The Last King Of Darkness

"The fall of the Primordial Gods began with betrayal."

Rod’s eyes widened, and a towering storm surged in his heart. Ever since Asa had completed the first reversal of time, a question had always lingered in his mind: how had such mighty Primordial Gods fallen? How had the Utterly Evil One stolen the power of the Gods, discovered the cause of the Law Circle’s destruction, then struck down the primordial order and released unspeakable terrors?

Without betrayal, it was unimaginable.

The pages of the Book of Eternity flipped rapidly, blooming with an even more dazzling radiance.

"Atos, foremost among the thirteen Primordial Gods of the Law Circle, the supreme Primordial Divine King, held the greatest authority of the Supreme Universe, was King of all Gods, possessed infinite might, and was also the King of Source Law, ruling over the rise and fall and the cycles of all Source Laws. The three Primordial Gods—the Light God, the Source Heavenly God, and the Primordial Goddess—coveted His divine throne, cast greedy eyes upon His divine authority. After the Utterly Evil One revealed exceedingly high wisdom, they took him as an opportunity, rebelled against the Supreme Universe, and schemed to seize the sovereignty of the Law Circle."

"The infinitely great, supreme Primordial Divine King Atos, by virtue of unsurpassed wisdom and power, shattered their conspiracy. After their failure, the Utterly Evil One, the Light God, the Source Heavenly God, and the Primordial Goddess, driven to an impasse, were forced to flee into the Abyss. Taking the remains of the Abyss God—who had been treacherously slain at the very outset of the divine war—as the medium, and the cause of the Law Circle’s destruction as the Source, they fused the out-of-control Source Laws, opened the unspeakable Pandora’s box of terror, polluted the Law Circle, struck apart the primordial divine authority, and corrupted the Primordial Divine King Atos. The Primordial Gods, who were already on the verge of collapse, lost the support of their highest Divine King’s Divine Power and fell one after another."

"Yet the Utterly Evil One did not obtain the final Victory. After he devoured the Primordial Divine King and the Primordial Gods, this bizarre power underwent an incomprehensible evolution. Horrifying distortions and degeneration spread madly; uncontrollable corruption layered upon itself. It broke free of the Utterly Evil One’s control and plunged completely out of restraint. Thus was the first Black Fog born."

"This incomprehensible, terrifying existence swiftly devoured the Light God, the Source Heavenly God, and the Primordial Goddess, then began to expand without limit, submerging the entire Main Material World and rapidly spreading to engulf the whole Supreme Universe."

"Though the Primordial Divine King Atos was corrupted, His Residual Spirit was not wholly lost. With His final remaining will, He shattered the Law Circle, preventing the Source Law from being completely corrupted. After the Law Circle broke apart, it formed a vast Sea of Source, greatly increasing the difficulty of the Black Fog’s corruption."

"Thus, the Black Fog began its first contraction, in order to corrupt the Sea of Source as much as possible, and corrupt more Source Laws."

"With His remaining will, the Primordial Divine King Atos unleashed His final supreme might, influencing and altering the Unnamed, transmuting the Spirit Mist that permeated the universe, so that every great existence that had been corrupted would retain a strand of Residual Spirit preserved upon the Spirit Mist. Taking the Spirit Mist as bearer, they resisted the Black Fog’s encroachment within the Sea of Source, opposed the Black Fog’s corruption, and strove to use the Supreme Universe’s origin power to rectify the distorted, decayed Sea of Source, so as to utterly accomplish the Purification of the Black Fog."

"Yet the existence of the Black Fog surpassed the imagination of all Primordial Gods. Even the Supreme Universe’s origin power could not completely affect it; instead it would be assimilated and bring forth new distortions. It even formed a peculiar Source feedback mechanism. Source feedback can perceive every influence and respond in an incomprehensible fashion; any enemy that threatens its existence will in the end be struck down by the Source feedback mechanism."

"Source feedback can even affect the entire Black Fog. Whenever the efficiency of its corrosion of the Sea of Source declines, the Black Fog will launch a horrifying great tide, flooding the Main Material World and corrupting all beings that possess Spirit, thereby seizing more Energy to further erode the Sea of Source and oppose the Purification wrought by the Primordial Divine King and all Heroic Spirits."

In that moment, the question that had long lain hidden in Rod’s heart was finally unraveled. He had always struggled to imagine why the erosion of the Sea of Source was so difficult—so difficult that even the Black Fog, which had seized the sky, the earth, the oceans, the Spirit Realm, and the Abyss, shrouding the whole world, still needed multiple cycles of contraction and expansion to invade the Sea of Source.

So it was because within the Sea of Source there had always existed a power of Purification.

So it was that within this boundless darkness, there was not wholly an absence of light.

That endless Black Fog had swallowed all things, yet it had never extinguished that final shred of hope.

The Book of Knowledge murmured: "No wonder, no wonder these human Heroic Spirits can exist in the Starry Sky; no wonder that among fallen human Strong ones, there is always a wisp of Residual Spirit that does not perish. So it was that all of this exists because of the Spirit Mist."

The doll gazed up at the heavens and said softly: "The Starry Sky is the highest tier of the Spirit Realm, the Space whose boundary with the Sea of Source is thinnest. Perhaps this is also where the battles between the Black Fog and the still-surviving Heroic Spirits are most intense. Sun, moon, and Stars are immeasurably vast Collections of Spirits; perhaps they are the root Source Power of the Supreme Universe, and for these tens of millions of years they have been the main force resisting the Black Fog and Purifying the Sea of Source."

"This is bad!" the Book of Knowledge suddenly said. "The coming of Pollution to the Starry Sky—does that not signify that the Heroic Spirits are gradually going out? The corruption of sun, moon, and Stars likewise proclaims the waning of the Purification power?"

Rod’s heart sank heavily. He realized that the words of the Book of Knowledge were very likely true.

This dark riot, this great tide of the Black Fog, might not be the same as those before. Complete Destruction might well be close at hand.

"The Utterly Evil One..."