No one could have predicted that at this particular juncture, Oblivion would appear here and block that Lord's path.
Opposition between faiths certainly existed, but after several eras, the gods had long ceased escalating their rivalries into overt confrontation—especially in this era, where the Convention safeguarded divine authority. No one saw the point in wasted effort.
Yet Oblivion had co anyway.
The instant He manifested, the entire Void began to peel, collapse, and then dissolve.
But the Void was already nothingness—so how could it dissolve?
What was happening looked more like soone had given form to nothingness, only to obliterate those tangible fragnts of pitch-black existence into absolute annihilation.
The torrent of white bone was halted in this space. It spiraled twice before rapidly converging and crashing downward, and the Fishbone Hall materialized on the spot.
The colossal skull sat upon the Bone Throne, not even bothering to ignite its spectral flas. It rely surveyed the collapsing Void around it with cold indifference and let out a contemptuous snort:
"All, flash, no substance.
"You, are still, as fixated, as ever, on claiming, ownership, of the void. Utterly, laughable.
"If, even Oblivion, can no longer, bring about, oblivion, then you...
"What, reason, do you, have, to exist?"
With that, the Fishbone Hall stirred to life once more. From the countless bone pools flanking the spike-lined stairway beneath the Bone Throne, an endless swarm of chattering little skulls erupted, shrieking their Benefactor's divine na as they converged into raging streams. They shot outward in every direction, their bone-white bodies continuously patching the collapsing Void around them.
Oblivion, lurking beneath the Void's surface, offered no rebuttal. He simply kept devouring the ground beneath the Fishbone Hall, attempting to strangle His opposite through a siege of annihilation—snuffing out His rival here and now.
And so, the third god of Life and the third god of Descent collided head-on. The entire Void beca their battlefield as they launched into a clash that could shake the very universe!
The scene was horrifyingly grand. The violent aftershocks alone—born from the collision and dispersal of masterless divinity as both sides strained against each other—were enough to annihilate every living thing in the space, withering them to ash.
Fortunately, no one was watching this battle. Even if soone had been, they would never have been dragged into the inescapable maelstrom of a God War.
Indeed—this qualified as a God War. A "war" between two diatrically opposed deities!
The colossal skull on the Bone Throne sat immovable as a mountain, seemingly unsurprised by this mont's arrival.
Ever since Cheng Shi had intercepted all those sacrifices ant for Oblivion on His behalf, the Lord had anticipated that Oblivion would not let the matter rest.
After all, faith was the foundation of a god's existence. Losing so many offerings at once would put anyone in a foul mood.
Of course, a minor embarrassnt alone wouldn't have been enough to fully enrage a true god. But during the Void civil war, Oblivion had tried to fish in troubled waters—only to be counter-attacked by both masters of Void and then blocked at the "door" by Death's own scythe. That had been the mont Oblivion truly couldn't stomach.
Before the Void Era's descent, Oblivion had always regarded everything pertaining to "nothingness" as an extension of His own authority. After all, "annihilation" ant vanishing into formlessness.
But after Void descended, Oblivion realized that the territory He'd claid as His own looked positively clownish in the face of Void.
This left Him both terrified and disoriented.
He'd believed His will had moved far beyond the Origin, yet in Void He saw a shadow of His own past convictions. So He could no longer be certain which will could truly bring Him closer to the Origin.
Indeed—Oblivion had originally been a pure mber of the Approach Faction. But since Void's descent, He had changed.
Not only had He shifted His will from absolute annihilation to the creation of new life, He'd also exhausted every thod to rge into Void—to reclaim His authority and influence.
Unfortunately, the two rulers of Void had no interest whatsoever in a "rigid and obsessive" "ancient god." When Oblivion ca seeking cooperation, Fate t Him with cold eyes, and Deceit spent the entire ti dripping with sarcasm.
And so Oblivion and Void—wills that should have drawn close—went their separate ways entirely. That was why, the mont He spotted the Void civil war, He'd charged in without hesitation.
Fishing in troubled waters didn't an helping one side destroy the other. Under the Convention's protection, no god could fall at another's hand. The "fishing" was simply Oblivion's attempt to seize Void's authority during the chaos.
Unfortunately, He'd underestimated the bond between those two rulers of Void—and beca the sole "underdog" of that lee.
Now, having found His opening, the final god of Descent—the terminal deity ant to drag the universe into annihilation—at last bared His fangs at His so-called opposite.
Every one of the sixteen true gods sat high upon their Divine Thrones and surveyed the cosmos. Perhaps not all of Them were as omniscient as Folly, nor possessed of Truth's supre intellect, but with Their accumulated authority and divinity, They certainly weren't stupid. Could never be stupid.
Oblivion had long since noticed that His opposite was drawing ever closer to Void. He feared this was Void's alternative after having rejected Him. He feared that the era's masters planned to join forces with Death before the era's curtain fell, orchestrating sothing earth-shattering.
No one could read Deceit's mind. No one could decipher Fate. Oblivion couldn't determine whether this cataclysmic move was aid at Him, so His only option was to strike first—divide and conquer.
And with Void seemingly fractured, now was one of the best possible monts.
He had the self-awareness to know that fighting two-on-one was impossible. Whether Void had truly split was unverifiable. But one-on-one... even if He couldn't annihilate His opposite entirely, making that old pile of bones feel pain would be enough.
Because He had already issued a simultaneous edict to all His followers: "Annihilate every follower of Death." All He needed to do now was pin down the old bones, keeping Him too occupied to protect His own flock. That would give Oblivion the decisive timing advantage in this quietly launched "war of faith," allowing Him to achieve both revenge for the countless lost sacrifices and a harvest of Death's believers.
If He could also gain the upper hand in this direct confrontation, then this deliberately provoked God War would end in Oblivion's absolute victory.
Oblivion needed this victory. Or rather, Descent as a whole needed it.
Corruption never showed His face. Decay wallowed in self-pity. This ant that Descent—which should have held the advantage after Prosperity's fall—had instead stagnated. Combined with Oblivion's own humiliating retreat before all the gods at Void's hands...
All of it was causing Descent's reputation to crumble among the pantheon.
So Descent needed an inspiring victory—and Oblivion needed a war to prove Himself!
The colossal skull felt the pressure from the periter intensifying rapidly. Pale green fire gradually kindled in those hollow eye sockets.
He halted the bone torrent's assault and addressed the opponent who never showed His true form:
"I, gave you, a chance, but you, did not, cherish it.
"Now, it seems, the Convention, must first, take custody, of your, authority.
"Oblivion!
"You had, best, annihilate, your own, authority, before, embracing death—otherwise...
"You will, be utterly, defeated!"
With those words, a colossal scythe—forged from the fusion of countless divinities—materialized above the skull. And in that very instant, the perpetually invisible Oblivion tore Himself free from a world on the brink of annihilation and descended.
He did not co alone. Alongside Him plumted countless worlds in the throes of disintegration.
Across the pitch-black Void, the ash of crumbling worlds scattered like dust in the wind while the embers of dying worlds cascaded like waterfalls. In that mont, the breath of annihilation erupted like a volcano, swallowing the entire space whole. Even the bone-white Fishbone Hall began to crack and dissolve under that apocalyptic aura...
But none of this was where the battle raged most fiercely. The truly terrifying, viscous essence of Oblivion had already latched onto that fearso divine scythe. The annihilation-force of countless perishing worlds was attempting to strip away the scythe's divinity, piece by piece, and obliterate it on the spot!
His target had never been Death Himself—it was the most precious treasure in Death's possession!
"I sense your fear. So even the great Lord of Death knows fear? But tell —whom is this fear directed at?"
"Whoever, it may be—it, is not, you."
The mont the words left His mouth, the Fishbone Hall detonated. In that instant, it was as though the gates of the abyss could no longer contain the infernal flas within. A torrent of searing green fire erupted from beneath the Bone Throne, raging outward, and in re monts had incinerated every scrap of Void in sight.
Death brought true death to the Void.
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