Ch. 1021..1030

Chapter 1021 - New Emperors

It was very difficult for the Mages to come to terms with what they had just seen.

Nevertheless, this confirmed it.

The Mage Lords and Mage Kings had seen an actual Abomination Emperor, which meant that this terrifying hill wasn't one.

So, was this hill actually the Child of Calamity?

They still weren't sure.

After all, this hill didn't even remotely feel like a human or even a beast.

It seemed much more like a natural force.

Eventually, the Mage Lords and Mage Kings returned to studying the Abominations and the hill.

Over the next years, the Mage Kings had managed to learn a lot about the Abominations.

Studying the Abominations had always been extremely difficult since they wanted to explode as soon as they were exposed to Mana.

But this time, the Abominations weren't resisting. Sure, they were all dying very quickly, but for the short time they were alive, they didn't resist any of the Mage Kings' Spells.

By now, the Mage Kings had also realized that not even a single Abomination was appearing anywhere else in the world, which shocked them.

This thing could even control where the Abominations appeared, and it could even stop them from appearing somewhere?!

By now, the vast majority of Mage Kings were constantly stationed near Shang.

After all, the Mage Kings were not interested in fighting for supremacy right now.

They were not interested in dying in just a thousand years.

If any of them tried to pull something on another Mage King, the others would immediately shut them down.

There were more important things to worry about right now!

While the Mage Kings continued to intercept the Abominations, the unaffiliated powers continued fighting each other.

The Ancestral Mages and Archmages knew of the existence of Mage Kings, and they knew that their power wasn't even nearly enough to stop the end of the world.

It could only go two ways.

Either the Mage Kings managed to destroy the threat, or everyone would die.

In both cases, worrying about the future and trying to save it wouldn't make a difference to the Archmages and Ancestral Mages.

Instead, they tried to take advantage of the uncertain future to enrich themselves.

More resources.

More wealth.

More people.

More land.

The competition between these powers reached a completely new level of intensity.

And as for everyone that was weaker...

Nothing changed.

In the beginning, the weak people were terrified. After all, things would start to become worse and worse from now on.

Yet, nothing had happened for an entire year.

This made the weak people realize that this entire thing basically didn't concern them.

It was a thousand years from now.

That was an absolute eternity from now.

Not even their grandchildren's grandchildren would be alive until then.

So, the end of the world was kind of unimportant and irrelevant to them.

Only two things changed for them.

First, the weaker people who lived in the cities saw major corporations and guilds appear and vanish far more often than normal.

Second, a couple of doomsday cults and religions popped up that worshipped the end of the world in the hope of either getting spared or getting into some kind of paradise after their death.

But that was about it.

And like that, the years passed.

After ten years, the Mage Kings were still analyzing the Abominations.

They had even managed to confirm the existence of some kind of mysterious power that only existed inside the Abomination.

Naturally, this power was Entropy, but for now, they still weren't certain what it could do exactly.

By now, the hill had reached a width of nearly 30 kilometers.

CRRRRRRRR!

Immediately, all the Mages used Mana Step to retreat from the hill as it began to shake violently.

This had not happened before!

What was going on?!

The blades on the side of the hill began to move even quicker, and a moment later, the hill began to shrink!

With shock, the onlookers realized that the density of Mana inside the hill was increasing as its volume decreased!

"It's... breaking through!" one of them shouted in horror.

Nervously, the Mage Kings watched the hill.

They wanted to stop the hill, but they knew that they couldn't.

It was simply too powerful!

As the hill shrunk, the blades across its body became even faster, and they remained at their new speed.

WHOOOM!

Suddenly, a wave of power left the black hill, and it traveled across the entire world.

The Archmages and stronger could feel the wave wash over them, but only the Mage Lords and Mage Kings knew where this wave had actually come from.

Eventually, the hill returned to a width of around ten kilometers, its original size.

'Early Sword Emperor,' Shang thought with a chuckle as he looked at the horrified expressions of the Mage Lords and Mage Kings.

After some minutes, the Mage Kings returned to running experiments on Shang.

Sadly, theirfears had been confirmed.

The hill had become even more powerful than before!

This immediately multiplied the pressure on their shoulders.

They had to find a way to destroy this hill quick!

The Mage Kings did some calculations and realized that the hill would achieve another breakthrough around 60 years from now.

This was problematic!

They had to do something!

Over the next couple of years, the Mage Kings came to a consensus.

They needed Mage Emperors.

Because of that, the Mage Kings held a vote for five new Mage Emperors.

Right now, it was not important which Mage King was the strongest, but which one would lead the world into a brighter future.

Eventually, five Mage Kings ascended to become five Mage Emperors, and the first thing they did was to increase their power while also studying the hill.

A Mage Emperor could think faster, which would allow them to learn the secrets of the hill quicker.

Usually, becoming a Peak Mage Emperor took around 50,000 years, but by blindly and brutally consuming vast quantities of Mana, they could become Peak Mage Emperors within 50 years.

The only issue was that their Battle-Strength would take quite a heavy hit.

Within the next 50 years, the Mage Emperors managed to become Peak Mage Emperors, and they also learned a lot about Entropy.

For the last ten years, the Mage Emperors came up with a strategy and battle plan.

And then, it was time.

The hill would die!

 

Chapter 1022 - Golden Generation

The five Mage Emperors started to channel long and powerful Spells.

They had created several Spells that could combine their power, which they would then unleash to completely destroy the hill.

Five Peak Mage Emperors with fivefold Spirit Senses combined their powers.

Shang was quite amused and interested when he saw them.

Funnily enough, these five Mage Emperors were more of a threat than the ones from 70 years ago.

While the Archivist was still more powerful than every individual Mage Emperor, he would have trouble winning against three of them.

After all, the old Mage Emperors had been weaklings that reached that level due to luck, while these five Mage Emperors had been amongst the most talented and powerful Mage Kings.

In fact, Shang even knew one of them.

One of them was a tall man with black hair who looked like he could destroy the world.

It was Kiran, the Catastrophe King.

Right now, Kiran had no idea that the hill in front of him was Shang.

These five Mage Emperors actually had a terrifying amount of power, and the world around them seemed to dissolve as they readied their apocalyptic Spells.

Shang just looked at the destructive cloud of annihilating Mana with amusement and interest.

That attack was stronger than any attack the Archivist had launched against Shang.

That attack could probably even injure a God.

Naturally, Shang couldn'tjust receive that attack with his body.

Even he might die under it.

After several seconds, the Mage Emperors eventually finished their Spell.

This was the most powerful Spell that had ever been cast in Aterium.

The terrifying cloud of Mana shot towards the hill.

Shang just quietly chuckled.

At this moment, the tendrils with the swords peacefully swayed from one side to the other simultaneously.

CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Thousands upon thousands of cuts hit the destructive cloud of Mana at the same time.

BOOOOM!

The cloud of Mana broke apart and scattered across the world.

Shang had simply launched one casual attack with about 20% of his limbs.

That was more than enough to deal with the apocalyptic Spell.

Silence.

The Mages couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

In fact, they weren't even entirely sure what had happened.

The swaying of the tendrils had synchronized for a moment, and in the next one, a terrifying barrage of attacks had appeared right in front of the Spell.

Had the tendrils released these attacks?

But the tendrils didn't even look like they had been attacking!

Even more, the tendrils hadn't even touched the Spell!

The attack had just appeared out of thin air, directly in front of the Spell!

When Shang saw the shocked faces, he cackled to himself silently.

All these Mage Kings and Mage Emperors that had once hunted him were now helpless in front of him.

The Mage Emperors launched more attacks, but all of them were destroyed by another attack from the hill.

The attacks of the Mage Kings were not destroyed like this, but these attacks also weren't strong enough to damage the hill.

CRRRR!

Eventually, the hill began to shake again, and the Mages grew terrified.

The hill was breaking through again!

Everyone immediately started to launch a cacophony of Spells.

Every Mage King and Mage Emperor was attacking Shang at this moment.

Yet, Shang only needed to lightly move some of his proverbial fingers in a casual manner to deal with them.

Eventually, Shang shrank back down to ten kilometers.

He had reached the Mid Sword Emperor Realm.

The Mages despaired.

How could they ever destroy that hill?!

Nevertheless, all the Mages continued to research the hill.

It had to have a weakness!

There had to be something they could use to destroy the hill!

Shang just silently laughed to himself.

As the Mage Lords, Mage Kings, and Mage Emperors became more and more desperate, the remainder of the world calmed down.

Shang's announcement had happened over 70 years ago.

By now, almost no mortal was alive anymore who had heard the announcement with their own ears.

This made it very difficult to convince the young people that it had actually happened.

Eventually, the announcement had become a legend, but no mortal actually believed in it.

Naturally, it was different for people in the Second Realm and stronger.

They still remembered it, but the deadline was still far away.

Theyjust needed to grow stronger.

Funnily enough, the weaker people of the world were actually quite confident.

After all, a golden age of geniuses had arrived.

Since the density of Mana had increased severalfold, babies born in this very dense atmosphere of Mana were far more talented.

Their feelings for Mana were much sharper, and controlling Mana came very naturally.

Right now, the golden generation of geniuses was in the Second Realm.

And eventually, they would become strong enough to save the world from the legendary ancient evil.

Meanwhile, the competition between the Archmages and Ancestral Mages still hadn't calmed down.

By now, most of them had heard that the Empires hadn't found a solution to doomsday yet, which gave these Mages more opportunities to increase their wealth.

Eventually, 150 years had passed since the announcement.

The golden generation of geniuses was now scattered between the Third and Fourth Realm.

The stable kingdoms ruled by High Mages had already experienced several upheavals as more and more powerful High Mages appeared that could kill the old rulers with a level disadvantage.

A chaotic age of war arrived for the weak people.

As for the Archmages and Ancestral Mages...

Things hadn't changed.

But many of them could already see that things would change soon.

The powerful organizations were already vying for these genius youngsters.

In the future, these geniuses would decide the fate of the world!

After all, the power of this generation was ridiculous.

In fact, the number of people with a fourfold Spirit Sense inside the Third and Fourth Realm was over 10,000.

There was even the legendary 50.

50 people with a fivefold Spirit Sense.

And the age gap between the youngest and the oldest was not more than ten years!

 

 

Chapter 1023 1023 - Time's Up

250 years after the announcement, the first of the golden generation reached the Fifth Realm, and that was when things changed for the Archmages and Ancestral Mages.

By now, High Mages and weaker felt their world calm down as all these geniuses had all either already claimed their lands or left them behind.

For them, the most chaotic time had passed, and everything returned to normal.

310 years after the announcement, a terrifying wave of power washed over the world, and all the geniuses noticed.

The Mana of the world had been displaced just now, and the composition of Mana had changed drastically.

The majority of Mana had been replaced with Elemental Mana for several minutes before the Elemental Mana converted back into Neutral Mana.

Many mortals died.

The weaker people had no idea what had just happened.

But the powerful High Mages and stronger could guess what had happened.

Yet, seriously considering this guess felt to them like they were going insane.

Somewhere, a powerful Spell had been destroyed, and all the Mana gathered in the Spell had washed over the world.

But how powerful must such a Spell be to scatter across the entire world?!

Did powers on this level even exist in the world?!

In the center of the world, the Mage Lords, Mage Kings, and Mage Emperors looked with terror at the hill.

Their ultimate weapon had just been destroyed!

But how?!

This Spell had been so powerful that it could even kill a God!

Despair.

True despair.

There was nothing they could do anymore.

When Shang saw the faces of all the Mage Lords, Mage Kings, and Mage Emperors, he chuckled a bit.

But then, he realized that there was probably no way for them to try something even more incredible, which kind of put a damper on things.

That was when Shang decided to change things a bit.

A couple of minutes after the wave of Elemental Mana passed over the world, another wave appeared, but this one was even stronger, and compared to the last one, this one was made with Neutral Mana!

In an instant, the density of Mana across the world had multiplied manifold again.

In fact, the density of Mana had reached unprecedented levels.

The golden generation realized that something monumental had happened, and they felt their familiarity with Mana increase even more.

Yet, the older Archmages and Ancestral Mages realized with horror what had happened.

None of them could reach their leaders anymore!

All their leaders had been Mage Lords!

The world realized the true impact of what had just happened only several days later.

There were no more Mage Emperors in this world.

There were no more Mage Kings in this world.

And there were no more Mage Lords in this world.

Every single Mage Lord, Mage King, and Mage Emperor had died, except for the Archivist, Gregorio, Abaddon, and Kali.

A bit later, another wave washed over the world.

Shang had reached the Late Sword Emperor Realm.

At this moment, the Clouds and King Contenders of the different areas of the world realized that the entire wealth of their old leaders was up for grabs.

Yet, all this wealth was guarded by terrifying Magic Circles and defenses.

As of this moment, the Peak Ancestral Mage Clouds were the most powerful people in the world, essentially.

Absolute chaos erupted.

The knowledge of the past had been cut off.

Legendary Spells and techniques had been lost and were now buried inside inaccessible ruins.

'This should spice things up,' Shang thought with a chuckle.

A new golden generation appeared, and the old golden generation grew even quicker.

500 years after the announcement, there had even appeared three people with a sixfold Spirit Sense.

The sheer density of Mana made it many times easier to comprehend Concepts.

Without this extreme density of Mana, these three people wouldn't even have fivefold Spirit Senses.

They would just become normal Clouds.

Eventually, Mage Lords appeared again, but they weren't the only ones.

There were also Warrior Lords, Weapon Master Lords, Beast Tamer Lords, and even Domain Controller Lords.

The Mages had lost their supremacy.

Naturally, most people kept to their own Paths, and wars between different Paths returned to the world.

When Shang saw how things developed, he became quite interested.

Sure enough, watching such a world was much more interesting than watching a world filled with nothing but Mages.

Warfare, chaos, exploration, treasure, ruins, trials, mystery, progression, and so on all returned to the world.

The Mages had completely mapped the world out back then, but now, the world was up for grabs again.

The wild age of exploration and adventure had started!

Shang enjoyed watching the world.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end.

Eventually, 1,000 years had passed since the announcement, and it was finally time.

Shang hadn't absorbed enough Abominations yet to reach the Peak Sword Emperor Realm.

So, he simply summoned several Abomination Emperors and absorbed them.

For the last time, a wave of power washed over the world, its power unmatched.

After Shang's breakthrough, he realized something.

The weight of his existence was straining reality itself.

Just by existing, the world was having tremendous trouble keeping reality in one piece.

If Shang decided to add even more mass to his existence, a permanent black hole would appear in reality.

This hole would consume all the Mana until there was nothing left.

Naturally, this wouldn't help Shang and his group.

So, Shang decided to stop the Abominations from appearing.

The Abominations still wanted to appear in the world, but they couldn't resist Shang's commands.

For the first time in forever, not even a single Abomination appeared in the world.

Yet, this moment, which should have been a cause for celebration, represented doomsday.

A couple seconds after Shang's breakthrough, three people appeared above him.

Gregorio, Kali, and Abaddon.

The 1,000 years were up.

It was finally time.

Today, all life on Aterium would cease to exist.

Far to the south, the Archivist watched the world with worry.

However, there was also curiosity in his eyes.

After all, the Archivist was curious like any other human.

And he also wanted to know if he could comprehend the legendary level six Concept of Death.

 

 

Chapter 1024 €‹ 1024 - Silence

Gregorio felt several conflicting emotions.

On the one hand, he thought that he had become the very thing he had always wanted to destroy.

Gregorio had always put quite some importance on protecting life. After all, the Lightning Manor had even forbidden memories from being read. On top of that, Gregorio had voluntarily taken the job to find the Child of Calamity for the good of the world.

But now, Gregorio was going to be part of the group of people that would eradicate all life in the world.

They were the powerful ones, and they were about to kill everything weaker than them.

Yet, on the other hand, Gregorio was also interested in witnessing the birth of the legendary level six Concepts of Life and Death.

Additionally, Gregorio also grew more excited about his eventual future outside of Aterium.

Gregorio looked over at Shang.

Shang's power had reached unfathomable levels.

lf Shang couldn't get them out of this world, nobody could.

Meanwhile, Kali was looking at the world with interest.

Comprehending the level six Concept of Death had also been her dream.

And now, this dream was about to become reality.

Abaddon just looked at the world with a friendly smile.

He felt happy.

Finally, he could learn something new!

"Then, let's start," Shang said.

The other three nodded.

"I will now eliminate every bit of life one layer at a time."

As Shang looked at the world, even he grew a bit excited.

Shang had never committed a proper genocide before, and he was interested in how it felt to erase the existence of life.

SSSSHH!

It was silent.

At this moment, hundreds of small Domains of Entropy had appeared around every living Mage Lord.

In less than a second, all the Mage Lords had been killed.

A tiny wave of Mana washed across the world, but it barely counted as anything.

SSSSSHHH!

Then, tens of thousands of Domains of Entropy killed every human in the Sixth Realm.

The storm of Mana was a bit bigger, but not much.

As of this moment, the strongest human was in the Fifth Realm.

SSSSHHHHH!

Then, the humans in the Fifth Realm vanished.

By now, most people had already realized what had happened, but before they could do anything, they were also turned into Neutral Mana.

When only mortals and people in the First Realm were left, Shang focused on the buildings and settlements instead of the people.

Next, gigantic Domains of Entropy appeared around every village, town, city, ruin, castle, and so on.

WHOOOOM!

A gigantic storm of Mana washed over the world as even the Mana Stones were turned into Neutral Mana.

Everything was gone.

The Lightning Manor had vanished.

The huge sword in the Hibye had vanished.

The Trial of Want.

The Temple of Blood.

Area 23.

The Empires.

The homes of the Mage Kings.

The farms.

The fields.

Everything had vanished.

It was done.

Humanity was no more.

For a while, the group took in the feeling of a world without humanity.

There weren't even traces of humanity left.

Meanwhile, Shang took in what he was feeling.

It felt so final.

Shang had expected that he would feel nothing, but surprisingly, he still felt a bit like he was doing something wrong.

However, the feeling wasn't very strong.

At most, it was a nearly indistinguishable echo from far away.

Gregorio felt like his heart was about to stop.

Humanity had been eradicated.

It had actually happened.

It felt so unreal.

Meanwhile, Kali and Abaddon felt some kind of fulfillment.

This was how things should be.

This felt correct.

"I was supposed to strengthen the warrior Path," Shang mused to himself with a chuckle.

"And now, I've destroyed it."

"All the knowledge, techniques, and experiences I have built have now been eradicated."

"If any human returns, they won't ever find out that there have once been stronger humans."

"Well, unless the Archivist tells them."

"A virgin world," Shang said with a dark chuckle. "Untouched by humanity."

"A world ripe for exploration and exploitation."

Silence.

The others were only listening to Shang.

"Let's start with the next layer," Shang said.

WHOOOOM!

Suddenly, a powerful storm of Mana washed over the world.

While Shang had destroyed humanity, he hadn't yet touched the beasts.

In fact, when Shang had killed every human in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Realms, he also hadn't killed any beasts.

And now, Shang had killed all the Beast Kings.

A second later, Shang killed all the Beast Lords.

Another second later, Shang killed all the Ancestral Beasts.

An apocalyptic storm of Mana washed over the world again, but it calmed down again within a minute.

All the beasts were dead.

The world had become eerily silent.

Only the occasional animal remained in a silent world.

The weak animals were the only beings that made any sound.

SSSHHH!

Then, all the animals on the land and in the air were turned into Mana.

Then, the fish.

And lastly, the weak insects.

SHence.

Eerie silence.

Eternal silence.

The world had become silent.

The Eternal Ocean had calmed down.

The trees were only swaying a bit in the wind.

Even the weather had become barely noticeable.

In Aterium, the climate and weather were caused by the Mana the powerful beasts gave off.

Since there were no more powerful beasts, there was no more powerful Mana that was being given off, and as a result, the weather basically stopped existing.

"And now, for the finale," Shang said as he swung one of his tendrils.

The next moment, a black wave stretched across the continent

The black wave began to rotate, and anything that it passed was turned into a gray and brown land devoid of vegetation.

In just a minute, the wave had passed over all of Aterium.

Lastly, a gigantic forcefield passed through the Eternal Ocean, destroying everything there as well.

The Eternal Ocean was thrown into chaos, and waves thousands of kilometers tall were crashing onto the confinement

But it didn't matter.

Everything was lifeless and gray anyway.

The entire continent could be swallowed by kilometers of water, and no life would be lost.

"And the finishing touch," Shang said.

The next moment, Death Mana gathered around Shang.

A powerful wave of Death Mana washed over the entire world, including the water.

In another minute, all the scattered Life Mana across the world had vanished.

That was it.

The only bits of Life Mana in the entire world were in Shang, Gregorio, Kali, Abaddon, and the Archivist.

Not even a single seed of a single piece of grass had survived.

There would be no more life.

As long as none of the five of them or Lucius decided to intervene, there would never be life again.

Never

It was impossible.

It was over.

Aterium had been turned into a dead world.

The world stopped moving.

Silence.

 

 

Chapter 1025 1025 - Terminus

The four of them just looked at the world.

They had never witnessed anything even remotely like this.

Even when they were in a dead place like the old pit of death, there had still been some movement or life. But now, there was just nothing.

Literally nothing.

Just mere minutes ago, there had been humongous trees, powerful beasts, ancient Mages, vast meadows, powerful dragons, and monumental sea monsters in the world.

The world had been teeming with life and movement.

Now, there was just nothing.

The end of existence had arrived.

Such a situation was unprecedented, even for the Archivist.

The Archivist had gone through many apocalypses in his world, but none of them had even come close to something this absolute.

It was alien.

It was tragic.

Gregorio and the Archivist felt like a heavy weight was suppressing their minds.

They shouldn't be here.

This was not a place where they could or should live or stay in.

Their souls were telling them that they should leave as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Kali, Abaddon, and Shang felt different.

They felt at peace.

Yes, this was what the world should be like.

A dead world with infinite untapped potential.

All of the unnecessary life had been transformed into usable and pure Neutral Mana.

The density of the Mana in the world had reached untold levels.

This meant that they could use all the Mana however they wanted.

However, Shang felt something a bit different.

Right now, Shang felt like he hadn't gone far enough.

He felt like he should also get rid of all the matter.

The last five living things in the world remained silent as they watched the world.

Time passed.

Nobody knew how much time had passed.

Time had become irrelevant.

When there was no life and no movement, time stopped mattering.

'I see,' Shang thought suddenly.

'It is actually as I've thought.'

'The Death Affinity gets closer and closer to Entropy the more powerful it gets.'

'And eventually, the two meet up.'

At this moment, Shang understood everything.

'The level six Concept of Death, Terminus.'

'The end of all life.'

Shang isolated himself so that he wouldn't disturb the other three and summoned a black ball.

The black ball was a bit bigger than Shang's human fist, and it didn't seem to move at all.

When Shang saw the black ball, he smirked.

This black ball looked exactly like the black balls of Entropy Shang had experimented with many thousand years ago.

Yet, this wasn't Entropy.

It was Death Mana that looked and acted like Entropy.

With the Concept of Terminus, the Death Mana had gained the ability to consume itself for an explosive increase in power.

It was extremely powerful, but it still couldn't compare to Entropy.

After all, Entropy consumed itself and Mana to produce something dangerous, which was far stronger.

Additionally, this new kind of Death Mana also couldn't erase Mana from existence like Entropy.

In the end, this Death Mana could only produce around 5% of the power of Entropy.

However, 5% of Entropy was already terrifyingly powerful.

'Death Mana strives to imitate Entropy, but it can never truly become Entropy.'

'After all, Death Mana is still Mana.'

'But I wonder. Is there actually a way to turn Mana into Entropy?'

Silence.

'I don't know, but if there actually is such a way, it would be far too advanced and powerful for something as weak and pathetic as Aterium.'

'If there is a way, I can probably find it in the world of the Abominations.'

Shang grew a bit excited when he thought about another possibility of becoming more powerful.

'In the end, I have still been proven correct,' Shang thought

'The Concept of Terminus is, without a doubt, the most powerful Concept in Aterium.'

'And yet, it can only mimic a fraction of Entropy's power.'

'Comprehending Aterium's Concepts is a waste of time.'

The next moment, Shang got rid of the Isolation Barrier around him and simply sat in the air.

He waited.

In the past, Shang couldn't deal with sitting still for even a minute, but now, he had no issues with it.

Time was no longer relevant, and even more, Shang's strength couldn't really improve anymore inside Aterium.

He had reached the end of his Path in Aterium.

To continue, he would need to leave Aterium behind.

Shang just waited in silence for an unknown period of time.

Eventually, Abaddon opened his eyes.

A small glint of recognition and enlightenment could be seen in them.

Abaddon quickly noticed that Shang had already finished watching the world.

The emotions in Abaddon's eyes had changed.

Whenever Abaddon had looked at Shang in the past, he had viewed Shang as an extremely terrifying monster.

But now, things were different.

This time, Abaddon looked at Shang like he was looking at someone vastly more powerful than himself.

Just like Shang, Abaddon had realized that the next logical step of the Death Affinity was the force called Entropy he had heard about from Gregorio.

When looking at Shang, Abaddon felt like he was looking at what he might be able to become.

As long as he continued, Abaddon might also reach such incredible heights of power.

Abaddon didn't say anything and also waited.

After all, only Kali was left.

Gregorio hadn't paid a lot of attention to the world since he didn't have a Death Affinity anyway.

Additionally, he felt uncomfortable whenever he looked at the dead world.

After an unknown period of time, Kali also finished.

Just like Abaddon, Kali looked at Shang with interest.

Now, she realized that Shang essentially represented perfection in Death Mana.

Kali knew that she and her son were merely imitating Shang's power.

Shang actually had the real thing.

"Everyone done?" Shang asked a moment later.

The three people behind Shang nodded.

The next moment, Shang looked at an island far to the south.

The Archivist became nervous when he felt Shang directly looking at him.

In the end, the Archivist alsojust nodded.

"Good," Shang said.

Then, Shang flew far up into the air and created an invisible Isolation Barrier.

"I am not interested in the Concepts of Life," he said.

"You may start, Abaddon."

Abaddon's smile widened.

"I want to help," Gregorio said from behind of Abaddon. "I know a bit about life, but not a lot."

"Sure," Abaddon said with a friendly laugh.

"I want to help as well."

Abaddon, Kali, and Gregorio looked with raised eyebrows at the Archivist, who had just appeared behind them.

Abaddon threw a glance at Shang, who was still visible.

"Sure," Abaddon said the next moment with a friendly smile.

 

 

Chapter 1026 1026 - Genesis

Shang didn't pay close attention to the world anymore.

He had comprehended whatever he wanted to comprehend.

From now on, he would only look at the world when he got bored.

While Shang entered some kind of hibernation, Abaddon, Gregorio, and the Archivist started to create life.

First, they started by scattering a lot of Life Mana across the world.

However, there was an issue.

Life Mana needed actual life to hang onto. Otherwise, it would just disperse.

So, they created many different kinds of small organisms.

They had seen the tiny organisms that had lived all over the old Aterium.

However, they didn'tjust copy them.

After all, they needed new life.

So, they made several changes.

Naturally, there were uncountable numbers of failed experiments.

Sometimes, the organisms just fell apart.

Sometimes, their copies became more and more distorted until they couldn't even split anymore.

Near the beginning, creating new life hadn't seemed that hard. After all, the Archivist and Abaddon had done that many times before.

But then, they quickly realized that things weren't as easy as they had been back then.

Back then, they had only needed to design a species to fit into an already existing environment.

Now, they needed to create everything from scratch.

Designing a world was extremely difficult.

In fact, it seemed almost impossible.

As tiny bits of life returned, time also mattered again.

For over 10,000 years, the three of them only managed to create some small, isolated areas with life in them, and the life wasn't even very diverse or original.

Even more, the more the life stretched across the world, the harder it was to keep the life going.

This wasn't like Earth, where the life adapted to the environment.

No, in such a grey and dead world, the environment was adapting to the life.

This made things so much more complicated and difficult.

After another 10,000 years, the three of them finally managed to get the hang of things.

After such a long time of trial and error, they had finally gotten some kind of feeling for what worked for life and what didn't.

Naturally, the one with the strongest feeling was Abaddon.

Another 10,000 years later, they managed to populate about 1% of the continent.

Surprisingly, the Eternal Ocean was already starting to fill with life.

The reason for that was that designing life for the Eternal Ocean was quite easy since there were far fewer different environments inside an ocean.

Another 10,000 years later, they filled over 25% of the world.

And another 10,000 years later, the world was teeming with life again.

However, everything was different.

There were different mountains, different crevices, different forests, different deserts, and so on.

One animal barely gave off any Elemental Mana, but all of them combined gave off a lot of Elemental Mana.

At this point, the engine of life had effectively become self-sustaining.

The three of them didn't need to add anything new anymore.

New plants and animals were appearing on their own.

They had done theirjob.

The world was filled with life again, and every bit of Mana that had been hogged by the unfathomably powerful beasts and humans from the past era was up for grabs again.

A new opportunity for the world.

Eventually, one of the animals would learn how to use a tiny bit of Mana to harden its skin by a tiny bit, giving it an edge against its competition.

That would be the first beast.

Then, more and more beasts would learn how to do that, and eventually, they would unlock the ability to actually gather Mana in their bodies and permanently transform and change them.

And at some point, something would attain sapience.

They would become the iteration of humans in this new world.

But all of that was for the future.

When the engine of life had become self-sustaining, a form of enlightenment had entered into the minds of the three of them.

The level six Concept of Life, Genesis.

Even Gregorio had comprehended it.

Sadly, since Gregorio didn't know all the other Concepts of Life, the power of his Concept of Genesis was very weak.

If he wanted it to be as strong as the one from Abaddon, he would need to comprehend the other Concepts of Life first.

They were done.

As Gregorio watched across the world, teeming with life, he felt like he had done the right thing.

This world is so much more hopeful than the last one. It was so beautiful and pure.

Meanwhile, Abaddon was redesigning his Path.

Since he now had access to every single Concept in existence, he could finally perfect his Path.

Eventually, Abaddon created a small sphere.

It was a tiny world, and everything was present in it.

The next moment, Abaddon closed his eyes and put the sphere to his forehead.

Ding!

Some kind of magical sound reverberated throughout the world.

This sound even managed to pull Shang out of his isolation.

Abaddon smiled in excitement as Shang looked with interest at Abaddon.

Right now, Shang could feel that Abaddon had achieved some kind of perfect connection with the world.

In fact, Abaddon's Spirit Sense had stopped being constrained.

Just like Shang, Abaddon's Spirit Sense had encompassed the entire world.

But while Shang had dominantly forced his power and will on the world, Abaddon was working together with the world.

The world was helping Abaddon, and Abaddon was helping the world.

It was almost like Abaddon had taken control of the world!

But then, Abaddon started to frown.

The next moment, Abaddon looked at Shang.

"I think I found that God of yours," he said.

Shang grinned.

"Some kind of force or being is controlling Aterium," Abaddon explained. "It feels like some kind of powerful hand is forcefully grabbing the sphere of Aterium."

"This force comes from an empty place with no Mana.'

"This place is located in some kind of sub-dimension."

Shang looked with interest at Abaddon.

"Is there a way to get there?"

Abaddon just nodded.

"I can create a portal."

 

 

Chapter 1027 1027 - God

Shang just chuckled when he heard that Abaddon could create a portal to the God's place.

"Give me a second," Shang said with a smirk.

The next moment, Shang's true body returned, which began to compress and shrink.

Shang's true body already had so much Mana and Entropy inside it that Aterium was barely able to handle it.

If Shang increased the density by a lot, Aterium would most likely start to fall apart.

However, that was actually not that big of an issue.

Abaddon should be able to repair the reality.

After all, he could essentially control all of Aterium.

As Shang's body began to shrink, reality shook more and more.

CRK!

Eventually, Shang's body became surrounded by some kind of black hole.

A huge amount of Mana shot towards the hole, vanishing into nothingness.

But just a moment later, Abaddon moved his hand, and the hole was sealed aqain.

Reality around Shang returned.

Shang's body began to shrink more and more.

By now, it was only five kilometers wide.

Then, four.

Three.

Two.

One.

That was when it ended.

At a width of one kilometer, Shang's body stopped compressing.

At this moment, Shang felt the sheer power of his existence and felt it to be unparalleled.

Every little movement of his was tearing Aterium apart, and Abaddon even started to sweat.

Shang's existence was so dense that Abaddon was basically supporting it exclusively with his own power.

If he stopped supporting Shang, a huge part of the world would collapse and implode.

Shang had finally done it.

Shang had finally become a God himself!

At this moment, Shang felt like some kind of chain around him had been broken.

It was like reality itself had transformed into nothing but numbers.

Everything was logical.

Everything made sense.

Shang could even see how the collapse of the world around him worked and how Abaddon was fixing it.

Now, it was important to note that Shang didn't comprehend the Concept of the World or something like that.

No, Shang was just able to feel how the powers moved.

Shang didn't completely understand everything, but his feelings were telling him if something was a good or a bad idea.

In a way, it was like instinct.

Shang didn't know why he was doing something, but he knew what would happen if he didn't do it.

'I see,' Shang thought with a laugh.

Even the silver wall was making sense now.

Shang didn't know exactly how the silver wall worked, but he knew how he could get through it.

It was like all of Aterium had transformed from a solid into a liquid, and Shang was now free to swim through it.

Shang's existence had reached a level where he didn't even need to interact with Aterium's reality anymore.

The next moment, Shang chuckled.

Suddenly, Abaddon's eyebrows rose in surprise, and he stopped sweating.

There was no more strain on the world.

Shang seemingly hadn't moved or done anything, and yet, the strain the world was under because of him had become vastly easier to bear.

Just now, Shang had been like an extremely heavy person standing in the middle of a children's trampoline.

And when Shang had noticed the truth of his situation, he had simply done the equivalent of lying down on the trampoline, increasing the surface area on which his weight was lying.

'Finally here, huh?' Shang thought with a smirk.

Shang still remembered how incredibly powerful the God had once been.

The God had been able to summon and create anything he wanted.

The God had even been able to give Shang the power to slap Queen Primordium to death.

But now, these things didn't seem that complex anymore.

The creation of Sword and the separate space just needed a couple of Concepts.

Someone like Lucius definitely knew enough about the Concepts of the world to pull something like this off.

Even more, the creation of the Child of Calamity also didn't seem as difficult.

As the former Child of Calamity, Lucius knew a lot about Entropy, and since Lucius also had a Life

Affinity, he definitely also knew the level five Concept of Life, Birth.

With all of that, Lucius would most likely be able to create a Child of Calamity.

Funnily enough, Lucius probably even knew the level six Concepts of Life and Death.

After all, he had created an entirely separate universe.

Earth's universe without Earth was basically also just a dead world, allowing Lucius to comprehend the Concept of Terminus, and by creating something like Earth, Lucius could have also comprehended the Concept of Genesis.

Additionally, with so much knowledge about life and such an advanced mind, it also wouldn't be difficult to guess what some mortal was thinking about.

Lucius had represented true power, but now, Shang had also reached true power.

And Lucius didn't seem as impressive anymore.

The next moment, Shang chuckled again.

WHOOOOM!

Then, a black portal appeared beside Shang, and Abaddon looked at it with interest.

"Seems like you don't need my help anymore," Abaddon said with a helpless smile.

Shang chuckled a bit.

"Give me a couple of minutes."

Then, Shang's huge body floated through the portal, and the portal closed right behind him.

Abaddon, Gregorio, Kali, and even the Archivist were looking at the spot where Shang had just been with interest.

Meanwhile, Shang found himself in a black void.

However, the void wasn't completely empty.

Far away, there were countless sources of light.

Shang had entered Earth's universe!

Right now, Shang was in the center of the Milky Way.

And in front of him, Shang could see a black and red castle floating in the void.

Shang's huge body slowly floated over to the castle, and as he got closer, his body shrank.

As a God, it was not very difficult for Shang to reduce his size.

When Shang reached the gates of the castle, his body had reached the size of a human's head.

SSSSHHH!

The gate in front of Shang was eradicated with his Domain of Entropy, and Shang floated into the castle.

The entire castle wasjust a single room.

A long black and red hall with a throne at the end.

On the throne sat a young man with red and black hair.

Right now, this man was smirking.

"Shang," the man said with a chuckle.

"Lucius," Shang answered with a similar tone of voice.

 

 

Chapter 1028 1028 - Infinite Destruction

Shang slowly floated into the room without saying anything else.

The God, Lucius,just smirked in amusement.

CRK!

The next moment, the throne was destroyed as a black tear tore through it.

CRKSH!

At the same time, Lucius' left arm and leg exploded into a shower of blood.

Yet, Lucius' expression didn't change, and he continued sitting on his partially destroyed throne with his partially destroyed body.

"You're weak, Lucius,ll Shang said as he floated closer.

"Disappointed?" Lucius asked with a chuckle.

"Did you expect some kind of epic and grand final battle?"

"No," Shang answered. "Ever since I knew that you were Lucius Volstad, I knew that you wouldn't be a challenge."

"I could probably even beat you as an Early Sword Emperor."

Lucius didn't immediately show a reaction.

"Oh, come on," he said with a chuckle. "I know that you are at least a bit disappointed."

"After all, wasn't your goal to kill me? Aren't you disappointed that your sworn enemy is so helpless and weak in front of you?"

When Shang reached the middle of the hall, he stopped.

This was the same place that Alex had once stood in, but this time, the roles were reversed.

Shang was the one in power, not the God.

"You're merely a rest stop," Shang said. "Originally, you have been my goal, but you know very well that you're not even nearly worthy enough to become my goal."

"My power has already vastly eclipsed yours, and this will not be where I stop."

Lucius' smirk widened. "Won't it?"

"It won't," Shang answered.

Lucius chuckled a bit. "Have you actually thrown a look outside of this place?"

"Have you actually looked beyond the silver wall?"

"I have," Shang answered. "It's the world of the Abominations."

Naturally, when Shang had become a God, he had looked beyond the silver wall.

What he found was a nearly infinite expanse of Entropy that was encompassing Aterium.

Surprisingly enough, there were no Abominations inside this infinite expanse of Entropy.

However, Shang could still somewhat feel Abominations in there.

The reason for that was that Entropy rarely took on a solid and stable form.

The Abominations actually didn't exist in the world of Abominations.

The Abominations actually were the world of Abominations.

The world of Abominations was like a huge pile of snow, and an Abomination was simply a snowball.

Shang could simply tear a tiny part out of the infinite expanse, and when that tiny part entered Aterium, it would combine with a bit of Mana and transform into an Abomination.

And if an Abomination were put back into the world of Abominations, it would simply disperse again.

Just as Shang had guessed at some point in the past, the Abominations actually are not truly conscious.

They were simply a personification of Entropy, and Entropy wanted to destroy Mana.

The endless expanse of Entropy had surrounded

Aterium since Aterium was filled with Mana, which attracted the Entropy.

"But have you looked past the black void?" Lucius asked with a foreboding chuckle.

"You know exactly that it's too big," Shang said. "The amount of Entropy in that world is at least over a billion times the amount of Mana in Aterium."

"Do you want to see what lies beyond?" Lucius asked.

However, Lucius didn't wait for an answer and just moved his right arm a bit.

In the next moment, an image of a black void appeared in front of Lucius.

The "camera" in the void was rapidly moving forward until it eventually reached the end of the void.

And then, Shang saw it.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOM!

Destruction!

Everything was filled with Destruction, the force that appeared when Mana and Entropy met!

Even more, the scale seemed eternal and infinite!

When Shang saw that, he actually couldn't believe it.

"Hahahahaha!"

Lucius laughed when he noticed how Shang felt.

"Do you get it now?"

"Do you finally understand?"

"There is no way out!"

"There never was a way out!"

"It is impossible to leave!"

Shang barely registered what Lucius had said.

The powers on display were beyond what Shang had been able to imagine.

Shang knew what would happen if he even touched the space beyond the infinite void.

He would die.

Even if Shang were a thousand times stronger, he would still die.

Shang was currently in the Tenth Realm, but even if there were a theoretical Thirteenth Realm, Shang still wouldn't be able to survive!

The powers beyond the infinite void were unimaginably stronger than the current Shang.

If one put the difference into perspective, the difference in power between the forces of Destruction and Shang would be about as big as the difference between an Archmage and the current Shang.

It was hopeless.

If Shang could absorb the world of Abominations, he might become strong enough to survive.

But there was a problem.

The world of Abominations was filled with Entropy and a bit of Mana.

Yes, there were some scattered bits of Mana in the infinite void, but the infinite void was still 99.9% made of Entropy.

Sure, the 0.1% of Mana in the infinite void were still tens of times bigger than all the Mana in Aterium, but that still wouldn't be even close to enough.

Assuming Shang absorbed all the Mana and a fitting amount of Entropy, he might be able to reach the middle of a theoretical Eleventh Realm.

But that still wouldn't be even close to enough!

It was impossible.

Shang couldn't possibly become powerful enough to travel through that impossibly powerful area of pure Destruction.

"Hahahahaha!"

Meanwhile, Luciusjust laughed loudly.

Shang looked back at Lucius.

Right now, Shang was enraged by Lucius' laughter, but as he took a closer look at Lucius, Shang calmed down.

With Shang's new vision, he gained the ability to understand things that he hadn't been able to understand before.

CRACK!

The next moment, reality above Lucius tore apart, and something fell out of the nothingness.

It was the body of a blonde man.

"Oh? You wanna take a look at him again?" Lucius asked with another chuckle.

Just now, Lucius' old/true body had fallen onto the ground.

The corpse that Lucius had kicked around back then.

Naturally, Shang had found the corpse and had pulled it into this dimension.

A moment later, Shang looked at Lucius and at the corpse.

Slowly, some dots began to connect in Shang's mind.

And then, he understood everything.

"So, there actually is a way out," Shang said as he focused on Lucius.

"You just messed up."

 

 

Chapter 1029 1029 - Two Luciuses

Lucius' right eyebrow twitched in suppressed anger.

"It wasn't me that messed it up," he said with a dark tone.

The next moment, Lucius pointed at the corpse.

"He doomed me to forever remain here!"

Shang didn't say anything, but he knew that Lucius was right.

In a certain way, this Lucius had been put into this situation against his will.

When Shang had looked at Lucius earlier, he had realized something.

The numbers making up Lucius' existence didn't entirely make sense.

It was like there was something missing.

It was like Lucius wasn't a complete being.

And when Shang had looked at the corpse, he had seen the same thing.

The numbers of the corpse also didn't fully make sense.

But when the corpse and Lucius were put together, everything made sense.

That was when Shang realized what had happened.

Now, Shang knew how there could be a dead and a living Lucius.

Now, Shang knew why Lucius had changed so much compared to his old self.

Now, Shang knew how the old Lucius had died.

"He wanted to have his cake and eat it too, huh?"

Shang asked with a dark chuckle.

Lucius didn't answer, but based on his annoyed and serious expression, Shang could tell that he had hit the nail on the head.

"When the old Lucius became a God, he looked past the silver wall and found the infinite void of the Abominations," Shang explained.

"He entered the void and traveled through it until he found the eternity of Destruction behind it."

"Just like me, he despaired at the sight."

Then, Shang chuckled confidently.

"But alsojust like me, he found a quick solution."

"As the Child of Calamity, we have control over Entropy."

"This means that we also have control over the infinite void of Entropy around Aterium."

"We can just command the infinite void to follow us and create a nearly infinite shield around us."

"Even more, since there is Destruction out there, it means that there is also Entropy and Mana out there."

"With some tricks, we can even attract more Entropy into the void, which would keep our shield strong."

"As long as we keep traveling in one direction like this, we are bound to find something that will allow us to gather Mana again, which, in turn, will allow us to become more powerful."

"Alternatively, by learning more about Mana and Entropy, we might also find a different method of growing more powerful."

"Nevertheless, at some point, we are going to find something different out there."

"We just need to leave Aterium and command the void of Entropy to follow us."

Shang chuckled again.

"But that was where Lucius got sentimental, wasn't it?"

Hatred appeared in the current Lucius' eyes as he thought back to that fateful day.

"He didn't want to leave all his friends behind," Shang said. "Yes, if he left Aterium with the void of Entropy, he would have dealt with the issue of the Abominations."

"However, without someone controlling Aterium, another void of Entropy would form, and the Abominations would return."

"Even more, Lucius would be leaving with the majority of Mana of Aterium."

"So, what does Lucius do in this case?"

"He created me," the current Lucius said with narrowed eyes.

Shang laughed a bit.

"I heard from Gregorio that Lucius seemed conflicted from time to time."

"He was someone that was always kind, but sometimes, he lost control and did horrible things."

"By looking at how reality and life worked, Lucius was able to find out why these things happened."

"And in the end, he decided to separate the bad numbers from the good numbers."

"Lucius split himself in two," Shang said.

"One was a nice guy with inner peace, and the other was a pile of volatile and angry emotions."

"And since Lucius was now such a nice guy, he also felt guilt, didn't he?" Shang asked.

"He felt guilty for forcing part of himself to forever stay in Aterium, and he also felt bad for taking the majority of Mana with him."

"So, he handed a big part of his Mana back to Aterium."

"However, as the new God of the world, you have essentially become Aterium."

"You are the world, and the world is you."

"That meant that Lucius had essentially given you the Mana."

"And you..."

"And I killed him," Lucius said with a satisfied grin.

BANG!

Then, Lucius kicked the corpse into the wall.

"He took me out of himself and put me into Aterium itself," Lucius said. "I don't even have a body. You could say the silver wall is my skin, and Aterium itself is my flesh, bones, blood, and organs."

"This body is merely a projection. It's hollow and meaningless."

The next moment, Lucius gritted his teeth.

"I can't even inhabit a different body since I have been integrated into the Concepts of the world itself!"

"Lucius knew that he had to connect my life to the life of Aterium! Otherwise, I would just leave Aterium behind."

"Just like he tried to leave me behind," Lucius spoke with venom.

"Sure, I can create a body for myself, but if! were to enter that body, I would lose all my power and stop existing."

"I am stuck!"

"I am stuck as Aterium's God for all eternity!"

SHlNG!

The corpse reappeared in front of Lucius, and Lucius kicked it into the wall again.

"This was the fate he has bestowed on me!"

The next moment, a mad grin appeared on Lucius' face.

"And that's why I killed him!"

"Our battle actually wasn't easy."

"In the beginning, he actually had the upper hand, but he just couldn't get himself to finish it."

"He had connected me to Aterium, which also means that Aterium is connected to me."

"So, ifl die, Lucius would essentially doom Aterium since he has exhausted his existence already. He couldn't split again."

"If he killed me, he would either be stuck in Aterium forever himself, or he would leave Aterium without a God."

Lucius chuckled a bit.

"Naturally, I used that to my advantage, and in the end, I managed to kill him."

"I scattered his Mana across all of Aterium, which basically just means absorbing it for myself."

"And then, I was stuck."

Lucius leaned back on his destroyed throne and smirked at Shang.

"Well, now that you know..."

"What will you do?"

 

 

Chapter 1030 1030 - Empathy

CRKSH!

A gigantic black tear tore through Lucius' body, destroying it and scattering bits and pieces of it across the hall.

"That's what I'm going to do," Shang said with a chuckle.

Yes, that was it.

The God...

Lucius...

Was dead.

Just like that.

Lucius had told everything Shang needed to know, and there was no more reason to keep him alive.

So, Shang just killed him.

The next moment, the will on Aterium vanished.

Nobody was controlling Aterium anymore.

"Wait," Shang transmitted to the distant Abaddon. "Don't take control of the world just yet."

Abaddon could sense where Shang was, and hejust nodded.

"Of course."

"I'm going to leave the world for a bit to confirm something," Shang said. "I will be back within the next six months."

"Six months?" Abaddon asked in surprise.

Why would Shang need so long?

"Yes," Shang answered, "Aterium is surrounded by a nearly infinite void of Entropy, and I need to travel to its edge to confirm something. It will take me about six months or so to go there and return."

Abaddon furrowed his brows.

That sounded bad.

After all, if there were a cloud of Entropy around Aterium, it might become difficult to travel through it.

Hopefully, Shang could get them through it.

"Of course," Abaddon answered.

Shang cut the connection and created a portal.

After floating through the portal, Shang found himself in a seemingly infinite void filled with Entropy.

Behind Shang was a humongous ball of silver.

That was Aterium.

Shang expanded to his full size and shot in one direction.

The next moment, a seemingly random animal in Aterium was born with an Affinity for Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness.

The old Child of Calamity had left, and a new one had been created by Entropy.

But that wouldn't become an issue for a long time.

Shang traveled forward for a very long time.

Everywhere he looked, he only saw an infinite void of Entropy.

Eventually, Shang reached the edge of the nearly infinite void.

'That confirms it,' Shang thought as he looked at the unimaginable forces of Destruction in front of him. 'Lucius didn't lie.'

Shang looked around a bit more, but in the end, he flew back to Aterium.

Shang entered Aterium without any issues and appeared in the place where the Judgment Palace had once been.

Abaddon, Kali, and Gregorio quickly arrived at that spot and looked with anxiety at Shang.

Could they finally leave?

Could they finally see the outside world?

What did the outside world look like?

"There are some issues," Shang said as he looked at the three of them.

The three of them became nervous.

Then, Shang told them everything about the infinite void of Entropy and the unimaginable forces of Destruction beyond it.

Shang didn't tell them about Lucius since he didn't want to explain all of that.

When they heard about the forces of Destruction, the three of them became terrified.

They couldn't leave?!

"There might be a way to leave," Shang said. "However, you have to give me like a day or so."

The three of them were still nervous, but there wasn't really anything they could do, so theyjust nodded.

Shang left again and reappeared in Lucius' space castle.

As Shang floated through the hall, some thoughts shot through his mind.

Back when Shang had found out that he could change his mind with Entropy, he had considered something.

Should he get rid of the part that allowed him to feel empathy?

In the end, he had decided against it.

After all, what if he somehow needed it?

And in a certain way, he kind of needed it right now.

'According to Gregorio's description, Lucius was generally a nice and helpful person with a dark core that sometimes broke out.'

'In a certain way, I am the opposite. I am a very selfish person, but I also kept Kali, Abaddon, Gregorio, and the Archivist alive.'

'Was there a reason to keep the four of them alive?'

'Would they be useful in any way?'

'No.'

'And yet, I still did it.'

'I didn't want to betray the promise that I made to Gregorio.'

'I didn't want to betray Abaddon's help.'

'There is still some humanity left in me.'

Sflence.

...

...

'Time to change that,' Shang thought with a smirk.

The next moment, Shang looked at the numbers that made up his own being.

'Lucius used his powers as a God to purify his self.'

'He got rid of his impure thoughts and became a peaceful and nice person.'

'However, a peaceful and nice person will inevitably get taken advantage of and die in the end.'

'Lucius died to his own stupidity.'

'I won't make the same mistake.'

The next moment, Shang began to tear at his being. Immediately, Shang was assaulted with incredible pain, but he didn't even react to it.

Shang was no stranger to pain, and he could deal with every pain imaginable.

WHOOOOM!

At the same time, a man with black hair and a black saber appeared in the hall.

Yet, the man was turned into Mana and Entropy in an instant.

This had been an Abomination God.

How powerful was an Abomination God?

Nobody knew.

Shang had no interest in finding out and hadjust instantly split it into Entropy and Mana before it could do anything.

Shang had summoned the Abomination God for one simple reason.

Mana.

A portal appeared in front of Shang, and the black ball of Entropy flew through it.

Shang had taken the Abomination God's Entropy and threw it into the infinite void of Entropy.

Now, only the Mana was left.

'That's enough,' Shang thought with a chuckle. 'You don't need a full body.'

The next moment, Shang's will grabbed Aterium violently and shoved part of his self into it.

The process was painful, but the further it progressed, the louder Shang laughed.

"Weakness!" Shang shouted.

"My weakness is leaving my body!"

Shang's laugh became louder and louder.

Slowly, even the last bits of empathy left his soul.

And about an hour later, it was over.

BANG!

A man with blonde hair was thrown at the ground of the castle.

The man looked extremely similar to Shang's human body.

The only differences were that he was fully human and that his hair color was different.

Additionally, there wasn't even a single bit of Entropy inside him.

He was a fully-fledged human.

Lying on the ground, the man slowly opened his eyes, which then widened into shock.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shang laughed as he looked at the pathetic human in front of him.

Infinite rage and hatred appeared in the human in front of Shang.

CRAAAACK!

The next moment, a terrifying black tear tore through the black ball that was Shang.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Yet, Shang didn't stop laughing.

"Oh, foolish human," Shang said with a mocking tone.

"Do you truly believe I would give you the power to hurt me? I'm not as naive as Lucius."

BANG!

Several more black tears tore through Shang, but they couldn't injure him at all.

"Die!" the man shouted.

"I want you to die!"

"You're a monster!"

"I hate you!"

BANG!

The next moment, a tendril shot out of the black ball and pushed the man onto the ground.

The man wasn't able to resist in the slightest.

"Why so angry?" Shang asked with a chuckle. "After all, I've freed you."

"You're finally able to do whatever you want to do."

"You should be thankful to me..."

"Alex."