Chapter 867: An Extra Sephiroth, Kabbalah Tree of Life and Reverse Kabbalah Tree of Life, Manipulating Spirits
"Why come here?"
The Origin Spirit floated in the ethereal expanse, her brow furrowed in genuine confusion. The Neighboring World was her absolute domain. Every particle of spiritual energy, every shifting dimension, and every hidden corner answered to her will alone. No one in existence understood the fabric of this place better than she did.
"Normally, you wouldn't see anything just by looking around," Ren replied, his tone casual, hands tucked into his pockets. "But what if we change the perspective?"
Bringing them into the depths of the Neighboring World was certainly not for a simple sightseeing tour.
Ren raised his hand and slowly clenched his fingers into a fist.
The void groaned. The infinite horizon of the Neighboring World began to fold inward, compressing at a terrifying speed. The sky, the ground, and the very fabric of the dimension warped and shrank. Finally, the chaotic energies settled, revealing a colossal, glowing schematic suspended in the dark void. It was a magnificent, tree-like pattern composed of ten brilliant, star-like points of light, all bound together by complex, glowing veins.
"This is..."
The Origin Spirit's eyes narrowed sharply. Her breath hitched. As the absolute master of this realm, she recognized the structure instantly, yet seeing it laid bare like this sent a chill through her.
She opened her mouth to demand answers, but a sudden flash of light interrupted her.
A figure materialized right beside Ren.
It was Durandal, clad in her sleek blue and white armor, the metallic plating catching the ambient glow of the massive tree before them. Her sharp gaze swept over the White Queen, the Origin Spirit, and Kurumi, before finally resting on Ren's relaxed posture.
She let out a soft, exasperated sigh.
"I feel like I didn't need to come at all."
Durandal knew all too well that a Seven-Star Doomsday was something Ren could casually swat away without breaking a sweat. Her presence here was entirely redundant.
"Just treat it as a vacation," Ren said, flashing her a lazy smile.
Durandal chose not to argue. She stepped to the side, standing quietly with her arms crossed. Looking at the massive, glowing cosmic tree in the distance, she realized she lacked the necessary context to understand what was happening. Rather than ask useless questions, she simply opened her interface and started a live broadcast.
[Ding! Doomsday Chat Group member Durandal has started a live broadcast!]
[Ding! Kiana has entered the live room!]
Kiana: "Here I come!"
Kiana: "Hmm? Why is it so dark? Are you guys stargazing?"
Rory Takakura: "There really are stars, but why do these stars look like trees connected together?"
Silver Wolf: "That doesn't look like stars at all. Is no one going to explain the current situation? Where's the enemy? Where's the boss?"
Shinobu Kocho: "Could it be that the Doomsday is already over?"
Stella: "The Chat Group hasn't even given a prompt yet, how could it be over?"
Tokisaki Kurumi: "It's not over. Or rather, we haven't even seen what the Doomsday truly is yet."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "All I know is that this is the Neighboring World. I don't know what that star-like, tree-like thing in front of me is."
The Origin Spirit tore her gaze away from the massive structure and glared at Ren, then shot a wary glance at Durandal.
"You have taken control of my Angel," she stated, her voice tight.
Just moments ago, she had felt the absolute authority over the Neighboring World slip from her grasp, hijacked by an overwhelming external force. That force was undeniably Ren. Yet, manipulating the fundamental structure of this dimension should only be possible through the power of her own Angel.
"That's not important right now," Ren said, waving off her concern. He pointed a finger toward the glowing schematic in the void. "This is the Kabbalah Tree of Life and the Reverse Kabbalah Tree of Life, which I forcibly materialized by drawing out the collective power of the Spirits. Take a good look. Tell me if you see anything wrong."
"Wrong?"
The Origin Spirit turned her attention back to the massive construct. At first glance, she saw exactly what she expected to see: the ten corresponding Sephiroth, the twenty-two connecting paths, and the three energy rings binding them all together. It was the perfect blueprint of her power.
But a second later, her pupils contracted.
She noticed the anomaly.
Nestled right between the Kabbalah Tree of Life and the Reverse Kabbalah Tree of Life, hidden in the negative space, was an extra path. And at the end of that path sat a pure black Sephiroth. It was so dark it almost blended into the surrounding nothingness, absorbing the ambient light like a black hole.
"That is..."
Her mind raced. She immediately reached out with her consciousness, attempting to mobilize the spiritual energy represented by that dark Sephiroth.
Nothing happened. It was like trying to move a mountain with a whisper.
"Unable to control?" she muttered, her composure cracking.
This was fundamentally impossible. The powers of all Spirits were born directly from her own essence. There should not exist a single drop of spiritual power in this world that defied her command.
A Sephiroth that shouldn't exist.
A Sephiroth that couldn't be controlled.
Every single detail screamed of an extremely unnatural, parasitic aura.
Kurumi's mismatched eyes narrowed slightly as she observed the dark mass. The gears in her mind turned, piecing the puzzle together. "That must be the source of the apocalypse."
"Exactly," Ren said, his eyes locked onto the extra Sephiroth. "This is our History Fictionologist."
He crossed his arms, his expression turning cold and analytical. "It manipulated illusory memories, invisibly influencing the Origin Spirit to create new Spirits, tricking her into dividing her own power. Its goal was singular."
Ren paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "To gorge itself on spiritual power."
Compared to the other ten glowing spheres, this black Sephiroth was exceptionally large. Worse, it was actively pulsing, siphoning spiritual energy from the surrounding network and growing at a visible, terrifying rate.
The Origin Spirit's sudden attempt to control it had acted like a wake-up call. Startled, the black Sephiroth violently expanded, writhing as if it had suddenly come alive.
As it swelled, the other ten Sephiroth gradually began to dim, their light drained to feed the parasite.
"Can't hold back anymore, huh?" Ren sneered, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Once discovered, it stops pretending."
"I must stop it!"
The Origin Spirit gritted her teeth. She could feel her absolute control over the Neighboring World slipping away by the second. Spiritual energy rushed through her veins as she prepared to strike the unknown Sephiroth and sever its connection to her power.
Before she could even raise her hand, an invisible force clamped down on her, freezing her in place.
"What are you doing?!" she snapped, glaring at Ren.
She couldn't comprehend his actions. He clearly understood what the Neighboring World was and the catastrophic threat this parasite posed. Why stop her?
"Don't rush," Ren said, his voice maddeningly calm. "Let it absorb. I want to see exactly how much it can swallow."
He stood there, completely unbothered. To him, this cosmic parasite was nothing more than a bug he could crush at his leisure. He wanted to see its limits before he stepped on it.
Despite her desperate struggle, the Origin Spirit couldn't break free from Ren's absolute restriction. She was forced to stand there and watch as the black Sephiroth greedily devoured the surrounding spiritual power.
The sphere grew darker, deeper than the very void it occupied.
It expanded rapidly, soon eclipsing the size of both the Kabbalah Tree of Life and the Reverse Kabbalah Tree of Life combined. The sheer density of its mass began to distort the space around it.
Then, the anomaly triggered.
"Hmm? Is this it?" Ren murmured, tilting his head.
A figure suddenly materialized out of thin air.
It was Kotori Itsuka.
Immediately after, more flashes of light illuminated the void. Miku Izayoi, Origami Tobiichi, Tohka Yatogami... one by one, every single Spirit was forcibly dragged into the Neighboring World, summoned by the gravitational pull of the black sun.
"Ren-kun?"
Origami and the other Spirits blinked in confusion, spotting Ren standing in the distance. They immediately tried to approach him.
But their bodies refused to obey. They were locked in place, suspended in the void like insects trapped in amber.
Shiroyasha: "Hiss! So many beautiful girls!!!"
Nami: "? Just beautiful girls, why are you so excited."
Silver Wolf: "Heh, Ren said this guy has a bit of a yuri tendency. Needs correction."
Nami: "Uh."
The casual chatter in the live stream was abruptly cut short.
"Kill them."
A cold, mechanical female voice echoed through the void. It carried no emotion, no inflection, just absolute malice.
The voice didn't come from anyone present. It emanated directly from the massive black Sephiroth.
The moment that baseless, absolute command washed over the area, the atmosphere shattered.
All the Spirits who had just appeared suddenly went rigid. Their eyes rolled back, replaced by a hollow, dead emptiness. They looked like marionettes whose strings had just been violently yanked.
Dark, suffocating energy erupted from their bodies.
In perfect, terrifying synchronization, they manifested their Angels. But the holy light twisted and blackened, shattering into their inverse states. The pure energy corrupted instantly, transforming into their devastating Demon Kings.
Tohka, Origami, Kotori, and the rest of the Spirits uniformly locked their dead, hollow eyes onto Ren and his group.
With a fierce, world-shattering momentum, the army of Inverse Spirits charged forward, reduced to nothing more than unconscious, bloodthirsty puppets.
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