Oshtur gave Gaea and Neith a look and stood up to take her leave.
Agamotto and Hoggoth also silently followed.
The Vishanti always stayed together.
"Agamotto, Hoggoth."
Oshtur stopped the two. "I want to talk privately with Gaea and Neith."
Agamotto and Hoggoth were silent. They nodded discreetly, opened a portal, and returned to the Vishanti's Luminous Sanctum first.
On the other side, Gaea instructed Atum to return first, then followed Oshtur with Neith.
The other Elder Gods escorted most of the Dark Celestials to the Shadow Dimension for imprisonment. As for whether they did so with great fanfare or discreetly along the way, Lucas did not know.
Soon, the spaceship was empty, leaving only Lucas, Chthon, 1610 Mister Fantastic, and Lifebringer with a few of his teammates.
1610 Mister Fantastic adjusted the spaceship's destination, heading towards Eternity's place.
"Sorcerer Lucas, why don't you hand Logos over to me first?"
1610 Mister Fantastic said casually, "I need to study him further to understand the methods and pros and cons of unifying the Multiverse, so I can explain it clearly to Eternity."
"That won't do." Lucas smiled and refused, feigning sincerity.
"Richards, although I agree with what you just said, I also said that it's about the matter, not the person."
"As for your character, I distrust you eleven parts out of ten."
"Sorcerer Lucas is joking. Who among those who know me doesn't know that Reed Richards is a brave and responsible, honest and truthful superhero who has saved Earth and the Multiverse from danger many times?"
"Really?" Lucas chuckled.
"Galan, let me ask you a question. Do you still remember being reverted to your Galactus form by Logos?"
Lifebringer nodded, his expression somewhat grave. "My mind was twisted, but my memories were not tampered with."
Lucas glanced at 1610 Mister Fantastic. "Then, were you intentionally guided along your path, causing you to 'accidentally' go to Earth-404?"
Hearing this, Lifebringer frowned.
After pondering for a moment, he suddenly looked up at 1610 Mister Fantastic.
1610 Mister Fantastic's actions were very subtle. If no one had reminded him, he would not have noticed. But now that Lucas had almost explicitly stated it, Lifebringer easily discovered 1610 Mister Fantastic's clues by deducing from the results.
Lucas asked mockingly, "Richards, tell me, can I trust you?"
Meeting Lucas's half-smile, 1610 Mister Fantastic instinctively recalled some unpleasant memories, and his body couldn't help but tremble.
With an awkward laugh, 1610 Mister Fantastic said, "Sorcerer Lucas, I meant no harm."
"You meant no harm, but you showed no respect." Lucas sneered.
"Alright, Richards, we'll settle this score later. Of course, if this Multiverse crisis isn't resolved, you might not have a 'later'."
Lifebringer glared at 1610 Mister Fantastic and echoed, "Exactly. The top priority is to help Eternity escape and resolve this crisis."
Hearing this, Chthon outwardly agreed, but inwardly he was anxious.
Eternity's escape meant the chaos was drawing to a close, and the window of opportunity that arose from it would shut.
Chthon secretly contacted Lucas, "Sorcerer Lucas, please give Logos to me first. Otherwise, once Eternity escapes, he will never stand by and watch me replace Logos and become the new Living Tribunal."
"Don't let desire cloud your judgment, Chthon. Or are you completely unaware?" Lucas walked to the side and sat down, taking out a tea set and brewing himself a cup of tea.
Chthon feigned closing his eyes to rest. "Sorcerer Lucas, what have you discovered?"
"A subtle gaze has been fixed on Logos." Lucas said, feigning profoundness.
He had only discovered that Logos had been tampered with by the First Firmament when he sealed Logos, and inferred that the First Firmament had a way to ascertain Logos's state.
"Could it be Eternity's enemy, First Firmament? Was it he who corrupted Logos? No wonder Logos was mixed up with the Dark Celestials." Chthon's expression shifted slightly.
But fortunately, Lifebringer had also closed his eyes to rest, while 1610 Mister Fantastic was focused on the instruments on the spaceship, tinkering with who-knows-what. Neither of them noticed Chthon's abnormality.
"That's right. When I sealed Logos, I found a strange, chaotic energy within him. Chthon, you wouldn't want to become the First Firmament's puppet the moment you devour Logos and seize the Living Tribunal's laws, would you?"
The above was just one of many reasons Lucas held onto Logos.
Logos and the Dark Celestials were both pawns of the First Firmament, used to corrupt and destroy the Multiverse's order, further weakening Eternity, to help the First Firmament devour Eternity.
Now that Logos and the Dark Celestials had both been annihilated, either the First Firmament still had a backup plan, or...
It was time for the decisive battle between the First Firmament and Eternity. Otherwise, as time passes, Eternity will slowly emerge from his weakened state.
First Firmament's prolonged inaction undoubtedly indicated that he still had a backup plan. And this backup plan was very likely related to Logos and the Dark Celestials.
"The difference between the Multiverse and a unified world lies in the Superflow. Simply by eliminating the Superflow and breaking the barriers between Universes, the Multiverse will merge into one."
"No! This method is too crude. The rules of each Universe are not entirely consistent, and completing the merger in a short period of time could cause immense damage to the Multiverse, resulting in the merged world being less powerful than expected."
In the White Space, which was intimately related to Lucas, both truly existing and not existing in any dimension, a black armor floated within it.
It was the leader of the Dark Celestials, who had been swallowed by the ehite tide and disappeared. The Dark Celestials leader's armor was constantly decomposing and reassembling, with streams of information being extracted, collected, and deciphered.
While 1610 Mister Fantastic repeatedly asked Lucas to hand over Logos to him to study methods for unifying the Multiverse, Lucas had already begun his own research.
The spaceship flew for a long time in the Superflow, then suddenly plunged into a dimension fragment.
It was gray.
As far as the eye could see, there was only gray, as if it were a dead world that had lost all its colors.
In the center of the dimension was a barren continent, with jagged, towering rocks. The ground was cracked and uneven, with bottomless fissures everywhere.
The spaceship circled the continent several times before finding its direction, finally landing on a relatively flat patch of ground.
"We have arrived." 1610 Mister Fantastic reminded them.
Lucas, Chthon, and Lifebringer successively opened their eyes, only to see a scene of desolation directly in front of the spaceship. The palace had long since weathered into an unrecognizable shape. Only through the broken walls and ruins could one imagine the temple's past glory and grandeur.
After disembarking from the spaceship, Lifebringer consciously walked ahead to lead the way. "I've been here a few times before the Multiverse rebooted. Through the Eternity Gate inside the temple, we can see Eternity."
"But now that it's in such a dilapidated state, can Eternity still respond to our call?" 1610 Mister Fantastic questioned.
"It should be fine." Lifebringer responded vaguely to 1610 Mister Fantastic.
Since Eternity had been able to contact him before, it indicated that his condition wasn't so bad as to be unresponsive to external stimuli. It was just that Lifebringer didn't want to tell 1610 Mister Fantastic about this.
Not only Lucas, but Lifebringer also found 1610 Mister Fantastic annoying.
Stepping through the gate, Lifebringer led Lucas and the others straight to the central area along the main path.
At the end, a massive stone wall blocked their way.
In front of the stone wall was a pile of huge stones, like the ruins of a collapsed building.
"Eternity's statue is broken?!"
Seeing this pile of stones, Lifebringer felt as if struck by lightning. He had already seen other statues collapse along the way, but he still held a glimmer of hope, believing Eternity should be different.
But the facts proved that Eternity's statue was no different from the statues of other Cosmic Beings, they were all constructed from large stones. As long as the divine power on the stones disappeared, the statues would collapse over time.
Similarly, as long as divine power was injected, these statues would return to their original state.
Crystal clear streams of light shot up into the sky, adding a splash of color to this shadow world.
"Is the aesthetic sense of Cosmic entities hereditary? Why is it the same from the Second Multiverse to the Eighth Multiverse, all liking to make their homes in the Shadow Dimension?"
Lucas grumbled, and light imbued with mysterious and powerful energy cascaded from above like a waterfall, spreading over the broken stones on the ground.
As if summoned by some call, the quietly lying broken stones began to tremble slightly, growing increasingly intense. They attracted each other, drawing closer.
Gradually, countless fragments began to reassemble according to a certain pattern, one piece after another from top to bottom, precisely fitting together.
When the last fragment returned to its place, six statues once again stood in the Altar of Eternity, guarding the statue of Eternity seated cross-legged in the innermost part.
At this point, the Altar of Eternity was restored to its former glory.
It's just that...
Lucas looked at the first statue on the right, his gaze falling on its face, and he couldn't help but frown. He pointed a finger, and a stream of light flashed like a cutting blade, instantly severing the statue's head.
With a crash, the statue's head fell.
After Arishem the Judge, there was a statue of a Watcher. Further in was the Living Tribunal with three faces.
Looking at the statue of the Living Tribunal, Chthon was eager to try.
'He can be replaced.' Chthon thought to himself.
The three on the left were the statues of the Abstract Entities Infinity, Oblivion, and Death.
Lucas had no grievances with these few. His gaze swept over them and then he ignored them, finally looking at the statue of Eternity seated cross-legged in the center.
"What should we do next, Galan?" Lucas asked.
"Inject pure cosmic energy into the stone wall." Lifebringer replied.
"You can leave this to me, I have experience."
"Alright." Lucas shrugged, gesturing for Lifebringer to begin his performance.
Lifebringer's lips curved up under his mask. He removed the armor from his arm, aimed it, and fired a golden stream of energy directly at Eternity.
As the golden energy entered, the Eternity Gate stirred up layers of ripples, like a constantly undulating water surface.
Lifebringer sat down with a thud, explaining, "Typically, this takes a few hours."
Lucas expressed his dissatisfaction. "Galan, you should have told me earlier. That way, I could have brought a book to read instead of wasting several hours here."
Lifebringer said indifferently, "Just sit quietly and space out for a bit, a few hours will pass quickly."