"The Demon ...... of the End"

Finally hearing the most important word, Ian shook his head and calmed himself: "A life that lives in the horizon of events? It's incredible......

The final star is a black hole.

At the end of their lives, massive stars will be unable to resist their gravitational pull due to the force of their own nuclear fusion, causing most of the matter to collapse inward, causing supernova explosions and forming a black hole at the core.

The black hole has most of the mass of the star, and with this black hole as its origin, its Schwarzschild radius will form a 'layer' isolated from the outer universe, which is the event horizon.

Even if it is light, after entering the event horizon, it will be completely impossible to escape.

For beings like the incarnation of light, the star gods, in addition to self-selected death, only black holes can allow them to achieve the end in the conventional sense.

In short, from common sense, any existence within the event horizon cannot have any effect on any existence outside the event horizon, and the inside and outside of the event horizon of a black hole are basically two universes.

Even the 'prophets' could not predict things within the horizon of events, they could not be observed, let alone predicted.

However, the 'true ether' does not follow common sense.

As a cosmic-level civilization, the star gods who have surpassed the speed of light and time have transcended their creation, the True Aether, transcended the gravitational pull and event horizon of the black hole and penetrated deep into the interior of the black hole.

And then...... Disaster struck. "What exactly is the Demon of the End?"

Ian asked, unable to contain his curiosity, and couldn't help but speak: "A massive star, its event horizon is only a few kilometers—of course, it is not impossible to have a dozen kilometers or tens of kilometers, and the Schwarzschild radius of a supermassive black hole in the river system may even be larger than the orbit of some planets."

"It's just, in general, it's very, very small...... How can there be life?" Ian wondered.

[I don't know]

And Echo's answer is very simple: "Your question is good, but I don't have an answer in my memory" "What?"

Ian was stunned, "You even know about the birth and origin of the Star God—the Star God's greatest enemy is not clear!?"

[The birth of the star god and the origin of all beings are brought by the soul of the source, and the gift of the star god contains these memories]

Echo said lightly: [As for the Demons of the End, so far, no one has been able to understand what they are, whether it is the Star God or other civilizations....... Is it life or a natural phenomenon? Is it a natural disaster or malicious sabotage? I don't know, I just know that the Demon of the End doesn't move in a direction where there is no light or gravity, and I don't know anything else.]

— Echoes hide something.

Ian sensed the other party's concealment, but it was not aimed at the Demon of End, but about the gift of the star god....... As a gift to the pioneers, it is not surprising that the Gift of the Star God describes the origin of the Star God himself, but it will never be so detailed!

But the question has to give way to the demon of the end: "But there must be something that happens—what phenomenon does it create that all living beings call 'demons?'

[They destroy physics]

Echo: [As if the laws of physics do not exist in them, whether it is a weapon or an observation device, it will be destroyed as soon as it is close, and the laser will turn irregularly and randomly in twists and turns, like a snake crawling, and finally completely collapse; The shells will deform and then suddenly disappear; The use of space strikes burns the weapon itself, and the data tells us that we are doing work on the entire universe, like trying to exhale with a straw and blow away a sea of water, or scoop water with a cup in an attempt to cut off the long river.

[But that's just the most harmless thing about them—when these monsters climb out of the black hole, they begin to spread at the speed of light, extinguishing the surrounding stars.]

[At first, just a few years later, the surrounding stars suddenly collapsed and turned into black holes...... And then there's more stars on a larger scale...... And finally, faster-than-light]

[As if in the blink of an eye, one of the original cantilever of the stricken Milky Way was engulfed

Some stars have become black holes, and it's only been 28 years since they were released.]

The illusion in front of him began to change, and a originally brilliant four-cantilevered river system suddenly dimmed, it was a pitch-black gap made of a large number of irregular circles, and all the light was swallowed up and completely disappeared.

Another year passed, and half of the galaxy was swallowed up.

And then...... The entire river system disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed. This is the cosmic catastrophe [The Abyss of the End]

A dark rift across the universe. Ian was silent.

He shuddered at the moment.

A river system has hundreds of billions of stars, and under the influence of star gods, there may be more than 100 million stars that can give birth to basic life, and 10,000 stars on which civilization can develop to the stage of civilization....... They were all able to look up at the stars.

But, in thirty years, the entire river system was gone. Hundreds of billions of stars are extinguished.

As if it never existed.

"The Greatest Fear...... It's the ......unknown," the boy muttered, "I can't figure out anything, a monster crawling out of the horizon of events in the abyss of the universe from nothing."

"Originally, they only existed in that incredible hell, eternal silence, but the power of the real ether through infinite time and space channeled them out......

"The Star Gods have unleashed these monsters, so they want to defeat these monsters or stop this scourge......

[In the cosmic space engulfed by the abyss, even pi changes...... Occasionally 3.5, occasionally 4, occasionally other transcendence]

Echo said lightly: [Even the Pythagorean theorem will be biased...... Not to mention those sophisticated instruments and weapons, only the most powerful civilizations can follow the Star God to fight the Demon of End] "But the Star God was defeated."

Ian calmed down, "I see what you're trying to do."

"In your opinion, after the defeat of the star god, all the places in this universe where stars are densely populated will become black holes...... This is true even in the Star Prison."

[That's not the Star Prison, its real name is the Cradle of Tranquility] Echo negates Ian's title: [The Star God is not only fighting the Demon of the End, but also trying to protect all weak civilizations]

[The Cradle of Tranquility is one such project, which can "camouflage" a galaxy as if there were no stars...... It is a fortress and a high wall forged by the star gods to protect us! 】

"It's all the same, no matter the name." Ian interrupted Echo's words, and he looked at the dark golden soul and said word by word, "You're going to run."

"You have to flee to the 'Great Hollow' without any stars!" The Great Void refers to a void in the structure of the universe.

From a macro perspective, all the galaxy clusters and larger structures in the universe that are made of stars look like a web.

The network cable is a material belt composed of matter, and where there is no matter, it is a hole, in the hole, not to mention matter and light, there is not even radiation, and this hole can occasionally be very huge, the diameter may exceed hundreds of millions or even billions of light years.

"The Demon of the End will not advance towards meaningless voids. Their goal is to turn stars into black holes."

Ian whispered, "Prison Star Prison, or Cradle of Tranquility...... Whatever it is, when it's built, our galaxy will be protected from entering or exiting."

"But the cradle of our galaxy has been shattered." A crack in the Prison of the Stars.

At this moment, Ian really wanted to laugh a little - yes, he had been in the Avak Lab for a long time, and he wondered if the Prisoner Star Prison that Grand Duke Thorin was talking about was really a prison, wouldn't it be a bit worth the loss? A supergiant prison with a radius of five light-years would cost more to build than the energy that could be provided by burning all the matter in a galaxy, right?

This thing is not so much a ban as a protection. Only the star god who has mastered infinite power can build it so sparingly

Build such a cradle.

to save the tinder.

Yes. Hearing this, Ian already understood that Terra was the place where he was chosen to save the fire...... The spark that originated from thousands of civilizations was fed into Terra in a steady stream.

The star god back then may have valued the stability of Terra, so he set up the cradle here.

Therefore, after the high-level of Terra learned of this news, they did not develop faster-than-light spaceship technology...... Does it make sense?

When the cradle closes, everything is confined to five light years, and the universe outside is no longer a vast sea full of treasures and opportunities, but a dangerous battlefield of super civilizations.

Even if the Star God hadn't been defeated at that point, there's no way the Terrans would have thought it was a good idea to go out and run around.

And now...... There was a gap in the cradle.

With all the surrounding stars darkened, only Terra occasionally flickered in the direction.

It's like shedding blood in a forest full of demonic beasts, luring wild beasts to hunt and kill. That's why Echo wants to run away.

And it's to escape to the Great Hollow Zone.

[The nearest large hollow area to our Terra Galaxy, with a radius of more than 2 billion light years, as long as you enter it, the demons of the end will not chase after you, even if their power spreads at the speed of light, then at least I can hide for 2 billion years]

At this moment, Echo looks around at the battlefield around him.

The swarm and scourge soldiers led by the Ultimate Dragon and the Titan are still on a par with the Dark Gold Dragons led by Echo and the War Machines of the Pre-Era Civilizations...... But originally, it was Ian who had the advantage.

But because Ian's mind was shaken and distracted by these ancient truths, this time it was a draw...... Even the echo slightly prevailed.

This should have been happy, but the echo calmly seemed to be saying to itself: [2 billion years...... Enough for a lot to happen. If someone can defeat the Demon of the End, 2 billion years is completely enough]

[If the Demon of the End wants to destroy the intelligent life and even the fire of the entire universe, 2 billion years is enough]

"You're just running away."

Ian whispered, "Running away is not waiting." 【...... You don't understand]

Echo turned his head, he looked at Ian deeply, and said with a smile, "The first Heavenly Fall disaster was because the fire of a thousand stars hit Terra, allowing the star god to discover this river system located in a remote space-time stable area...... To this day, the Tinder of a Thousand Stars still lurks beneath the land of Terra, and when the time comes, it will revive, devour everything, become a complete Tinder, and set off to continue its never-ending journey through the darkness.

[This is the first destruction. And the second catastrophe of the fall from the sky is also a natural disaster that destroys our civilization, because the fire transport ship of the star god was destroyed]

[The reason for the destruction is precisely because there is a fragment of the Demon of the End in the spaceship] Ian's eyes widened, and his pupils vibrate.

Memories raced through his mind, and he remembered the pitch-black void that suddenly appeared on the rainbow spaceship!

"That's the mark of being attacked...... Not from the outside, but from the inside!"

The boy's body shook, and he felt a chill rise up his spine: "Our galaxy....... There's even a demon of the end on Terra?!"

[Who knows, if it is a star god, they must have done their best to destroy the demon of the end, since they dare to ban it, it means that there are certain countermeasures]

In the midst of the wavering, the dark golden army of the echoes once again pressed Ian's army, and he pressed forward step by step, and he said slowly, "But we can't all count on the star gods. They have failed, they are dead......]

[But even without the Demon of End, if the Cradle protection fails, Terra will eventually be destroyed...... It could be a hundred years, it could be a thousand years, it could be tomorrow – who knows? 1,600 years have passed since the Heavenly Fall, so even if you didn't notice it before, you must have noticed it now, right? 】

[So we have to escape from Terra, which is already unsafe—even if the cradle repairs itself and Terra's coordinates are revealed, we must leave Terra before the cradle repairs itself, as fast as possible]

[Otherwise, when the cradle is repaired, we can only be locked inside, unable to escape, unable to leave, only waiting for the destruction that will come at some point]

The echo was not angry, nor was it shouting, and there was no hysteria. At this moment, He just calmly said the truth he knew, the truth of despair: [So, the ignorant junior of the future, can you understand my choice now? 】

[In this infinitely vast universe, the all-out attack of the Star God Civilization can instantly destroy countless galaxies and even the structure of the universe, and even the universe itself will be shaken, and the war between the Star God and the Demon of the End is a monstrous wave roaring in the cosmic sea]

[We are just mayflies in this monstrous wave, and now the tide is rising, and we at the top think we are calm, but when the wave falls and crashes on the sea, we will be completely crushed]

At this point, the echo even laughed, but there was no joy in this laughter, only pure bitterness and firmness: [Too nothing, too meaningless. Our civilization has developed for thousands of years, experienced countless disasters and opportunities, and the great men, heroes and people among us have shed enough blood on the earth to stain all the rivers red, and finally created a Datong society, where all people can realize their dreams, so that everyone can live a stable life, have a house, clothing, and eat a full life.

But in reality? Our civilization is nothing more than an accident born out of the brief "gap" between the two heavenly battles, and it is as small as Mars in the universe, and even if it is valued by the star gods, our civilization is still just dust, and all civilizations are just dust.

[Young people of later generations, you don't understand this horror at all, countless civilizations, countless races, endless and countless lives, they are all dying, all are destroying, they are all burning-the stars are dim, the stars are falling into the abyss, all because of the war between the star gods and the end, the meaningless splash of their battles in the universe can destroy dozens of civilizations like us]

[Whether we are struggling to develop technology, or giving up everything for the rest of our lives; Whether it's going beyond the cradle or staying inside what you call "Hell...... The result is the same, we can't change anything]

[In front of the universe, we are only dust] This is the greatest sorrow.

All civilizations, all life, since their birth, will have an illusion. — I'm the main character. I'm special.

Such confidence will accompany them as they grow, shape their self-will, shape the culture and concept of civilization, and shape a common consensus and cognition, so that civilization and individuals can be confident and grow.

But in reality, it's all a lie.

In front of the universe, everything is empty dust.

In front of the Star God and the Demon of the End, all the matter in the Terra Star Domain may not add up to one "ammunition".

This gap is even bigger than that of ordinary people facing fifth-level sublimators.

At this moment, even Ian felt a senseless sadness. A person's life, possibly decades.

The tragedy of a civilization may be thousands of years. The rise and fall of a race may take tens of thousands of years.

No matter how brilliant it is, no matter how prosperous it is, no matter how much it can sing or cry, when people die, civilization dies, and genocide, all that remains is nothingness.

It doesn't take thousands of years, after a hundred years, everything will be buried. Don't talk about the big stuff. Just one person.

When a person dies, if it is an ordinary person, it will be forgotten in a few years, and only the relatives will remember. When the relatives are separated by several generations, no one will remember unless they worship their ancestors.

Even if they are great men, they will lose their sacrifices, and only the records of the classics will remain. But classics also need people, and when people die, all stories will end.

Nothingness.

No one remembers those lives, no one listens to those sad songs, and no one sings the stories of those rise and fall...... It's even scarier than death

of oblivion.

This is nothingness.

Even cockroaches that wander the wasteland will be annihilated. All living creatures, all traces of history, are nothingness in the face of doomed destruction.

When a star turns into a black hole, when the light of the stars disappears completely, even if the planet is not destroyed by a possible supernova explosion, everything it has on it becomes meaningless.

So......

"There will be a fire......

The white-haired boy said in a somewhat trembling tone, "Hope for the revival of civilization? That's not an end at all, it's just a hope...... It's just a tombstone, just a tombstone to fight against nothingness......

"Defeat. In the face of an enemy who will never be able to win, in the face of a certain defeat, in order to get out of the despair of death, he struggles to create the last resistance...... A tombstone called Tinder."

[Yes, you finally understand]

Echo sighed: "This is the decision we made in a very short period of time after we were born]

[Terra is hopeless, no matter how prosperous the new civilization in the post-apocalyptic era is, it will eventually face destruction. I can only record the information of this era, make it into a tinder, and leave]

It's too nihilistic. It's so small.

The Terra civilization is caught between a cosmic civilization and a cosmic catastrophe, and cannot decide its own fate at all...... Not to mention, the cosmic civilization with good intentions has disappeared.

In this moment, through the echo of the communication channel that connected his soul, Ian saw many, many things.

He saw the mighty Serpent Emperor Divine Dragon descend on Terra, fighting and defeating the various sanctuaries. He saw that there were psychedelic things that covered the sky with the meteorite, and finally they were suppressed in the earth's crust.

He saw that there were huge earth titans roaring and throwing mountains, only to be slaughtered by the strong men of the human race on the shores of the North Sea.

Ian saw a lot of sparks, and the super life that was born in them.

Some are events that the echo knows about, some are the memories of people who merge after the echo, and some are messages entered into him by someone in the afterlife who does not know it...... But they all failed, because the Terra civilization still exists.

Eventually, Ian saw that it was pitch black.

In the ancient Stone Age, the dark tide boiled and swept across the continent, absorbing all the biomass thoroughly and integrating it into its own body...... Until the Sword of Light descended from the sky and sealed it in its place.

That's the Beast of a Thousand Stars. The original tinder.

[They failed. It's the same with our civilization, we have to live, no matter what means.

With that, Echo strode forward, and at that moment, as Ian was shaken by the incredible truth, the dark golden dragon overwhelmed the three-headed Ultimate Dragon, and the massive Battle Titan took control of the rampaging Titan Soldier.

Although the other soldiers are still stubbornly resisting, after losing the hero unit, in front of the millions of echo bodies, it can only be said that it is meaningless.

The last echo reached out and pressed it on Ian's forehead, and he said in a deep voice, "So, hand over your Astral Gifts—whether you plan to stay in Terra or go out exploring, it's pointless, why don't you give them to me and let me lead the Tinder on a final wandering!] 】

The golden light suppressed the silver-cyan light, and at this moment, there was no doubt that it was the final decisive moment, and the last echo occupied the absolute lead.

If this battle were one-on-one. 「...... It's an incredible truth."

Even though the forehead was pressed by the echo, and the summoned soldiers and Dao units were suppressed, Ian's tone still seemed to be immersed in the shock of the previous truth: "No one else knows this truth, even the whole of Terra...... At most, I know a part."

"But even a part of it is scary enough. Who would be willing to be dust? The prison in which we are imprisoned is actually the cradle of protection? Terra will eventually perish, and the only way to avoid it is to escape, and there is no escape

, you can only go to the Great Hollow Area and wait for a meaningless ......."

Closing his eyes, Ian's expression was calm, and the echo thought that the boy had given up, so he tried to attack sexually, but he was still blocked by the incomparably strong spirit: [What do you mean by this? 】

"I mean."

Opening his eyes, Ian looked at the angry and puzzled echo, and he calmly said, "That's why I must leave the cradle."

"And I'm not going to run away. I will face the Star God or the Demon of the End until I die." [Maniac?! 】

At this moment, Echo was stunned to realize that Ian's will not only did not become as fragile as he imagined, but became more determined after being shaken: [You know that this is meaningless, you just die, maybe you will disappear without even knowing yourself!] 】

"You don't understand at all." At this moment, the cyan light in the white-haired young man's eyes became more and more intense: "What nothingness, what meaninglessness, as if human beings could have been immortal...... Human civilization is supposed to be something that will self-destruct after thousands of years, it's that kind of thing, after all, it's just dust, so why are you afraid of death?"

"There are some things that you have to do even if you know that you will fail, and that is courage!"

It's like burning with a fierce fire, like forging with a hammer, and the impurities in the original metal are tempered out.

Under the bombardment of the truth, under the torture of nothingness, Ian's will, which was more or less doubtful because he didn't know the truth, is now as strong as a hundred refined steel.

Become tougher, crazy and determined!

The golden soul was stunned, in this regard, he really lost! Lose thoroughly!

At this time, Echo's fingers were like sharp claws, piercing the flesh on the skull, and the blood kept remaining, but Ian showed a hearty smile, and he laughed: "I thought it was a big deal, it turned out to be the destruction of a mere civilization, and in the end it was just a death—Echo, the forerunner said that you were seriously degraded, and now it seems that it is so!"

"You information beings, who theoretically have an infinite lifespan, don't understand the human spirit at all....... Self-exile is death, staying in Terra until the arrival of the Demon of the End is death, the awakening of the Beast of a Thousand Stars is death, it may exist, the resurrection of the Demon of the End on the Skyfall Ship is death, and even the destruction of human civilization in the fifth-level civil war is death-"

"Since they are all dead, then why don't they die on the way to explore the mysteries of the Star God, the truth of the Demon of the End?" "If they're all dead, why don't you die on the journey to a distant land?!"

"If it's all forgotten and meaningless, why do you have to run away, you have to wait, instead of acting, to struggle, to survive, to try to make a spark out of an irresistible enemy as much as possible?"

"As long as He looks at me, I win!" [Phew—you're really 10,000 times crazier than me!] 】

Even now, how could Echo not understand that he had really misestimated the distortion, madness and madness of the person in front of him? Ian can even say that, and God knows what else he can't do!

But the good thing is that these truths that he threw out did shake Ian—so he is now the absolute advantage in the battle of souls!

[Just resist! He said in a deep voice, "No matter how much your will is sublimated, your soul will be completely assimilated by me in half an hour if you are connected by my direct physical superiority—and at that time, you will also be a member of our Echo, along with the gift of the star god in your body!" 】

"Half an hour? It's too slow!"

And Ian sneered, "Guess why I'm listening to you so much? You don't really think I'm going to kill myself to find out the truth, do you? This is because the silver chip tells me that my friends are rapidly approaching me, and that I will indeed lose my cool because of the truth, and I will be shaken by knowing more unknown and incredible truths."

"I'm going to fight for your truth, even to the point of losing my advantage...... It's my character flaw, but don't you?"

At this moment, the extremely cold ice dragon's lair sounded

The sound of hurried footsteps of two people.

Both Ian and Echo heard these two footsteps, Ian's smile became brighter and brighter, and Echo's face became more and more gloomy, and the boy smiled heartily, "You will only assimilate other lives, right? All your echoes are fighting with me, and that's your full strength...... And I did use my personal strength to fight against you, and now I'm at a disadvantage."

"However, a person's strength definitely does not come from himself, but also his friends and his interpersonal relationships!"

— Ian, are you okay?!

- Wait, Theo, he's connected to the dragon's scale-inverse port...... They're fighting souls!

The voice could be faintly heard, and as the echo sank, Ian laughed, "I have friends, but you don't!"

"Echo, this is your character flaw!"