Super God Academy: Kabuto

The chaos slowly dissipated, like a stain wiped away by an invisible hand.

Lin Yu, clad in black, stood alone before a "rift." It was no ordinary spatial rift; rather, it was a wound torn open on the canvas of the universe by some force beyond comprehension, its edges flowing with absolute "nothingness," constantly annihilating and reborn. Beneath his feet was no solid ground, only a surging, greedily devouring abyss of darkness, devouring all light, sound, and even concepts. A chilling suction, like the sighs of countless departed souls, tugged at his clothes, attempting to drag him into eternal silence.

Beneath the rift lies the ultimate abyss, a place so mysterious and shrouded in secrecy that even the three Void races must tremble and offer sacrifices—a forbidden land where the guardians slumber and an even more ancient being is sealed away.

He lowered his head, his dark pupils reflecting the unfathomable darkness below. There was no fear, no hesitation, not even a ripple of emotion, only a frozen, almost cruel resolve. He stood motionless for a moment, as if making a final, silent confirmation with some will beyond dimensions. Then, he leaned forward and leaped.

come down.

There was no expected weightless whistling, no rapidly elongating of light and shadow, and even the concept of "falling" itself seemed ambiguous. Senses were stripped away, the sense of time vanished, and the sense of direction crumbled. Only a perpetual, ever-deepening perception of "nothingness" remained. Absolute darkness not only devoured sight and hearing but also eroded the boundaries of the "self." Here, "existence" itself was a grueling ordeal that required constant struggle, lest one be assimilated and annihilated.

It may be a fleeting moment, or it may be the vastness of eternity.

Lin Yu, dressed in black, finally touched "below" with the soles of his feet.

It is not a physical entity, but a foundation constructed from solidified "negation" and "emptiness," cold, hard, and repelling all attributes of "existence." He stood firmly, his black trench coat fluttering in the absolute stillness of the void, becoming the only incongruous "coordinate" in this absolute silence.

He raised his right hand, palm up.

A faint light, soft yet unusually stubborn, shone forth, barely managing to create a small, barely enveloping area of ​​light around him. The light source was not a physical entity, but rather a highly condensed "mark of existence" or "causal anchor." It was not dazzling, yet it seemed to possess the resilience to penetrate the essence of "nothingness," illuminating the ground beneath his feet—a strange plane as smooth as the oldest obsidian mirror, yet so black it seemed capable of absorbing the very essence of the soul.

Using the light of this solitary lamp, Lin Yu, dressed in black, began to walk.

Each step he took was heavy, as if carrying the sigh of the entire galaxy. It wasn't the force of physical gravity, but a comprehensive "suppression" and "repulsion" originating from the very source of the rules. The "will" of the entire abyss seemed to have transformed into invisible mountains, crushing his body, permeating his soul, attempting to utterly crush, assimilate, and reduce this "existence" that shouldn't exist to nothingness. Every inch forward required astonishing strength and an iron will to fight against the omnipresent, immense malice that sought to erase him.

He frowned slightly, his lips pressed tightly together, but he showed no intention of turning back. The path he had come from behind had long been swallowed up again by the writhing darkness; looking back, he saw only emptiness. Moving forward was the only path etched into his soul the moment he entered this place.

The pearly light flickered, illuminating only a few feet ahead. Further away lay an absolute darkness, so thick it seemed to possess life, constantly writhing and shifting. Time ceased to exist there; only his heavy, drum-like footsteps and the suppressed breaths against the invisible pressure marked his "progress" in the void.

I don't know how long they traveled, perhaps a long and lonely journey long enough for stars to be born and die.

The eternally unchanging curtain of darkness ahead finally revealed a strange, unsettling outline.

The first thing to pierce the light field was an enormous black altar. It stood in an irregular polygonal shape that defied the laws of geometry, its edges so sharp they seemed capable of cutting through concepts themselves. Its surface was etched with countless constantly flowing, shifting, and writhing gray-white runes, as if they were alive. These runes exuded a chilling aura that shared the same origin as the abyss, yet was far more ancient, more austere, and closer to the "root." A mere glimpse of them was enough to shatter mortal souls and tarnish divine will.

Directly in front of the altar, a relatively small platform floats, like a miniature mirror image of the altar, also densely covered with unsettling flowing runes. On the platform, a blurry, seated human figure is vaguely visible.

Lin Yu, dressed in black, paused almost imperceptibly for a moment. His dark eyes narrowed sharply, all his attention locking onto the figure on the platform like the sharpest probe. He took a deep breath, as if it were nonexistent, and continued walking towards the eerie core formed by the altar and the platform.

As the distance closes, details gradually emerge.

The humanoid figure on the platform, or rather, some being with human features, gradually became clear. It wore a tattered robe, almost blending into the abyssal darkness of the background, its color a somber gray, like a shroud that had buried countless eons. Its head was bowed, its long hair withered and disheveled like deep-sea seaweed, completely obscuring its face. There was no trace of life, no energy fluctuation, not even a ripple of "presence" around it, like a stone statue long since weathered away at the end of time, frozen in eternal death along with the altar, the platform, and even the entire abyss.

Lin Yu, dressed in black, walked to the edge of the altar base, slowly raised his head, his gaze like the coldest ice blade, trying to pierce through the drooping, withered hair and glimpse the true face that existed on the platform.

Just as his gaze focused on that lowered head—

The figures on the platform moved.

It wasn't the movement of limbs, but rather that head, which seemed to have never been raised since time immemorial, slowly, as if bearing the weight of an immense amount of time and space, was slowly lifted up.

The withered hair that covered the face silently slid down to both sides, revealing a "face"... one that defies description by any known concept of life or aesthetics. The skin was a lifeless, deathly gray, covered with fine, cracked lines, like a riverbed dried up for millions of years. But what froze the soul most were the suddenly opened "eyes"—no whites, no irises, no pupils, only two pure, intense, writhing, blood-red orbs of light, as if solidified directly from the sins, madness, and deepest malice accumulated over countless ages!

The blood-red "gaze" was like two tangible, cold spears wrapped with endless curses and a will of denial. It instantly pierced through the weak barrier that the pearl light was struggling to maintain and was firmly "nailed" to Lin Yu in black!

"boom--!"

An indescribable, terrifying pressure, like the "malice" of the entire abyss finding a concrete outlet, descended with a devastating roar, transforming into a tangible cataclysmic event! This was no longer the environmental oppression felt while walking, but a naked, unmistakable will to "erasure" from a higher level of existence, utterly clear! Lin Yu, dressed in black, groaned, his knees buckling uncontrollably as if struck by an invisible hammer, crashing heavily onto the solid "denial" foundation below with a guttural thud! His black trench coat billowed wildly, fluttering in the wind, as if in a desperate struggle against the invisible, all-crushing force. The bead in his hand, serving as an "anchor," flickered violently, its light threatening to extinguish at any moment.

A voice, not transmitted through air vibrations, but directly and brutally resounded from the very source of his soul, echoing along every line of reasoning that constituted his existence. The voice was hoarse and dry, each syllable carrying the noise of rust grinding together and the sticky feel of congealed blood, containing the most primal, indifferent malice:

"The insect... is dead."

The moment the words left his mouth, Lin Yu, dressed in black, experienced an unprecedented, ultimate crisis that transcended death! It wasn't the destruction of his physical body, but something far more fundamental and terrifying—an "existential erasure"—as if an invisible and absolute hand was forcibly erasing everything—all the information, imprints, and causal threads—representing the individual "Lin Yu" from the very root of the concept of "existence," from the level of information and causality. It was as brutal and undeniable as erasing chalk marks from a blackboard! He felt his "sense of existence" rapidly thinning and becoming transparent; his memories were fading, his emotions were freezing, his will was dissipating… Everything that constituted "me" was being forcibly stripped away by an absolute force, reduced to utter "nothingness"!

On the verge of utter despair, on the verge of complete annihilation from its very root—

hum!

A glimmer of light, carrying an undeniable tenacity, suddenly pierced through his clothes from his chest! The "End of the World's Bud," which had been dormant all along, seemed to sense the ultimate crisis facing its host, a crisis that touched the very foundation of its existence, and it emerged on its own!

It still retains the form of three petals stubbornly blooming on the dark calyx. At this moment, an unprecedented, soft light, yet seemingly containing a certain "absolute" quality, flows from the petals. This light is not intense or dazzling, but seems to possess a strange "anchoring" and "negation" characteristic.

When the "root erasure" power originating from the platform's blood-eye touched the light emanating from the "End's Core," it was like a raging tide crashing into an insurmountable reef, resulting in a bizarre deflection, dissipation, and dissolution! It was as if the "End's Core" itself represented a certain "predetermined end," "unalterable bond," or "absolute cause and effect," forming a fundamental, rule-level conflict with this "forced erasure" rule. In an instant, it erected an inviolable "absolute domain" for Lin Yu's foundation of existence!

At the same time, the "End's Bud" shone brightly, no longer merely a passive defense. The gentle light transformed into a powerful pulling force, like the strongest thread of cause and effect, tightly enveloping Lin Yu in black, forcibly tearing apart the space and distorted rules around him that had been solidified by the will of the abyss!

Space was violently distorted, light and shadow were wildly inverted, and the structure of reality groaned under the strain.

Lin Yu, dressed in black, along with the radiant flower, vanished instantly from the suffocating pressure field before the altar. He was forcibly pulled away by the power originating from the "End's Bud," and rapidly retraced back towards the direction of the rift above the abyss.

"Oh……"

Just as Lin Yu's figure was completely swallowed by the spatial ripples, a very faint sneer, which seemed to freeze the timeline and penetrate the deepest part of the soul, came from the location of the blood eye on the platform, as clear as a whisper.

With that chilling sneer, a black thread, purer and more condensed than the surrounding abyss darkness, seemingly embodying the most primal "nothingness" and "malice," shot out silently from the direction of the platform, like a bizarre venomous snake with independent will and life! It precisely captured the spatial trajectory that had not yet fully calmed when Lin Yu disappeared, and plunged into the distorted ripples at an illogical speed.

This black thread moved at an extreme speed, almost in sync with Lin Yu being taken away by the "End of the Bud." In the blink of an eye, it caught up with him while he was in a state of spatial reversal. It snaked out like a venomous snake, trying to entangle his body, invade his energy circuits, and even pollute the essence of his soul.

The light of the "End's Bud" burst forth once more in response, like the most loyal barrier, firmly blocking the direct intrusion of the black threads. The two forces, so different in nature yet both touching upon some fundamental rule, clashed and annihilated fiercely in an instant, unleashing silent yet soul-shaking ripples of the rule.

Most of the black threads were neutralized, dissipated, and vanished by the "absolute" light of the "End's Core." However, at the very last moment before the light and black threads intertwined and annihilated, an extremely fine remnant of black thread, almost undetectable by any conventional perception or instrument, seemed to possess a strange "spirituality" beyond its carrier, and suddenly changed its trajectory! Like a drop of super-concentrated ink falling into clear water, it cunningly bypassed the frontal protective area where the light of the "End's Core" was strongest, and silently and precisely merged into... a special "mark" or "channel" on Lin Yu's body that resonated deeply with the "End's Core," yet seemed to be independent of his personal life information.

That mark might be a spatial coordinate anchor point connecting the Winter Cherry Blossom Small World, or a node of the causal thread deeply intertwined with the fates of He Xi, Keisha, Qi Lin, and others, or perhaps some other deep information interface that has not yet manifested and that even Lin Yu himself may not fully understand, concerning his essence of crossing over or his future trajectory...

The moment the black thread remnants merged into the target area, there was a barely perceptible ripple, a chill colder than the abyss emanating from it, before it quickly returned to calm, as if nothing had happened, and even the "End's Bud" did not react again.

The abyss returned to deathly silence, as if the thrilling conflict had never happened.

The abyss returned to deathly silence. The blood-eyed being on the platform slowly withdrew its gaze, lowered its head once more, and its withered hair once more covered its face, as if it had never awakened. Only the gray-white runes flowing on the altar seemed to be slightly more active than before.