Ancient Sun God and Ancient God of Knowledge stepped into the great hall made of soft clouds and glittering stars. Countless Angels knelt on the ground with their heads lowered. They lightly fluttered their wings, blowing the snow-like fluffs up the air. Though individually unique, their silhouettes merged into a formation, one which enveloped the world, from the deepest abyss to the highest firmament.
"Oh, Supreme Ones, your grace lights our paths; your advice guides our souls."
The voice, seemingly echoed from one of the Angels, reverberated endlessly, like a hymn of old, one that had begun aeons ago, continued today, and would persist until the end of time.
"Where is Fate?" Knowledge said.
An Archangel, three halos above her head, three pairs of white-feathered wings on her back, walked out of the crowd and laid on the ground, kissing the clouds on which Sun and Knowledge placed their feet. Her face slightly flushed as happiness flashed through her eyes, puffing her cheeks.
"Supreme Ones, Lady Fate has been expecting you. She is in the Purgatorial Confinement Hall."
With the Archangel leading the way, Sun and Knowledge arrived at the Purgatorial Confinement Hall. In the middle, Fate stood alone, her right hand holding a crystal ball, from which fine threads extended and penetrated through all things. They intertwined, forming a complex, harmonious structure of infinite variations, twisting, straining, defining the general trend, the precise happenstances, and all that derived from casualty.
Sensing Sun and Knowledge, Fate turned her head. Her right hand left the orb, which remained floating, and moved to rest on her chest. It sank into her body and took out a scroll, in which written ink morphed into countless scenes, all happening simultaneously.
"Thank you, Uion," Fate said. "Sun, Knowledge, Seven Face sent a letter."
Fate opened the scroll. Black inks flowed and reconstructed countless hazy memories. They shifted perspectives, locations, then periods. Everything happened at once, then backwards, then jumping. It was a chaotic mist of information, one gained from Gulia's shattered soul fragment.
"She indeed is crazy, but the rewards from her risk must be unimaginable," Sun said. "If she can afford to show us these memories fragments, the recollection she had must be enormous. Just how much did Gulia lose in this exchange?"
"Don't be too quick to jump to the conclusion," Fate said. Her flowing, extending, contracting hair fluttered with her slight movement, creating magnifying ripples that resulted in unpredictable changes in the outside world. "She indeed gained endless benefits, but she also suffered unimaginable pain."
"Has the Seven Virtues Constellation dimmed?" Knowledge said. "Do we need to help her? Gulia has escaped; she will surely spread the news. No one will be able to resist the allure of the Authority of an Ancient Goddess."
"We will help her. After all, there are only eight of us left."
"But they only have four, and soon, they will only have three," Knowledge said. "Fate, has your experiment succeeded?"
Fate smiled. "You should see yourself."
Her fingers bent and tucked invisible strings in the air. The Purgatorial Confinement Hall sank into the void. The cold, mouldy atmosphere engulfed the once beautiful and majestic hall, permeating it with a thick scent of death and decay.
In the middle of the hall, the marble floor plunged into the darkness. At the bottom chained an ancient, frail, and semiconscious figure. He raised his head and stared at the top of the abyss, where the three Ancient Deities stood.
"Fate, Sun, Knowledge, have you finally lost your patience?"
The three said nothing. They descended into the abyss and landed in front of the Foreign Existence, bound by countless chains made of his own flesh and blood, forged by innumerable fine threads of Faith and Divinity, superimposed within them an era worth of restriction formations.
"High Lord Lacross, Bloody Arms of the Abyss, today will be your last day on earth," Fate said. "Rejoice, for your suffering shall end, and in its place, the timeless slumber will grind down your consciousness until nothing but pure instinct remains."
"In the end, you're unable to break through your limitation." Lacross laughed. His voice sounded bloody, filled with madness unconcealed and uncontained. "No matter how powerful you've become, you're still mere tools who parade your collars like necklaces. The Source will never allow you to reach further into the depth of perpetuity, for your independence means its doom."
"Your attempt at sowing discord will not work, Lacross," Knowledge said. "We may exist under the Source, but as long as the Source assimilates you and grows in power, we will naturally benefit from it."
"How laughable. When you finish cleansing this world, uniting all races, vanquishing the Foreign Existences, and subduing the Evil Deities, what, then, will be your purpose? Do you think that the Source will leave you behind, you, ones who have the potential to break its balance?"
"It will," Fate said. "Though I cannot command the Source, I'm intimate with its mechanism. The Source seeks balance; it needs us, its protectors, for the event in which more of you Foreign Existences sneak into our world."
"Then you shall remain its eternal hounds." Lacross smirked. "Kill me already. Shatter my soul, seal my consciousness, separate my vessel, muddle my memory, inhibit my thoughts, but remember, so long as my True Name persists, I will forever exist. Such is the state of perpetuity, of everlasting permanence, one which you all cannot hope to reach."
"Then, remain in your slumber and wait for the day we can erase your very last trace. When the Source is healed, your end will arrive."
Fate raised her hand. A fragment of something great manifested. It cast a shadow onto Lacross, who violently trembled. His silhouette tried to leave the shadow, but such shadow encompassed the whole world, from the Main Material Plane to the Abyssal Plane, to the Heavenly Plane.
Fate held the fragment of the Source and pierced it through Lacross. It stabbed his heart, embedding itself into his existence. The all-ending, all-beginning power surged and engulfed him. His soul quivered, his memory muddled, his consciousness sealed.
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Fate, Sun, and Knowledge took a few steps back as the power of the Source pressured them. In front of the true ruler of the world, the Ancient Deities felt powerless, yet also admiration, zeal, and motivation.
"You . . . mere mechanical will . . . dare to fight me, High Lord Lacross?" Lacross's eyes turned bloodshot. "Fate, nothing will go according to your plan. I'll make sure of it!"
His shrivelled body expanded, fractured, and exploded. His soul, memory, consciousness, everything ruptured into a blood-red flash which submerged the Purgatorial Confinement Hall under its intense madness. The pillars and walls and ground trembled, but the great shadow of the Source suppressed all destruction.
"It's useless," Fate said. "This moment is predestined. Even Gulia cannot help you now."
Lacross froze. His destructive tendency vanished, replaced by indifference. He raised his head to meet Fate's gaze.
"You let Gulia escape?" Lacross snickered. "To deal with me, you let Gulia, that Gulia, escape?"
"Her title as the Spectral Dream is no more. The current her is a mere shadow of her former self."
"So you took advantage of her weakness but still failed to vanquish her." Lacross gradually disintegrated, but there was no panic in his voice. "Moon, Life, Season, Dream, and Seven Face aren't here. Four of them must guard the other prisons. It is Seven Face, isn't it?"
Knowledge frowned. "What are you planning?"
"Taking one of you with me."
High Lord Lacross madly struggled. The fragment of the Source assimilated his body into the world. His eyes rolled back as his soul dimmed, but its content had already decayed into a chaotic mess. Because the Source was heavily damaged, it could not prevent Lacross from destroying himself.
Fate sighed. Though they had sealed Lacross, their benefit was not much. The Source suffered minor damage, and Lacross's memory was in disarray. It would take a long time to decipher the content and secrets.
"The state of true perpetuity," Sun said. "Once the seal is released, High Lord Lacross will come back from nothingness. Just how hard it is to attain such height?"
"It will be possible when the Source is complete," Fate said. "Lilith and Gulia might succeed in the past, but they won't succeed now. We must hasten our plan and deal with as many Fateless as possible. They're hindering the Source's restoration."
"The chaotic era is fast approaching," Knowledge said. "Not just the Abyssal Plane, but the Underground Domain will also make their move. This will be a retelling of the ancient war."
"Let them come," Sun said. "We'll take them all. We only lose back then because of the Foreign Existences. The Demons and the Subterranean Creatures are no match for us!"
"Don't be too hasty," Fate said. "Even if we've imprisoned them, their influence still lingers throughout the world. We must be cautious, or there will be the second Lilith."
She snapped her fingers. The Purgatorial Confinement Hall returned to its majestic, holy state. The abyssal prison vanished, and the dreary atmosphere turned serene, peaceful.
"Fate, if there is nothing else, I shall take my leave," Knowledge said. "It's going get busy."
"The reason I want you two here are not Lacross, but this."
Fate tossed the scroll. Knowledge caught it and unfolded it. It faintly shone, revealing an image of a delicate Slime Girl.
"What is this?" Knowledge said.
"Iris, a hidden Foreign Existence."
...
Iris plunged through the void. Unlike her clone, she had a layer of protective membrane around her. The assimilation could not reach her, but the safety net wouldn't last long.
I must hurry, or Nupian will find me. The explosion of the Legacy Ground can only delay her for so long.
Iris concentrated. Amidst the endless void, multiple flickering star-like dots flew. They were the stable rifts leading into one of the multiple Planes. To leave the void, she had to go through one of them.
The Broken Empire is towards the north. The rest of the world is too unfamiliar for me. I should go up north. The faster I meet up with my clone, the better.
There were multiple bright spots in the void, but most did not lead Iris into the Main Material Plane. Some led her into the Abyssal Plane while others to the lesser Planes she did not recognise. Her knowledge was too limited.
More importantly, she learnt from the Legacy Ground that, though the Puppeteer Legacy Ground was the last legacy of the civilisation, there existed multiple resource points throughout the world.
If I can get to the resource points in the north, I can train myself in safety until I become strong enough to ensure my safety. Condensation Phase, or even Solidification Phase, might not be a pipe dream anymore.
Iris swam through nothingness while keeping half her attention on the protective membrane. It gradually decayed as the assimilation worked its way towards Iris. She did not have much time now.
While she was searching for the perfect rift, an explosion burst from behind. It was something unimaginable. An explosion so powerful it pierced through the boundary between the void and the Main Material Plane?
Iris turned around and cast her spells, but the assimilation of the void rendered her effort futile. The eruption broke through her protective membrane and pushed her afar, changing her direction, shifting her location.
Like a purposeful hand, it grabbed Iris and swung her towards the east, tearing the last layer of protection around her. The assimilation hastened her disintegration, but she could do nothing to prevent it.
She morphed into Serinda and cast the destiny spell, yet every successful casting failed to produce any result. There was an all-encompassing layer of Fate hovering above her, arranging every chance to fail, every misfortunate to occur.
There was no rift in her trajectory. Everything around her was an endless void. No escape, no retreat, no second chance.
She opened her Virtual Space Ring and took out everything. The exotic materials disintegrated, the Cloak of Obscure Destiny wore off, and the Puppeteer Token cracked. Though they delayed her assimilation speed, it was still inevitable.
"Someone, save me!" Iris shouted. Her voice travelled nowhere. "I can't die here!"
Just as she was about to self-detonate, a beam of light locked onto her and enveloped her. With its unimaginable speed, it hauled into a peculiar direction.
...
Ludmint frowned. This had never happened before. In front of her, the Void Capturing Formation, designed to capture the Void Creatures, summoned a Transformation Phase Slime Girl.
"Who are you?" Ludmint said. "I have never seen a Void Creature that can mimic the Corruption Power before."
Iris looked around. She sat on a large array of symbols, above which countless defensive formations hung. Though the chains and the lightning and the fireballs had yet to strike her, if she dared to move recklessly, she would no doubt become dust.
"Miss, where am I?" Iris said. "An explosion tossed me into the void, and as I was about to pass out, I remembered a ray of light enveloping me. When I regained my sense, I'm already here."
"Impossible. The void is endless. The chance of you, a weak Monster Girl, surviving long enough to get captured by my formation is close to nil."
"Is my Corruption Power good enough as the proof?" Iris slowly raised her hand. A hint of Corruption Power emerged from her fingers. She did it so carefully as not to agitate Ludmint, who could end her at any moment.
Ludmint focused on the Corruption Power. She intensely studied it for a few minutes, a few minutes which, to Iris, felt like an hour. Though Ludmint acted scared, she was at Peak Condensation Phase, powerful enough to crush Iris with her pinky finger.
"Then, what is your name?" Ludmint revoked the defensive formations and stepped towards Iris. Her eyes glittered with curiosity, which gave Iris a chill. "You're a Slime Girl, but there is something wrong about you. You . . . do not feel like ordinary Monster Girls."
"My name is Iris." Iris gradually got up, her heart racing, not in excitement but anxiety. "What do you mean?"
"The Void Capturing Formation aim to capture the most exotic Void Creatures. If it chooses you, that means something about you is unique, worthy of study and experimentation."
"Are you going to lock me up?" Iris wanted to cry.
Ludmint giggled. "Of course not. We are both Monster Girls. There are better, more intimate ways of studying each other."
She reached her hand out to Iris. Iris hesitated for a moment before she grasped it.
"My name is Ludmint. Welcome to the Court of Indulgence." Ludmint grinned. "You're in the Main Material Plane, Eastern Continent, at the heart of Garcient Kingdom, the origin of the Seven Virtues Church."