The Reflection held still like a mouse trying to escape the gaze of a nearby serpent, and he remained that way for long. He knew that if he was just a normal Demon Lord he would not be able to escape from the sight of the World Stele, but it was his dinsional traits that allowed him to perfectly rge with this realm that was keeping him safe.
rging with the Siren made him one with the Heavenly Will of this realm, which ant nothing when this realm had been dormant, but after being nurtured by the souls of countless trillions over such a long period of ti, the Heavenly Will of this realm had awakened, and the Reflection had beco a part of it.
He inferred that the World Stele might have detected the fluctuations that he had just made but it would never believe it was because soone had rged with this realm which was an ability that was supposed to be tied to only the true owner of a realm.
Most likely it had just thought that this was a slight discrepancy in the formation network it had created, which was a stupendous feat of genius but also extrely complex making it perfectly natural that there may be unexpected changes in its operation.
The Reflection was correct and the World Stele had been banished before it could notice all the changes that had taken place inside the realm.
This grand formation that was used to cleanse the corpse of Thenos was not primarily designed by the World Stele but by the many generations of great geniuses that it had gathered over the eras to aid its pursuit and it was normal that there could be problems arising from the formation now and then, as the World Stele had solved millions of those sort of troubles nearly every decade, and after observing this area of the formation and finding no issues, it left, but the Reflection did not make any move for an extended amount of ti.
It turned out that the decision to be careful was the right one because the World Stele checked on that part of the formation nearly every century like a mother hen protecting her chick, but the Reflection did not have to express his consciousness in that part of the realm alone and had simply shifted his senses to other parts of the realm as he resud his investigation of what was going on with Thenos's corpse and the truth behind this formation.
Ridding this corpse of the Demon Lord Essence would be difficult, but now that essence had been further corrupted by the unknown nature of the corpse into sothing extrely vile, sothing more drastic needed to be done to remove this new corruption from Thenos, and the World Stele was using a material that was extrely powerful, yet still durable, and could be recycled nearly infinitely with the right amount of control—these would be souls.
It took a while but the Reflection soon learned that this formation was a cyclic one, and the power it could express would increase with every revolution, and this was terrible news for him.
He learned more about the power of this formation when he began to express his abilities as a part of the Heavenly Will of this realm. There were conflicts in the realm leading to a great number of dying souls, and his Will that was suited for battle was being summoned unknowingly by many, and in their hearts, an unknown presence was born. A presence that had many sides, a god of war, a god of preservation, a god of crafting, but it would be many years later that a certain race reached the core of his Will and they would call him Berrion, the Undying, and that race would be Ascendants, but that was many more years in the future.
At this ti it was the truth of this formation that had taken a hold of his mind.
Whatever thod the World Stele was employing did not an as much to the Reflection as the effects that it would cause him. From the single burst of soul essence that erupted from the corpse of Thenos, the corruption that was spewed out was being sent into the realm.
It was clear that the World Stele did not care about the state of Doom Star, what it was after was the purification of Thenos, and the Reflection had no idea that the World Stele was already making other copies of the realm, and did not care if this one was destroyed, it would simply swap to another compatible realm until the process was complete.
This ant that the Reflection that had rged with the realm had to carry the weight of that corrupted darkness being purged from Thenos, and he knew what that would an for him.
"Hahaha, guess I am not as lucky as my main body. If this is the sacrifice I have to pay for victory, then I am willing."
Unable to purge this corruption from his body so he would not draw the attention of the World Stele, he would slowly be torn apart by it, the pain and madness would tear his consciousness apart, and to this horrible fate, he could only accept it.
®
Billions of years passed, and the realm of Doom Star that was once shining with a vivid erald glow after the Undying Will of the Reflection had repeatedly tempered it beca dim and filled with great spots of darkness. The presence being exuded from Doom Star had transford into sothing that was filled with the basest of desires and the darkest of intentions, however, the Reflection did not know that even the World Stele could never have anticipated such a change.
When the World Stele began its plan to purge Thenos of the corruption inside his corpse, it already anticipated that this would lead to a quick destruction of the realm, so it created several substitutes to be swapped as soon as the first realm was shattered, but unknown to the World Stele this realm had integrated with an unknown Will that gave it a terrifying staying power—the Undying Will of the Reflection.
It did not understand what was happening but it was suspicious. The Heavenly Will of Doom Star despite not being actively nurtured was still frighteningly resilient.
The World Stele had noticed that instead of this realm being crushed into pieces many billions of years ago, it simply endured, its Heavenly Will seed to have gone insane, even manifesting an avatar, but its decline that had been anticipated by the World Stele did not seem to happen.
Even the Singularity did not know when it began to develop a seed of hatred against this realm because it was showing a resilience that was frankly impossible, and when the final battle began, the realm began to shatter under the weight of the blows from the heavyweights inside of it, the World Stele did not see it as a loss, not until Rowan shattered the facade it had used to block the perception of everyone here and exposed the true nature of his plans.
The appearance of the spear that had once killed the body of its host sparked rage inside of it, and when it saw the manifestation of the Heavenly Realm sacrifice itself to reach Rowan, the Singularity finally understood how deeply the plans of Rowan had been,
"Rowan, I have deeply underestimated you… We all do. You have long placed a dagger inside my heart, and I now acknowledge your right to stand as equals with Thenos. We don't have to fight, you and I. We can share the bounties of existence, and before our might, all shall fall."
Rowan did not even acknowledge the words of the World Stele, he was simply looking at the spear in his left hand and he whispered the final words to complete the legacy of his Reflection, but it drew the attention of the World Stele, the resurrected Thenos and even the Eye of Ti, it was as if those words were being branded into their consciousness. It was a challenge they could not refuse.
"All of you. Co accept your end."
The spear broke out with a bright green fla that reflected the Will of the Undying as a great hum burst out from it.
"It is ti to end this long war."
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