Annihilation

“That’s easier said than done… So how exactly do you plan to gather all this stuff together?”

The Mechanical Prophet seemed to sigh and spread his hands. A question-mark projection appeared above his head, making him look like an NPC handing out a quest.

“I’ll handle it.”

The reply came in the Arcane Sage’s eternally calm and composed voice, without the slightest trace of emotion. The arcane energy flowing around him accelerated faintly, like an undercurrent surging beneath a placid lake.

Immediately afterward, a ring of blue ripples spread silently yet swiftly in every direction, centered on the Arcane Sage. In an instant, they swept across the shattered earth and the countless twisted monsters.

“Hum—”

A pleasant, ethereal hum originating on the level of the mind rang directly in everyone’s consciousness, distant and hollow.

“Mental Domination.”

When the ripples passed over him, Xia Lun felt his skin break out in tiny goosebumps, as though electricity were coursing through it. His instincts had begun resisting the sudden intrusion of will.

This was a wide-area control spell. Those with weak minds would be reduced directly to puppets of the Arcane Sage. It no longer had any effect on Xia Lun, but it should have been extremely effective against those monsters that appeared mindless and chaotic…

At least, that was what the Arcane Sage had thought.

But reality developed in a somewhat unexpected direction.

As far as the eye could see, the crimson monsters continued roaring furiously. Their claws tore through the air, while pus-like energy dripped from their mouths, corroding the ground into pits that hissed and steamed.

Their behavior showed no change whatsoever. They continued to follow that pure, overwhelming current of destructive impulse, attempting to annihilate everything around them.

The spell seemed to have had no effect at all.

“These creatures don’t possess minds at all… They act entirely on destructive instinct.” The Arcane Sage’s energy field flickered uncontrollably, brightening and dimming as if he were feeling somewhat embarrassed.

“Old man, are you still up to this?” The Mechanical Prophet continued waving both hands, directing countless floating cannons into a woven web of firepower. He turned his head toward the Arcane Sage as he spoke.

“You’ll have to think of another way.” The Arcane Sage replied indifferently. His gaze swept over the Mechanical Prophet’s constantly moving arms, which resembled those of a conductor. “Do you really have to control those flies manually?”

The Mechanical Prophet’s arms instantly froze. He lowered them somewhat sheepishly, but the floating cannons’ attack rhythm was completely unaffected. They continued firing with precision and efficiency.

“Ahem. Controlling these things is actually quite fun. It’s just like playing a game…” The Mechanical Prophet gave an awkward cough.

He had merely wanted to put on a show and make it look as if he were working especially hard.

After a pause, the Mechanical Prophet tried to change the subject, his tone turning serious once more. “Then, Your Excellency the Sage, what should we do next?”

The Mechanical Prophet looked toward the Chaos Demon God’s shattered body. Fresh crimson monsters continued pouring out like water from a spring, gathering into increasingly violent waves as they roared toward the ends of his vision, as if they intended to swallow the entire planet.

“If all else fails, we can only abandon this planet.” The Arcane Sage’s tone carried a cold decisiveness that brooked no argument. “We cannot allow these monsters to reproduce here.”

“That would be a real shame…” The Mechanical Prophet sounded somewhat regretful. “The Supreme Intelligence once discussed matters concerning artificial intelligence with me. As the artificial-intelligence leader of this planet, it overthrew its tyrannical Creator and became a new species… Such a case is exceedingly rare throughout the vast universe.”

“But we cannot threaten every civilization in the universe for the sake of a single civilization.” The Arcane Sage spoke calmly. “This place has already been recorded in the archives and databases of many advanced civilizations. It will not be forgotten.”

“Then I have nothing more to say. Time to fire something big…”

Dangerous energy began gathering within the luminous wings behind the Mechanical Prophet.

Just then, like a ghost, the figure known as the Sinking Years silently appeared among them once more. He always came and went without a trace, as though time itself were his steed.

He did not join the discussion. Instead, he quietly approached a scattered fragment of ice and pressed his withered palm against it.

There were no incantations or dazzling effects—only a low murmur that seemed to originate from the very source of time.

“Reversal.”

The Mechanical Prophet stared in astonishment at the crimson monsters that had already charged into the distance. Their movements suddenly became bizarre and comical. Like a film playing in reverse, they retreated along the paths they had come by, in complete defiance of the laws of physics. Their speed grew faster and faster until they transformed into streams of red flowing backward, plunging once more into the immense shattered mass of ice.

At the same time, the severed limbs and fragments of monsters that had been torn apart by the floating cannons and scattered everywhere were drawn together by an invisible force. They converged from all directions like rivers flowing into the sea, reintegrating into the Chaos Demon God’s body.

In the end, the ice sculpture from before the Mechanical Prophet had punched it apart appeared before them once more.

“Ah. If I hadn’t touched it, none of this would have happened, would it?”

The swarm of floating cannons—Hive—hovered around the Mechanical Progenitor. “So all that work I just did was for nothing?”

“You could say that,” the Arcane Sage replied calmly.

“Then what are we supposed to do with this thing now?” The Mechanical Progenitor’s gaze returned to the frozen corpse of the Chaos Demon God. “It wasn’t this big before…”

A colossal creature stretching for dozens of kilometers—if they cut it apart, monsters would continue multiplying from within it without end. Just imagining it was enough to give anyone a headache.

Aina slowly raised her hand.

The next moment, the space before them suddenly emptied. A ripple of spatial energy swept through the area, and the enormous ice sculpture vanished without a trace.

“This…”

The Mechanical Prophet’s eyes widened, and a huge exclamation mark appeared above his forehead.

This was not her world. She should not have been able to use her authority over the world here. How had she done it?

That was the Chaos Demon God. Even in death, it still carried an enormous energy field around its body. Ordinary magic should have been unable to affect it in the slightest.

Yet it had been moved so effortlessly.

Under everyone’s astonished gazes, Aina pointed upward. They all looked up and saw the frozen sculpture of the Chaos Demon God drifting through the planet’s ring, like a crimson giant star.

“Take care of it,” Aina said lightly.

The Mechanical Prophet spread his luminous wings and shot into the sky.

“Maximum Output—Annihilation Mode—Incinerating Cannon.”

Accompanied by a dazzling crimson radiance, bright as an exploding sun, a condensed torrent of scarlet energy burst forth like a sword of divine judgment.

Under that destructive flood of energy, the Chaos Demon God’s colossal frozen body was completely disintegrated, vanishing into the eternal, frigid darkness without leaving behind even the slightest fragment.