Having truly stepped into the outer reaches of this Sector, Seraphine immediately halted.

  With the pressure of her footsteps, she caused the boundless space beneath her to vibrate, raising wave after wave of spacetime ripples.

  She looked upward.

  Gazing towards the dazzling, multicolored, and variously shaped constellation of over a thousand star systems floating in all directions ahead, her massive and profound body—like a void filled with stars—suddenly glittered with brilliant light.

  Whoosh ——

  Suddenly.

  Over a hundred pitch-black ethereal cracks, etched across her colossal starry form, which stood an incredible seven hundred and seventy-seven trillion kilometers tall, abruptly twitched and surged.

  In an instant, they expanded and swelled into gaping maws, each approximately ten trillion kilometers in diameter, capable of utterly swallowing the sky.

  These more than one hundred vast, profound fissures are fundamentally the dimensional gaps between the one hundred and twenty-eight three-dimensional spacetime unit cells that comprise this colossal second-form body.

  Deep within these gaps, every single moment witnesses countless instances of translation, transformation, and swapping between high-dimensional and low-dimensional unit cells.

  The resulting degree of spacetime collapse and dimensional chaos is simply horrifying to witness.

  Should anyone fall into them by misfortune—unless intentionally shielded by Seraphine—all micro-structures exceeding the level of elementary particles would be ruthlessly shredded and torn apart amidst such high-frequency and intense spacetime dimensional flux. They would subsequently convert into endless light energy, thermal energy, and elementary particles, only to be devoured ruthlessly by the three-dimensional or four-dimensional spacetime unit cells tightly connected to these dimensional fissures, leaving absolutely no trace.

  Their inherent danger level surpasses even that found inside a black hole's event horizon.

  Hum hum hum!!

  Suddenly, these more than one hundred colossal dimensional gaps, vast and profound like the dark abyss of the universe, simultaneously vibrated slightly.

  Due to this severe disturbance to the three-dimensional spacetime structure, the surrounding vast cosmic expanse, measured in light-years, also began to intensely fluctuate and surge, thereby raising layers upon layers of spacetime tidal waves, spanning hundreds and thousands of astronomical units in scale, roaring at superluminal speed and sweeping toward the four cardinal directions of the starry sky.

  After merely a few seconds of vibration, at the deepest parts within these dark cracks—the infinite spacetime abyss—a miraculous condensation, achieved through high-frequency dimensional swapping, suddenly generated torrents of intense attractive force that acted directly upon the most fundamental level of the vast three-dimensional cosmic spacetime structure.

  These terrifying streams of attractive force, which seemed bent on ripping the three-dimensional spacetime structure apart piece by piece, once generated, acted like countless greedy, malevolent, celestial-devouring demonic claws. With cackling laughter, they enveloped and seeped into the surrounding vastness.

  In contrast to the nearly bottomless spacetime indentation similar to a black hole's event horizon in the universe,

  Any part of the boundless void permeated and colored by this spacetime attractive force would instantly swell and inflate dramatically. In a manner somewhat analogous to the principle of opening a superluminal warp bubble, it would, like a surging cosmos, thunderously sweep up dozens or hundreds of star systems scattered near and far across space. With a speed exceeding the speed of light by billions of times, it would rumble and roar across immense distances in an instant, rushing wildly and fiercely toward the origin point of this endless attraction—into the numerous constantly opening and closing profound cracks on the surface of Seraphine's colossal body, who stood like a sky-propping giant deity at the Sector's periphery.

  Whoosh whoosh whoosh ——

  At this moment, the boundless, immense void resembled an endless, pitch-black ocean, ceaselessly boiling and surging.

  Seraphine, whose form was like a gigantic, profound human-shaped space, slowly extended her long arms. Like the legendary Celestial Realm's dams, she stood still, joyfully welcoming the continuously colliding 'rivers' of star systems pouring in from distant regions of space.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Stars exploded; the dark cosmos trembled.

  Amidst the broad, continuous explosions, great rivers of pure light and heat, encompassed by rippling superluminal spacetime distortions, surged and roared endlessly, flowing around Seraphine.

  At this moment, almost every second, seventy, eighty, or even ninety or a hundred colossal star systems—brilliant, bright, or dim—would fiercely rush towards the more than one hundred dimensional gaps on her body's surface, which resembled cosmic demonic maws swallowing space.

  Each of these star systems, as it collapsed and entered the dimensional gaps, would be quickly checked by Seraphine for the presence of Spirituality radiance.

  If present, she would 'package' it, extracting its essence.

  Each surge of Celestial Arcana, cleansing as it flowed, directly shattered the excess structural components (asteroid belts and nebula layers) at the periphery of these star systems. Then, it comprehended the disc-shaped structure—dozens of billions of kilometers in diameter—encompassing the single or binary stars and numerous planetary satellites, transferring them together through the delicate dimensional connection pathways of each unit cell within the gap, into a random three-dimensional unit cell within her second form.

  Concurrently, she would 'convert' all intelligent species existing within this simplified version of the star system, making them a new batch of wisdom spark providers.

  If the star system devoured by the dimensional cracks lacked Spirituality radiance, Seraphine would directly shatter it completely to nothingness. Countless trillions of tons of matter would instantly transform into a colossal flash of light and heat, absorbed into her body, leaving not even a tiny proton behind.

  Whoosh whoosh whoosh ——

  Spacetime ripples were ceaseless, and spatial tremors were continuous.

  Suddenly, a wandering black hole, emitting terrifying gravitational force as it 'slowly' moved at sub-light speed through the surrounding space, was inadvertently caught by the attractive force. It was then swept up and merged into the vast, colossal 'river' of star systems, and simultaneously cast into a dimensional gap.

  As this black hole, with an event horizon radius of twenty-five thousand kilometers, entered the deep gap, the infinitely deep gravitational abyss surrounding its spacetime sphere was instantly nullified by Seraphine's single thought.

  Then, in a flash, this black hole was cut and peeled away by countless high- and low-dimensional changes, transforming into a naked Singularity of immense density and minuscule volume.

  Next, it was casually transferred by Seraphine into a certain four-dimensional unit cell within her true body.

  There, astonishingly, existed dozens of naked singularities of various sizes.

  But regardless of how colossal the mass these naked singularities possessed, their terrifying gravitational fields that should have manifested were strangely absent. They silently drifted within the boundless, dark space that possessed four orthogonal dimensions.

  This was merely a brief interlude.

  In fact, for Seraphine, who had now evolved to such a level, black holes were no longer hazardous.

  Even directly swallowing one would simply mean it entered a specific spacetime unit cell within her body.

  It would cause her absolutely no harm whatsoever.

  Rumble rumble rumble ——

  Stars collapsed; countless entities were annihilated.

  Under Seraphine's ruthless decree, these blazing stars, still in their prime—stars that should have freely radiated billions of years of glory across the vast expanse before truly meeting their natural end—were brutally shredded by dimensional fissures within moments, separating into countless fragments.

  These celestial bodies, regardless of size, ultimately unleashed a torrent of dazzling, incandescent light, reaching temperatures of tens of billions of degrees Celsius, towards the boundless outer cosmos, before sorrowfully fading into absolute nothingness.

  And because these colossal, energy-rich, stellar-level explosions of brilliant light, uniquely emanating from every point on Seraphine's massive form, erupted incessantly every single second.

  Therefore, this chaotic region of space-time appeared as if dozens, even hundreds, of supernova events were occurring every moment.

  However, constrained by the light-cone effect, intelligent civilizations residing within each star system—which were being swept up and funneled toward the dimensional cracks on Seraphine’s body—were fundamentally incapable of observing this cosmic spectacle.

  They could neither register nor react to it.

  Because for these humble and fragile civilizations:

  Outside the light cone, there was only the void; inside the light cone, there was only inescapable destiny.

  These beings, living across hundreds and thousands of planets during their respective eras, included kings, generals, paupers, scientists, heroes, felons, cowards, shamans, revered saints, individuals brimming with hatred, and those filled with hope.

  They all possessed their unique dreams, aspirations, and ambitions.

  Some had realized them, some were actively pursuing them, and some would never attain them.

  But the majority were just ordinary people.

  The hundreds of billions, trillions, or even greater numbers of diverse lives above held no grand cosmic visions. They were steadily proceeding with their mundane routines.

  Working, resting, commuting, conversing, playing games, splashing in water, running, falling in love, marrying, arguing, driving vehicles, sailing ships, farming the land, stealing, robbing, committing murder, waging war, fleeing, seeking refuge, staging rebellions, embarking on adventures, cultivating power, hunting prey, shooting arrows, forging metal, crafting primitive stone tools...

  The endless, countless entities spread throughout these colossal 'rivers' of star systems, regardless of who they were or what they were engaged in, were now unknowingly on the verge of facing a cosmic catastrophe thousands of times more terrifying than any mythological doomsday legend.

  In their perception:

  Heaven remained heaven, the earth remained the earth, and space persisted as space.

  Nothing had altered; everything was still normal.

  All manner of immense and terrifying anomalies existing beyond the distant star systems were firmly 'blocked' by the light cone.

  They fundamentally did not realize the desperate end that awaited them, their species, and indeed, their entire civilization.

  They couldn't even muster feelings of despair, nor did they possess the time to formulate such an emotion.

  In mere seconds, their civilizations, painstakingly built over millennia, their star systems, where generations had taken root, would be mercilessly consumed by Seraphine.

  At that moment, hundreds of millions, billions of individual lives across the entire civilization, would be transformed into an eternal supply of wisdom sparks for Seraphine.

  Becoming her infinite catalyst for dimensional advancement, becoming her inexhaustible military provisions for ascent.

  Humble and low-tier beings, when disregarded and trampled upon by a deity, are fundamentally incapable of resistance.

  They don't even have the temporal allowance to conceive of resistance or despair.

  Because this deity is a grand existence that transcends the speed of light, surpasses three dimensions, and exists beyond perception.

  The differential in time and space between the two is too vast to be calculated.

  They are not even granted the right to react.

  Because against Seraphine's superluminal actions, the civilizations currently being devoured cannot react, and the civilizations about to be devoured also cannot react.

  All intelligent beings unable to breach the light cone to detect the impending catastrophe can only blankly and ignorantly await the deity to tread upon them, consuming them alive.

  This is fate.

  This is the destiny ruthlessly imposed upon the vulnerable by the supreme powerhouse.

  Rumble rumble rumble ——

  Star systems were obliterated sequentially.

  Star systems were devoured one after another.

  Intelligent species were 'converted' one by one.

  In a mere 10 seconds.

  This low-Ether Sector, comprising over 1000 star systems, along with the hundreds of millions of intelligent beings existing within them, thus vanished forever into the boundless universe.

  As if they had never drawn breath, and had never existed.

  And Seraphine, standing silently amidst the desolate, dark starry void, after completely consuming over 290 intelligent civilizations, absorbing their ocean-like knowledge and information, and acquiring trillions of wisdom sparks from civilized individuals, her stalled dimensional upgrade scale suddenly began to burn fiercely and climb rapidly, like a nuclear reactor being fed with high-concentration uranium rods.

  Just at this critical moment, the Infinite Attributes system suddenly activated.

  Buzz buzz ——

  【Host: Seraphine】

  【Physical Strength: 6 billion Star】

  【Soul: 6 billion Star】

  In an instant, Seraphine's attributes doubled once more, reaching a power equivalent to six billion suns.

  "It's still insufficient."

  Ignoring the immediate attribute changes.

  Seraphine focused her 'gaze' toward the dimensional upgrade gauge, which resembled a physical dial, deep within the Cosmic Intellect located in her Primordial Soul.

  It indicated that after devouring nearly three hundred civilizations this time, the gauge had advanced only by one-tenth of a single notch.

  And to progress from four dimensions to five dimensions, she abruptly required 10,000 notches.

  "Is this demanding that I devour the entire Milky Way?"

  Seraphine hesitated slightly, "Very well, there are no shortcuts to dimensional advancement, so let's set the Milky Way as the objective and consume it."

  "However, I must first depart this Broken Sector and proceed to Golden Bough; the interstellar civilizations gathered there are far more 'appetizing' than this Low-Ether Sector."

  With that declaration, she turned her body, and strode toward that Ash Zone star cluster, several hundred light-years distant, which clearly showed a recessed area following the disappearance of the Low-Ether Sector.

  Bang!

  Bang!

  Bang!

  Space-time warped; the starry void trembled violently.

  With just four or five strides, Seraphine, who was trampling out waves of space-time vibration, suddenly collided with this spherical star cluster containing tens of thousands of star systems.

  In that instant, dozens of star systems were crushed and annihilated by her sheer impact, transforming into streams of blazing cosmic light that flowed into her colossal starry form.

  Seraphine had no intention of lingering in this locale where the probability of emergent life was exceptionally low.

  She pressed forward rapidly at a velocity of seventy to eighty light-years per second.

  In a mere few seconds, she mercilessly shattered and annihilated thousands of star systems within this spherical cluster.

  "Oh? There is actually an intelligent civilization here!"

  Suddenly, Seraphine halted, slowly extended her hand, and gently 'plucked' a slightly dimmer star system from among the multitude of star systems, large and small, scattered around her.

  Through her Boundless Domain, she directly 'perceived' the situation within this star system.

  Piercing through the 'dense' Nebula layer and the asteroid belt.

  Seraphine's 'gaze' swept straight to a barren planet utterly devoid of atmosphere, seemingly lacking any trace of life.

  Deep within its crust, astonishingly, resided a colossal device, far taller and more massive than Mount Everest.

  Within this gigantic apparatus existed a vast virtual world, where tens of billions of conscious entities quietly resided.

  "Born in an Ash Zone without Ether or structured access ways, with superluminal travel speeds remaining forever out of reach, coupled with severe resource depletion and environmental decay, they ultimately could only upload all their memories and consciousness into colossal cloud infrastructures to barely maintain the civilization's existence."

  Seraphine mused, "The inevitable terminus for a Cyber Civilization, is it? Truly regrettable."

  Facing this species that had lost its inherent Spirituality—a form that could only be classified as simulated consciousness—she immediately lost interest and flicked it deep into the Ash Zone, abandoning it to its fate.

  ...

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  In the boundless expanse of space.

  Seraphine stepped forward, one stride after another. By the time she departed this massive star cluster and this Broken Sector, she had literally carved out a colossal humanoid vacuum corridor, stretching several hundred light-years long and exceeding 80 light-years in height.

  This corridor, like many void spaces in the deep universe, contained nothing but scattered photons, electrons, and neutrinos intersecting within it.

  And the moment Seraphine entered the territory of the Golden Bough Civilization, she immediately activated her Eye of Transcendence.

  Swoosh ——

  In an instant, she perceived every interstellar civilization contained within this colossal Civilization Zone.

  "Not bad!"

  Seraphine smiled, "The radiance of Spirituality is extremely vigorous. Any one of the relatively powerful interstellar civilizations here probably harbors a number of intelligent beings comparable to that entire Low-Ether Sector."

  Immediately, she strode towards the nearest interstellar civilization.

  ...

  Deep within the vast Orion Spiral Arm.

  Seraphine, resembling a towering, gigantic deity, slowly traversed the immense space.

  Each step she took caused the surrounding hundreds of trillions of kilometers of void to rumble and vibrate, raising layer upon layer of overlapping space-time ripples that enveloped all directions.

  Now, having devoured hundreds of scorching stars, Seraphine's spatial body, compared to when it first manifested, no longer appeared so empty and limitless.

  On the surface of her body, which resembled a humanoid cosmos, the constantly flowing and swirling brilliant nebulae and stellar light were distinctly more numerous. Beyond its mystical and fantastical appearance, it now seemed even more majestic and supreme.

  Boom!!

  A binary star system, spanning twenty-eight trillion kilometers in diameter, was sorrowfully devoured by Seraphine, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The surrounding space, amidst its fluctuations and surges, also suddenly fell silent.

  No life forms attempted escape, no life forms resisted, and no life forms managed to transmit this newly confirmed destruction data to other star systems.

  Now, whether Ordinary, Transcendent, or Overlord.

  As long as they were all beings confined within the light cone, to Seraphine, a high-dimensional entity, there was not the slightest difference.

  All were merely ants.

  "Five civilized planets, two hundred and eighty billion intelligent life forms."

  The cosmic giant raised her colossal eyes, tens of trillions of kilometers wide, and calmly looked forward, whispering:

  "Truly worthy of a mature interstellar civilization. Both the aggregate knowledge and the vibrant activity of wisdom sparks, among an equal number of individuals, are far stronger than those found in lower-tier civilizations."

  After arriving in the Golden Bough Civilization Zone, Seraphine's 'hunting' methodology quietly underwent a minor modification.

  Unlike the entirely cluster-shaped Low-Ether Sector which she had nearly consumed in its entirety.

  The six-thousand-light-year-long Golden Bough Civilization Zone, encompassing a total of three hundred and seventy-six interstellar civilizations, featured civilized territories mostly resembling the former Republic of Chile on Earth—existing in extremely narrow, elongated, sword-shaped Sectors.

  And interspersed between these narrow, blade-like Sectors were vast expanses of Broken Sectors.

  Most of these Broken Sectors were non-Ether Ash Zones.

  Therefore, Seraphine could not simply 'eat' in a generalized buffet style as she had previously. She needed to follow the trajectory of each intermediate pathway, entering each interstellar civilization and looping back along the way to consume those star systems; otherwise, it would result in a lengthy detour, unnecessarily wasting her time.

  However, for Seraphine, who possessed near-infinite patience, these logistical concerns were trivial. Boredom and monotony were simply inherent challenges that powerful beings inevitably faced.

  Boom!!

  Seraphine's footsteps pressed down, causing ripples of space-time to surge within the spatial movements. She suddenly pivoted and stepped into the vast Ash Zone, departing this fork in the Sector that had already been completely consumed. Targeting the end of another Sector fork, she stomped forward.

  At this precise moment.

  The nearly 1 quadrillion individuals belonging to the three hundred and seventy-four intelligent species existing throughout the vast Golden Bough Civilization Zone were completely unaware that a ruthless, utterly irresistible, and unobservable deity was striding through space, drawing ever closer to them.

  Before long, she would devour them all, along with this colossal Civilization Zone, leaving nothing remaining.

  ...

  The Golden Bough Civilization Zone had existed for 50,000 years.

  In this region, 90% of interstellar civilizations did not possess such an extended history. Most of them benefited from the high-level hallway that suddenly reactivated and traversed six thousand light-years of space 50,000 years ago, allowing them to rapidly develop and enter the cosmic era.

  But in addition to these late-developing civilizations, this colossal and profound Civilization Zone also housed some ancient interstellar civilizations with long-standing histories.

  For example, at the very terminus of the main thoroughfare of the Golden Bough Civilization Zone, there was an ancient civilization established by intelligent life forms rooted in elven silver—the Aokang Empire, which had already endured for 150,000 years.

  And at this moment, deep within the territory of this civilization's empire, in the capital city of a planet named Teddy, a mysterious ritual was underway.

  Whoosh whoosh whoosh ——

  Dense, viscous black smoke had completely enveloped the entire city.

  Beneath the swirling and obscuring mist, in every corner of this metropolitan area, apart from scattered, jumbled desiccated corpses and the surrounding violently agitated monsters, there were only densely glittering, spiderweb-like silver threads crawling across the buildings and the ground.

  These ethereal silver threads, acting like living organisms, would crack open silent fissures every moment, from which pale, elongated tongues would emerge, licking up and down in the air, as if savoring and consuming something.

  Suddenly, a languid and melodious music emanated from deep within the black smoke, disturbing these silver threads, causing them to momentarily revert to their original, still state. After a long pause, the silver threads resumed their licking motions with their protruding tongues.

  Following this leisurely drifting music to its source, one would find a silver-gray, thousand-meter-tall structure radiating an eerie presence. This high-rise building served as the governing center for the planet's Governor.

  Now, inside this Governor's mansion, a young Aokang person with unremarkable features but a face covered in pitch-black ghostly markings—making him appear exceptionally sinister—was leaning sideways on a sofa.

  The peculiar observation was that incredibly dense, countless silver threads, both corporeal and illusory, connected to him from outside his body, penetrating the walls from all directions.

  Each thread constantly transmitted data, expanding and contracting, into this Aokang person's frame, causing his aura to continuously swell every minute and every second.

  "Pain, terror, calamity, chaos, death... How magnificent this power is; it grants me endless strength!"

  This Aokang person suddenly opened his eyes, which had turned entirely pitch black, and coldly addressed the elderly Aokang kneeling before him—the Governor of Teddy. His cyan-black lips parted slightly as he spoke with sinister malice:

  "My esteemed Governor, have you... finally regretted submitting to me?!"

  "No, no, no!"

  Upon hearing this, the Governor's face contorted in terror, shaking his head ceaselessly. "No, no, no, Lord Obra, I, I, I, I shall forever remain your most devoted servant."

  "Ah, then how do I recall... a long time ago, when you refused my proposal of marriage for your daughter, you did not speak with such deference. You proclaimed... I was merely a lowly commoner."

  Obra curled his lips, his eyes filled with teasing cruelty.

  "This, this—I was a fool! Please pardon my past foolishness, my Lord!"

  After speaking, the Governor slammed his head onto the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

  Witnessing this contemptible old man's subservient demeanor, Obra opened his mouth, revealing rows of sharp fangs, and suddenly burst into maniacal laughter:

  "This is the Governor of Teddy! And these are the damned nobility of the Aokang Empire! Where is your eternal arrogance now? Where did it vanish? Hmm? Hahahahahahaha!"

  After his laughter subsided, Obra spoke grimly: "Be assured, there is no need for fear or apprehension..." At this juncture, a sinister smile spread across his face: "Since you have offered up your entire lineage, presenting their blood and screams as tribute, I shall, of course, faithfully uphold my promise... and permit you to live."

  "Yes, yes."

  The Governor bowed in agreement, while secretly glancing out the high-rise window toward the area flickering with black light, his eyes revealing deep fear and simmering hatred.

  Following his line of sight, outside the Governor's central tower, the ancient and solemn plaza that once stood there was now dominated by a towering 'Tower of the Dead,' meticulously constructed from stacked Aokang corpses from base to apex.

  At the very pinnacle rested the corpse of a beautiful, nude female Aokang, her hands positioned beneath her head, her feet pointing upward, faintly suspended in an inverted crucifixion shape.

  Her ash-colored, vacant eyes stared blankly forward. From a gaping hole torn open at the crown of her skull, a trickle of viscous, silvery fluid slowly dripped, falling into the mouth of another similarly positioned, yet closed-eyed and open-mouthed, elderly nude female Aokang corpse directly below.

  At the lower back of this elderly Aokang corpse, a fist-sized laceration had suddenly appeared.

  Through the decaying, twisting aperture of the wound, one could clearly observe the putrid interior and fragmented pieces of silver-gray bone.

  This gash also continuously dripped silver blood, falling into the mouth of a young, nude male Aokang corpse, suspended diagonally outward below the previous one.

  Thus, these Aokang corpses, with twisted and broken limbs, were linked layer by layer by the dripping silver ichor, forming one hundred and ninety-three spiraling, stacked tiers. Including the young nude female corpse at the very top, there were a total of 194 individuals.

  Beneath the very last, lowest Aokang corpse rested a brilliant silver vessel the size of a human head.

  No, it should be stated accurately: this was a chalice crafted from Aokang skull bone.

  At the base of this bone chalice, surprisingly, tens of hundreds of thousands of silver threads were tightly interwoven, ceaselessly transmitting some kind of evil and defiled energy into the cup.

  Periodically, a droplet of viscous, dazzling silver-glowing plasma would fall into the bone chalice, splashing out a ring of putrid silver blood flowers.

  When these blood flowers bloomed, viewed from a distance, it resembled a magnificent silver rose unfolding.

  With every bloom of this rose, the millions of silver threads flowing and leaping in every direction continuously expanded and contracted.

  The space-time swirling around the bone chalice incessantly twisted and roared, each surge more intense than the last.

  It was as if some dangerous and terrifying power was on the verge of emerging, cackling and crawling forth from the infinitely distant realm behind the surging distortion.

  "Great Eyes above, this is truly magnificent!"

  Obra shifted his posture, gazed toward the 'Tower of the Dead' outside the window, drew a deep breath of the blood-scented air, and with an expression of utter infatuation, exclaimed:

  "The prelude to the Tigros Sabbath — The Tower of Flesh and Blood!"

  He slowly lowered his head, casting a sinister glare at the kneeling Governor, and spoke darkly:

  "Isn't it beautiful, my dear father-in-law? This is an altar meticulously crafted using your entire lineage as raw material."

  The Governor bowed his head deeply, his breathing ragged, offering no reply.

  "Do you realize, for the sake of revenge, I indirectly labored for a full five hundred years!"

  Obra tilted his head slightly and cackled, "Now, seeing your entire family reduced to this state, seeing your most cherished daughter, my deeply adored Fiora, turned into this tattered visage, I simply..."

  He suddenly erupted into a ferocious expression of agony, howling wildly at the sky: "Ah ah ah!!!"

  Amidst a wail akin to a demon dredged from hell, a profound depth of love and sorrow was revealed.

  This cry seemed to carry an inherent, deep evil force, causing the surrounding scenery to suddenly plunge into darkness. Even in the air, faint whispers, sobs, and laughter—sounding like both an elder and a child—could be discerned.

  Unexpectedly, after only a few seconds of this howling fit, Obra abruptly stopped, slowly lowered his head, and directed an utterly bizarre expression toward the blankly staring Governor.

  His pale face, crisscrossed with dense black markings, clearly conveyed suffering, yet his pitch-black eyes brimmed with an utterly maniacal smile:

  "This kind of agony... Heh heh heh, it is a direct stimulant!"

  As he spoke, he sounded somewhat perturbed, "This vessel is still not completely transmuted, and the remnants of humanity in my soul have not been thoroughly purged.

  Otherwise, faced with such intense heartbreak, I should be experiencing ultimate exhilaration; why else would I cry out in pain? This is truly vexing."

  "You..."

  The Governor collapsed onto the floor, pointing at Obra and stammering: "You madman! You are utterly insane!!"

  "Insane?"

  Obra tilted his head slightly and smiled, "Do you comprehend? In this damned universe rife with deception and oppression, achieving insanity is an incredibly wonderful liberation."

  "Order is merely a transient phenomenon; chaos... is eternal!"

  Having declared this, he paid no further attention to the pitiful old Aokang man, strolling toward the exit.

  As he stepped out, Obra sighed faintly:

  "The envy, the avarice, the vengeance, the rage, and the despair of this entire metropolis! All transformed into tragically beautiful fuel, consumed by the soul-melting, utterly dark fire of chaos! I bestow upon them the highest meaning of existence in this reality!"

  He proceeded to the 'Tower of the Dead,' suddenly picked up the bone chalice, swirled the silvery fluid within, and chanted softly:

  "Tigros's guests, my cruel and wicked brethren of the cult, I dedicate my homeland, my kin, my tribe—all to you! Only to complete the rite!"

  Having chanted, he abruptly tilted his head back and poured the silvery fluid into his mouth.

  Gulp!

  Obra laboriously swallowed the large draft of defiled liquid.

  Then, he abruptly drew three rusty, sharp spikes from his Imaginary Space device attached to his waist.

  Thrust!

  Thrust!

  Obra brazenly plunged two spikes into his abdomen and chest respectively, piercing clean through.

  Silver blood trickled out, yet he showed no sign of pain; instead, he curled his lips into a grotesque, twisted smile.

  Finally, to the Governor's astonished and frightened gaze, he took the third spike and slowly aimed it at his own forehead.

  The old man muttered in a trembling voice: "You... Are you going to take your own life?!"

  "Heh heh heh."

  Obra turned and gave him a chilling smile, then suddenly plunged the stained spike fiercely into his own skull.

  Pch-thk!

  Putrid silver brain matter sprayed everywhere, spattering the ground.

  But Obra surprisingly did not perish; he even spread his arms wide and instantly ascended toward the sky.

  As he flew, he loudly chanted a long and eerie incantation.

  When this incantation reached the ears of the aged Governor below, he clearly did not understand the language, yet he felt the tyrannical essence of the words violently forcing its way into his mind.

  The insidious and evil power contained within it nearly, almost made his skull rupture.

  "Self-annihilation, sacrificing one's love, annihilating one's tribe.

  All three cardinal sins upon my own being."

  Obra swiftly ascended several thousand meters into the air.

  The words he chanted grew even more magnificent and deafening.

  Encompassing the entire city.

  "Adopting evil as my curse, pain transforms into my might.

  Taking sin as sustenance, a bitter soul becomes my consciousness.

  All wickedness belongs to me!

  All calamities belong to me!

  All power belongs to me!!"

  By the time he reached ten thousand meters in altitude, Obra suddenly ripped off his entire set of eyelids. As blood plasma gushed out, completely exposing his two eyes, he fiercely stared at the boundless sky, roaring madly:

  "Great Eyes, look upon me!

  Grant me rebirth! Grant me supreme strength!!"

  Hum ——

  In an instant, the sky was instantly shrouded by an boundless, suffocating night.

  In this pitch-black sky, a colossal pair of cold eyes suddenly cracked open, gazing down upon the earth.

  "This, this is... the apocalypse?!"

  The powerless Governor, paralyzed on the ground, stared blankly at the heavens.

  He only felt that within those immense crimson eyes resided a chilling malice and ferocity that induced primal fear.

  It was as if the abyssal purgatory of ancient mythology was boiling and fermenting within, endlessly pouring its boundless darkness and malevolence onto this tiny planet.

  "Agh... Agh..."

  The Governor stared blankly at the sky, his entire body rigid. Suddenly, his body convulsed violently, his eyes instantly lost focus, and he fell helplessly to the ground.

  Death.

  And following the appearance of the colossal eyes, in the very center of this city, several grotesque figures suddenly twisted and materialized.

  These strangely emerging entities, judging by their outward appearance, clearly belonged to the same monstrous species.

  All possessed pale brown, exaggerated faces devoid of eyes, nose, or ears, but instead featured three wide mouths lined vertically, top to bottom, with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  The moment they materialized, they slowly unfurled four pairs of sturdy, moist, massive insect wings. With a lazy beat of these wings, they instantly and silently soared into the high atmosphere.

  During their flight, the myriad tiny, barbed filaments—resembling shattered steel shards—on the backs of these abominations rapidly vibrated.

  As if they were grasping something intangible.

  "Ah ——"

  In the sky, after these monsters emitted several piercing shrieks, they simultaneously lowered their heads to 'observe' the mist-shrouded city, voicing their sentiments in a fiercely piercing tone from fifteen wide mouths:

  "Pain, fear, struggle, demise! How magnificent! How exquisite! I crave... a complete feast!"

  They slowly opened their three wide, fanged maws, emitting bursts of laughter that sounded humorously wicked yet akin to animalistic roars filled with murderous intent and sheer fury:

  "Heh heh heh heh heh ~"

  "Caw caw caw caw caw ~"

  "Hmm hmm hmm ~"

  After a moment of frenzied sound, the five monsters swayed their heads and dispersed, flying rapidly in different directions at speeds reaching several hundred Mach.

  What was astonishing was that these monstrous bodies seemed utterly unaffected by air resistance while in flight; even at such astounding speeds across land and sky, they failed to stir a single current of wind.

  It was as if... they were mere phantoms.

  The emergence of these five grotesque creatures was merely the prologue.

  After Obra officially initiated the Tigros Sabbath ritual, the colossal eyes hanging in the sky—extending beyond the limits of any being's vision—rumbled and vibrated, wildly distorting space-time. From the boundless void, the entity continuously 'pulled' terrifying figures, both large and small, saturated with sinister malevolence, across the vast universe, swiftly depositing them in the major metropolitan areas of Teddy.

  The instant these abhorrent beings, whose silent presence alone caused the surrounding environment to rapidly decay and mutate, appeared, the Aokang people, hiding near and far everywhere, suddenly erupted into frenzied roars and began slaughtering one another.

  "Heh heh heh heh, humble mortals, always so delightfully pathetic."

  After thoroughly savoring the spectacle of slaughter, these monsters cackled maniacally, flying high and fast in all directions, commencing systematic killing and destruction through various means.

  These Evil Eye Cultists, now scattered across the immense interstellar expanse, all exhibited grotesque and bizarre forms.

  Some resembled gigantic gray eagles, yet possessed long, slender serpentine necks, with wingspans less than 2 meters; a single gentle flap covered tens of kilometers.

  Moreover, as it soared and flew, its deceptively small wings defied physics, creating a terrifying wind-pressure effect akin to a thousand-meter-wide wing stroke, instantly generating gloomy, swirling tornadoes that swept away and tore apart countless towering thousand-meter high-rises, suspended overpasses, and the shrieking, fleeing populace, reducing them to a dense rain of ash and dust hundreds of meters high, blanketing vast territories.

  Others resembled gigantic carnivorous flora, capable of spewing massive clouds of electrified pollen from their rumbling, arc-filled, enormous pistils—pollen masses weighing thousands of times more than their total body mass.

  These 'pollen projectiles,' more accurately violent plasma munitions, acted like intelligent, miniature guided bombs the moment they manifested, saturating all structures and crowds within several hundred kilometers in all directions at speeds ten to a hundred times supersonic, utterly vaporizing and exploding all matter into hundreds of thousands of tons of charred black residue.

  Some were fundamentally enormous black worms, equipped with countless orifices spewing fire. Upon arrival, they would split open their ferocious suckers and roar, then suddenly inflate and detonate, splitting into hundreds and thousands of ten-thousand-meter long Earth Dragons that savagely burrowed through the solid ground, drilling deep into the Earth's crust, as if they would not rest until they reached the core and took a bite.

  Simultaneously, these creatures, whose entire bodies radiated temperatures exceeding ten thousand degrees Celsius due to their highly thermal-conductive nature, continuously generated countless screaming, howling magma monsters within the cavities they bored through the crust. These monsters rapidly crawled out of the solidified drill-holes, resembling Flame Demons born in purgatory, swarming to ambush the planetary defense forces rushing to shield the citizens.

  There was even an Evil Eye Cultist resembling an ancient giant rat, which cackled sinisterly and casually swung a bone-staff in its claw, remotely summoning tens of millions of dangerous species, still alive deep within the Sentience Realm, onto various cities on the planet's surface.

  Among these terrifying entities, which one would normally have only a faint chance of encountering during extended interstellar voyages, were swarms of light-spewing insects, resembling hundreds of Mach supersonic missiles, frantically launching suicidal attacks.

  There were also giants, appearing and vanishing; they would merely raise their heads from the dense fog and pass by while sobbing, causing thousands upon thousands of people below to commit instantaneous suicide in profound grief, wailing mournfully.

  Even more dreadful were countless swarms of demonic butterflies, buzzing and flying across the horizon, shedding scales that grotesquely melted thousands of people below into viscous puddles of bloody paste.

  There were even bone-beetle demons capable of transmitting their genetic traits—like erroneous scrambled code—merely through ultrasonic waves, and they could also utilize any simple or complex metallic mechanism for destructive super-speed reproduction and growth.

  These horrifying creatures, which should only appear in midnight nightmares, alongside the thousands upon thousands of cackling Evil Eye Cultists brutally massacring the Aokang people, dragged the entire Teddy into absolute apocalypse in a short span of time.

  For an entire day.

  This unfortunate planet was ravaged by the Cult of the Evil Eye for a full day.

  During this day, weeping and sorrowful wailing became Teddy's mournful centerpiece soundtrack.

  Every city, every region, was saturated with crumbling gray, corrosive green, and trickling, turbid silver blood.

  Past glory and splendor had been utterly replaced by desolate ruins, leaving behind only a terrifying ash-white landscape.

  And at the very epicenter of this apocalypse, high in the sky above Teddy's capital city, the three rusty, sharp weapons embedded in Obra's chest, abdomen, and head shattered and vaporized in an instant. Along with those three dreadful wounds, everything vanished into nothingness.

  Restored to his original form, he slowly descended back to the ground.

  As for the former Governor, he had, along with the collapsed governing center, turned into useless rubble and dust, his soul returning to the heavens.

  "Power never before witnessed."

  Obra slightly closed his eyes, immersing himself in the sheer ecstasy of his life essence rapidly ascending, unable to contain himself:

  "Once I have absorbed this boon from the Great Eyes, I will evolve to at least Transcendent Stage Seven."

  Suddenly, a voice drifted down from above:

  "Did you hear that?"

  Obra looked up: "Hear what?"

  Whoosh whoosh whoosh ——

  The distinct sound of flapping wings arrived.

  A colossal, six-winged, bat-like creature, seemingly condensed from endless, coalesced blood, descended from the sky, slowly landing before Obra, and spoke in a gloomy, deep voice:

  "Did you hear... this planet's desperate lament?"

  The moment this peculiar creature appeared, the surrounding atmosphere instantly turned gloomy and eerie.

  Upon seeing him, Obra immediately offered a respectful greeting: "Forgive me, Bishop Bactan, I did not detect the so-called weeping of the planet you mentioned."

  "Hmm ~ Is that so?"

  Bactan chuckled, "Obra, it seems your fortune isn't very favorable today, and your Spirituality is rather pedestrian.

  What a shame. If you cannot perceive the planet's will crying out, you naturally cannot connect with it, let alone... devour its essence."

  "Oh? Devour the power of the planet's will!"

  Obra was stunned, "So that's the mechanism? Then this time I... suffered a massive setback!"

  "No need to be disheartened; this is a standard occurrence."

  Bactan stated with a sinister smile, "Every Tigros Sabbath is always overseen by a newcomer.

  But the inexperienced newcomer invariably fails to secure the greatest benefits of that Sabbath; it's an established rule."

  "The greatest benefit?" Obra inquired reluctantly, "What benefit?"

  "To corrode the will of a star, and then seize control of it, thereby becoming that star's great origin point."

  Bactan articulated profoundly, "At that point, within the Transcendent ranks... you would face absolutely no rivals."

  "Ah!" Obra bared his teeth and smiled viciously, "That is truly... quite a regrettable loss."

  Bactan observed him calmly, then suddenly smiled: "Speaking of promising prospects, Swetha, who joined the cult alongside you, shows significant potential."

  "Oh? That interstellar refugee, you mean?"

  Obra narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing instantly within them, "Promising in what capacity?"

  "Heh heh heh." Bactan sensed the surge of emotion emanating from Obra and chuckled softly, "Swetha's strength should be no less than yours, and judging by the timing, I estimate her ritual preparations are reaching completion.

  Based on my projections, after she presides over this Sabbath, she is highly likely to ascend to Transcendent Stage Nine, and Stage Ten is not out of the question."

  "Ah!" Obra sneered, "That multi-eyed entity has merely enjoyed a few centuries more lifespan than me. If I were her age, I would surely have already..."

  "Alright, no need for idle fantasies."

  Bactan cut him off, "I am here to officially inform you... that you have been confirmed as a full member of the Cult of the Evil Eye."

  With that, he extended a hand-claw, entirely condensed from blood plasma, toward Obra, and declared:

  "I also have something else for you—a cult member's official accreditation."

  In his palm, a pitch-black circular token of unknown material suddenly materialized.

  "This is..." Obra frowned slightly and questioned, "It resembles a clock."

  "Indeed." Bactan nodded, "This is the Death Omen Pocket Watch; take it."

  Obra reached out and accepted the black circular token, which was initially a size larger than his head.

  Miraculously, as soon as this clock arrived in his hand, it instantly shrank with a soft click, settling at half the size of his palm.

  Bactan instructed: "I will now explain its functions and proper usage to you."

  "Good." Obra nodded, listening intently while carefully displaying the black pocket watch.

  Bactan leisurely spread his bloody wings and said:

  "The watch face is segmented into five concentric circular regions, each representing a distinct level of potential danger."

  Upon hearing this, Obra brought the pocket watch closer to his eyes for detailed observation.

  He noted that the coiled pattern inscribed on the watch face was not artificially processed; it seemed utterly inherent to the object.

  "If danger descends, the watch face will spontaneously generate a layer of solid helium, regardless of its location—even on the surface of the sun."

  "Solid helium?!"

  Obra exclaimed in shock, "That's impossible! Even at the lowest achievable temperatures, helium can only transition into a superfluid; how could it solidify so quickly? And condense instantly?"

  "Ha ha." Bactan shook his head and chuckled, "It seems you still don't fully grasp the power wielded by the Great Eyes.

  This pocket watch is a superluminal divine artifact imbued with profound divine energy. To a god, the so-called 'forbidden' and 'impossible' are entirely meaningless concepts."

  With that, he raised his blood-claw, pointed it towards the colossal eyes in the sky, and stated meaningfully: "Do you believe sacrificing a few hundred individuals and slaughtering an entire city can forge a space-time gate capable of traversing thousands of regions in Orion? Even vaporizing this entire star system and converting it to pure energy would barely achieve that feat."

  "So..."

  Obra stammered, stunned and filled with reverence, "This is the true might of the Great Eyes?"

  "Remove your doubts."

  Bactan looked up at the giant eyes in the sky and sighed with the utmost sincerity, "To the omniscient and omnipotent Great Eyes, concepts like light-speed limitations, cosmic constants, or physical laws... are nothing more than scraps of paper that can be torn with a mere poke!

  Even the legendary Galactic Core Civilizations, or the even more ethereal and vague ancient Star Eater Civilizations, are merely dust motes before the Great Eyes!"

  Obra, having just gasped in awe, inquired again:

  "By the way... Galactic Core Civilization and Star Eater Civilization? What entities are those?"

  Upon hearing this question, Bactan paused, then vaguely responded: "Hmm... I recall Lord Ogulafata mentioning them; they seem to be two exceptionally potent forces, and even our cult harbors a degree of apprehension toward them."

  "Oh?!" Obra's eyes lit up, "Is that the legendary Dark Archbishop? I wonder if I possess the qualifications to meet His Excellency even once!"

  "You might," Bactan assessed him coolly, "Wait until you attain the rank of Bishop, and then we can discuss it. Very well, my schedule is pressing."

  He reiterated: "The watch face's danger fluctuation is calibrated across five distinct levels—Low Risk, Moderate Danger, Dangerous, Extreme Danger, and Death Omen."

  "Low, Moderate, and Dangerous are within the parameters of manageable risk. But if Extreme Danger appears, it signals an inability to contend, and you must immediately flee."

  "And, Death Omen?" Obra frowned.

  "Death Omen, you say."

  Bactan smiled menacingly, "Then you can only await your end; there is no avenue for escape."

  "Regardless of a direct assault or premeditated harm, the pocket watch will issue a preemptive warning before the danger manifests, rapidly solidifying a layer of solid helium ice.

  However, if you have sufficiently powerful allies standing beside you, the pocket watch will naturally display no change, because that alliance itself counts as a leveraged strength."

  Looking at Obra, who was meticulously examining the black pocket watch, Bactan slowly unfurled the six bloody bat wings behind him and stated in a deep voice: "I have delivered all necessary instructions. That red-haired subordinate of yours is still waiting for me at the space-time gate, so I shall not linger."

  "Is that Vice Bishop Ren Unpurr, sir?" Obra asked curiously, "Your Grace, are you intending to..."

  "There is a neutron star in space not far from this Sector which harbors the potential for 'tyranny.' Furthermore, its mass is 3.5 times that of a typical main-sequence yellow dwarf—a rarity."

  Bactan smiled coldly, "That monkey and I both suspect it has the potential to become a 'Tyrant,' and one of unusually 'robust' proportions."

  "Milky Way Tyrant!" Obra gasped hoarsely in astonishment, "So that is the goal; then Your Grace..."

  Crack crack crack!

  Suddenly, the black pocket watch in his hand froze violently.

  Almost instantaneously, it completely encased all areas of the watch face, encompassing Low Risk, Moderate Danger, Dangerous, Extreme Danger, and Death Omen.

  This was not the limit.

  The layer of solid helium ice that abruptly formed, after covering the entire watch face, did not cease; it continued to spread with an even deeper, profound chill, rapidly coating the areas surrounding the watch itself.

  Finally, under the stiff, horrified gazes of both Obra and Bactan, the entire black pocket watch froze solid into a block of helium crystal.

  Even...

  Crack crack crack!

  The entire token was literally frozen into dust, and a sudden gust of wind blew through, instantly scattering it into nothingness before the two of them.

  As if... it had never existed at all.