A layer of ripples, like glass, suddenly appeared on the surface of the protective barrier. These ripples quickly spread, as if the entire barrier were trembling slightly. Then, a powerful force erupted from within the barrier, completely shattering the remaining embers of the Chaos Vine into countless tiny stardust.
These stardusts danced in the air, shining faintly like the stars in the night sky. They slowly fell under the breeze and eventually disappeared into the void.
At the same time, the time threads in Lin Yue's hands also moved around the edge of the barrier. These threads, like silver fire snakes, continuously burned the dark matter particles that tried to penetrate the barrier. The moment the dark matter particles came into contact with the threads, they were burned with a sizzling sound and quickly turned to ash.
Lin Yue's gaze was fixed on the dark green vortex swirling at the portal, her brow furrowed slightly, as if she were somewhat concerned about this powerful force. In her palm, the seventeen-colored gem was trembling violently, as if it could explode at any moment.
Tiny cracks had appeared on the gem's surface, and liquid starlight seeped out, flowing continuously into the codex along the silk thread in Lin Yue's hand. These starlights condensed into flowing streaks of light on the codex's spell runes, making the originally dim runes instantly brighter.
"Lu Li can't hold out much longer!" A blinding blue light erupted from the calico cat's gear collar, and the gear chain on its tail automatically extended, entangling the crumbling remains of the floating island. The gray-black crystals on the island's surface suddenly trembled collectively, transforming into countless suspended prisms, refracting the distorted light and shadows cast by the Chaos pursuers into a shattered nightmare—a steampunk universe's gear giant being dissolved by slime, Cybertron's digital torrent solidifying into a twisted metallic tumor.
The magical energy unleashed by the codex formed a hurricane within the barrier, blowing Lin Yue's hair upright, its tips tangled with tiny runes. She could clearly feel the chaotic forces crashing against the barrier like a tidal wave: the sound of the tentacles colliding was like thousands of rusted blades scraping against metal simultaneously; and the hissing of the chaotic creatures as they squirmed was like the painful groaning of time and space itself. Spiderweb-like cracks gradually appeared on the surface of the barrier, and each crack oozed a dark green mist.
Lu Li's golden code flickered into shattered streaks within the vortex, its six afterimages constantly reassembling under the tentacles' strangulation. The green lines on his armor's surface had spread to his chest, and data particles were escaping from the cracks. As another tentacle, swirling with chaotic energy, spun his entire body's code into a spear of light, piercing the brightest green point at the vortex's core. The moment the spear struck the point, the entire portal resounded like shattering glass, and the interlayer of space and time began to collapse extensively.
"Hurry! Before the crack widens!" The calico cat's gear chains suddenly straightened, pulling Lin Yue toward the portal. The Codex's magical barrier twisted into a funnel as it moved, sucking in the Chaos creatures along its path, transforming them into floating points of light. The moment they leaped into the portal, the floating island behind them exploded with a bang. The dust from the gray-black crystal explosion tangled with the Chaos tentacles, forming a swirling death nebula.
The new interlayer of time and space was filled with liquid time, as thick as pitch, each drop reflecting the end of a civilization. As soon as Lin Yue's thread of time touched the ground, it was dyed an eerie purple-black. In the distance, a towering tower constructed of mechanical gears and magical runes loomed in the liquid time. Atop the tower hovered a star-forged scepter—glowing star tracks coiled around its shaft, its head embedded in a meteorite core corroded by chaotic mist.
"It's the second artifact of the Ring of Order!" The calico cat's geared collar spun frantically, sparks condensing into a compass-shaped guiding symbol within liquid time. However, as they approached the tower, the ground suddenly cracked, and countless chaotic creatures shaped like hourglasses crawled out. Their shells were composed of a mixture of liquid time and chaotic matter, and within them, a terrifying spectacle of time reversal and increasing entropy unfolded: flowers bloomed and withered into ash, and metal buildings grew in reverse, disintegrating into scattered pieces.
Lin Yue waved the codex, and spells flying from its pages transformed into golden chains, entangling the nearest Chaos Hourglass. But as soon as the chains touched the creature's surface, they were disintegrated into dust by the reverse flow of time. Lu Li's golden code slowed in liquid time, and the light shield he had painstakingly constructed began to reverse and transform into a data stream under the touch of the hourglass. "They're tampering with the flow of time in this area!" His voice was filled with electrical hum, and six afterimages were pulled into thin streaks of light.
The calico cat suddenly leaped onto Lin Yue's shoulder, its gear collar emitting a deafening roar. Liquid time rippled violently, revealing a hidden space-time anchor point at the tower's base. "Use the gem to activate the anchor point!" its cry was drowned out by the roars of the chaotic creatures. Lin Yue pressed the seventeen-colored gems into the anchor point's groove. The gems instantly erupted with a sun-like light, and liquid time began to rotate clockwise. The Chaos hourglasses, operating at the normal flow rate of time, began to crack.
Seizing this opportunity, Lu Li transformed the golden code into a drill, piercing the tower's power center. The calico cat swung its gear chains to entangle the scepter, only to see the meteorite core at its tip suddenly open a bloodshot eye. Chaotic mist transformed into chains, dragging the calico cat toward the core. The moment its gear collar came into contact with the mist, it began to disassemble into its components in reverse. "Help me!" its cry was a twisted, metallic wail.
Lin Yue wielded the Codex, her spell transforming into a blade of light, severing the chains of Chaos. Simultaneously, she wove the threads of time into a net, catching the falling scepter. The moment her fingertips touched the scepter, countless memories of the stars flooded into her mind—observers of ancient civilizations had used this scepter to calibrate the orbits of the galaxy. But now, the power of Chaos was corrupting these memories, twisting the brilliant star map into a hideous abyss.
"We can't let it...degenerate..." Lin Yue's forehead was bulging with veins, his eyes were fixed on the scene in front of him, his heart was filled with anxiety and uneasiness.
The eyes of the meteorite core roared with resentment, a deafening roar that seemed to echo throughout the universe. Simultaneously, the surrounding chaotic mist, like a powerful force, quickly condensed into a massive hand, reaching towards Lin Yue and the two people beside him.
This giant hand was filled with endless pressure, making people shudder. Lin Yue gritted his teeth and refused to retreat. He poured his original time thread into the scepter in his hand like a flood.
As the thread of time was infused, the scepter radiated a dazzling light, colliding with the giant hand with a resounding, earth-shattering roar. The two were locked in a stalemate, neither easily defeating the other.
However, outside the space-time barrier, the situation grew increasingly critical. The dark green light of the chaotic vortex grew stronger and stronger, like a ferocious beast, its bloody mouth wide open, ready to devour everything.
The tentacles that were holding onto the miniature of the universe also began to shrink. Like poisonous snakes, they tightly coiled around those civilizations, as if to drag them into eternal darkness.
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