Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability Chapter 1172: Giving You a Chance
The Supernova Dominator, having had His tributary of fate severed, now existed without a future. Isolated from reality, He was unable to perceive either the spirit world or the astral world.
For any being not Above the Sequences, such a state would mean watching helplessly as an inevitable end approached, with no power to reverse their destiny. Even among most Great Old Dominators, being in this condition would result in the loss of their powers and authorities, rendering many of Their symbolisms useless. In such a moment, a decisive strike from an enemy could prove fatal.
While the final judgment of fate could not directly slay a Great Old Dominator, it could temporarily strip Them of the majority of Their symbolisms. This reduced Them to a weakened state, rejected by fate itself—a wretched creature devoid of both future and dreams.
At this moment, the Supernova Dominator was less concerned about the Goddess of Fate delivering another blow. What He truly feared was the Lord of Mysteries seizing this window of opportunity to make His existence a fate worse than death.
As a Great Old Dominator, He leaned more toward reality than mystery, yet He was not entirely without the means to escape His current predicament.
Quickly, the Supernova Dominator caused the countless explosive suns that formed His body to eject a myriad of particles. Utilizing His symbolism as the Controller of Fundamental Forces—which remained untouched and unremovable—He forced those particles to draw closer. This triggered repeated nuclear fusions, transforming them into various elements and generating true matter.
This matter began to weave its own fate, attempting to shatter the isolation and rejoin the vast, illusory mercury-colored River of Fate.
Through this method, the Supernova Dominator hoped to find reality once more and return to the River of Fate.
Within that intricate, mercury-colored River of Fate that connected head to tail, the consciousness and spirit of the Goddess of Fate coalesced swiftly, moving with an unstoppable and irreversible momentum.
…Meanwhile, in a different star dominion.
Primordial Hunger had consumed a fragment of chaos, devouring a portion of The Hanged Man’s abilities. Grisha Adam maintained a stoic expression, calmly guiding, placating, and managing the situation without showing any signs of failure.
To Him, the increasing revival of the Primordial God Almighty’s consciousness represented a far greater threat than Primordial Hunger.
The golden giant Buddha sat cross-legged within the boundless void, eyes tightly shut and motionless. The two golden hands emerging from the fissures in His body hung limply, as He had fallen into a deep slumber.
He was currently incapable of any resistance, relying entirely on the passive blessing of good fortune.
As this vulnerability grew, the greed and convergence instinct within the Circle of Inevitability’s godhood surged uncontrollably. It was the reaction of a miser spotting a long-coveted treasure left unguarded, coupled with the absolute assurance that there would be no punishment for taking it.
Eternal Darkness Amanises observed that the Circle of Inevitability was becoming increasingly fixated on the golden Buddha. She deliberately shifted Her focus toward the Monarch of Decay, creating distance from the Key of Light and the other sefirot.
A few seconds later, the Circle of Inevitability could no longer suppress His godhood’s instinct to converge. His three bodies worked in unison, establishing several Loop triggers across the battlefield before turning toward the Key of Light. Driven by the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence, He flung Himself toward the golden Buddha, which caused the Buddha to be drawn toward Him in turn.
Suddenly, an illusory, straight dark river surged forth from the cosmos, signaling the stillness of fate and the proclamation of death.
This was a river that did not Loop; it only moved forward.
Within its currents, even death itself would be dissipated.
The River of Eternal Darkness!
Although Amanises was truly Above the Sequences, She was burdened by the lingering spiritual residues and consciousness of many Dao integrators of the Haoli lineage. Her condition was far from ideal, requiring time to adapt and purge these negative influences. Consequently, aside from Her emergence as a Great Old One to repel the Outer Deities, She had avoided utilizing Her concentrated symbolism of the River of Eternal Darkness.
However, recognizing the urgency, She cast aside all other concerns. She used the river to forcibly shatter the remaining Loops, preventing the Circle of Inevitability from accommodating the Key of Light. By keeping Him occupied, She created a one-on-one opening for Lumian against the Monarch of Decay.
The colorless, illusory river submerged every Loop node, causing them to perish instantaneously and vanish before they could take effect.
The River of Eternal Darkness positioned itself between the Circle of Inevitability and the golden Buddha, manifesting as a dense darkness that shrouded the area and forced all three bodies of the Circle of Inevitability to close their eyes.
This was the Symbolism of Darkness, which compels thought to fall silent and induces slumber!
The body of redemptive light on the right side of the Circle of Inevitability also closed its eyes and drifted into sleep. Yet, before Him, countless tributaries of fate appeared, each one representing the same outcome: the Circle of Inevitability would soon awaken.
These were the Symbolisms of Future and Destined!
The Circle of Inevitability had foreseen His current situation and prepared accordingly, setting the future in motion beforehand.
This foresight was not merely derived from insights within the River of Fate, but from His understanding that the Key of Light, as the embodiment of fate, would naturally possess absolute good fortune at critical moments to disrupt any attempt at accommodation.
This was why He had not fixed the tributary of fate representing a successful accommodation of the Key of Light—it was simply impossible to fix!
While maintaining the dense darkness, Amanises extended two hands. Before the destined fate could manifest, She plunged an orange-red twilight greatsword into the edge of the darkness and the void.
The dense darkness contracted. The flow of time slowed, converging toward a single point.
The fate of the Circle of Inevitability’s destined awakening remained the same, but it was now delayed, pushed several seconds into the future!
This was the Symbolism of Space-Time-in-One!
Though it was Incomplete, it was sufficient for the task.
After restraining the Circle of Inevitability, Amanises glanced toward the golden Buddha.
Even She could not help but be amazed by His fortune.
Despite being the victim of a scheme and facing issues that forced Him into slumber, He had unwittingly drawn the attention of the Circle of Inevitability, providing Lumian with the chance for a one-on-one confrontation with the Monarch of Decay.
Though it might last only a few seconds, it was a vital opportunity.
As the essence of war, Lumian did not let the moment slip away. He unfolded the mirror world originating from the City of Calamity, forcibly dragging the Monarch of Decay into its depths.
Within this realm, an endless starry sky stretched out.
Immediately, massive stars erupted around the Monarch of Decay, ejecting immense quantities of matter and creating a sea of expanding explosions and destructive burning light.
Above and below the Monarch of Decay, two black holes manifested through their accretion disks. They tugged at His body in opposite directions, causing the barriers of the distant mirror world to fracture as if they were trying to escape.
Calamity of Destruction!
Time surrounding the Monarch of Decay became increasingly sluggish. The intense sea of light dimmed rapidly before it could even reach Him, decaying with such speed that it became less terrifying. The two black holes began to evaporate at an unimaginable rate, shrinking steadily.
Suddenly, a radiant door of starlight appeared within the slowed time behind the Monarch of Decay. The three-headed, three-bodied, six-armed Lumian stepped through, wielding a black flame greatsword infused with destruction and chaos.
He had utilized the final charge of his Door pathway contract ability.
Instantly, he felt his own body beginning to rot and decay, his internal balance accelerating toward a total collapse.
The Monarch of Decay remained expressionless, as if such matters were already dead and decayed.
As a Great Old Dominator, His golden, mummy-like form was not restricted by human structure. He welcomed the Origins of Disaster into a region ruled by slowed time and the most potent symbolism of decay.
He extended His rotting, pus-seeping left palm toward Lumian. At some point, His head had rotated 180 degrees, allowing Him to gaze upon His sluggishly moving target.
A sure hit, a certain death!
Lumian had first used the symbolism of Calamity of Destruction to interfere with the Monarch of Decay before opening the Door—not to confuse the enemy, but to gain time for a single action.
He had sent his intent to all his followers: “Call my name!”
On a peripheral planet of the universe, Lugano, Leon, and other believers of the Sick Church heard the resounding command echoing in their ears. They bowed their heads in devotion, repeatedly chanting, “Great Malady God!”
“Great Malady God!”
Amidst these prayers, the face of chaos on Lumian’s left head turned toward the Monarch of Decay.
He seemed almost unaffected by the slowed time, pulling both space and time into Himself.
At this moment, the previous and current Malady Gods finally met.
Lumian did not expect this meager symbolism to equate him with the other Malady God, making his injuries identical to those of the Monarch of Decay. The mystical connections between them were still too weak, and the necessary symbols were insufficient.
The connection between the Uncertain Mist and the Mother Tree of Desire had been exploitable for mutual destruction because the Genie and the Tenebrous World were once one. Furthermore, Emperor Roselle and the Chained provided an ideal intermediary. Lumian had only been able to become the Mother Goddess of Depravity because She had permitted it, creating the necessary links and correspondences.
Currently, none of those conditions existed.
Lumian’s goal in enhancing the symbolism of the Malady God was not to rely on mystical similarity to wound the Monarch of Decay, but to offer Him an opportunity.
For great existences, anyone who invokes Their former names and steals Their followers establishes a mystical connection with Them. This allows Them to curse, doom, or even kill the offender—or seize their body. If not for the protection of Mr. Fool and the astral barrier, Lumian would have perished or become the Monarch of Decay long ago.
Now, Lumian was deliberately amplifying the symbolism of the Malady God to give the Monarch of Decay the chance to possess his body!