From the Pier Point Galaxy, the power that had erupted and radiated into the surrounding galaxies suddenly dissipated, and the force that had been annihilating the black beast tide collapsed.
From beyond the galaxy, the overlapping bubbles that had been attempting to envelop it directly burst apart. The one-third of the region that had not yet been tainted by Abyssal power was instantly covered.
The entire Pier Point Galaxy turned into an ominous black-red, as the cosmic darkness of an entire galaxy was detonated.
"Before the Abyss, all resistance is nothing but futile."
"Even if the Aeons' power suppresses us, it is only so much."
The Abyssal Apostle looked upon Oswaldo, who had been completely corroded by the cosmic darkness. His body emitted streams of black-red aura, resembling a mindless corpse, yet he still roared out words:
"Aaahhhh—what is this thing, my power! Why! The Path!"
To ignite sin—in Teyvat's main universe, this was not only Abyssal corruption but an even more terrifying erosion, stripping away mory, intellect, and everything else, leaving behind only a monster devoid of reason.
The Abyssal Apostle casually flicked out an energy orb, instantly blasting Oswaldo into the torn space and sending him plumting into the unknown reverse side of the Star Rail Universe.
At present, the only beings who had truly co into contact with the reverse side were the mysterious ones of Equilibrium and Nihility.
They were able to touch the cosmic darkness only because their own Principles leaned closer to chaos. Thus, they could make contact.
But it was only contact. To analyze it, let alone wield it, was utterly impossible.
Unless one was already the master of the cosmic darkness itself—or had beco the master of the universe.
However, the Principle of Nihility indeed had the potential to beco the ruler of the Star Rail Universe's reverse side. But the Aeon of Nihility was far too apathetic, caring for nothing.
This was its stubborn adherence to its own philosophy, and so even if it knew, it would not take the initiative to touch the reverse side of the cosmos.
Crack—
Less than one system hour after the Abyssal Deluge erupted, an Emanator had fallen—and not just anyone, but a minister and board candidate of the Interastral Peace Corporation.
However, even if it was only a little ti gained, it was already enough for all of the IPC's high-ranking cadres to complete their tasks.
Before the Pier Point Galaxy's defense system collapsed under the black beast tide's assault, every spatial transfer device was fully activated.
Shrill alarms blared across the entire planet. Red warning lights flashed within orbital corridors and space stations, as every IPC mber capable of action—as well as scholars of institutions like the Genius Society—hurried into ships to initiate space jumps.
[Warning, warning. All defense arrays of the Pier Point Galaxy have been destroyed.]
[Warning, warning. All signal facilities across the galaxy have been destroyed.]
[Warning, warning. All company personnel, board ships imdiately. Jump sequence comncing.]
[Jump countdown begins…]
"Aaahhhh! Help! The monsters have broken through here—we're all going to die!"
A small Infernal Hound crawled out from a twisted vortex, instantly causing a terrified employee to collapse on the floor screaming.
Boom—
Before the hound could pounce, a piece of chalk infused with Imaginary energy struck it, blasting it apart into fragnts of Abyssal energy.
"Foolish."
A blue-haired young scholar with a blank expression walked over holding a book.
"Professor Ratio! Th-thank you, thank you for saving !"
Ratio shook his head in disappointnt. "As always, foolish. When humans face danger and fail to make the correct judgnt, it can only be due to a lack of learning."
"Enough—don't thank . Get on the ship quickly."
Ratio, called professor by his students, preferred to call himself a doctor—the Doctor of Truth who treated the disease of human stupidity.
"This ominous black power is utterly different from Imaginary, Quantum, and all other universal energies."
The Doctor of Truth gazed at the corpse of the monster he had just shattered, analyzing ceaselessly. But no matter what, he could not discern anything.
Then, with a self-mocking smile:
"So even I can be foolish—using what I believe to be correct cognition to judge sothing from another universe…"
No matter how much he understood of this universe, he had been born in it, and his cognition was entirely determined by his perception of this universe.
But his cognition was completely ineffective when applied to another universe.
"Sigh, hurry and go."
The broadcast ca through the speakers.
"I can only hold for twenty seconds. After twenty seconds, any employees who have not boarded will be abandoned."
The lazy yet heavy voice carried a cruel indifference.
The voice belonged to Lady Bonajade, Jade, one of the Ten Stonehearts of the Strategic Investnt Departnt, ranked P46, the highest authority remaining at IPC headquarters aside from the Seven-mber Board.
Any IPC employee ranked above P45 held a portion of significant authority within the company.
Atop the tallest building in Pier Point, an interstellar warship hovered in the skies. Beams of purple energy crisscrossed through the planet's atmosphere, slightly hindering the tide of beasts.
Even if it could only delay them by less than twenty seconds—
It was still decisive.
A woman with pink hair wielded a whip, lashing out again and again as streams of energy flared forth.
Her gray-blue eyes were filled with complex emotions. She wore a black hat lined with blue fabric, a black, blue, and white formal dress, and adorned herself with a necklace, bracelet, and belt set with jadeite rings. She looked like a queen standing atop her castle walls, watching as an invading great lord prepared to smash open the gates.
"The Minister of Marketing Developnt, Emanator of Preservation Oswaldo… to think he would fall so quickly. Sigh…"
Jade gripped her Cornerstone tightly, lips parting softly:
[I co to pay homage]
[I co to pour the wine]
[I co to claim]
[I grant poison in the guise of nectar]
[Spring planting, autumn harvest]
[Await the withered fruit upon the branches]
[All to the Amber Lord—]
As the last trace of Emanator-level power erupted within Pier Point, Abyssal power completely engulfed the galaxy. No resistance remained.
...
[This ssage cos from the Interastral Peace Corporation. Headquarters in Pier Point is completely cut off. According to the statents of escapees, the entire Pier Point Galaxy has fallen completely. Oswaldo Schneider, Emanator of Preservation, mber of the Seven-mber Board of the Interastral Peace Corporation, and one of the most powerful individuals in the universe, has been confird dead.]
[Topaz, Director of the Strategic Investnt Departnt and one of the Ten Stonehearts, along with Debt Retrieval Officer Aventurine, have been completely lost in contact.]
[The Interastral Peace Corporation headquarters has been destroyed. The galaxy has lost all external communication. Fortunately, most of the IPC's vital assets were preserved.]
[Next, a factual report from the Genius Society.]
[I am Herta, Seat 83 of the Genius Society. At present, gravitational wave communication across the universe has been disrupted by the unknown energy that now pervades the cosmos, making effective transmission impossible.]
[The above ssage was delivered through a temporary communication technology devised by myself, Screwllum, and several fellow mbers of the Genius Society, using the cosmic microwave background radiation as its dium.]
[This technology is full of flaws, but in the current state of blocked communications, it is the only way to exchange information effectively.]
[The following is the Genius Society's analysis of the catastrophe's traits and counterasures, based on critical data acquired by the Interastral Peace Corporation...]
Based on samples collected from the IPC and other galaxies that had encountered the black beast tide, the Genius Society carried out exhaustive research.
Yet no matter how much they studied, they could not analyze anything concrete—until Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, extrapolated from the entirety of universal big data and conveyed the results to all Pathstriders who walked the Path of Erudition.
The broadcast from the Genius Society spread throughout the entire universe.
Any civilization that had already stepped into interstellar developnt received it.
Those still confined to their planets, in remote galaxies untouched by interstellar civilization, naturally did not.
Although the Star Rail Universe was highly developed, the entire cosmos was fractured like scattered sand, with almost no chance of ever uniting.
Not even in the face of a cosmic catastrophe of this magnitude.
The Blue, Herta Space Station.
After the Genius Society analyzed the declaration of war from another universe, Herta recalled all her personnel scattered across the cosmos, having her puppets temporarily manage the operations of all Herta Space Stations.
Herta's true body resided in the largest station orbiting The Blue.
Herta herself was the greatest mind of The Blue—the most intelligent human since the dawn of intelligent life there.
And now, this beautiful blue planet was under attack by the black beast tide.
RUMMMBLE—
As the howorld of an Emanator of Erudition, The Blue's defenses were no weaker than Pier Point's.
All the more so, since an Emanator of Erudition excelled in research, not raw combat strength.
At this mont, The Blue was surrounded by a defense grid akin to a Dyson sphere, pouring endless energy barrages upon the black beast tide that crowded the skies of its surrounding space.
Brilliant bursts of light blossod ceaselessly across the cosmos.
Outside the Herta Space Station, over a thousand Herta puppets, ard with weaponry capable of annihilating entire planets with ease, continuously slaughtered massive beasts.
anwhile, Herta herself sat within the station, operating the defense system's core—unleashing torrents of Imaginary, Quantum, and other cosmic energy cannons.
Every strike was enough to slay a stellar-class monster.
Herta's personal strength was not overwhelming—at most stellar-class among Emanators—but her research ability was at the nebula-class level.
Though far from reaching galaxy-class, given ti, she could arm an entire galaxy.
"Damn it… truly endless monsters. Even if I clear a batch, they're replaced almost instantly."
Herta gritted her teeth, fingers flying across countless virtual keys.
The entire Blue defense network required her direct control. To simultaneously command the firepower of tens of thousands of stellar systems was already straining her to the limit.
Yet the black beast tide completely ignored spatial laws of the cosmos. Their next appearance could not be predicted at all.
"If only Ruan i and Screwllum could finish their end sooner, maybe they could lend a hand. Right now, it feels like I'm staring at a failed experint report!"
By now, Herta was drenched in sweat.
She had expected an invasion from another universe to be terrifying—comparable, even, to the Swarm Disaster that had once swept across the cosmos.
But this was far beyond the Swarm Disaster—the Swarm Disaster did not even reach one percent of this destructive power.
The black beast tide was not only harder to kill than the Swarm, but a whole tier stronger. Even monsters at Emanator-level appeared in swarms.
Worse still, when these Emanator-level monsters were wounded, their spilled blood and flesh fragnts transford into lower-tier monsters—an endless cycle of division.
This completely violated the cosmic fundantal law of energy conservation.
As if that wasn't terrifying enough, when the black beast tide lingered in a cosmic region for long enough, it caused mutations in spatial laws, even twisting other universal principles along with them.
That ant weapons designed under the original cosmic laws would weaken—or even fail entirely.
"Another discovery about these monsters' traits. I have to spread this quickly. If too many of them gather here, even gravitational waves themselves might mutate."
For the first ti, Herta—Seat 83 of the Genius Society, Emanator of Erudition—felt a crushing despair.
Monsters that could alter the very laws of the universe… this was every scientist's nightmare.
All prior knowledge, all research, all achievents—here, they were utterly overturned.
"Let's hope the rest of the Genius Society can find a way to counter this bizarre power!"
The Genius Society was composed of peerless geniuses at the cosmic scale, but each still had their own howorlds to defend. They could not all converge to devise counterasures. Protecting their holands ca first.
Seat 76, Screwllum, had returned to protect Planet Screwllum. Seat 81, Ruan i, had gone to defend her howorld.
"Bad news! Lady Herta! A massive swarm of smaller black monsters has broken through the spatial blockade and entered The Blue itself!"
"What do we do?!"
Herta snapped back to awareness, quickly pulling up The Blue's planetary surveillance feed.
"What—?"
On screen, an endless beast tide surged into the cities, slaughtering indiscriminately.
Herta nearly lost her composure, but the next mont, she cald herself.
"Wait… there's sothing strange! These monsters—sothing's off!"
"It seems… they have so sort of condition for predation! They're not indiscriminately killing all life!"
The feed froze on a scene: a woman clutching a young girl. The monsters seed to ignore her completely—not a single beast attacked her. They even actively avoided her path.
—
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