The ball of light exploded violently. The aftershock instantly interfered with Kiana's Imaginary internal energy, causing her to lose the chance to open another portal to escape.
Boom—
Kiana was sent flying by a series of chain explosions.
Although Kiana had instantly equipped her White Knight: Moonlight battlesuit, the immense power of the explosion still caused her to bounce heavily on the ground several times before finally coming to a stop after tumbling for a while.
A path was paved with crimson blood, and at the end of the path lay the mangled body of Kiana.
She had lost all feeling in her limbs; Kiana couldn't even tell if they were still there...
Blood flowed uncontrollably from her mouth, nose, ears, and eyes... from every place that could bleed.
Her vision blurred by blood, her eardrums ruptured, and her entire body in so much pain that even adrenaline had no effect... Kiana couldn't see, couldn't hear, her five senses were gone.
Blood rushed to her brain, pressing on her nerves, and Kiana's consciousness was gradually fading.
A barely perceptible smile formed on Kiana's lips.
"At least... Seele will be fine..."
——————————————
Half a minute later, at the spot where the ball of light had appeared, where Kiana and Seele had been standing.
An unknown existence, half of its body a black chaos, the other half a brilliant light, appeared there.
Any being that looked upon It would see nothing but the rules It represented: heaven and earth, cold and heat, light and darkness, order and chaos...
It had no concrete form, or rather, all things in the world could be a manifestation of Its form. It was born from nothingness, existing on the boundary between existence and nothingness.
It was active before the concept of time was born. It existed before the world was divided. It was the first deity of the primordial era, one of the most powerful gods under the Great Will of the Sea of Quanta, one of the Creator Gods, 「Ometeotl」.
Ometeotl just stood there, gazing at the Kiana on the ground, whose life was uncertain.
Finally, It seemed to receive some message. After a brief pause, It changed its course of action.
Its form changed as It walked towards Kiana step by step.
The dark half of its body rapidly contracted, allowing the white light to cover its entire being. When It was completely made of light, It transformed into a human-like figure of androgynous beauty.
But then, the darkness that had disappeared reappeared, sliding from Its body to Its left hand, finally materializing into a simple, pitch-black spear in Its hand.
——————————————
Thump—! (Violent)
What is... this?
Thump—! (Slowing)
Is it my heartbeat?
Thump... (Gradually stopping)
Maybe it is... but it has stopped now too...
Squelch—
Ometeotl's dark spear pierced straight through Kiana's body, then lifted her up and tossed her into the sky.
"A god that has not yet matured is still a god at the end of time."
"Therefore, as a god from the Imaginary side, you have trespassed into the domain of the Sea."
"Herein, I pass judgment. To execute you with my own hands is the greatest respect I can give you."
Ometeotl slightly raised the dark spear in its hand, then gripped it tightly, pulling its arm back and aiming at the falling Kiana in the sky.
Light and dark, life and death... countless dualistic laws now vied to shine on Ometeotl's dark spear.
Hum—
The spear was thrown. Where it passed, space itself was torn apart, and everything that touched the dark spear—air, space, no matter what it was—was reduced to nothingness.
Bang—
A spatial portal opened in front of the dark spear's attack trajectory.
But it was easily shattered and pierced through by the dark spear, along with the very fabric of space.
Hum hum hum—
As the dark spear burst out after piercing the spatial portal, in that instant, dozens more spatial portals opened one after another in its path.
Sirin didn't expect these portals to actually stop the dark spear; they just needed to buy her a little time, just a little bit.
While Sirin was opening portals to block the dark spear, she opened another one next to Kiana, attempting to teleport her away.
Several hundred spatial portals, packed so densely they almost formed a purple cylinder, but they only managed to delay the dark spear for less than half a second.
But that was enough. Sirin constantly shifted the spatial medium, switching between Imaginary Space and the real world, stretching that half-second long enough for her to take Kiana away.
Finally, when the dark spear was less than ten meters away from Kiana, Sirin managed to teleport Kiana away and close the portal.
"Phew... thank goodness... I made it..."
Having opened hundreds, if not thousands, of portals at maximum power, and creating countless Imaginary Spaces, completely exhausting all her strength, Sirin was panting and couldn't even stand steadily, kneeling on the ground.
Even though she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, Sirin still raised her head high, exposing her pale neck. With a look of defiance, perhaps mocking herself or Ometeotl, she stared at It with determination.
"A life for a life, a very fair principle. Come on!"
"This is not fair."
The dark spear traced a perfect arc in the sky, then rapidly accelerated and passed through Sirin's body, blasting a twenty-centimeter hole in her chest.
Thud—
Sirin, kneeling on the ground, let her arms fall limply and her head drooped...
The dark spear returned to Ometeotl's hand, then transformed back into black chaos and merged back into Its body.
Ometeotl glanced into the distance, and then... Kiana, who had been teleported by Sirin to an infinitely distant place she thought was safe, appeared out of thin air next to Sirin.
One with all her internal organs turned to nothing, a large hole in her torso... the other a mangled mess of flesh, completely unrecognizable...
"This is a battle between gods, yet it is so dull. Death and life, matter and soul..." Ometeotl muttered to itself, feeling a bit bored.
The Great Will of the Sea of Quanta had told It that a designated god from the Imaginary Tree had entered the Sea of Quanta, and asked It to give her a proper welcome.
Usually, the Sea of Quanta's idea of a proper welcome was to inflict the most painful torture and slaughter on the intruder, and then offer the intruder's corpse as a sacrifice to the Sea of Quanta.
The Sea of Quanta would then give a reward corresponding to the intruder's status, and take It before the Great Will of the Imaginary Tree to listen in on and witness the bickering between the two Great Wills.
Although It didn't know why the Sea of Quanta would ask It to kill Kiana, who had not yet assumed her rule and stepped into the realm of a true god this time.
But the Great Will of the Sea of Quanta was never wrong. It was just that usually, after killing the intruder, the Great Will of the Sea of Quanta would immediately give the reward. Why wasn't it given this time?
Was the welcome not harsh enough?
[No, it was harsh enough. So this time, the Sea of Quanta has sent me to give the reward.]
Boom—
The sky of the Bubble Universe was torn open, and a giant purple eye appeared in the firmament. Its desolate, cross-shaped pupil stared at Ometeotl on the ground, devoid of any emotion.