Super God Academy: Kabuto

Here, there are no stars, only a desolate graveyard, utterly forgotten by time, where even starlight seems to have been drained. As far as the eye can see, there are only the remnants of a fallen civilization: shattered planetary crust, cooled stellar cores, twisted fragments of metallic artifacts… They float in an eerie stillness, together forming a colossal relief spanning several astronomical units, titled "The End of the Divine River Civilization." Traces of void erosion cling like barnacles to the surface of every remnant, and a self-sealing, almost desperate stillness envelops everything.

Only a semi-transparent energy nebula, covering half of the "graveyard" dome and spanning the void, still slowly circulated, emitting a dim yet persistent pale golden light like a dying star. This was the core of the Great Clock Project, the "Eternal Seal" ignited by Principal Kieran using himself as fuel. Like a huge and fragile crystal coffin lid lying across a wound in the universe, it firmly suppressed the "anomaly" below that could not be observed or even spoken of.

When the magenta dimensional barrier forcefully seeped into this absolutely desolate space like inky black ink, an indescribable "aura" instantly enveloped the newcomer. It wasn't a smell, but a coldness mixed with ancient dust, the mournful echoes left over from the collective demise of civilization, and something deeper, more essential—a silent malice that seemed capable of corroding the very concept of "existence."

Lin Yu and Tsukasa Kadoya suddenly appeared atop a massive obelisk comparable to a mountain. The obelisk was cast from some unknown alloy, its surface etched with spiral inscriptions that no one could decipher, telling of lost glory in absolute nothingness.

Almost simultaneously, the two raised their heads, their gazes passing over the endless ruins of civilization beneath their feet and piercing the "dome" of the energy nebula.

Immediately, their gazes froze.

The surface of the pale golden sealing force field, which should have been pure, stable, and pulsating like breathing, was now covered with dense, deep black cracks, like a spiderweb! These cracks were not static; like the blood vessels of a living creature, they were pulsating and extending slowly and steadily. Deep within the cracks, a viscous, oil-like "black gas," constantly evaporating and twisting, was seeping outwards in wisps and strands.

Even more terrifying is that this black energy is not just randomly spreading. It seems to possess some kind of dark wisdom, precisely meandering, penetrating, and taking root along the intricate energy pathways within the sealing force field. Wherever it passes, the pale golden holy light, like silk stained with filthy blood, quickly becomes dim and sluggish, its luster "sucked" away, even exhibiting a decaying, ashen quality of being "assimilated" or "digested."

What's most chilling is the space around the black gas leak point. The structure of reality there exhibits a morbid "fading" and "brittleness," as if the "canvas" of the universe has been corroded by invisible acid, revealing the underlying... empty, dizzying "nothingness."

"This is 'Primal Erosion'..." Lin Yu's voice was extremely low, as if afraid of waking a sleeping behemoth, his eyes sharp as knives and heavy as lead. An uneasy, subtle hum emanated from the Kabuto insect device within his body. The feeling this black energy gave him was completely different from the void energy of the Emerald Star passage and the mental pollution of the Triangle. It was more "empty," more "empty," as if it weren't some kind of energy or matter, but rather a "scar" or "addiction" left behind after "existence" itself had been completely negated and erased—a conceptual plague of destruction.

Tsukasa Kadoya remained silent, his expression unusually serious. He raised the magenta camera in his hand, the lens silently aimed at the grotesque cracks and the seeping black energy. The camera screen didn't display optical images, but instead frantically pulsed with abstract data streams representing spatial curvature, information integrity, and the "presence" of energy; almost all the readings were sliding towards a red abyss representing "zeroing out" or "error." "This thing..." Tsukasa Kadoya narrowed his eyes, his voice low, "is 'devouring' the concepts of 'order' and 'existence' represented by the seal itself. It's transforming 'existence' into 'nothingness.'"

Just as their minds were completely captivated by the shocking sight of the sky being eroded—

hum...

A faint tremor, like the resonant final sighs of countless dead souls, rose from beneath their feet and from the endless ruins of civilization surrounding them.

The colossal obelisk beneath their feet, the broken keel of a starship in the distance, the shattered palace dome in the far distance… all the ancient, silent remains of the divine river simultaneously emitted a faint, eerie blue glow, like a final, fleeting light. These points of light, as if drawn by an invisible force, rose from all directions, like billions of stars falling in reverse, converging towards the nearly shattered sealed nebula in the center of the sky.

The points of light intertwined and merged at the core of the nebula, eventually slowly outlining an extremely blurry, almost transparent humanoid silhouette.

The silhouette gradually became clear in the dim light—it was the phantom of an old man with white hair and beard, a kind face etched with endless years and weariness. He wore an ancient robe, his figure ethereal, as if he might be scattered by the wind at any moment. It was the last remaining projection of Principal Kieran's consciousness, who had merged with this nebula with his last will.

His "gaze"—a gaze composed of faint specks of light—seemed to transcend the absolute barriers of matter and time, landing precisely and gently on Lin Yu and Kadoya Tsukasa. His voice, aged and weary, yet carrying a sense of settled relief and indescribable contentment, resonated deep within their souls, like the soft sound of the last withered leaf falling to the ground:

"You... have finally arrived."

There was no surprise, no questions, just a calm as if a long-awaited guest had arrived as promised.

Lin Yu gazed up at the illusory figure that seemed poised to vanish at any moment, a weight pressing down on his heart as if an entire nebula were upon him. He discarded all unnecessary words and went straight to the crucial question concerning life and death, his voice clear and firm:

"How long can this seal... last?"

Kieran's phantom rippled slightly, like a candle flame flickering in the wind. His aged voice rang out again, each syllable seemingly carrying the weight of a fallen star, slow and clear:

"The rift is deep, the erosion has penetrated to the marrow... In as little as seven days, this nebula, which gathers the last embers of the Divine River and the remnant soul of the old man, will completely collapse, and the thing suppressed below will be exposed. In as little as... perhaps a month. However, the degree of erosion and leakage will only intensify with the passing of seconds. With each passing moment, this universe will be further scarred by the 'nothingness'."

Seven days...at most a month!

This cruel countdown was shorter than the worst-case scenario predicted! It pierced the listener's consciousness like an icicle. This was the final deadline that the sage who guided the divine river with wisdom and protected the universe with sacrifice could buy.

Lin Yu's pupils contracted sharply, his hand clenched into a fist at his side, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. An immense pressure and sense of urgency almost overwhelmed him. But he took a deep breath of "qi," which didn't exist in this deathly void, forcibly suppressing his turbulent emotions. His face showed no panic, no despair, only a tempered, almost cold, absolute calm. He met the dying gaze of the Kieran phantom and nodded with utmost solemnity.

"Understood." Lin Yu's voice was calm and even, yet it seemed to contain a determination to cut off all hesitation. "Leave it to us."

He didn't ask "what to do," nor did he plead with the other party to "hold on a little longer." He knew that this lingering shadow was the last embers of Principal Kieran's life, and every moment of its existence was a brutal and fundamental struggle against the nothingness called "Original Erosion." At this moment, words were superfluous; only action was the sole answer.

Kieran's phantom silently "watched" Lin Yu, a faint glimmer of trust and approval seemingly flashing deep within its eyes, composed of specks of light. It didn't speak again, but the nebula-like phantom, outlined by the faint light of countless remains and stretching across the void, slowly and solemnly bowed in a gesture almost like a nod towards Lin Yu and Tsukasa Kadoya.

Then, the nebula-like phantom began to fade and dissipate irreversibly, and Kieran's kind yet weary face became blurred and transparent, ultimately merging back into the massive, ever-pervasive crack in the seal, like a stroke erased by the void itself. Only the lingering echo of that aged yet resolute voice seemed to leave behind a barely perceptible tremor of "hope" and "responsibility" in the absolutely silent void.

Lin Yu took one last, deep look at the sealing force field riddled with black, vein-like cracks, and at the pure, soul-freezing "nothingness" beneath it. He whirled around, his robes tracing a resolute arc in the void.

"Go! Immediately!"

Tsukasa Kadoya had already tacitly deployed the dimensional barrier, the magenta light like a long-awaited harbor. He didn't ask a single question either; from that brief yet weighty conversation, he had already grasped the gravity of the situation—this was no longer a war of civilizations, but the ultimate countdown to the very survival of "existence" itself.

The two figures were quickly swallowed up by the light of the dimensional barrier and disappeared into this ancient forbidden land that was sliding toward its final collapse.

The very next second after they left—

"Click..."

A faint, almost imperceptible, yet seemingly soul-stirring "shattering sound" emanated from the main crack at the very core of the sealed nebula.

The crack visibly widened.

A wisp of matter, thicker, more viscous, and almost absolutely dark in color than anything seen before, like the tentacles of a monster thirsting for billions of years from the deepest abyss, slowly "squeezed" out from the depths of the crack. It twisted and stretched strangely in the void, its tip opening and closing like a mouth, as if greedily "tasting" and "digesting" the insignificant "existence" emanating from this long-lost, "vibrant" universe.

The final graveyard of the Shenhe civilization has returned to deathly silence.

Only the ever-expanding black cracks and the ever-seeping shadow of the end, known as "Primal Erosion," silently, coldly, and relentlessly tolled the death knell for the entire known universe.

The countdown has begun.