Linde hovered above Noctoos's enormous, black, charred remains. Against the backdrop of the desolate and noisy Shadow Abyss, the crystalline body appeared exceptionally small, yet it exuded an unquestionable absolute authority.
He slowly descended, finally placing his feet on the cold, hard surface of the divine remains that seemed capable of devouring all hope and life.
[Deconstruction Aura] is operating at full power, and its strength even surpasses its peak at the Sanctuary.
In his purple eyes, the galaxy no longer surged, but transformed into two bottomless, dark vortexes that seemed capable of swallowing all light—he was integrating his recent analysis of Esmeralda's mutated power, as well as his deeper understanding of the essence of the Shadow Abyss, into these vortexes to deal with this more ancient and purer origin of "End" and "Nothingness".
Countless profound runes, darker than shadows and more complex than the void, spread out from beneath his feet, like living tentacles or the most precise probes, piercing deep into the remains of Nocturnus's godhood.
This analysis was far more difficult and dangerous than that of the Lord of the Light Veins, Lucius.
The essence of light veins is "order" and "life". Although their structure is vast and complex, it is ultimately traceable.
The essence of Shadow Abyss is "chaos" and "death," the ultimate "disorder" and "nothingness." Its rules are not based on the foundation of "existence," but on the "negation of existence."
It's like trying to define the shape of "nothingness" itself, or to write a genealogy for "the end".
Linde's consciousness was like going against the flow in an endless dark blizzard. With each step forward, he had to fight against the instinctive erosion that would assimilate, decompose, and reduce his own thoughts to nothingness.
If he hadn't already laid the foundation through the [Shadow Abyss Aura] and had just personally experienced the impact of Esmeralda's mixed power, he probably wouldn't have been able to understand even one ten-millionth of it.
But he held on.
His will, like an ultimate crystal core forged through countless trials, anchored itself in the absolute void storm. The Deconstruction Halo reconstructed its algorithm in an unprecedented way, no longer merely "understanding" and "analyzing," but beginning to attempt to "define" and "plan" this chaotic disorder.
He "saw" the law of the final sedimentation of all things, saw the "emptiness" after the complete annihilation of energy and matter, and saw the cold truth that terrifies all living beings, yet is an inevitable aspect of the universe.
This process is slow and extremely dangerous.
Weiss stood quietly by her side.
She was no longer anxious, nor did she show any signs of hunger. She simply curled up quietly at Lind's feet, like a little animal guarding a treasure.
Her empty eye sockets stared at Lind, and then occasionally "looked" at the Shadow Abyss sea beasts around her, who dared not get too close because of the disappearance of Esmeralda and the temporary calm of the divine remains, but still lingered greedily in the distance.
Occasionally, sea beasts, drawn by the instincts of the divine remains or captivated by the strange fluctuations emanating from Lind's analysis, would try to approach. In such cases, Weiss would immediately raise her head, emitting a low, threatening hiss, and exuding a pure aura of the Shadow Abyss, as if asserting her dominance, scaring them away.
She seemed to understand that her "father" was at a crucial moment and could not be disturbed in any way.
Time loses its meaning in the Shadow Abyss, a region where the concept of normal flow rate has been lost.
After an unknown amount of time, the deep, dark runes spreading around Linde suddenly shone brightly—not to illuminate, but to reveal their existence with an even more extreme kind of "darkness"!
As if they had completed their final weaving, they formed an incredibly complex, ever-changing, three-dimensional structure containing the profound truths of "end" and "nothingness," deeply imprinted on the surface of Noctoos's divine remains and penetrating towards its very core!
At this moment, the Shadow Abyss Halo has completed its final and essential evolution and completion!
Linde suddenly opened his eyes.
His left eye still held that purple iris containing the birth and death of galaxies and light; but his right eye had transformed into a pure, lightless darkness that seemed capable of devouring all vision and soul—ultimate darkness!
Light and shadow, creation and destruction, two diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive supreme laws, coexist in him in a subtle and balanced way!
He slowly raised his hands.
In the palm of his left hand, a warm, gentle force of light, brimming with boundless vitality and order, slowly rotated, like a miniature star.
In the palm of his right hand, a wisp of cold, deathly darkness, seemingly capable of ending the existence of all things, flowed silently, like a miniature black hole.
There was no conflict between the two. Instead, under his absolute will, they formed a balanced state of mutual restraint and reference, yet also a deeper connection.
He took a small step forward.
He did not completely reconstruct the power of the Shadow Abyss into himself as he had done with the Light Vein—that would have been too dangerous, almost tantamount to self-destruction.
Forcibly fusing two extremely opposing laws will likely result not in sublimation, but in complete annihilation, even more thorough than the fall of Nocturnus.
He chose a more opportunistic approach, one that better suited his own path—deconstruction, understanding, and control, but not integration.
He became the "understanding one" and "controller" of Shadow Abyss, like a scientist who had mastered the principles and technology of nuclear fission, rather than becoming the nuclear bomb itself.
He can use the power of the Shadow Abyss to define its rules and even guide it to a certain extent, but his own core existence still maintains its independence.
This allowed him to avoid the risk of being assimilated by Yingyuan, and also left him with infinite possibilities and a more solid foundation for the path he might take in the future to truly unify the two poles.
"That's enough."
Linde muttered to himself, his hands slowly clenching into fists, as the power of light and darkness simultaneously flowed into his body.
The pure darkness in his right eye slowly faded, returning to a deep purple, but the depths of that purple seemed even more mysterious and unpredictable than before.
He looked down at Weiss, who was standing at his feet.
Weiss seemed to sense the change in him, tilting her "head" back and letting out a soft, dependent whimper.
Linde bent down and picked her up again.
This time, Weiss felt no discomfort whatsoever; instead, she found a more comfortable position in his arms, as if it were the only anchor point in this chaotic void.
Linde contacted the Steel Sky through the magic network.
"Aster".
"Yes, my lord."
Astaire's voice remained steady, but Lind could keenly sense the constant pressure and fatigue that all the crew members were experiencing on a mental level, stemming from the Shadow Abyss environment, beneath that stability.
Ultimately, the human soul cannot confront this pure "nothingness" for long.
"Objective achieved initially. Immediately, lift combat alert and switch to normal survival mode. Set return coordinates and return to the Howling Abyss stronghold in the Prime Material Plane via the original route."
Aster seemed to breathe a slight sigh of relief: "Understood. Begin the return journey. It is estimated that it will take..."
"You don't need to wait for me."
Linde interrupted him, "You can go back on your own. I have some things to do, but I'll find a way to leave when the time comes."
Aster paused for a moment, then did not press further: "As you wish. Best of luck, my lord."
Communication was cut off.
Lin De could sense that the massive steel structure above his head began to move slowly, adjusting its direction. The light veins on the ship's hull lit up again, creating a stable force field. Like a loyal giant, it silently and resolutely sailed away from this desolate sea that did not belong to it, heading towards the entrance of the rift.
After seeing off the Steel Sky, Lind turned his gaze once again to the boundless Noctoos remains beneath his feet.
He did not leave immediately.
Although he had gained a preliminary grasp of the laws of Shadow Abyss, this place was still a huge treasure trove for him.
Those wandering Shadow Abyss sea beasts are themselves condensations of Shadow Abyss energy and laws, making them excellent research samples.
He held Weiss in his arms, like a dark king surveying his domain, and began to stroll across this island of doom.
Wherever he went, the powerful and fearsome Shadow Abyss sea beasts let out terrified howls and instinctively retreated, making way for him.
They could sense that this seemingly insignificant being emanated an ultimate authority that inspired even greater awe than the remains of the gods, an authority that seemed to determine whether they "existed" or not.
Linde would occasionally stop, extend his finger, and point it at a particularly large or strangely shaped creature in the Shadow Abyss.
[Deconstructing the Halo] Silently sweeps across, instantly dissecting its structure, energy flow patterns, and even the subtle fragments of laws it contains.
Sometimes, he would let Weiss go "play".
Weiss would cheer (in a silent way) and pounce on a relatively weak Shadow Abyss creature marked by Lind, devouring it like a predator and converting it into pure energy to replenish herself.
Linde calmly observed the process from the side, refining his understanding of the transformation of Shadow Abyss energy and life forms.
In this land of the end of all things, time loses its meaning.
Linde lingered for an unknown amount of time, until he had completely analyzed the laws surrounding the Noctoos relic, until Weiss appeared somewhat "lazy" and "satisfied" due to consuming too many of her kind, and until he felt that he had fully mastered the [Shadow Abyss Aura].
He finally stopped.
"It's time to go back," he whispered to Weiss in his arms.
Weiss nodded as if she understood, let out a small burp, and a wisp of pure Shadow Abyss aura wafted out.
Linde raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the barrier of the endless shadow abyss, locking onto the coordinates of the prime material plane.
He slowly raised his right hand and lightly traced a line in the air in front of him with his fingertips.
There was no earth-shattering energy burst, nor any complex incantation chanting.
Yes, it's just a matter of understanding and applying the "rules".
Where his fingertips traced, space seemed to be cut through like black silk by the sharpest blade, silently revealing a crack with edges shimmering with a faint, eerie light.
Beyond the rift, the despairing chaos and darkness of the Shadow Abyss was no longer present; instead, a familiar aura faintly emanated—the air of the Prime Material Plane.
This fissure, stable and precise, connects directly to his private laboratory in Blackrock Territory.
This is one of the benefits of fully understanding and mastering a portion of the Shadow Abyss Laws—dimensional passages that are extremely dangerous to ordinary people and require powerful artifacts or magic arrays to barely open are almost instinctive to him.
He glanced one last time at this desolate yet bustling land of fallen gods, then without hesitation stepped forward, carrying Weiss, and entered the rift.
Behind him, the rift silently closed, as if it had never existed.
The Shadow Abyss returned to its eternal stillness and chaos, with only the enormous divine remains silently witnessing the departure of yet another being capable of walking between light and darkness.
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