Deep within the Minsk Mountains, on the eastern shore of Midseashire, bordering Loen and Feysac, inside the 7th Relic.
The lingering Storm aura had long been annihilated by the silently surging black mist, and a filthy, depraved, viscous black liquid replaced the sea of blood, slowly eroding and corrupting reality.
As the vessel for the Mother Tree of Desire's boon, that finger bone from the universe's dark side greedily absorbed and contained the boundless malice originating from George III's near-death state, transmitted through the ritual, as well as the negative emotions accumulated and precipitated in the Sea of Collective Subconscious. It suddenly broke through a certain constraint, causing this material world to completely fall into the Abyss.
And with George III's demise, the order barely maintaining the dilapidated mausoleum completely disintegrated, dragging the entire underground Relic down into that boundless darkness.
Above the layered and interwoven hexagram altar, even the Bloody Archduke, Nose, who had fully revealed his mythical creature form, couldn't control his trembling body. He prostrated himself on the ground, his excited expression unable to hide his deeply concealed fear.
From the Third Epoch until now, countless high-ranking Devils had fled into the Abyss for various reasons, but from a certain period in the Fifth Epoch, most of them became sustenance for the Abyssal Master, including Devil Lords who had reached the Angel rank like himself. If not for the Mother Tree of Desire's boon and protection, he would have long since fled.
The vast, ocean-like Abyssal aura washed over everything, yet bypassed the "Blasphemer" Isaac Tamara at the core of the ritual. However, as the price for inheriting part of the Sequence 0 "Chaos Mist" authority and status, even with the ritual's protection, he was still irresistibly falling into a fate of gradual loss of control.
But as an Angel who ascended through a boon, he was utterly powerless against the manipulation of the Uncertain Mist. While his heart grew anxious, his spiritual intuition's instinctive warning made him simultaneously notice a rather familiar grayish-white appearing in the dim, dark world of black mist.
Not good... Archduke Nois, with his Devil senses, foresaw the danger earlier than Isaac Tamara. The feeling of a thorn in his back made his pupils tremble violently, and his bone wings, burning with ghostly blue flames, flapped frantically as he fled in the direction away from the Abyss beneath his feet.
The next second, an indescribable hand reached out from the fallen and defiled Abyss, colliding with the rapidly expanding grayish-white.
Amidst the layered and echoing whispers, Trissy, whose last vestiges of sanity had been completely ignited, laughed hysterically. Behind her, a web-like illusory tunnel appeared, intertwining and spreading to form a void-dark, special mirror world.
This was an extension of the Primordial Demoness's Divine Kingdom, originally intended as a desperate move to perish with George III. Now, it became Trissy's medium for revenge against the Primordial Demoness.
The layered mirror world instantly expanded, engulfing Archduke Nois and Isaac Tamara, who hadn't managed to escape. Like a tide of interwoven grayish-white and gloom, it pressed that hand back into the Abyss and disappeared with it into that polluted darkness.
---
On the outskirts of Backlund, inside Relic No. 1, which was isolated from reality by the Nation of Disorder.
The Mother Tree of Desire, devouring the fallen malice of George III, and the Uncertain Mist, vying for the Black Emperor Pathway's high-level Beyonder characteristic, both stirred simultaneously. The former, in particular, displayed a kind of exasperated fury.
"Cheek..."
The humanoid giant tree phantom with chaotic scales roared in a low voice, then instantly vanished, swallowing all the malice in a gulp.
The surging, swirling white mist froze for a moment. He sensed that the ritual was collapsing, and if he didn't leave soon, even the Angel he had painstakingly supported and blessed within the barrier might not be saved.
Although surprised by the Mother Tree of Desire's reaction, Aaron chose not to stop her at this moment. Just as he was preparing to fully confront the Uncertain Mist, his expression suddenly turned serious.
A brilliant, bluish-white light appeared on the surface of the dense, unwatchable white mist, disrupting the order assimilated by the Nation of Disorder and reopening the isolation from reality, creating a rift in this boundless dark-gold world.
The dim, dark crown enveloped by the Words of Truth suddenly began to tremble. The activation process, which would normally take a considerable amount of time, was accelerating at an incredible speed under the interference of the "Chaos Mist" authority.
Before Aaron could react, the Uncertain Mist, having made its choice when the Mother Tree of Desire departed, detonated the swirling, dense white mist, creating a destructive tide capable of making any King of Angels tremble, completely tearing the crack into a gaping hole.
The Black Emperor Uniqueness, affected by the high-level power, also fully activated at this moment, breaking free from its original solidified crown vessel, becoming conceptual and symbolic, and instantly disappearing into the Astral World.
Aaron, whose nascent Divine Kingdom was gradually merging with the Nation of Disorder, instantly quelled the chaos and mended the loopholes in order. However, he was too late to prevent the conceptualization of that Uniqueness. After being affected by the Uncertain Mist, even the Sefirah's Convergence of Beyonder characteristics could not bring it back.
"Truly decisive, willing to suffer a mutual loss with me even if it affects the main body..."
Withdrawing his gaze from the Astral World, Aaron sighed softly with a hint of regret, then beckoned, drawing a "Prince of Order" Beyonder characteristic that remained in place. As for the other Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic, it was swept away by the residual power of the Uncertain Mist during the self-detonation.
"Two 'Prince of Order' Beyonder characteristics, three 'Duke of Entropy' Beyonder characteristics, and quite a few Black Emperor Pathway Demigod Beyonder characteristics."
"As for William Augustus I, after separating that 'Hand of Order' Beyonder characteristic, there should still be one or two 'Balancer' Beyonder characteristics."
After obliterating the corruption in this area to prevent it from affecting nearby Backlund, Aaron briefly tallied his gains, and immediately felt the pain of his nascent Divine Kingdom being torn lessen by a few points, and his already not-so-strong sense of regret completely vanished.
For him, as long as the Black Emperor Uniqueness was not taken by the Uncertain Mist or other Outer Deities, it was acceptable. After all, without the aid of a simplified god-ascension ritual for containment, that Uniqueness would only be a burden, not an aid.
As for the Uniqueness conceptualizing and returning to the Astral World, it was not without a solution. The current him could not retrieve the Uniqueness solely by aggregating Beyonder characteristics, but that didn't mean he couldn't do so after achieving Judgement and containing the Nation of Disorder to become a half-Outer Deity. At worst, he could allow Roselle to initiate a true resurrection, using the Black Emperor's specialty to make the Uniqueness return on its own.
His thoughts gradually settled. Aaron's spirituality swept over the unrest in Backlund nearby. After confirming George III's complete demise, the Punishers and Nighthawks, acting on instructions from the Church's high echelons, swiftly and secretly detained the Augustus family and the royal faction of MI9 under the guise of appeasement and investigation.
The high-ranking members of the Royal Family and corresponding powerful Sealed Artifacts had mostly been dispatched to protect the nine great mausoleums. The one Demigod left behind was also captured when Archbishop Anthony Stevenson of the Church of Evernight and "Deep Blue Officiant" Randall Valentinus of the Church of the Lord of Storms arrived together.