Super God Academy: Kabuto

At Deathsong Academy, Hua Ye sat imposingly on a chair carved from an unknown bone, his face grim, watching Karl's actions before him. Ruo Ning stood to his side, her hand never leaving the hilt of her sword, vigilantly observing the writhing, flickering void-like creations and the eerie floating runes around her.

"Karl, you'd better give me some real 'goods'," Hua Ye said impatiently, tapping the armrest. "Those triangular prisms, and that annoying crimson brat, they're all incredibly strange!"

Karl's voice remained as gentle as ever, carrying an unsettling calm: "King Hua Ye, please calm down. The connection between the Triangle and the Void Abyss is deepening daily, and ordinary dark energy manipulation is no longer sufficient to effectively suppress it. What you need is... a more fundamental level of 'adaptation' and 'erosion'."

He stretched out his hand, and above his palm floated a grayish-black substance that constantly changed shape, sometimes resembling a tiny star, sometimes a living worm. It had no fixed form, yet it exuded an "alien" feeling that was incompatible with all the surrounding matter and energy, as if it were a miniature point of "nothingness".

“Void microparticles,” Karl explained, his tone tinged with scholarly fascination, “are not simply energy or matter, but rather a rudimentary projection of the concept of ‘void’ onto the real universe, containing the embryonic forms of rules of ‘negation,’ ‘devouring,’ and ‘transformation.’ I have already begun to tame and selectively modify them, making them temporarily compatible with the dark dimension gene engine of the Divine River Entity.”

Hua Ye narrowed his eyes, looking at the object that instinctively felt both dangerous and alluring to him: "This thing... won't it turn me into one of those disgusting void monsters too?"

"Rest assured, it's just a superficial implantation and temporary enhancement," Karl assured, but the ambiguity in his words left much to the imagination. "It will enhance your perception and resistance to void energy, giving your attacks a certain degree of 'reality deconstruction' effect, especially effective against the mental field and biomaterial structure of the Triangle. Of course, it may also produce unexpected restraint against certain... disruptive forces from other dimensions."

Hua Ye stared at the cluster of void particles, his eyes finally overpowering any remaining doubt with greed and ambition. He grinned, "Alright! Let's see just how powerful this 'void' really is!"

The process was far from comfortable. As the wisp of void microparticles slowly merged into Hua Ye's chest under Karl's guidance, the King of the Heavenly Palace let out a low groan. Veins bulged on his forehead, and a faint gray-black light flowed through the blood vessels on his skin. A cold, deathly, yet predatory power awakened and spread within him. Ruoning, standing behind him, instinctively gripped her sword, her eyes growing even more vigilant.

A moment later, the gray-black light gradually subsided. Hua Ye suddenly opened his eyes, a strange gray glint flashing deep within his pupils. He clenched his fist, feeling the surging power within him, far exceeding anything he had ever experienced, and that newly generated, icy energy that seemed capable of eroding all life. With a casual grab, a piece of hardened star core remnant used for experiments nearby silently turned into fine ash in his palm, dissipating into the air.

"Hahahaha!" Hua Ye felt this unprecedented power and burst into wild laughter. "Good! Karl, you're actually quite useful!" He stood up, stretched his muscles and bones, which cracked and popped. He exuded a dangerous aura that was a mixture of his original domineering nature and the newborn evil.

"However, don't think I don't know what you're plotting." Hua Ye's laughter faded, and he stared coldly at Karl. "You want to use me as your test subject to probe the power of the void, and incidentally clear obstacles for you?"

Karl bowed slightly, his hood obscuring most of his face, revealing only a pale, almost transparent chin and a faint, almost stiff smile: "King Hua Ye, you flatter me. We each get what we need. You have gained power, while what I seek is merely clearer 'observational data.' I wish King Hua Ye continued success in his military endeavors."

"Hmph!" Hua Ye said no more, turning away with an air of powerful arrogance mixed with a hint of resentment at being outmaneuvered. "Ruo Ning, let's go! It's time to get our revenge! And that woman Keisha, my new power, it'll be perfect to test my skills on her!"

Watching Hua Ye and Ruoning disappear into the teleportation halo, Karl slowly raised his head. In the shadow of the hood, a very faint, almost pleasant "smile" did indeed appear on his pale, almost inhuman face, although there was no warmth in that smile.

"Anger, greed, blind power after expansion... the perfect catalyst," he muttered to himself, turning to another enormous observation window. Outside the window wasn't the starry sky, but countless distorted streams of data and energy spectra, one of which, which had been relatively calm, was now fluctuating violently.

The source of that spectrum is marked as the Shenhe Ruins.

Almost at the same time Hua Ye left, an alarm from the monitoring nodes on the periphery of the Shenhe Ruins traveled across light-years to the Death Song Academy and to several specific receivers.

In the Winter Cherry Blossom Small World, Lin Yu was instructing Qi Lin on some techniques for fine energy manipulation in the courtyard (some of the methods taught by Kadoya Tsukasa were surprisingly effective). He Xi sat on a soft chair not far away, her eyes closed and her mind focused, seemingly conducting remote data synchronization with a subsystem of the Sky Blade No. 7.

Suddenly, Kabuto's urgent notification appeared in Lin Yu's mind. Lin Yu's expression hardened. A stream of mental information, encrypted multiple times and transmitted directly into his mind, was brief yet weighty:

[The outer seal of the Divine River Ruins is fluctuating abnormally. A high concentration of unknown void energy leakage has been detected, its properties differing from all known triangular prisms, and more closely resembling… 'Primal Erosion'. Spatial stability is rapidly declining, and the sealing force field remaining under Principal Kiran is showing signs of weakening. Recommendation: Investigate immediately. — Kabuto]

The message also included several blurry but shocking images: in the center of that ancient star field forgotten by time, the force field dome, formed by Principal Kieran's self-sealing, resembling a giant transparent crystal, was now covered with spiderweb-like black cracks. Strands of viscous, oil-like, yet writhing black matter were slowly "overflowing" from the cracks, and wherever they passed, even space itself seemed to be "painted away," leaving behind unstable, distorted patches of nothingness.

Lin Yu suddenly opened his eyes, a cold glint flashing within them.

"What's wrong?" He Xi keenly noticed his change in mood and immediately asked. Qi Lin also stopped practicing and looked over with concern.

"Something's happened at the Divine River Ruins." Lin Yu succinctly shared Kabuto's information with He Xi. "The seal has loosened, and something's leaking out. We must check it out immediately, otherwise, if the seal completely collapses, it might leak more than just energy..."

The Divine River Ruins are one of the cradles of known cosmic civilizations, and also a place that seals away forbidden secrets about the origins of the Void—secrets that even Principal Kieran had to sacrifice himself to suppress. The consequences of its fall would be unimaginable.

"I'll go with you." He Xi immediately stood up.

"No." Lin Yu refused decisively, pressing down on her shoulders, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The situation there is unclear, the leaked energy is of a strange nature, and you absolutely cannot take the risk in your current state. Stay here and guard the small world. Qi Lin needs you, and Momotaros and the others... also need someone to watch over them."

He looked at Qi Lin: "Qi Lin, contact your brother Shi, immediately!"

Without asking any further questions, Qi Lin immediately activated the special communication talisman that Tsukasa Kadoya had left her.

Almost instantly, a magenta dimensional barrier unfolded in the courtyard, and Tsukasa Kadoya stepped out, his usual languid expression vanishing, replaced by focus and seriousness. He had clearly also sensed the unusual spatial disturbance somewhere in the universe through his own channels.

"The ruins of the Divine River?" Tsukasa Kadoya looked at Lin Yu and asked directly.

"Kabuto's urgent notification: the seal has leaked, and there's a 'Primal Erosion' level of void energy overflowing," Lin Yu said quickly. "I need to go check it out immediately. It might involve something Principal Kiran sacrificed to suppress, or even be related to the core secrets of the Void Abyss. I might not be enough on my own, and..." He glanced at Tsukasa Kadoya's camera, "Your experience with dimensional barriers and dealing with unconventional threats might come in very handy."

Without hesitation, Tsukasa Kadoya nodded. "Understood. Let's go. We definitely can't miss this kind of 'excitement.'" He glanced at Tsurugi and Kirin, "Over here..."

"We will guard this place," He Xi said calmly, her silver eyes gleaming with wisdom and determination. "You all, be careful. If the situation gets out of control... prioritize your own safety; information is more important than taking risks."

Lin Yu gave He Xi a deep look, a thousand words condensed into a heavy nod. He turned to Kadoya Tsukasa: "Let's go!"

Tsukasa Kadoya deployed the dimensional barrier again. This time, he adjusted the coordinates, attempting to directly locate the outer perimeter of the Divine River Ruins, which had become extremely unstable due to energy leakage. Lin Yu followed closely behind, and the two figures were instantly engulfed by the magenta light.

He Xi and Qi Lin gazed at the empty courtyard, the lingering dimensional fluctuations in the air quickly dissipating. Cherry blossoms continued to fall, but an invisible tension seemed to have settled in the air.

"Sister-in-law..." Qi Lin called softly.

He Xi gently took her hand, his gaze fixed on the ever-bright yet seemingly stormy sky of the small world: "Trust them. What we need to do now is make this a 'home' where they can return safely no matter what happens."