Chapter 720: The Order Zero

Its rings became unstable one after another, and then the white form slowly disappeared.

Lian took several steps forward, wiped the remaining blood beneath his nose with the back of his hand, and kept his eyes on the place where Roderick had fallen.

"My body belongs to me, find someone else, oh, you can’t...because you’re going to die."

A mass of stone and ice fell from the upper part of the wall.

A few seconds later, Roderick came out of the ruins.

This time, his body no longer looked much like the powerful fighter Lian had known in the past, a large part of his chest had collapsed inward, his arms could barely move and looked broken and hanging at his sides, and blood flowed down through his torn clothes.

But White Oblivion was still standing using that same body.

Lian looked at the enemy’s condition for a moment.

Roderick’s body is almost at its limit.

With the deaths of the two Unholy and the destruction of thousands of Withered, a large part of the abilities the Calamity could borrow through Roderick’s class were no longer available.

Even so, his four innate powers were still enough to make the battle dangerous, and the effects of the previous spiritual attacks still remained in Lian’s consciousness.

Even with the resistance of the Golden Nine Dragons Soul and the Calamity Devourer title, continuing such a battle could gradually weaken his resistance.

Young Vorhelm took a calm breath.

’I need to finish this.’

At that moment, the Calamity raised his head.

"You believe you have won."

"Well, you don’t look very good so far." Lian raised an eyebrow.

"This body is only a Vessel that I use, even if you destroy it, what will change?"

Young Vorhelm kept his eyes on Roderick’s face.

"Not much."

The answer came so quickly that White Oblivion remained silent for a moment.

"I knew from the beginning that this body wasn’t your true self, but for now, this is the body standing in front of me."

White Oblivion pressed his lips together and then, without any further warning, released a new wave of spiritual pressure from his body.

The remains of the Crown of the Unremembered World appeared above the plateau once again.

But this time, the white arcs were unstable, and the Calamity had to consume a large part of the Vessel’s remaining energy to maintain them.

Lian felt the pressure, and deep within his soul, the golden forms of the Nine Dragons reacted again.

But he no longer intended to continue the battle by exchanging punches and spiritual attacks.

A new window opened before his eyes.

[ Innate Traits Tree ]

[ First Innate Trait: Locked ]

[ Unlock Cost: 4,000 Fragments ]

[ Unlock First Innate Trait? ]

Lian looked at the window in front of him for a moment, his mana was running out once again, and it was time to end this battle.

He selected the confirmation option.

[ 4,000 Fragments Consumed! ]

[ First Innate Trait Unlocked! ]

[ Order Zero: The End of All Bonds ]

Lian looked at the name of the Trait for a moment.

A power that came directly from the evolution path of his monster class and was based on one fundamental principle.

True destruction.

But what exactly did destruction mean?

If you tore a piece of paper, you only changed its shape, if you burned it, ash, smoke, and heat would remain.

Even destroying a mountain or a planet was nothing more than turning its structure into smaller parts.

But Order Zero had a different meaning.

Instead of breaking or changing matter, this power could use energy to end the continued existence of its target.

Something completely affected by it would no longer turn into ash or energy; instead, it would disappear from existence.

Lian narrowed his eyes.

Eclipse Energy destroyed the target’s structure, but Order Zero attacked the very principle that allowed its existence to continue.

Of course, its power was not absolute, the larger the target and the greater its resistance at the level of existence, the more mana and control were needed to destroy it.

At its maximum capacity, this Trait could even end the existence of an entire world; not just its stars and planets, but the world itself in which they existed.

And if such a principle one day spread to all worlds and the sources of creation, it would no longer be about destroying a single world.

Instead, it would mean the end of all creation.

But Lian was currently nowhere near the level of destroying a planet.

’For now, let’s see what you can do.’

He then looked at the plateau.

The previous battles had severely damaged the stone structure of this land, huge cracks, half-collapsed cliffs, and weakened ground could be found throughout the area.

White Oblivion noticed the change in the power flow and frowned, suddenly feeling something dangerous.

Lian raised his head.

At that moment, huge rings made of black and silver lines appeared in the sky.

Thousands of glowing points shone inside them and went dark one after another; as if an image of worlds being destroyed was being shown above the plateau.

But beneath this cosmic display, the real destruction began.

A section of the stone foundation in the northern part of the plateau disappeared.

A huge cracking sound rose from deep underground, and the cliffs that had lost their support began to collapse.

On the southern side of the plateau, the Bone Minstrel stopped playing his guitar, and his gaze moved between the rings in the sky and the ground that was breaking apart.

"Oh... this is not good at all."

He immediately moved toward Rindo, Alicia, and Noah, all three still had white eyes and could not react properly.

"Very well, my dear friends! Tonight’s performance is over!"

He lifted all three of them and ran south at high speed.

At the same time, Four’s voice echoed in Lian’s mind through Hive Dominion.

’My lord, the treasures that could be reached have been collected.’

’Leave the plateau, right now.’

Four followed the order without asking any further questions.

A few moments later, Lian confirmed through the Colony connection that Four and the musician, along with the humans, had left the dangerous area.

Good.

He looked at White Oblivion again.

The Calamity raised his right hand.

[ Crown of the Unremembered World ]

The Crown of the Unremembered World formed in the sky, and heavy pressure struck Lian’s consciousness directly.

For a moment, he felt his connection to his body become weaker.

But the Golden Nine Dragons Soul reacted deep within him, and the Calamity Devourer title also increased his resistance to soul erosion.

The pressure was still intense.

Lian clenched his teeth.

Just a few seconds.

He focused all his remaining mana on the Innate Trait and the main supports of the plateau.

[ Warning: Mana Reserves Critically Low! ]

Cracks appeared on the skin of his hands and neck, but Lian did not even look down.

’End.’

At that moment, several huge sections of the stone foundation silently disappeared.

For a fraction of a second, there was silence.

Then the entire plateau began to collapse.

Huge cracks spread from north to south, cliffs several kilometers long lost their support and fell into the newly formed deep gaps along with the frozen walls.

Huge masses of stone and ice crashed into one another, and pressure waves sent dust high into the sky.

White Oblivion tried to maintain Roderick’s body using mana pressure.

But Lian had now focused all his attention on him.

’Now it’s your turn.’

Order Zero reached the physical structure of Roderick’s body, the first part of his right hand disappeared, followed by his left shoulder.

The Calamity resisted with all his remaining mana, but Roderick’s damaged body no longer had the capacity to withstand such pressure.

Parts of his chest and neck disappeared one after another.

White Oblivion looked at his disappearing hand and then turned his head toward Lian.

"This power..." Endless terror appeared in his eyes.

He knew this power, he knew this power better than anyone.

This power should not be in the hands of a human! This was a power that should belong only to Father!

A power that, at its peak and ultimate level, could end an entire world and turn everything that existed and everything that did not exist within it into absolute nothingness.

This was a power that went even beyond his own oblivion.

Despite the blood flowing from the cracks in his skin, young Vorhelm answered calmly.

"This is only the beginning."

And a moment later, the final part of Roderick’s body disappeared from existence.

Using the last of his available mana, Lian reached the rocky ground outside the collapsing area.

Behind him, the remains of the plateau were falling into huge gaps.

Where a wide plateau had once stood, only ruins, deep cracks, and huge masses of ice and stone remained.

[ Order Zero Deactivated ]

The cosmic rings in the sky disappeared.

Lian took a heavy breath and placed his hand on his knee for a moment.

’This is only a small part of its power...’

But he had no more time to think, because the Calamity Devourer title could still sense White Oblivion’s presence.

He raised his head.

’Just as I thought.’

Roderick’s body had been destroyed, but the Calamity itself still existed.

White Oblivion had a non-physical nature, and his true form could not appear in the physical world.

Even Order Zero, in its current state, could not target something that was not present in this world.

’Then how am I supposed to reach him?’

Last time, he had faced Black Silence within his own spiritual space.

But White Oblivion was not inside his spiritual space now.

He looked at the ruins for several seconds, and then an idea came to his mind.

’If a human can’t face a Calamity’s true form...’

The corner of his mouth rose slightly.

’Maybe I should become a Calamity myself.’

He opened the system window.

[ Ruined Heart ]

Among its options was a name he knew very well.

[ Black Silence ]

[ Calamity Selected: Black Silence ]

[ Calamity Power Borrowing Available ]

[ Effect: Borrow the Power of Black Silence ]

[ Duration: 30 Seconds ]

[ Activate? ]

Thirty seconds.

Only thirty seconds to borrow the power of one of the Five Calamities.

He still did not know whether this could open a path to White Oblivion’s true form, but it was the best opportunity he currently had.

He took a calm breath and then gave a short smile.

"It’s time."