VROOOM! VROOOM! VROOOM!
Space-time surged; stars and constellations shifted.
From Mox's perspective, his vision blurred. He was instantly wrenched away from the desolate wilderness of the Glorious Kingdom and thrust into a narrow, endless tunnel of shimmering light. After a period of hazy, chaotic travel, he vaguely sensed reaching a foreign land.
For some reason, he found himself lying face-down on the ground.
Mox opened his eyes and pushed himself up from the damp, freezing floor. A cold voice immediately rang in his ear:
"Not bad. You're the best of this bunch."
Mox stood straight and scanned his surroundings. The place was ancient and exceptionally damp. Everywhere he looked, he saw rotting wooden floorboards that reeked of mold: the deck of a ship that hadn't been maintained in years.
Moreover, it wasn't a modern vessel.
Spread across the decaying deck were a dozen ordinary people, all unconscious. After assessing his situation, Mox turned his head coldly toward a spot some ten meters away.
From the swirling dust, a black-haired youth with a scarred face stepped out, wearing a cold, mocking smirk.
But the moment the scarred youth got close enough to see Mox's cold mask and the massive machete and chainsaw at his waist, his face went pale.
His smirk transformed into pure terror.
He recoiled, his body twitching as he shrieked:
"Holy Divine God! Why the fuck did you bring a Boss from the previous world into here?!"
With that, he turned and fled in a panic, as if suffering from a severe case of PTSD. As he sprinted away, he clutched his face and groaned, as if those old scars had suddenly flared with pain.
The scarred youth's flight only served to trigger Mox's predatory instincts. He watched the youth flee, then slowly drew the massive chainsaw from his belt.
VROOM!
He pulled the starter cord, the engine roared to life. Holding the whirring saw, he stepped over the unconscious people on the deck and began a measured, relentless pursuit.
...
Realm of Phantasm, Ansel World.
Having observed the entire process of Mox's teleportation, Seraphine was left even more impressed by the speed and stealth of the Super-Space-Time Channel:
"If I weren't paying meticulous attention, even I might have missed it. This space-time channel possesses a level of structural complexity and precision that far exceeds the four-dimensional realm."
Her eyes blazed with light as she spoke: "Yes, it's five-dimensional! Only a five-dimensional space can explain and express extreme complexity beyond the third and fourth dimensions. This means the creator of the Divine Space... must be a five-dimensional, or perhaps even a higher six-dimensional existence!"
Just then, Seraphine sensed a sudden space-time ripple elsewhere in the Ansel world: one almost identical to the secret vibration that had carried Mox away.
"The power of the Divine God? Who triggered it?"
She turned her head, her eyes erupting with divine light. Following the source of the space-time energy, she looked toward a dark canyon eight or nine million kilometers away.
Deep within that canyon, a disheveled, curly-haired young man stood beside the corpse of a massive, bird-like beast. He held a bloody, deformed heart in both hands, waving it frantically like a madman. He stood atop a half-eaten green mushroom and laughed wildly toward the sky:
"Hahahaha! Long live Marugami! In the end, it's still up to me, Loneng, to carry the whole team! Dueng, Qunce, Suhan: don't you worry, I'm definitely going to resurrect you guys!"
This laughing maniac was Loneng, who had supposedly "died" at Mox's hands. Now, with the space-time around him blurring into chaos, it was clear he had completed his mission; the Divine God's transit channel had descended.
"Green mushrooms..."
From millions of kilometers away, Seraphine 'watched' the jubilant Loneng. Recalling the scene of his death, she realized with a faint smile: "I see. Fire-breathing, iron-head... so you have the constitution or bloodline of a retro game character. A green mushroom for an extra life. Haha, how amusing."
Perhaps tickled by a nostalgic childhood memory of gaming, she was in a good mood and didn't interfere with his departure. He was a nobody, after all. Unaware that he had just skirted the gates of hell, Loneng vanished into the space-time channel a second later.
Watching him leave, Seraphine looked up at the boundless firmament and let out a leisurely sigh. "Five-dimensional... I'm only one step away from that threshold myself."
After her lament, she shifted her perspective, returning to her main body in the Prime Space-Time.
To conquer the millions of mortal realms and hunt down the abandoned Heaven and Yahweh, this clone would likely remain in the Realm of Phantasm for a very long time.
...
The cosmos is vast, boundless and grand.
Vast as a cosmic titan, with countless radiant nebulae swirling across her surface like a god of creation, Seraphine (True Body) sat cross-legged in the dark void.
Suddenly, a majestic 'light' stream: containing billions of Spiritualities: transmitted smoothly from far beyond reality through the mystical channel of the Candlelight Method.
WHOOSH
In an instant, Seraphine swallowed this surging Spiritual torrent without hesitation. Once these Spiritualities were purified and given physical forms, they were settled within the Eden world: located inside a unit cell of a three-dimensional dimension.
On that unimaginably massive "star" called Eden, even with over a hundred quintillion intelligent beings already living there, it still felt empty. Vast territories remained untouched by any footstep. Adding these few billion souls was like throwing a handful of sand into the ocean; it didn't cause a single ripple.
These beings were the "harvest" from her Wrath and Hatred clone's conquest of another parallel Earths within the Realm of Phantasm. Though such a small amount of Spirituality was negligible to the current Seraphine, even mosquito legs are still meat. More is always better than less.
At that moment, the [Infinite Attributes] system activated again.
HUMMM
Seraphine's magnificent body: eighty-two light-years tall shook slightly, sending space-time ripples through the infinite darkness. Her Physical Strength and Soul attributes doubled once more.
It had been exactly four days since she dispatched the Wrath and Hatred clone to the Realm of Phantasm. Naturally, her attributes had doubled sixteen times.
Four days ago, her attributes both stood at ninety-six billion solar masses. After sixteen doublings, they had ballooned to 1.536 trillion solar masses.
That is equivalent to the total mass of the entire Milky Way. Consequently, the units on Seraphine's attribute interface had changed:
[Host: Seraphine]
[Physical Strength: 1 Galaxy]
[Soul: 1 Galaxy]
One Galaxy is defined as one Milky Way. Theoretically, her physical and soul power now flowed with the total physical mass and force of an entire galaxy.
An ordinary person might assume that since the Milky Way contains hundreds of billions of stars, its total mass is simply several hundred billion solar masses. In reality, that's not the case. Stars vary wildly in mass.
Furthermore, beyond visible matter like stars, planets, comets, neutron stars, and white dwarfs, the Milky Way contains a much larger amount of dark matter. To find the true total mass, everything within the galaxy must be accounted for.
"Galaxy..."
Seraphine slowly raised her slender arm, hundreds of trillions of kilometers long, and clenched her massive hand into a fist. Instantly, a majestic force equal to nearly half the mass of the Milky Way erupted within her palm.
BOOM!!!
It was as if the Big Bang were being reenacted within reality. In a flash, everything fell into a state of terrifying collapse, dissolution, vaporization, and destruction. The boundless three-dimensional space-time twisted to its limit, and every physical parameter within it fell into chaos.
In the dark void spanning quintillions of kilometers around Seraphine, everything was instantly engulfed by infinite light, heat, and kinetic energy.
Every object in this range, from macroscopic asteroids to microscopic molecules, was instantly melted into a super-high-energy quark-gluon plasma by a torrent of heat reaching temperatures of hundreds of trillions, or even quadrillions, of degrees Celsius.
Once formed, these streams of high-temperature quark plasma converged like living rivers, merging into a space-time-warping flood.
This world-destroying torrent, moving tens of billions of times faster than light, roared outward, blanketing the vast void for thousands of light-years in every direction.
RUMBLE!!!
Faced with such a majestic, high-energy torrent, even a Universal Sage would have to flee, lest they be vaporized into nothingness before they could even scream.
Fortunately, in the vast interstellar region spanning tens of thousands of light-years around Seraphine, no star systems existed, so no civilizations perished in the blast.
In fact, it wasn't just this specific patch of space.
If one were to look in any direction from Seraphine's position, they would see only the empty, featureless blackness of the void. The myriad stars, nebulae, and star clusters that once filled the dark sky had vanished like ghosts, as if they had never existed.
This eerie phenomenon had only one cause: Seraphine.
It was the result of her four-day, relentless, and merciless devouring. Now, the Perseus Arm, stretching 60,000 light-years long and 8,000 light-years wide from the galactic core, along with the even larger Sagittarius Arm, and the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, had all been reduced to the dust of history.
Except for the very last remnants of the galactic core, the hundreds of billions of stars in this ten-billion-year-old Milky Way had been completely consumed by Seraphine.
Likewise, the countless civilizations and trillions of intelligent beings within them had been ruthlessly purified, becoming eternal fuel for the sparks of Seraphine's intellect.
Through this mad devouring, her Ascension Scale had surged to 99%.
With just the final 1% remaining, she would reach the standard for Ascension, officially entering the fifth dimension and becoming a lifeform that essentially transcends the physical laws of this universe.
Simultaneously, her cultivation of the Cosmic Dawn's Fifth Realm, [Witnessing All Ages, Intent Unblemished by Frost or Dew], had climbed to its absolute peak.
Nourished by the knowledge of myriad civilizations, tempered by the real histories of countless races, and baptized by the thoughts of countless heroes and experts, she stood on the brink of perfection.
Just a tiny push more, and she would ascend to the Sixth Realm: [Universe Collapses, Will Unwavering].
Upon reaching that stage, Seraphine's materialized Root Spirituality would undergo a massive, mystical metamorphosis, transitioning from materialization to sacralization, evolving from Root Spirituality into Fundamental Divinity.
Following this, the Light of Infinity, the external manifestation of her Spirituality, would see its precision and range, currently 1,000 light-years, skyrocket to even more terrifying heights.
"Godshell should have finished off the six races of the galactic core by now."
With a thought, Seraphine turned her gaze toward the radiant galactic core, tens of thousands of light-years away. Knowing Godshell as she did, she didn't believe crushing the civilizations of the core would pose much of a challenge.
By the definitions of the Sage ranks, Godshell in perfect condition, his past, the Cosmic Sower Saknussim, was at least a High-tier Sage, and likely an elite among them.
Though Saknussim had met with an unknown disaster millions of years ago and perished, Godshell, born from his remains, shared the same fundamental life essence.
Of course, in terms of raw quantity, Godshell was vastly inferior to his past; that power would have to be reclaimed over time.
However, for Godshell to truly take back his original, potent life essence, he needed to endure significant external stimuli, both spiritual and physical. This was a trial: a quest to reclaim the power he had lost in the depths of the past.
For instance, the shock of his battle with Cadelon had allowed Godshell to take back his original mastery over the universe's four fundamental forces, a trait of a Mid-tier Sage. On that basis, it triggered insights into vacuum, quantum theory, wormholes, and the Grand Unified Force of a High-tier Sage, awakening understandings he had once possessed.
"The series of grand battles in the galactic core should provide enough stimuli for Godshell to reclaim his true power. Furthermore... the core is essentially Godshell's home turf. Based on local advantage alone, those six races stand no chance against him."
With that thought, Seraphine rose in the infinite void and stepped toward the galactic core. Generally, if one acquires the vast majority of information concerning a region's history, then uncovering its deepest secrets is merely a matter of time.
This was precisely the case with Seraphine and the Milky Way.
By now, having acquired almost all information, both from inanimate objects, hundreds of billions of stars, and living beings, countless civilizations and races, concerning the Milky Way's history, the mysteries of the past were laid bare before Seraphine.
Who built the Sentience Realm Hallway network that spans the galaxy?
Why was it built?
And who was the true master of the galactic core's super-structure, the ancient Star Eater who mysteriously vanished millions of years ago?
With the Milky Way's data as her raw materials, and using her Eye of True Revelation and Chaos Calculation, Seraphine deciphered these enigmas. According to her deductions, the answers to these questions all pointed to one individual:
Saknussim.
The so-called ancient Star Eater was Saknussim.
The so-called Star Eater Civilization was the Houiste Federation.
The Sentience Realm Hallway network that blanketed and pierced the entire Milky Way was constructed by Saknussim under the orders of the Houiste Federation.
In other words, planning and building the galactic hallway network was Saknussim's official job, the primary reason he had traveled countless light-years to reach the Milky Way.
As for why Saknussim, after a busy day at work, would expend vast amounts of energy and effort to create intelligent races like the Mercury Race and the Agate Clan, it was quite easy to understand.
Much like how people on the Old Earth might enjoy collecting lanyards, lighters, running, gardening, or fishing, these were all personal hobbies.
Finding suitable planets across the Milky Way, creating intelligent races, and designing their future evolutionary paths and civilizations was simply Saknussim's personal pastime.
It just happened that this particular hobby was practiced on a grand scale.
Over untold eons, Saknussim birthed hundreds of intelligent races throughout the vast Milky Way.
Most of these races evolved into interstellar civilizations; a small few became naturally powerful species like the Aurora Clan.
The Sanchegues super-structure located outside the galactic core's black hole was his residence. The hundred billion stars outside the galactic core were his garden and workspace.
Saknussim was the Overlord of the Milky Way.
...
In the heart of the vast Milky Way lies the Sanchegues super-structure, a gargantuan engineering feat over a trillion kilometers in diameter, completely encasing the galactic core's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.
Since the mysterious disappearance of the Star Eater millions of years ago, this artificial world has served as the ancestral home for the Six Races of the Core. A breathtaking monument of splendor, it remains the most dazzling jewel in the galaxy and a sacred pilgrimage site for the universe's elite civilizations.
Divided into six distinct Civilization Zones, the Sanchegues continent is covered in sprawling surface and subterranean complexes. These structures house military and scientific installations far surpassing the peak technologies of the outer rim.
Floating in the infinite sky are millions of Sky Cities, urban centers as massive as small stars, representing the pinnacle of the Six Races' ingenuity.
Within these cities, space-folding technology creates interior volumes larger than gas giants, draped in architecture that ranges from the magnificent and beautiful to the intricate and complex.
Amidst these mountain-like structures and misty urban clusters, the inhabitants of the Six Races live in a state of post-scarcity prosperity. Every citizen enjoys unrestricted access to matter and fuel.
Surrounding them at all times is a near-infinite swarm of Femtometer-scale intelligent machines: autonomous, sentient Protons. These microscopic sprites await the command of their masters.
Neither speech nor touch is required. Through thought alone, these autonomous Protons faithfully execute every command, manipulating matter, reshaping environments, or even engineering new life.
In the eyes of lower civilizations, the average citizen of the Six Races wields the power of a living God.
Of course, this god-like power is entirely dependent on the vast swarms of autonomous Protons. For millions of years, every structure within the Civilization Zones has been built and maintained by these microscopic machines.
Yet, the Six Races did not create them; their technology has not yet reached such heights. These subatomic sprites are, in fact, legacies left behind by the ancient Star Eater.
The same is true for the millions of wormhole tunnels crisscrossing the galactic continent, allowing citizens to traverse the entire super-structure in an instant. These, too, are relics of the Star Eater, along with many other staggering technologies.
Chief among these is the [Galaxy Blade], a super-structure magnetic defense system covering the entire core that the Six Races still haven't fully mastered. Based on complex space-time mechanics and the four fundamental forces, this field can manifest localized bursts of electrical, thermal, nuclear, or magnetic energy. At full capacity, it can simulate Stage Ten Overlord-class cosmic disasters to annihilate any intruder.
Beyond that, the Star Eater's arsenal includes:
The [Colossal FTL Tractor Beam Cannon], capable of reaching across light-years;
The [Boundless Device], which converts dark matter into limitless clean energy;
The [Sector Eraser], which deconstructs celestial bodies at a sector level by manipulating space-time structures;
The [Milky Way Smelter], which triggers massive energy surges by tapping into the 'Dirac Sea' to incinerate entire regions;
The [Universal Collapse Engine], capable of creating localized black holes through gravitational manipulation;
The [Black Scepter Array], which blurs the line between reality and illusion, granting the entire galactic core properties of the Realm of Phantasm.
There are countless other super-scientific installations, some defensive, some offensive, others designed to warp concepts or produce limitless matter and energy. Because these facilities are so overwhelmingly powerful and technically advanced, the Six Races have never managed to fully decipher or master them.
However, the Six Races of the Core were never worried. No civilization or power in the entire Milky Way could hope to challenge them. In terms of both individual martial prowess and collective technology, the outer-rim races were so far behind that comparison was impossible.
But amidst this seemingly endless peace and prosperity, the Yonruk, one of the Six Races, rebelled. Or rather, they were forced into open rebellion after their plot to sabotage the galactic black hole and secretly coordinate with extra-galactic forces to conquer the Milky Way was accidentally exposed.
The remaining five races moved quickly, launching a war of extermination against the Yonruk. The entire galactic core shifted into a brutal state of total war.
The Yonruk were a race of fearless berserkers whose technology was almost entirely dedicated to high-level warfare. With eighteen Sages among their ranks, their military potential was both terrifying and resilient.
Meanwhile, the other five races, having known peace for millions of years, were deeply afraid of the Yonruk's true backers: a legendary extra-galactic race of light.
Consequently, they held back, never committing their full strength.
Races like the Ponret, the Loveling, and the Pelodi Life Tree even engaged in double-dealing, feigning participation in the siege while secretly negotiating with the Yonruk.
The war devolved into a stalemate: the Yonruk fought desperately and suffered heavy losses, while the five races maintained a lukewarm offensive to minimize their own casualties.
Despite the hesitation of the five races, the scale and intensity of the conflict were still immense. Large sections of the galactic continent were quickly plunged into chaos. The shockwaves from the clashes between top-tier experts leveled cities, shattering massive buildings like fragile glass.
Super-weapons exchanged fire, their searing beams reducing mountain-sized structures to ash. Explosions radiating across tens of thousands of kilometers scarred the cities, once larger than stars, beyond recognition. Prosperous metropolises became ruins, and sprawling complexes collapsed into mountains of debris.
Yet, in the heat of battle, two Sages of the Arnel race, Orgrid and Gusheim, brought staggering news:
The Orion Arm... had vanished.
The news immediately cooled the fires of war. Both the five races and the Yonruk were stunned. The idea of a galactic spiral arm simply vanishing was incomprehensible.
A stretch of 20,000 light-years, containing over ten billion star systems and countless civilizations, had silently blinked out of existence. Even if the Six Races united, they couldn't achieve such a feat so quickly.
Was it a King of the extra-galactic light species, a God of Hunger with the mass of a hundred million stars, descending upon the Milky Way?
If so, they might as well lie down and wait for the end; there was no fighting such a thing. The five races were realistic; they knew they had no defense against power at the level of a High-tier Sage.
The Yonruk were puzzled. If a God of Hunger had truly arrived, it would have contacted them rather than aimlessly destroying the galaxy. There was no logic to it.
Driven by a mix of terror and suspicion, the Six Races signed a temporary ceasefire. They convened an emergency council to discuss the disappearance of the Orion Arm and share intelligence.
But as the meeting began, an unknown, powerful being descended upon the galactic continent. Upon his landing, the earth for millions of kilometers was leveled into a death zone. Sky Cities floating above him disintegrated under his cold gaze, their fragments raining down like apocalyptic raindrops, carrying the stench of death and despair.
Infuriated by this reckless destruction, the leaders of the Six Races launched a ruthless counter-attack. But this unknown being was too powerful, far beyond anything from the outer rim. Not even the strongest Stage Ten Overlords or Low-tier Sages could defeat him.
Finally, the true elite of the galactic core, the ancient Mid-tier Sages found only within the Arnel and Iain races, intervened.