A golden World Gate, ten thousand meters tall, appeared out of thin air in the vastness of cosmic space.
Silent and undisturbing, it didn't affect anything—not even the matter or laws of the universe itself. It was as if it were merely an illusion.
The World Gate slowly opened, and an overwhelming tide of energy from the other universe surged forth, flooding into this cosmic space. In an instant, it entangled with the laws of this universe.
The laws of this space were of extremely high quality—not something that could be forcibly overwhelmed by the laws of the other universe.
However, the quality of its Truth was no weaker than that of this space.
Moreover, the laws of the other universe seemed almost alive. They didn't clash head-on with the laws here, but rather wove around them like soft threads wrapping around iron.
From the World Gate emerged a supreme, transcendent figure.
Behind them, a golden halo slowly rotated, hair flowing like strands of light. This figure carried all the mysteries of an entire universe.
Golden eyes pierced through everything in this cosmic space.
Within the inner ring of the golden halo was a silver halo, and within that halo resided a Tree of Life from Kabbalah.
Beneath the Tree of Life lay the Qliphoth—the Tree of Evil.
This figure was unaffected by the laws of this space, for he himself was a universe. How could he possibly be influenced by another?
Noah's divine sense instantly spread forth, covering the entire Teyvat Universe.
At present, the Teyvat Universe had expanded to ten thousand light-years in size—one-tenth the size of the Milky Way.
Naturally, divine sense alone couldn't observe the full scope of this cosmic space.
Thus, he directly initiated a Truth Echo, triggering the rebound of this universe's Truth—allowing him to grasp the true scale of this cosmic domain.
It was a galaxy twice the size of the Milky Way. Around it, countless smaller galaxies were being born, and the edges of the universe were expanding at the speed of light, spawning vast quantities of new matter.
Because the universe was entering a super-expansion phase, its laws were extremely active and unstable.
At the center of this universe—at the core of this galaxy—there was no black hole, but instead, an unassuming planet. Slightly larger than Earth, but no more than twice its volume.
All the universe's "laws," "Truth," and "energy" radiated outward from this single planet.
This planet was none other than Disboard, the divine core star of this universe.
Indeed, it was a divine star, the nucleus and divine essence housing the universe's god-birthing rules.
The origin of all life, known as the Spirit Corridor, played the same role as the Primordial Sea in the Teyvat Universe.
However, Teyvat's Primordial Sea had already extended throughout the universe, becoming its "lifeblood," linking all planes, planets, and space-time.
In contrast, the Spirit Corridor still merely encircled the divine star and had yet to radiate across the universe.
This meant that aside from the central divine star, the rest of the vast universe held no life—only pure matter.
At this point, the divine star wasn't even called Disboard yet. That name would come after the war, bestowed by Tet, meaning "world on a chessboard."
Tet was not a competent ruler of a universe. Rather than developing the whole cosmos, he merely guarded "Disboard" and made no effort to cultivate the spread of races throughout the universe.
"So, this universe—it's only natural that it be merged into my Teyvat."
The more Noah observed, the more his heart raced. This universe was simply too vast.
This was truly a case of biting off more than one could chew.
The universe spanned two million light-years—comparable to an entire local group of galaxies—and was still expanding at the speed of light.
The Teyvat Universe spanned only ten thousand light-years. But if it could consume this one, its scale would skyrocket by hundreds of times.
Could the Teyvat Universe actually absorb it?
Under normal circumstances, absolutely not. In fact, it would be the one devoured instead.
But this universe had no universal consciousness, and the Star Grail held no will of its own.
A universe without consciousness was like a vegetative being—utterly incapable of resistance.
The Old Deus War had been the universe's attempt to produce a proper ruler to improve this situation.
Noah raised his hand, and a small World Gate appeared before him.
He stepped into the World Gate and entered a space bathed in the glow of countless fireflies.
The background was an abyssal black, while rivers of firefly-like light constantly flowed from within this space.
These rivers contained the full rule concepts of a macrocosm, along with a unique energy native to this universe.
That energy was composed of these firefly-like lights.
They were alive, but lacked consciousness—and instinct. They formed one of the fundamental building blocks of all life.
They were spirits—the precursor to the Elementals. Like microbes in ordinary worlds, they were a form of life.
These rivers were known as the Spirit Corridor.
At the source of the Spirit Corridor was the core of the divine star—a device about the size of an ordinary trophy.
A twelve-faced crystalline dodecahedron was embedded atop a base resembling a trophy.
Countless pentagrams rotated within the crystal.
The base was made of ordinary divine cosmic metal. The dodecahedron crystal, however, was the true cosmic core.
It contained everything of this macrocosm—its "rules," "truth," "concepts," "order," "miracles"…
Looking at the Star Grail, so much like an ordinary victory trophy awaiting a winner to claim it, Noah slowly reached out to touch it.
If he could directly acquire the Star Grail, that would be ideal.
After all, who wanted to take a roundabout route to get things done?
Buzz!
Before Noah's hand could touch the Grail, countless pentagrams emerged from it, forming a protective barrier that blocked his hand.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a millimeter closer.
"What kind of power is this?" Noah frowned.
So the core of a macrocosm wasn't so easily grasped. Even as a universe's sovereign, there remained many secrets beyond his reach.
[Ding! This is the power of a macrocosm. When the quality of Truth reaches the 'Single Universe' or higher, a unique, unspeakable force is born—one formed by the fusion of multiple Truths.]
The more Truths that exist, the more powerful and incomprehensible this force becomes.]
[According to host memory, many beings possess such power: the super-primordial god Chronos' 'Power of Beginning and Endlessness,' or the 'Erasure Power' of Zeno, supreme god of the Dragon Ball world.]
[To possess the Power of the Macrocosm is to qualify for advancement into the 'Multiversal Tier' and beyond.]
[Ding! The Star Grail includes a foundational logic that only the 'strongest being in this universe' may access.]
[To bypass this logic, use the Teyvat Universe's cosmic core to temporarily replace the Star Grail and initiate assimilation.]
[The system will activate 'isolation mode' to temporarily sever the Star Grail's foundational influence over the divine star.]
Noah felt no disappointment. After all, acquiring a macrocosm's core was no easy feat.
"Power of the Macrocosm… the unspeakable force born of the fusion of all Truths within a universe."
"Very well. Disboard's many races—let us begin a Gift Game between two universes."
Behind Noah, a World Gate appeared once more, and with it a seven-colored crystal sphere the size of a basketball.
This was the Teyvat Universe's cosmic core.
The Teyvat Universe's core was far inferior to the Star Grail in terms of power, but equal in terms of Truth.
The Teyvat Universe possessed what the Star Grail lacked—special forces like Dimensional Power, Dream Truth, and more. Teyvat already had everything a macrocosm should have, and even held the potential to ascend to the Multiverse level.
The Teyvat Core was essentially a juvenile version of the Star Grail. Though its power level didn't compare, its hierarchical rank was the same.
"Although the power of the Heart of Teyvat can't support this entire universe, if it's just the divine star and a few light-years of surrounding space-time, then—no problem at all."
[Ding! Now shielding the Star Grail's order power from interfering with the universe's active behavior.]
[Shielding initiated.]
[Shielding complete.]
After the system's voice faded, a force beyond Noah's comprehension formed a barrier around the Star Grail, completely enclosing it.
The Star Grail continued nourishing the universe, but some of its functions were now disabled.
The Heart of Teyvat would temporarily take over those roles.
Buzz Buzz—
The Heart of Teyvat erupted with supernova-like brilliance.
At the north and south poles of the divine star, rainbow-colored aurora pillars erupted, seemingly piercing straight through the planet. Absolute Order Power surged through space-time, filling and taking control of a portion of this will-less universe's authority.
This was equivalent to an external universal consciousness temporarily possessing this vegetative universe.
The aurora beams shooting from the poles transcended space-time itself. In a blink, they had already seized control over nearly fifty light-years of surrounding space-time before their momentum slightly slowed.
Every region whose authority had been touched by the Heart of Teyvat began undergoing slow assimilation.
Even though this was a vegetative universe, its law quality was extremely high. So even with the Heart of Teyvat operating at full power, the assimilation rate remained slow.
Such a drastic reaction in the universe immediately drew the attention of the Old Deus on the divine star—particularly those higher races that were highly sensitive to spirits.
The war among the sixteen races had left the planet in utter chaos, its ecosystem completely ravaged.
The Spirit Corridor, once a pure source, now glowed with a sinister black-red hue due to the excessive use of spirits. Black Ash, remnants of dead spirits, fell from the sky like endless snowflakes.
To races with low compatibility to spirits, these Black Ash were poison. At worst, exposure corroded the skin; at worst, inhaling even a trace led to agonizing death.
The only vegetated region on the entire planet was the forest created by the Forest God Kainath, home to the Elves—beings born as incarnations of magic.
But now, radiant rainbow auroras swept across the black-red skies, dispelling all ill omens. The pitch-black clouds, long devoid of sunlight, crumbled.
Golden rays of sunlight spilled through the gaps in the dissipating clouds, illuminating the scarred and ruined earth.
Within a deep crevice, a group of over a hundred people—no more than ants in scale—looked up at the sky in terror.
"That light! This terrifying shift in heaven and earth... Is it an Old Deus? We're doomed!"
Each person was wrapped in rags from head to toe, shielding themselves from the deadly Black Ash. Even their eyes were protected with thick goggles—if a husk entered the eye, it would burn straight through the socket.
These were humanity—the weakest and most overlooked race of this world.
For weak races, this world was a true dark forest. To be discovered was to die.
In other worlds, sunlight piercing through dark clouds might symbolize hope.
But in this one, it only meant one thing—the arrival of Old Deus that ruled the planet.
To the humans, it wasn't even a matter of being noticed. They would be wiped out merely by proximity—like ants accidentally crushed underfoot.
"Damn it! The data we found in those abandoned Dwarf machines said this area had already been deserted!"
"Idiot! Who knows how old that data was?!"
"We're finished, Riku! What do we do now?!"
"..." Riku stared up at the sky, cold sweat soaking his heavy clothing. What should they do? How could he possibly know what to do in a situation like this?
There was no escaping this kind of apocalyptic force. He had experienced it firsthand when his hometown was destroyed as a child. He didn't even know how he survived back then.
This power that could rewrite heaven and earth and dominate the planet—without a doubt, it was an Old Deus!
Clenching his jaw, he slammed a fist into his thigh and shouted,
"Everyone! Run to the deepest part of this crevice! It's the only chance—we move now!"
The attack range was unknown, and escape was impossible. The only option was to flee deeper underground.
Fortunately, the war had torn open massive fissures across the land, allowing these fragile humans a narrow chance of survival.
...
In the upper reaches of the sky, near the Spirit Corridor, which resembled countless planetary orbits—
A Phantasma named Avant Heim.
After being defeated by the God of War, Artosh, it became an apostle of the Old Deus. The small world within its body had since become home to the Flügel.
Avant Heim, its form covered in strange trees, gazed at the rainbow aurora that had cleared the clouds of spirit husks from the sky.
A new Old Deus had emerged?
No... something about this felt off. The laws of the planet had changed.
Within Avant Heim's inner world, the Flügel sensed a surge in spirit energy and burst forth in alarm.
"W-What's going on?! The spirits in my body suddenly went haywire! And something's changed about the planet—I can't explain it!"
A green-haired Flügel whose hair faded into red called out in panic, her heterochromatic blue and gold eyes wide as she looked skyward.
"Azril, could it be that a new Old Deus has been born?" said a short-haired Flügel with shoulder-length blue locks, licking her lips excitedly.
Though they all had divine beauty and wore angelic halos, resembling holy beings from a biblical realm, the truth was far different.
They were god-slaying weapons—created by the War God Artosh to annihilate his enemies.
At their core, they were a race of killing machines. Toward weaker races, they were cruel and contemptuous. Toward stronger ones, they bore arrogance and an insatiable desire to challenge.
A race that lived to fight.
"An Old Deus! A newly born Old Deus? Is that what this is supposed to look like? I really want to take its head."
A pink-haired Flügel's golden eyes sparkled with starlight, like a girl spotting her favorite snack.
"If I could collect the head of an Old Deus... Lord Artosh would surely recognize me. Heehee."
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