The piercing, otherworldly alarm shrieked across the Primordial Realm's shattered wasteland, tearing through the murky gray air and jolting every outer force warrior into violent motion. The legion of vanguard soldiers and elite trackers surrounding the Forbidden Ruins turned as one, their gray forms surging forward like a tidal wave of corruption, converging on Chen Fan's position at the ruins' entrance. Yet none of these lesser invaders dared to step forward first—they halted ten feet away, forming a tight, menacing circle, their energy blades raised but holding back, clearing a path for the true threat blocking the way to the Temple of the First Guardian.
The Final Warden stepped into view, and Chen Fan's blood ran cold at the sheer, unfathomable power radiating from its frame. Towering over every enforcer he had ever faced, even the Stormveil Warden and the Spire's personal guard, this behemoth stood nearly four times Chen Fan's height, its body forged from condensed overlord energy so dense it felt solid to the touch. Its form was a seamless blend of pitch-black and crimson, the overlord's core hue woven directly into its every fiber, with no weak point visible—no exposed core, no gap in its armor, no trace of vulnerability. Two massive, serrated blades extended from its arms, crackling with destructive energy that eroded the surrounding corrupted stone just by being near, and its gaze, if it could be called that, locked onto Chen Fan with singular, unwavering homicidal intent. This was not a mere soldier or guard; it was the overlord's ultimate creation, forged solely to destroy the Balance Guardian and shatter the sixth balance pillar before it could ever be awakened, imbued with a fraction of the overlord's own power to ensure total victory.
Lirael Vaelis's faint ethereal form trembled in Chen Fan's grasp, her light dimming to a near-spark after expending her last shred of power to cloak their crossing of the barrier wards. She could no longer hide them, no longer guide them, no longer lend even the tiniest boost of primordial energy—she was completely spent, reduced to clinging to Chen Fan's robes, her ancient eyes filled with silent dread. "This is the overlord's magnum opus," she whispered, her voice so faint it was nearly swallowed by the alarm's wail. "It carries a piece of the overlord's core power. You cannot defeat it with ordinary balance strikes. Every move it makes is fueled by annihilation energy, and it will not stop until you and the pillar are dust. I have nothing left to give you, Chen Fan—you must stand alone."
Chen Fan nodded, his jaw set so tight his muscles ached, as he carefully tucked Lirael into the inner fold of his robes, shielding her fragile form with his body. He could feel the four-pillar defensive veil above the realms trembling violently, the massive crack splitting its surface growing wider by the second, the golden glow fading to a pale, sickly hue. The overlord was moments away from shattering the veil completely, and once that happened, the full outer force army would flood into every realm, and even awakening the sixth pillar would come too late. He had no time for a prolonged battle, no time to test the warden's defenses, no time to conserve his energy. He had to end this fight in minutes, or all would be lost.
He planted his boots firmly on the cracked, corrupted Primordial stone, wrapping both hands around the Chaos Root and channeling every last drop of power from the four awakened balance pillars. The artifact blazed to life, golden light exploding outward in a searing wave that pushed back the surrounding outer force warriors, repelling their corrupting auras and carving a perfect circle of pure balance energy in the sea of darkness. The runes on the Chaos Root burned with scorching warmth, their power amplified by the last vestiges of harmony lingering in the Forbidden Ruins, once the heart of the first guardian's strength. For the first time in this journey, Chen Fan poured every ounce of his own life force into the artifact, sacrificing his own vitality to boost his power to its absolute peak—there was no other choice, no other way to match the Final Warden's overwhelming strength.
The warden did not wait for a declaration, did not unleash a telepathic taunt, did not toy with its prey. It moved with blistering, unyielding speed, its dual blades slicing through the air without a sound, aiming to cleave Chen Fan and the Chaos Root in two in a single, fatal strike. The sheer force of its charge cracked the earth beneath its feet, sending shards of corrupted stone flying outward, and the annihilation energy trailing from its blades burned a black path through the air. There was no room to dodge, no room to retreat, no room to hesitate—Chen Fan raised the Chaos Root and met the strike head-on, the clash of golden balance energy and crimson annihilation power erupting in a cataclysmic explosion that shook the entire Forbidden Ruins.
The force of the impact sent Chen Fan flying backward, his boots skidding across the stone, his arms burning with searing pain as every muscle and bone screamed in protest. The Final Warden's power was incomparable, its strikes eroding the balance energy of the Chaos Root at a terrifying rate, and Chen Fan could feel his four-pillar barrier weakening with every collision. He stumbled, nearly falling to his knees, but forced himself upright, refusing to back down. The surrounding outer force warriors let out silent, triumphant shrieks, certain of their victory, as the warden pulled its blades back and lunged forward again, unleashing a relentless barrage of strikes that left no room for defense.
For what felt like an eternity, Chen Fan fought purely on instinct and willpower. He weaved through the warden's relentless slashes, ducked under its crushing blows, and countered with precise, concentrated bursts of golden light, but every strike landed harmlessly against the warden's impenetrable armor. The warden's power wore him down slowly, draining his pillar energy, eating away at his life force, and he could feel his strength fading fast. Above him, the four-pillar veil flickered violently, a huge chunk of its golden surface shattering completely, and the overlord's triumphant, silent roar echoed across all realms—it could taste victory, could sense the Balance Guardian on the brink of defeat.
Just as the warden raised its blades for the final, killing strike, Chen Fan's gaze locked onto a tiny, almost imperceptible flicker of crimson at the center of its chest, hidden beneath a fold of condensed energy. It was not a exposed core, but a convergence point, the spot where the overlord's core power fed into the warden's frame—the only weak point, a flaw even the overlord could not erase. He had no time to second-guess, no time to plan; he poured every last remaining drop of pillar energy, every scrap of his life force, every ounce of unbroken resolve into the Chaos Root, focusing all of it into a single, pinpoint beam of golden Unified Chaos Light.
"For the realms!" he roared, launching himself forward, dodging the warden's final strike by a hair's breadth and driving the tip of the Chaos Root directly into that tiny convergence point.
The golden light pierced through the warden's impenetrable armor, slamming into the overlord's core power within. For a heartbeat, nothing happened—then the warden froze mid-strike, its body going rigid. The crimson and black energy coursing through its frame began to unravel, destabilized by the pure balance energy burning it apart from the inside out. The warden let out a deafening, silent shriek of agony, its massive form convulsing violently, as the overlord's borrowed power tore through its body, destroying it from within.
One by one, the surrounding outer force warriors dissolved into smoke, their connection to the overlord severed by the warden's fall. The alarm fell silent, and the Forbidden Ruins fell into a heavy, exhausted quiet.
Chen Fan collapsed to his knees, the Chaos Root slipping from his grasp, his body completely spent, his life force drained to the brink. He could barely breathe, his vision was nearly black, and every inch of his body throbbed with agony. But he did not fall forward—he forced himself to stay upright, his gaze fixed on the massive, crumbling stone doors of the Temple of the First Guardian, just a few feet away.
Lirael stirred weakly in his robes, floating out to hover before him, her faint light glowing with a flicker of hope. "You did it," she whispered, her voice filled with awe. "The Final Warden has fallen, and the path to the sixth pillar is open. It waits inside the temple's inner sanctum, hidden beneath the first guardian's statue. But hurry— the veil will not hold much longer. The overlord is preparing its final strike, and once it breaks through, it will be here in an instant."
Above the Primordial Realm, the four-pillar veil clung on by a thread, its golden light barely visible against the overlord's dark aura. The final barrier was moments away from shattering, and the overlord's full physical form began to move, stepping toward the Primordial Realm's border, ready to claim the final pillar and end the war forever.
Chen Fan reached out, clutching the Chaos Root and pulling himself shakily to his feet. Every step was agony, every breath a struggle, but he limped forward, toward the temple's massive stone doors. He placed one hand on the cold, carved stone, the faint hum of the sixth and final balance pillar thrumming beneath his fingertips, growing stronger with every passing second.
With one final burst of willpower, he pushed the temple doors open. The faint, golden glow of the sixth balance pillar spilled outward, wrapping around him, mending his wounds just enough to keep him going.
He had reached the final pillar. The last battle for the balance of all existence was about to reach its climax. The overlord was coming, and Chen Fan had only one chance to awaken the sixth pillar, restore the full balance of the realms, and stop the annihilation of everything he held dear.