Chapter 917: At the Bottom of a Thousand Lakes, the Black King of Multiversal Chaos
Elma's face was pale, her usually bright eyes clouded with deep anxiety. "I don't want anyone investigating the origin of that lake. What everyone needs to do right now is flee. This world is on the brink of ending!"
"I agree. Everyone, run!" Ilulu chimed in, raising her arm. The limb was still locked in its thick, scaled dragon claw form, refusing to fully humanize under the oppressive atmosphere bleeding from the valley.
The Emperor of Demise let out a heavy, rumbling sigh that shook the ground slightly. "That is the reality of the situation." He crossed his massive arms. "Although it brings me no pride to admit it, my instincts warn me that even I cannot handle whatever slumbers inside that water. That is precisely why I asked Lucoa to invite you here."
The stronger the lifeform, the sharper their intuition. The Emperor of Demise knew this universal truth better than anyone, which was the sole reason the proud dragon lord was willing to swallow his pride and ask for outside help.
Tohru blinked, her reptilian pupils contracting in disbelief. "Something that even Elma is terrified of just... appeared here? From the way you're all describing it, it just sounds like a weird body of water."
"I only know that it looks like a lake," Elma said, her voice dropping to a grim whisper. "But anyone who steps into its waters, no matter how overwhelmingly powerful they are... their mind shatters. They fall completely into an endless, unawakable madness. Without a single exception."
Ilulu nodded vigorously, her claw twitching. "It was the exact same way in my original world."
Tohru's jaw dropped. "Can a thing like that actively hunt down other worlds?"
"It isn't searching for other worlds," Ren interjected, his voice cutting through the rising panic. "Rather, it is inherently anchored to multiple worlds. Even... the multiverse itself."
For the first time since he arrived, the casual amusement vanished from Ren's eyes, replaced by a razor-sharp seriousness.
"The multiverse?!"
The Emperor of Demise, Elma, and Ilulu stared at him, struggling to grasp the sheer scale of that concept.
But Tohru understood. Having spent enough time by Ren's side, she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "Could it be the power of those... Kings?"
Ren narrowed his eyes, peering past the group and deep into the shadowy abyss of the Dragon Valley. "Originally, I thought so too. But... it's not."
He rolled his shoulders, loosening his muscles. "You all wait for me here. I'll go in and take a look."
Before he could take a step, Elma lunged forward, her hands desperately gripping his arm. "Don't! That lake is genuinely dangerous!" she pleaded, her voice trembling.
Ren paused, looking down at her white-knuckled grip. A soft, reassuring smile broke through his serious expression. He gently patted her head. "Don't worry. I know exactly what I'm doing."
He shifted his gaze to his most trusted maid. "Tohru, evacuate everyone from this area. Preferably to an entirely different world. It isn't safe to stay here."
"Understood!" Tohru straightened up, her expression hardening into absolute obedience. If even Ren was calling a place unsafe, the severity of the threat was off the charts. "Ren... please be careful."
With a swift motion of her hands, Tohru channeled her spatial magic. A brilliant flash of light enveloped the group, and in the blink of an eye, she transferred every single living being in this entire world away to safety.
The bustling valley fell dead silent.
Leaving only an empty, desolate world, and Ren standing alone.
"Alright, it's just me now," Ren muttered, cracking his neck. "It's about time I see your true form, you who managed to hide from my sight."
Without a shred of hesitation, Ren strode forward, descending deep into the heart of the Dragon Valley.
The deeper he walked, the colder the air grew. Soon, the jagged rocks gave way to the anomaly they had described.
It was a deep, pitch-black lake. The water was unnaturally still, devoid of even a single ripple, reflecting absolutely no light. There were no insects, no fish, no signs of life whatsoever.
Standing at the edge, Ren stared into the inky depths. A suffocating wave of endless evil and pure, unadulterated chaos washed over him.
His brows furrowed deeply. "A lake connected to the multiverse?"
His eyes glowed faintly as he peered through the superficial layer of reality, instantly dissecting the essence of the lake's existence. It didn't just exist in this universe; its roots spread like a cancerous web across countless parallel universes. The absolute bottom of this dark water served as the convergence point for the entire multiverse.
However, the lake had recently lost its multiversal passages.
Because Ren, through his unique existence, had forcibly collapsed the multiverse into an absolute singularity. Parallel universes simply ceased to exist under his rule.
Consequently, this specific lake in the Dragon Valley was now the one and only entrance left to reach the bottom.
Yet, Ren was absolutely certain this anomaly hadn't just spawned overnight. It had lurked in the shadows for an unfathomable amount of time, only choosing to reveal itself now.
A specific term surfaced in his mind.
"Cognitive Doomsday?"
Ever since ascending to the throne of a King, Ren admitted he had grown a little arrogant. When you stood at the absolute pinnacle of reality, it was easy to get comfortable. But the sudden emergence of this bizarre, logic-defying entity threw a bucket of ice water over his complacency.
"So, Cognitive Doomsday still exists... but can pure fate no longer judge it?"
His expression turned solemn. The nature of this entity was far beyond ordinary. As he analyzed the chaotic essence bleeding from the water, a fragment of ancient, forbidden lore clicked into place.
He recognized it.
Supreme Divinity.
Its true name was the Supreme Divinity—The Black King.
It existed at the bleeding intersection of all worlds, slumbering at the bottom of a Thousand Lakes. It embodied the darkest elements of countless evil gods, yet its so-called 'divinity' was nothing more than a superficial skin worn over pure decay.
It was the collective fallen of all worlds.
It was the ultimate, festering chaos of the multiverse.
Given enough time, it would eventually spiral upward, consuming the endless universe until nothing remained.
This was the absolute truth of The Black King.
A lake connected to the multiverse, pooling the chaos of intersecting realities at the bottom of a Thousand Lakes.
"How fitting," Ren murmured, a cold smirk tugging at his lips. "It seems I have no choice but to go down and take a look."
His muscles tensed. Without bothering to strip off his coat, Ren leaped directly into the pitch-black water.
The water wasn't liquid. It felt like diving into thick, freezing sludge made of pure, chaotic static.
Ren sank like a stone, plunging straight down through the chaotic currents until his boots finally touched the absolute bottom of the lake.
And there, he saw it.
It was a sight that could only be described as absolute mental pollution—a violently twisting, writhing amalgamation of pure darkness and primordial chaos. Its sheer mass defied spatial logic, expanding outward until its form resembled a titanic black dragon. Its size was so unfathomably massive it could easily cover the sky and blot out a sun.
There was no mistaking it.
This was the true, unsealed form of The Black King.
If left to its own devices, it truly possessed the potential to become the final graveyard of the endless universe.
But the current Black King hovering before him was nowhere near that theoretical peak.
Ren's senses swept over the colossal beast. He accurately gauged that the creature only possessed power barely touching the multiversal level. Its endless growth had been violently halted the moment Ren established his absolute uniqueness across reality, severing its parallel food sources.
Sensing the foreign intruder in its domain, the chaotic mass shifted.
"ROAR!!!"
The black dragon-shaped entity unleashed a deafening, reality-shattering roar. The sound waves alone carried enough destructive force to obliterate a standard universe, churning the dark waters into a violent maelstrom.
The apocalyptic shockwave crashed into Ren.
He didn't even flinch. He merely raised a hand and casually swatted the air, dispersing the universe-ending breath as easily as waving away a bad smell.
"I'm actually very curious," Ren said, his calm voice echoing effortlessly through the chaotic void. "How could a creature like you, who has only barely touched multiversal power, manage to obscure my vision? How did you prevent me from seeing through you until I was standing right in front of you?"
He tilted his head, looking up at the writhing mass of darkness. "Care to enlighten me, Black King?"
Unsurprisingly, there was no answer.
Born from inherent, mindless chaos, the entity possessed absolutely no capacity for rational communication. Instead of answering, it shifted its colossal bulk. A single black wing, massive enough to disrupt the fundamental operation of the multiverse itself, swept down to crush the tiny human.
Ren let out a disappointed sigh.
"Since we can't communicate, I suppose I'll just have to rip the answers out of you myself."
He slowly raised his right hand.
The infinite threads of fate answered his call, materializing from the void and rapidly twisting together. In the blink of an eye, the abstract concept of fate condensed into a solid, spiraling spear of blinding light.
He gripped the shaft.
His arm blurred as he threw it.
The strike was instantaneous. The spiraling spear of infinite fate tore through the chaotic water, effortlessly punching through the descending black wing as if it were wet paper. The spear didn't stop, continuing its trajectory until it buried itself directly into the center of The Black King's massive head.
The titanic beast froze instantly, its chaotic writhing coming to a dead, unnatural halt.
But as the spear connected, Ren's own body stiffened.
A massive influx of fate-based information flooded directly from the spear into his mind. He had successfully extracted the creature's core data.
However, as he processed the information, a strange expression crossed his face. He truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He finally understood exactly why The Black King had been able to obscure his omniscient eyes.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the beast's own power. It was solely because the creature's core contained recorded information tied to a very specific, terrifying existence—the exact same information Ren was absorbing right now.
That existence was known by a single name.
The Void Emperor.
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