After temporarily suppressing the God of Steam and Machinery with Roselle's help, Leyton reached out and took a wooden staff, resembling a withered branch, from the void before him.
The head of the staff was inlaid with a spherical crystal, deep black at its base and adorned with a circle of grey-white stars, while the wooden shaft was engraved with numerous mystical symbols and markings representing domains such as change and history.
This was a Mystical Item he had created using Worms of Spirit from Zaratul and some of Sefirah Castle's aura borrowed from Klein, capable of producing a large-scale "Miracle."
Holding the wooden staff, Leyton softly chanted a passage in Ancient Hermes:
"I wish."
Pale, transparent flames erupted, the wooden staff turned to ash and vanished, and an indescribable torrent surged forth from nothing, rapidly sweeping through the surroundings and condensing into an illusory wilderness!
Light and shadow flickered across the wilderness, as if it contained countless mysteries and knowledge, civilization and history.
Various figures constantly walked upon the "wilderness"; some belonged to humans, some to giants, or dragons, elves... even unknown, strange creatures.
All the strange phenomena previously created by Leyton and Steam, relying on their respective authorities, disappeared, leaving only a pure "wilderness."
Roselle's figure rapidly retreated, avoiding being engulfed by this "wilderness."
Bright, dazzling sunlight suddenly appeared, carrying the power to Purify everything, even space distorted under this golden light.
"Coming so fast?" Roselle frowned.
The next instant, He caused the underlying rules of the world to twist and become chaotic, making the golden sunlight seem to be in another world with completely different underlying rules, making it difficult to interfere with the surroundings.
This interference did not last long; soon, a nearly true Sun appeared in the surroundings, rapidly approaching the area.
This "Sun" emitted a scorching light capable of illuminating the entire world, even the entire star system; its blazing golden sunlight made it impossible for others to open their eyes or even form extra thoughts.
The distortion created by Roselle was quickly broken, and the "Sun" overhead poured down golden energy, creating superheated flames, like a golden waterfall descending from the sky.
Roselle's skin continuously cracked, and countless shadows surged from beneath His skin, causing the surrounding order to rapidly shift, forming an invisible barrier that separated it from reality.
A crimson "Moon" swiftly rose in the Astral World, and crimson moonlight poured down, making all existences in the Astral World feel the joy of growth and new life, causing their bodies to become uncontrollably stagnant.
The golden sunlight and flames became agitated, as if about to give birth to their own life and consciousness.
At the same time, a figure entwined with dark green vines and adorned with various herbs and flowers emerged in the crimson moonlight.
She was plump, her emerald dress fluttering, cradling an illusory infant, bathed in crimson moonlight, and casually tossed down an eye crafted from numerous inlaid gems.
This "eye" fell into the "wilderness" below without any hindrance, instantly shattering into specks of light blue, which then merged into the "wilderness."
Within the wilderness summoned by Leyton's "Miracle," the figure of the God of Steam and Machinery became layered and dense, becoming a part of the countless figures wandering there.
In the previous confrontation, they had both separated their information and engaged in a battle at the information level.
But as Leyton summoned the projection of the "wilderness," the separated knowledge began to uncontrollably vitalize, gradually becoming part of the "wilderness," making it difficult to reclaim.
This caused the God of Steam and Machinery's current state to continuously decline; His spirit and will, projected into countless pieces of knowledge and information, deviated from Himself, in turn imprisoning Him there and preventing Him from taking any action to leave.
Leyton had originally intended to rely on his own authority to suppress the opponent, directly and forcefully stripping the characteristics and authority he needed from the God of Steam.
But the item thrown down by the Earth Mother completed the last "Knowledge Emperor" characteristic he needed, and after integrating the Hidden Sage, his ascension ritual directly began within the projection of the "wilderness."
Leyton's body instantly dematerialized, disintegrating into pure and complex information torrents, and as the Uniqueness and the three "Knowledge Emperor" characteristics merged and underwent a qualitative change, the information torrent continuously expanded, as if it wanted to encompass all knowledge in this world.
In this state, he could no longer spare extra energy to contend with the God of Steam and Machinery; he simply encompassed the opponent's information as well, letting the opponent face the pressure of the ascension ritual alongside him.
Given that he had already inherited the Hidden Sage's spirit and madness, adding some of the God of Steam and Machinery's spirit would only be a matter of being slightly more or less mad.
"Perhaps, when I conceived this idea and took this action, I was already mad."
He murmured to himself, his spirit continuously elevating and undergoing a qualitative change, entering a peculiar domain, as if he had become knowledge itself, the embodiment and sum of all mysteries.
At the same time, his inherent qualities were also being completed little by little, gradually showing a tendency to break free from the influence of the Sefirah and become a new individual.
Leyton stopped this trend at the opportune moment, repeatedly emphasizing the information belonging to his own identity, continuously replicating it to achieve a self-suggestive effect and strengthen his self-cognition.
With his main body on the Western Continent unable to interfere, if his self-identification were to err, he would truly become an aggregate of various consciousnesses and cognitions, an abstract deity understood by believers, rather than simply himself.
The Hermit was already an embodiment of information, knowledge, and mysteries, a collection of information and abstract concepts; Her perception of information would, to some extent, evolve into reality.
Above the Sonia Sea, because Eternal Blazing Sun had withdrawn, the Lord of Storms was quickly suppressed by the True Creator.
Layered, heavy dark clouds were covered in a pitch-black shadow, and distorted, hideous faces emerged from the shadows, like fears imprinted in the deepest part of the Sea of Collective Subconscious, carrying various extreme emotions, stirring up a terrifying mental storm in the surroundings.
Within the layered, heavy dark clouds, the constantly darting silver-white lightning seemed to solidify, developing humanity, showing emotions of fear and dread, and could no longer leap.
As the oppressive and destructive aura continuously accumulated, the clouds in the sky almost turned bright white.
On the sea surface below, strong winds howled, and waves surged higher and higher, as if brewing a storm capable of destroying a planet.
Streaks of silver-white lightning suddenly erupted, breaking through the shadow's blockade, and disappeared into the sky at near-limit speed, vanishing from the real world.
Boom! Boom!
A massive sonic boom slowly resounded after the silver-white lightning disappeared, continuously echoing in the surroundings, also mixed with the wailing of the wind domain, as if to tear the sky apart.
In the abstract, illusory Astral World, silver-white lightning appeared at an unimaginable and uncatchable speed, forcefully joining the battlefield of Roselle and Eternal Blazing Sun.
In the projected illusory "wilderness," the weather suddenly went out of control; storms, lightning, and scorching sunlight appeared simultaneously, as if to completely shatter this wilderness.
Roselle's figure became illusory and pitch-black, as if covered in a layer of shadow, existing in another world with completely different underlying rules, swimming forward like a shadow between two contradictory rivers of fate.
Chains of pitch-black shackles, materialized from orderly shadows, appeared out of thin air, weaving into an impenetrable net, attempting to block Eternal Blazing Sun and the Lord of Storms' destruction of the "wilderness" projection.
Crack! Crack!
As more and more attacks bypassed Roselle's obstruction, the sounds of illusory objects shattering echoed continuously around.
The next second, the illusory, light-and-shadow-flickering "wilderness" projected by "Miracle" shattered into fragments of light blue or silver-white dust.
Leyton, who was in the midst of his advancement ritual, seemed to suffer some blow, and his continuously rising aura briefly stagnated.
With his spiritual will under pressure, and only instinct remaining, Leyton, under the psychological cue he had set for himself beforehand, abandoned the action of continuing to seize the characteristics and authority of the God of Steam and Machinery, and stripped away the opponent's information.
Countless "lights" composed of pure information surged forth from the shattered "wilderness," exuding a vast, boundless, and profound aura.
Streaks of "light" surged like torrents, and a terrifyingly complex information current began to converge, forming a pair of eyes as pure as gems, containing countless brilliant stars, cold, indifferent, and without eyelashes.
Below the eyes was a shimmering, pitch-black expanse of starlight, constantly writhing and changing, growing more and more eyes.
Finally, it evolved into a hooded figure in a black robe, the black robe somewhat tattered, drifting in the air in wisps, from which grew eyes, some open, some closed, utterly devoid of emotion.
At this moment, all the information in the world became active, as if suddenly coming alive, reflected in the eyes of the surrounding beings, becoming their flashes of inspiration.
In Backlund, Leonard, still somewhat bewildered that the war had ended so suddenly, suddenly had an unprecedented surge of inspiration; he thought of a peculiar melody, a highly artistic verse.
On the Future, Frank rushed to his laboratory in a hurry; he had suddenly thought of a direction for improving mushrooms.
In the Northern State, Anderson, holding a flaming longsword, paused and looked at Mr. Azik beside him, chuckling:
"I suddenly have inspiration for creation. When this war ends, I'm going to record it with paintings; they will absolutely be insurmountable works of art."
"Perhaps, in the Future, I can also consider moonlighting as a painter. Hmm, that's an elegant identity, very suitable for an elegant person like me."
"Hmm." Azik nodded gently. As an Angel, even if he wasn't of a Pathway related to knowledge, he had perceived some changes in that instant.
Knowledge suddenly became active; this was a change at the rule level. Had the battle in the Astral World already reached a conclusion?
As thoughts flickered, Azik looked up at the illusory Cosmos above, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
The complex and vast aura of the Astral World was difficult for even an Angel to bear and to clearly see.