Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 284 The Demon's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
In the star system closest to the Ringworld, 3 light-years away, on an administrative planet.

The entire planet fell silent. Everyone witnessed the entire destruction of the Ringworld through subspace communication, including the struggles, resistance, and the final moments when everyone fell into the giant serpent's belly. The whole process was recorded without any omissions.

There is a sense of sorrow for those of the same kind, but more than that, there is...

"We... survived?"

An administrative bureaucrat felt as if he were in a dream.

Just three days ago, this bureaucrat managed to snag a ticket for the last ship, escaping to this planet and surviving. But after the initial fear and grief of watching the Ringworld being swallowed up, a feeling of ecstasy and relief welled up within him.

"Yes, we survived..."

The person beside him was also watching intently as the giant serpent lazily stretched its body, the magnificent serpent slithering through the dark void, heading towards a more distant world.

"After the ring world, the world-devourer will head towards the center of the galaxy, a process that will take a very long time, up to 5 years. It won't pass through too many administrative planets; the galaxy can accommodate these refugees."

"In other words, for at least the next 7 years, humanity will never encounter the World Eater again. We survived, we lived, and this nightmare is finally coming to an end."

As he spoke, the man became somewhat excited, his eyes sparkling and his spirits soaring.

For seven thousand years, the entire human world has faced fear and threats. More than half of humanity lives on the Ring World, which is threatened by a giant serpent that seeks to devour it. In all cultural products, the struggle against the nightmare, the symbol of death—the World Eater—has been a popular theme for humanity.

Now, the World Eater will devour the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Although half of humanity perished, the other half survived, and it is foreseeable that humanity will never encounter that nightmare again.

They survived, and they survived forever.

The administrative bureaucrats beside him immediately realized this as well.

From this day forward, while the World Eater still exists, it is no longer humanity's enemy, but rather a cosmic phenomenon. In a sense, although humanity paid a tremendous price, it still survived to the end; aren't we survivors the ultimate victors?

While it may be unfair to say this about the 200 trillion human beings who died, it was their sacrifice that ensured the survival of all humanity and brought about this rare and long period of peace.

"Yeah, that's great."

Thinking of this, the bureaucrats couldn't help but laugh, and began to imagine the bright future of mankind in the peaceful years to come.

The atmosphere gradually relaxed, but just then, someone suddenly emitted a weak psionic energy fluctuation.

"But without RimWorld, then... who's in charge now?"

The relaxed atmosphere suddenly froze.

The Rimworld is the center of the human world because half of humanity in the entire galaxy lives there, possessing the most advanced technology, military power, and culture. For ten thousand years, the human world has become accustomed to accepting the dominance of the Rimworld.

But now that the Ringworld is destroyed, who will rule the galaxy next?

The prophets are naturally revered, but they don't concern themselves with the specifics. There are 7000 billion human-owned planets in the entire galaxy, so who will have the opportunity to dominate it? Does that mean…?

For a moment, an undercurrent of tension surged beneath the silence.

……

While the group was talking, on another part of the administrative planet, a dozen gray-robed figures were also looking in the direction of the ring world.

"Finally... finally I've escaped."

One of them spoke silently.

"We did not hesitate to distort history, destroy the Second Republic, and establish the Third Reich. All our efforts were for the survival of mankind. Although half of humanity died, we still managed to escape."

Yes, they escaped.

In any case, we've escaped. What follows will be a long period of time, during which humanity will be able to explore extragalactic galaxies. Even if the Milky Way is destroyed, humanity will still be able to survive.

Humanity's glory will endure forever.

Among the crowd, however, there was a man in a gray robe who hesitated to speak, but ultimately remained silent.

The leader glanced at him sideways and then spoke.

“I know what you want to say… Husoluan’s inner conflict is unresolved, don’t be sad, he just went to see the emperor.”

As they spoke, the crowd sighed and fell silent, mourning the passing of a psychic master.

Although it is heartbreaking, someone must eventually prepare for the mission of rebuilding the human world. With the destruction of the Ringworld, the human world is already in grave danger, and a single misstep could lead to the disintegration of 7000 billion human planets.

Time is of the essence; we must do our utmost to quell the chaos and suppress the ambitions of those with ulterior motives.

The psychic masters were discussing in hushed tones. Just then, someone suddenly looked up, a puzzled expression on their face.

"Wait, this feeling is..."

Immediately afterwards, all the psionic masters realized what was happening and looked astonished.

It is the subspace, and within the subspace, an unprecedented and enormous change has occurred.

The subspace that was once freely accessible is now off-limits to navigation.

……

Subspace is the only supernatural phenomenon known to humankind besides psychic energy.

This is a strange world independent of the real universe. In the event known as the "Great Awakening," humanity inadvertently discovered this strange world. In this world, speed no longer has an upper limit, time can flow backward naturally, and the boundary between life and death becomes blurred... All sorts of strange phenomena astonish humanity.

No one knows the size of this strange world, for it is filled only with chaotic currents and bizarre, unsettling things. Even the psionic masters know very little about the warp, but the Great Will occasionally hints to them that this is the "Old World."

However, although the principles of the subspace cannot be understood, this does not prevent humans from using the subspace to achieve their own goals.

The strange properties of the warp have made faster-than-light travel possible; psionic masters have been able to travel through time. Half of humanity's prosperity is attributable to the exploration of the warp. But now, a storm is brewing within the warp.

Even the psionic masters were unaware that this old world had a very special function: it contained the souls of the dead.

In this world, only humans possess souls, and therefore only humans can use psychic energy. However, both psychic energy and souls are bugs left over from the old world. This physical universe does not accept the existence of souls, so souls with nowhere to go wander in the ruins of this abandoned old world.

Only here, in this old world, is the soul a legitimate existence.

Most souls, after wandering in the old world for a few days, naturally dissipate under the influence of the remaining rules of that old world. Some souls are exceptionally powerful and may remain forever, but most are twisted into monsters.

But just now, the old world has suddenly been flooded with an unprecedented number of the dead's souls.

There were far too many dead.

If every grain of dust could hold ten thousand souls, then these grains of dust could accumulate to form a planet; if every drop of morning dew could hold one hundred thousand souls, then these drops of morning dew could accumulate to form an ocean.

Two trillion dead, their souls twisted and entangled, filled with resentment and curses.

“Why?! Why?!”

Twisted and bizarre faces, outstretched arms struggling to break free, only to be pulled back in by other arms, unable to escape.

The enormous, deformed souls twisted and turned, attracting strange monsters, but those dark, grotesque monsters were also devoured and dragged into them by these souls. The darkness that devoured the darkness itself distorted the surrounding world.

This commotion shook the entire subspace and eventually attracted the Apocalypse.

The four knights, chosen by Satan and who had performed incredible feats, awoke from their long slumber. Riding four horses and singing, they charged towards the twisted and crazed souls.

"God blesses the believer, who shares in the four loves; or has mercy on the believer, who shows favor to the devout; or gives life to the believer, who reveres the truth; or anoints the believer, who will forever revere our God..."

And so, the previously chaotic souls began to integrate...

[When I saw the Lamb open the first of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked and saw a white horse, with a bow on its rider, and a crown was given to it. It came out and won and wanted to win again.]

When the second seal was opened, I heard a second living creature say, “Come!” Then came a red horse. And authority was given to the rider to snatch peace from the earth and to put people to kill one another. And a large sword was given to him.

When the third seal was opened, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider had scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice among the four living creatures saying, “A denarius buys a shovel of wheat, and a denarius buys three shovels of barley; and do not waste oil or wine.”

"When the fourth seal was opened, I heard the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' And I looked, and there before me was a pale green horse, and riding it was named Death, and Hades was with him. And they were given power to kill a quarter of the earth by sword, by famine, by plague, by wild beasts."

—The Book of Revelation

At the end of the world, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse did not arrive; instead, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse came from the demons.

……

The physical universe.

In some void, a massive rift was suddenly torn open, and a gigantic arm, covered in abscesses and exuding a foul stench, emerged from it. The arm was riddled with rotting wounds. Numerous unknown insects and animals gnawed at the arm, ravenously consuming substances that should have been highly toxic.

Their bodies constantly mutate. In order to adapt to these ever-changing highly toxic substances, these life forms exhaust the limits of biological evolution in just a few breaths, demonstrating incredible tenacity and perseverance from birth to death.

The outstretched head gazed at this star-studded world, but a look of disappointment appeared on its face.

"An ugly world... needs to be transformed... rebuilt..."

As they spoke, the swollen, decaying deity continued to tear open the spatial rift, completely breaking free from the obstruction and entering this physical universe.

On a planet light-years away from this rotten god, a plant was quietly undergoing a transformation. When a small, rabbit-like animal hopped past the plant, it suddenly opened its gaping maw.

"Click..."

And elsewhere in the galaxy...

On a lost, desolate planet, during a festival, everyone stared in disbelief at the suddenly appearing, stunningly beautiful woman, their eyes filled with deep longing. But looking at the human before her, the woman couldn't help but chuckle.

As she laughed, she couldn't help but lick her lips, gazing greedily at the soul before her.

Among the stars, the first believers knelt before the enormous evil god. Faced with those timid followers, the terrifying and cruel god issued only one command.

"Skull offering to the skull seat, blood sacrifice to the blood god..."

Meanwhile, in a research institute, a researcher was deeply confused. He didn't know what to do with his research, but then some wonderful inspiration inexplicably appeared in his mind.

"Wait, if it's like this... like this... and like this..."

The excited researchers became thrilled.

In his mind, the mysterious deity watched him with great interest, anticipating how excited the researcher would be when he finally forged that war machine with the flesh and blood of his own relatives and friends.

……

At this moment, humanity is still debating the interests of various planets after the power vacuum following the break in the subspace travel route. They have lost contact, and 7000 billion planets are restless, either in chaos or divided.

However, humanity remains completely unaware that a long war that will plunge the entire galaxy into despair is about to begin.

At the site of the Ringworld ruins, unmanned machines silently explore, searching for any possible traces of survival. Several years have passed since that cataclysmic event, but occasionally, survivors in cryogenic chambers can still be found here.

In a desolate cluster of meteorites, a seemingly wrecked spaceship suddenly flashed its indicator light.

"Emergency power shortage, defrosting in progress... Dear guest, the Starship is at your service. Welcome back from your journey..."

Inside the cryogenic chamber, a pair of bewildered eyes opened.

(End of this chapter)