely intact, but it was definitely not completely gone.
And this current phenomenon... did not exceed the Monarch's expectations. From the moment he had [The Throne] excessively channel quantum energy from the Sea, this risky move had already been set in place.
As the Monarch and Aha had repeatedly stated, this starry sky was the domain of the Imaginary Tree.
In the star-sea universe, far from the surface of the Sea, for the Abyss to corrupt or erode a target on the Imaginary Tree required ten times the expenditure of energy it would in the water.
Timogesi's two great avatars, although on par with his main body in the Quantum Sea in terms of combat power, were far inferior to "Order" when it came to the use and carrying capacity of quantum energy. "Finality" and "Destruction" were not Paths that excelled in this area.
Simply put, corrupting the restrained Astral Gods required a massive expenditure of difficult-to-replenish quantum energy. If the Astral Gods diluted this corruption by "passing" it to their followers, the efficiency of the corruption would be further reduced.
This would tie up more of Nanook's and the Final Monarch's power.
And this incomplete corruption... while a 10% infection rate would be fatal to an ordinary civilization with no experience of quantum energy, for the subjects of the Sacred Empire and the expeditionary fleet, who had been bolstered by both the serum and environmental "experience," a quantum energy level a full half less than their maximum tolerance was something they would even dare to describe as "a mere splash."
More importantly, this level of corruption could be purged. Although it was somewhat difficult to only wound and not kill, the Empire's technology in this area was long since mature.
The space in the star system was not infinite, and there was an upper limit to the number of "corrupted followers" that could attack [The Throne] at any one time. As long as [The Throne] could hold off the dense swarm... once they were purified, they would, in turn, become an asset to the Astral Gods' side.
"Little Zi."
"I'm entrusting [The Throne] to you."
Little Bai would not participate in this battle. He was not suited for such a constrained fight, not to mention he had a more important mission.
"Don't worry," Little Zi's response had just sounded when—
"Cheche."
"Fleet command is in your hands."
"Mhm!"
Little Zi was responsible for defending [The Throne] with the Imperial Legions. Cheche, on the other hand, needed to command the expeditionary fleet, with each super-titan as a flagship, and form sub-fleets to rush to the "original core territories" of the various Astral God factions.
In each of these places, a countermeasure prepared by Qlipoth before the conference was hidden: a [Great Attractor Substrate] to be used as a "purification diffuser"—the Pro-Max version, same as the one used by the [Interastral Peace Corporation] itself!
"Nameless!" the Monarch broadcasted.
"It is time to blaze a path that even Akivili never walked!"
The "corrupted fleet" had no shortage of super-titan class starships. The warp-dampening network they wove could easily block the jumps of any ship below the Titan class. At a time like this, the numerous [Astral Expresses] (the Empire had contributed considerable resources and technology to their construction) that the Nameless had ridden here, and the [Star Rail] they laid, would now come into play.
Breaking through perilous situations (overcoming difficulties) was the domain the [Path of Trailblaze] excelled at most.
"Received!" a vigorous voice responded in the mental network.
In the next instant, a silver-gray railway was laid across the void, and the seamless spatial barrier was forcefully smashed open, creating a giant breach large enough for a super-titan to pass through!
"Fleets—"
"Depart."
"SWOOSH!!!"
---o---
"Vmm."
Even without "Finality," the Monarch's jump, which fused "Voracity" and "Trailblaze," was enough to ignore any temporal obstruction.
The second his warp ended, at the center of the rippling gravitational waves, the pure golden celestial sphere came to a halt at the edge of the empty star-sea. The universe would continue to expand until it reached its end. The [Void Space] between the Tree and reality, representing "chaos," would transform into a universe where mortal races could survive the moment the power of the Imaginary Tree touched it.
This was the origin of the "universe."
It was also one of the reasons why Astral Gods were called "metaphysical, philosophical, high-dimensional beings": by touching the Imaginary Tree, even the slightest influence could create magnificent ripples in the star-sea universe.
Of course, the Monarch could do this as well.
First, he used the Imaginary Tree to track "Preservation," and then he rushed directly to the front line of the Astral God battlefield...
...He had not originally planned to stop here.
The reason was simple.
A man with black skin and red eyes blocked his path—a familiar face, a familiar aura, a familiar power:
"Nanook," the Monarch whispered the name of the Astral God of Destruction.
"Your true body, appearing in the material universe... you don't seem as powerful as I expected."
"Is it because most of your Dominions have been transferred to Timogesi? Or are you strained from suppressing more than twenty Astral Gods at once? Or perhaps you were heavily injured in your battle with Preservation?"
Timogesi had split into three. Although their overall goal was singular, all three avatars possessed their own independent wills... just as Nanook had separated "Annihilation" from his body.
But one thing would not change: eventually, they would become one.
"Annihilation. Your arrogance is the same as always," Nanook said, using a somewhat strange form of address.
"..."
"I have quite a few names," the Monarch replied. "While I don't exactly hate it, hearing those two words from your mouth is, as I thought, a bit uncomfortable."
There was a reason Nanook called the Monarch "Annihilation."
Little Bai had fused all of Annihilation's Path power into his body. Besides the most destructive "Destruction," there was another Path that was, in another sense, even more important:
"Remembrance."
That's right. The "relics" of Grand Monarch Annihilation included the memories from a "slice of a slice."
There are many ways to define an individual, and "memory" is undoubtedly a very important one. "Little Bai," who had lost the memories of "Lu Xing" but possessed the memories of "Annihilation," being called such by Nanook was not entirely wrong.
"However," the Monarch continued, "call me what you like."
The Monarch was not afraid of the current Nanook. The three points he had just mentioned were not just empty threats.
The [Dominion of Order] and the many Paths fused within his body had all been transferred to Timogesi in the Quantum Sea. Aha and Fuli were among the most powerful Astral Gods. Regardless of the outcome, if Timogesi wanted to fight two against one, the power of these Paths was necessary.
The current Nanook, although he didn't need to divert power to calm the chaotic Paths within him, had also lost the Imaginary energy boost these Paths provided.
Furthermore, he had indeed been injured during his sneak attack on Qlipoth.
If not for that, given Nanook's usual combat prowess, there would have been no need to reveal the Final Monarch as a trump card so early. Additionally, if he were truly at full strength, the wisest course of action for Nanook right now would be to help the Final Monarch suppress Qlipoth, rather than diverting nearly seventy percent of his power to suppress the other Astral Gods while coming here to intercept Little Bai, a "small variable" that was not originally in the plan.
At the same time, this was why the Monarch dared to act alone.
"Annihilation and I were rivals, but in the end, I suppose I owe him a debt... In that case, I have a reason to help him achieve his unfulfilled goal."
"..."
A slight silence drifted in this land of embers.
"You want to kill me?" Nanook said with a half-smile.
Even wielding only the Dominion of "Destruction," Nanook was still one of the most powerful Astral Gods. Having once possessed a large number of Dominions, he was well-versed in the use of various Paths and their corresponding counters.
Never mind that Little Bai was not yet an Astral God; even if he truly ascended to godhood, he would, at best, be on equal footing with a "heavily injured" Nanook.
To want to kill an Astral God like him... that was a completely different concept from "defeating" him.
"Hmm. Although you only want to stop me... from the looks of it, the Final Monarch has the upper hand?" the Monarch casually threw out his guess.
"You are well aware of the situation."
"But since you know your own condition... Annihilation, we are all part of 'Origin.' What is there to hesitate about in becoming a part of Him again?" Nanook still did not make a move. He had not given up on "persuading" the Monarch.
"Hmm—"
"There is indeed nothing to hesitate about."
Though they were separated by a distance of ten star systems, it did not affect their conversation in the slightest.
"When 'Destruction' starts discussing 'human relations and worldly affairs,' it only serves to strengthen my own convictions."
"My power comes directly from 'Order'."
"Before the Final Monarch succeeds, if I can merge with you, I can seize the opportunity to grasp the powers of 'Destruction,' 'Preservation,' and 'Finality' all at once upon the Tree. After that, Timogesi in the Sea will be no threat. I can roughly understand your thinking... just as Annihilation tried to do for countless eons."
"..."
Nanook controlled his emotions, but it was clear that as the "Astral God of Destruction," the youngest of the three avatars, his "self-restraint" was still somewhat lacking compared to the other two, especially Timogesi.
"You understand now?" the Monarch pressed. "Since you call me 'Annihilation,' you should know full well that this was impossible from the very beginning..."
"Unless you don't mind us switching places."
"Switching places"—both of them knew this was a condition Nanook could never accept. The weight Nanook carried, born from the Fallen World, the truth he knew... would not allow this revered Astral God to make such a choice.
"Do you really understand the consequences of angering me?"
Neither side backed down in the verbal confrontation.
"Yes, I understand very well."
"Just as I understand that the Final Monarch is accelerating Qlipoth's corruption;"
"Just as I understand that Timogesi wants all the Paths of Aha and Fuli;"
"Just as I understand..."
"To fuse with a god-level 'Destruction,' one must first reach the same level."
"!?"
Not Destruction fusing with Order, but Order fusing with Destruction.
"Just as I understand that you would absolutely intercept me here."
"!!"
"You are all plotting, plotting how to seize the greatest, and final, benefit for yourselves in this battle with its inevitable conclusion: to not disappear in the process of merging into the new 'Origin'."
"I am no different."
"Timogesi provided a fairly reliable template. Although it is still somewhat dangerous, I no longer have time to hesitate."
The Monarch remained a pure golden, perfect sphere. He did not choose to transform into the Grand Sovereign Entropy Dragon. But this round golden ball, in the instant Little Bai's words fell, bloomed with a brilliant radiance comparable to that of Imaginary energy breaking through chaos, when a single universe is born from nothingness!
"Nanook."
"Haven't you been waiting for this moment?"
Even one as powerful as Nanook had his perception blinded by this instantaneous brilliance.
"Then witness it with your own eyes!"
"Witness—"
"The moment an Astral God is born!!!"