Chaos had completely overtaken the Galactic Continent at the heart of the Milky Way.
Following the catastrophic aftershocks of the earlier clash, ancient super-weapons left behind by the primordial Star Eaters suddenly began to malfunction.
Across the continent, hundreds of [Colossal FTL Tractor Beam Cannons], monstrous relics once serving the six core races and usually hidden within the folds of warped space, warped into real-space without warning or pilots. With a deafening hum, they unleashed hundreds of sky-covering tractor beams that roared across the landscape like a tidal wave.
BOOM—
In an instant, these titanic beams, woven from infinite flickering light, blanketed the horizon and smothered the ten directions.
CRACK! BOOM! CRACK!
It was as if ten thousand stars were falling at once.
The boundless earth shuddered violently. Massive mountain ranges, plains, and vast oceans boiled and detonated under a force capable of shattering planets, erupting into terrifying, white-hot seas of fire.
As the world inverted, peaks the size of stars and gargantuan crags were launched through the atmosphere by the tremors. Friction ignited them into searing, molten meteors that shot into the deep reaches of space.
Simultaneously, dozens of [Milky Way Smelters] buried deep beneath the Galactic Continent's crust breached the surface like harbingers of the apocalypse.
As they hummed to life, they acted from afar, flash-heating regions billions of kilometers away to temperatures exceeding hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius.
In a heartbeat, those lands and everything within them were vaporized into pure thermal energy, creating vast oceans of super-high-temperature plasma spanning millions of miles.
Under this apocalyptic heat, the world itself seemed to dissolve; life and architecture vanished like steam in an instant.
Simultaneously, the [Boundless Devices], the core energy hubs for the six races, suffered a total blackout. For no apparent reason, they forced a self-shutdown, refusing to output even a single joule of power.
This plunged the civilizations' massive infrastructures into a sudden, deathly silence.
Even the [Galaxy Blade], the automated defense network designed to protect the Galactic Continent, "rebelled." It abruptly turned its "barrels" inward.
Like a machine gone mad, it began manifesting planetary-level disasters across the continent, harnessing electricity, light, heat, nuclear, magnetic, and sonic energies to saturate entire regions.
Amidst the relentless, rolling thunder of destruction, vast territories were wiped out in a blink, taking millions of residents with them.
Ancient super-weapons like the [Sector Eraser] and the [Universal Collapse Engine], relics of the Saknussim, seemed to awaken with true sentience, launching wave after wave of terrifying strikes against the six races' population centers.
The deadliest blow, however, came from the micro-scale. The countless autonomous Protons used in daily life by the six races collectively declared "independence," transforming into savage microscopic demons.
They coalesced into horrific weapons, killing machines, and localized cataclysms, hunting down fleeing citizens until the air was thick with the wails of the hopeless.
These autonomous Protons even manifested artificial lifeforms at the Overlord and Half-Sage levels. These constructs launched suicide attacks against the powerful masters of the six races who rushed to help, trading their "lives" to bring the experts down.
The Galactic Continent had become a multi-layered hell. The six races, once masters of the galaxy, were paralyzed by unprecedented terror and despair. Their resistance was futile; they died in droves, unable even to flee.
From his vantage point beyond the high firmament, Godshell finally understood the cause of this carnage. When the Four Sages of the Galactic Core shattered his armor earlier, the Galactic Continent had sensed his presence across the vast distance.
The Galactic Continent possessed a "Conscious Will", or more accurately, the [Artificial Gaia Sanchegues].
For millions of years, since the Saknussim vanished, it had been dormant. The six races had lived and prospered upon its "body" during that long sleep. But today, the Sanchegues sensed its master through the [Black Scepter Array], the space-time fields surrounding the Galactic Core that acted like the sensory tentacles of an octopus.
The super-structure awoke instantly, reclaiming control over every aspect of its engineering. But upon waking, Sanchegues discovered the six races scurrying and jumping all over its "body" like vermin.
Without a second's hesitation, the supreme will of the Galactic Core activated its arsenal and began to "exterminate the bugs."
Upon arriving, Godshell also clearly sensed the existence of the supreme intelligence system of the super-structure, Sanchegues.
With a thought, he linked his mind directly to the intelligence core deep within the Galactic Continent.
HUM—
The entire Galactic Core super-structure seemed to tremble slightly.
Godshell had finally reclaimed control of his "estate."
He "looked" down coldly at the boundless continent, filling his vision with the fiery agony of its inhabitants. Sensing the massive amount of scattering life-signals, he suddenly smiled.
"It seems you all lived quite comfortably over these millions of years. Even with so many dead, there are still so many left. Well, ultimately, you are all the Master's property; there is no need to waste you like this."
With that thought, Godshell's will rippled as he serenely issued a command to Sanchegues, the supreme intelligence of the Galactic Continent:
"That is enough. Stop."
HUM—
In an instant, the tumultuous, chaotic Galactic Continent fell silent. The rampaging super-weapons immediately returned to their dormant states.
Simultaneously, Godshell deployed his Phantasm Field, projecting the Grand Unified Force of a High-Tier Sage across the endless lands below.
Abruptly, a majestic, invisible force descended from the sky, enveloping and "freezing" every living being of the six races on the Galactic Continent, pinning them firmly in place. Whether Transcendent, Overlord, or Sage, regardless of what they were doing, all lifeforms were locked in position, unable to move a single millimeter.
And it wasn't just the living beings.
Godshell's vast and profound Grand Unified Force swept across the boundless world. Running machinery, city ruins both large and small, standing or collapsed buildings, rushing or dried rivers, endless mountain ranges, sheer cliffs, lakes, wetlands, and deserts... Everything, living or inanimate, the entire continent, was instantaneously locked down.
This binding force was so immense and profound that it was as if the entire world had instantly plunged into absolute zero. All energy transfer, all chemical reactions, and even microscopic physical effects were forcibly halted mid-action, frozen tight.
Even if one were to hurl an antimatter bomb weighing trillions of tons at a "frozen" wisp of cloud in the sky, it wouldn't blast away a single tendril of vapor, nor disturb a single water droplet within it, nor even trigger the slightest explosion.
The matter, energy, information, fields, and forces of the entire Galactic Continent were completely locked, enveloped, and bound by Godshell's Grand Unified Force.
The next instant, under the absolute control of this power, the countless beings of the six races across the continent all fell to their knees.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sound was like a chain of seismic shocks. Every inhabitant of the Galactic Core prostrated themselves without the slightest ability to resist. Those with legs knelt; those without lay flat. None were exempt.
Every kneeling being wore a stiff, vacant expression, while their minds boiled with a surging, visceral terror. Aside from a few Sages and Half-Sages who vaguely recognized the power of a Grand Unified Force Field, none of the billions of residents understood what was happening or what was to come. They could only wait in silent fear and quiet despair.
At that moment, a figure emerged from the far edge of the firmament: tall and magnificent, yet marred by hideous wounds, with only half of its body remaining. Despite its tattered state, this figure radiated an overwhelming, incandescent power that shook the very heavens and earth.
Compared to this aura, the entire Galactic Continent and the six races that had ruled over thousands of star systems for millions of years seemed like nothing more than shallow puddles and tiny ants.
As Godshell truly descended, the six races kneeling across the continent felt their minds reel and tremble uncontrollably. Everyone felt an ancient, profound, yet utterly domineering presence. They all understood the identity of the newcomer intuitively, as if the breeze, the rays of light, and the omnipresent Protons were whispering the truth to them.
The one descending was... a primordial Star Eater!
HUM—
Space-time boiled; mass and energy surged.
Without any travel time, Godshell suddenly crossed trillions of miles, appearing atop a fractured mountain peak at the very center of the Galactic Continent.
Simultaneously, the beings of the six races scattered to the ends of the world were swallowed by sudden ripples in space-time and vanished.
The next instant.
The countless beings of the six races suddenly appeared atop that mountain peak Platform.
Although this platform, born from the violent severance of the mountain during the earlier disasters, was extremely narrow—spanning only a hundred miles—it miraculously and perfectly accommodated the six races, whose bodies were as massive as mountains themselves.
The reason was simple.
Godshell felt the area was too small, so with a thought, he expanded the space-time metrics of the location by a factor of 10^24. He transformed it into a colossal Platform large enough to easily fit the Sun, the nine planets, and their entire orbital paths with room to spare.
When the six races appeared on the mountain peak Platform, the invisible force locking every atom of their bodies suddenly vanished. They regained their freedom.
Yet, despite this, from the Sages down to the Transcendents, not a single soul dared to stand. They remained obediently in their prostrate positions. The scene was devoid of speech or even a whisper; it was deathly silent. Not a single being felt their dignity offended or their race insulted. The overwhelming pressure from Godshell had occupied every shred of their consciousness.
Total submission. Total prostration.
This sensible behavior was neither strange nor unexpected. As civilizations standing at the absolute peak of the Milky Way's technology and evolution, their intelligence was far too high to be foolish. They easily deduced that the terrifying cataclysms on the Galactic Continent were linked to Godshell.
Furthermore, the four Mid-tier Sages who had fought him earlier and vanished into the void... the mere thought of their fate made the survivors dizzy with terror. They recognized the situation perfectly and would never do anything to jeopardize their survival or their race.
Most importantly, the one standing at the center of the platform was a primordial Star Eater! That fact alone was enough to chill their souls.
"..."
Once the ranks of the six races were neatly aligned in their kneeling positions, Godshell opened his eyes and looked upon the dense, silent multitudes.
Among the Galactic Core lifeforms, there were the Iain, whose forms were similar to his but longer and more slender; the Arnel, who seemed forged from multi-colored metals; the Pelodi Life Tree race, composed of translucent diamond and tangled ancient wood; the Loveling, half-human half-cat creatures covered in radiant fur; the Yonruk, who resembled Cadelon and were already branded as traitors by the others; and the Ponret, who looked like mechanical giant lobsters.
Because these Galactic Core beings were all as massive as soaring peaks, looking upon them was like viewing an endless, winding range of majestic mountains. If a mortal were here, they would be frightened to death merely by the sight of these gargantuan entities.
But Godshell's gaze remained flat and unmoving, as if he were looking at a swarm of useless ants.
Rightly so. If he wished, he could slaughter every single one of them in an instant. The gap between them could no longer be bridged by numbers.
"A total of one hundred and two Low-tier Sages, and four Mid-tier Sages."
After sweeping his gaze over the six races, Godshell spoke with chilling indifference.
"Ah, right. Adding the four Mid-tier Sages who just died, that makes exactly one hundred and ten Sages."
He let out a derisive sneer. "Disgraceful. You've occupied this prime evolutionary environment with its high Ether activity for millions of years, utilizing the Sage Laws I left behind. Yet, you've produced such a pathetic number of Sages, and not a single High-tier Sage among you. You are a bunch of useless waste."
The multitudes of the Galactic Core remained silent; none dared to voice their dissatisfaction.
Godshell shook his head slightly and raised his arm. With a flick of his palm against the void, he forced open a blurred, hollow portal—the entrance to his personal folded space.
Suddenly, a Yonruk emerged from the portal, radiating brilliant, flickering light. She appeared to be in a state of profound slumber, undergoing a violent metamorphosis.
It was Cadelon.
The members of the Yonruk race kneeling nearby sensed her aura and were shocked. This was the undisputed number one genius below the Sage level of their tribe.
But why was Cadelon with this overwhelmingly powerful primordial Star Eater? What was going on?
As doubt clouded the minds of the Galactic Core beings, Godshell gently patted the shoulder of the sleeping Cadelon and spoke flatly:
"Take my friend here. She never studied any Sage Laws. She simply trained in the Milky Way, fought a few battles, and upon returning to the Galactic Core, the mere stimulus of the Super-Ether environment has pushed her halfway through the door of Sagehood. Once her transformation ends, she will truly become a Low-tier Sage. Compared to her, you are all as dim-witted as morons."
At this point, Godshell tilted his head and sneered:
"Actually, why am I even talking to you? You lot just stay right there. Keep kneeling. Kneel until my Master descends."
'Master?!!'
Every single being of the six races atop the massive platform froze in utter shock.
'A primordial Star Eater, an entity as powerful as a god, actually has a Master?!'
'This... could that individual be a God above Gods?!'
The minds of the countless beings prostrated on the ground spiraled into chaos. The fact that a High-tier Sage like Godshell—an existence standing above all known races—had a master was completely beyond their comprehension.
But Godshell offered no explanation. He simply let the swarms of Galactic Core creatures remain there, kneeling.
They knelt for a very, very long time.
Until an unknown number of hours had passed.
Just as the countless beings of the Galactic Core were struggling to digest the shock lingering in their hearts, a presence—supreme, majestic, and so vast it seemed to transcend all matter, energy, information, and even the entirety of three-dimensional space-time—suddenly swept down from the boundless firmament.
It enveloped every corner of the super-structure, both inside and out, and every living soul within it.
This was Seraphine descending.
"Godshell, you have done well."
A cool, haughty voice bypassed all space-time barriers, suddenly echoing deep within the souls of the countless inhabitants of the Galactic Continent.
"..."
The expressions of the six races' billions of residents froze instantly. They remained in their prostrate positions, unmoving. They were so rigid that their massive bodies—which usually maintained a constant exchange of energy and information—ceased all physiological activity.
Even the Sages standing at the peak of the six races found that the resonance their bodies and souls maintained with the universe's fundamental forces—gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces—was severed, vanishing into nothingness.
It was as if every being of the six races had been "frozen" into a state of absolute zero.
But that was only the surface.
In reality, within the minds of the non-Sage inhabitants, a storm was raging. In the formless oceans of their consciousness, an ancient, maddening emotion boiled and surged: Fear.
A vast, heavy dread, like a demonic army from a distant dimension, tore through space-time and burrowed into every organ, every bone, every cell, and every atom of their beings. Under this weight, the very vessels that constituted their existence—whether physical or spiritual—fell into a state of extreme, frantic trembling.
As for the Sages, though they were not as paralyzed by terror as their subjects, their souls were shaken by Seraphine's single sentence, leaving them reeling with an agonizing, splitting pain that made them feel as if they were better off dead.
Just as the beings of the Galactic Core were being crushed by that single, indifferent voice from beyond the heavens, their mental spines snapping under the weight of collapse, an immense life-aura pressed down from the firmament. It was vast enough to darken the heavens and cover the boundaries of the world—as if the entire Milky Way had been condensed into a single presence.
Under this peerless pressure, all thoughts, perceptions, and even the maddening fear within the souls of the six races vanished, leaving only a blank void. In this emptiness, all cognitive activity—speculations about the God above Gods, concerns for their own safety, or plans for vengeance—ceased to exist.
Every mental process was utterly shattered by the sheer weight of the word Power.
Unlike the common subjects of the Overlord and Transcendent levels, who knelt in a stupor—their weakness preventing them from truly grasping the scale of her power—the one hundred and six Sages of the Galactic Core felt Seraphine's life-aura with terrifying clarity.
Under the weight of this incomprehensible presence, they were paralyzed by shock, confusion, and dread.
'Is this the aura of a Peak Sage? An existence beyond the High-tier, one that shouldn't exist in the thousands of galaxies of the universe?!'
'But the definition of a Peak Sage is someone capable of destroying a galaxy, not someone whose physical strength itself is equivalent to a galaxy! Those are two completely different concepts!'
'Could she have stuffed hundreds of billions of stars into her own body? How can such a physical form exist? What kind of destructive force would it unleash? Is she beyond the Peak Sage level?'
Just as the Sages were pushed to the brink of insanity and the common subjects were about to have their very forms crushed by this manifestation of Power, a rift appeared within the vast sea of aura—one that seemed to dwarf the entire super-structure many times over.
From this rift emerged a divine gaze, filled with an ancient, silent wisdom that transcended the current dimensions of space-time.
That gaze held meanings far too high and mysterious: it was icy, indifferent, and deathly still, yet simultaneously filled with compassion, harmony, and pity; it was empty, confusing, and chaotic. Paradoxes were unified; divergence was continuity.
It was like the conflict between macro-space-time and the microscopic world—seemingly incompatible, yet perfectly one.
The inhabitants of the six races and their Sages, who had unknowingly raised their heads to stare at the heavens, finally understood in their hazed consciousness that the being behind this single gaze was Godshell's master.
The God above Gods.
In an instant, their minds, previously consumed by the concept of Power, were upended once more. A new word took absolute control:
GOD...
GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD!
Suddenly, atop the mountain, across every inch of the vast platform, the countless beings of the Galactic Core raised their voices in a unified, fanatical roar of adoration:
"WE WELCOME THE DESCENT OF OUR GOD!!!"
"WE WELCOME THE DESCENT OF OUR GOD!!!"
"WE WELCOME THE DESCENT OF OUR GOD!!!"
This frenzy of sound was so powerful that the thick, leaden clouds in the firmament were shattered, dissolving into millions of streaks of hydrogen and oxygen rain. The downpour struck the scorched, cratered earth, forming pools of shimmering water amidst the flickering fires.
There was no alternative. The consciousness and perception of the six races had been utterly dismantled by Seraphine's scrutinizing gaze. They were washed clean and reborn as her believers—fanatics who would gladly die for her a thousand times over without hesitation. For them, a mere sky-shaking roar was an act of extreme restraint.
At this moment, only the Sages, the true high-level leaders of the six races, could still struggle to maintain a shred of their own will, resisting complete submission under Seraphine's chaotic gaze.
But the terrifying transformation in their kin only deepened their soul-chilling dread.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a cold eye, so massive it defied description, covered the entire sky above the Galactic Continent.
The one hundred and six Sages stared upward in a stupor at the colossal pupil that seemed to shatter the firmament as it met their gaze. They felt a tremor in their hearts that threatened to consume them.
"Why... is it so big?!"
"A single eye... is this large?!"
"Then... how massive is the entire body of the God above Gods?!"
Under the scrutiny of this icy Eye of the Firmament, the Sages of the Galactic Core felt the matter, information, energy, and the vast three-dimensional space-time around them, along with the four fundamental forces of the universe, fall into a state of terrifying, abnormal chaos.
This maddening volatility assaulted their logic and perception, causing them to tremble and scream in a silent, horrific process of self-destruction.
"God... above Gods!!!"
"How... how can she be this strong?!"
"How are we... so weak?!"
"AAAAAGHHH!!!"
Simultaneously, the countless beings of the Galactic Core who had already surrendered their wills began to follow their Sages into self-destruction. The difference was that their eyes held no negativity, only a supreme, ecstatic happiness. To them, dying for their God was a sublime honor.
If one were to follow the dying, desperate yet blissful gazes of the Galactic Core's inhabitants as they drifted upward...
Higher and higher.
Up into the dark void beyond the atmosphere.
One would see a chaotic eye, ten trillion kilometers in diameter, gazing calmly at the tiny sphere right before it.
This tiny sphere, only two trillion kilometers in diameter, its surface marred by cracks and divided into six sectors, was the Sanchegues super-structure, the home of the six races that had ruled the Milky Way for millions of years.
And that cold, chaotic eye was Seraphine's Eye of Transcendence.
Taking this Eye of Transcendence as a starting point, zoom out the perspective: farther, farther, and farther still.
Zooming out to a sufficient scale reveals a cosmic giant, seemingly woven from countless brilliant stars, standing silently amidst the vast expanse of the universe. Around her, in this majestic region of the Galactic Core, everything else had vanished. Aside from the boundless void, the stars, nebulae, star clusters, and cosmic dust were all gone.
The entirety of the Milky Way had ceased to exist, leaving only the Galactic Continent.
"One... must finish what they started," Seraphine's voice, like a cosmic deity, shook the vast void. "Only... this last bit remains."
With her current, immense control over three-dimensional space, her mere speech could deeply fluctuate the Dirac Sea behind space-time, causing waves of energy to surge. Her voice resonated through the infinite cosmos without needing any physical medium.
Seraphine raised her gargantuan palm, shattering the boiling waves of vacuum energy, and snatched the tiny sphere known as Sanchegues.
Then, a long, narrow mouth split open across the blank area of her face, just below the Eye of Transcendence.
WHOOSH!
Seraphine slowly opened her mouth, revealing the flickering of myriad stars within, and in one gulp, she swallowed the tiny sphere held in her palm.
At this point, the entire Milky Way had been thoroughly devoured by Seraphine. The races and civilizations that had once existed or perished, and even the hundreds of billions of stars, were transformed into a fleeting and grand history.
Simultaneously, the memories, spirituality, knowledge, and secrets of the countless beings of the six races, along with all the technology, artifacts, treasures, and ancient texts hidden within the Sanchegues super-structure, became part of Seraphine.