Chapter 1 Time, Torn Asunder

Space-time was torn asunder.

Despite having waned for over nine thousand years, and despite suffering a loss during the splitting of a planet, the power of a True God remained terrifying. It had lurked within this world, a patchwork of shattered historical fragments, never truly solidifying. Yet, when a kindred divine force resonated with it, all the energy it had accumulated burst forth in an instant.

The pale rift that spanned the space-time fabric abruptly widened, contorting into grotesque shapes. The delicate cracks around the rift seemed to come alive, spreading in all directions. Wherever the rift reached, matter, energy, and even space itself were annihilated, reduced to the most basic information elements. This already chaotic space became even more turbulent under the divine storm. In the endless sea of clouds, storms rose tens of kilometers high, and even the slightest aftershocks of the divine force created billions of thunderbolts within those storms. Faced with such terrifying power, the ever-expanding and ascending space-time structure finally halted its growth for the first time.

With the naked eye, Hao Ren could observe large-scale "collapses" at the edge of the battlefield. It was as if countless sources of immense gravity had appeared out of nowhere in those areas. Where the divine storm swept through, light bent and piled up unnaturally, forming bizarre curtains. Within those curtains, a large number of Gorgon warships, corrupted by the power of madness, along with ships, soldiers, and buildings from other eras, disintegrated.

"The space-time structure has stopped growing and entered the disintegration phase…" The auxiliary AI reported emotionlessly, only relaying the information it had collected in a stiff manner. "The intensity of the divine storm is decaying rapidly, and it is estimated to cross the equilibrium point in three minutes…"

The divine aftershocks left by Leah in this layer of space-time were certainly not enough to destroy everything once and for all, but for Hao Ren, this level of big boom was already sufficient.

The raging divine force swept away everything at the edge of the battlefield, not only preventing the continued growth of the space-time structure but also suppressing the "ascent" speed of those corrupted ancient fleets.

"The time to attack has come!" Salaman's voice roared through the Guardian Fleet's command system. "For the Mother! For all living beings!"

"For the Mother! For all living beings!"

The Guardian Fleet, which had been suppressed and forced to retreat continuously, unleashed all its fury. Countless high-energy beams and missiles rained down on the corrupted echoes that had survived the divine shockwave, and the chaotic crimson sea of clouds was suddenly ignited by the flames of war.

The drone legions also completed a new round of Annihilation Lance charging. As the order to fire was given, hundreds of dazzling white beams erupted from the legion's positions, piercing the endless sea of chaotic clouds and slowly cutting spatial rifts across the battlefield.

The space above the battlefield twisted, displaying a false starry sky. Those mutated, enormous, and insane stars were nightmarish memories from the universe's demise. Under the continuing influence of the divine shockwave, they swayed, trembled, and then fell one after another.

And below the battlefield, the endless sea of clouds was finally torn open with cracks: when the stability of the space-time structure was reduced to its limit, and the resonance of divine power reached its peak, the barrier separating this world became unstable. Small and fleeting passages appeared between the deep and surface worlds. Hao Ren looked at the images transmitted by the external monitors and saw the clouds and mountains of La Hire, the land covered in war, a black city, and an army advancing.

…

The rain had lessened slightly but never stopped.

Fighting in the rain was not a wise decision. On a normal battlefield, against a normal enemy, a normal commander would never choose to attack a fortified city in a downpour.

However, Constance knew she had no choice, and neither did this world.

The rain would not stop. It was not a natural phenomenon but a manifestation of this world's descent into madness. There was only one chance, only one opportunity to stand before the nest of the "Annihilation" force and launch a direct attack.

This was the only chance from the beginning of the First Era until today, through countless eras of obliteration, epochs of change, and annihilative cycles.

A dying corrupted monster roared as it charged out of the rain. Its hideous face was completely devoid of human features, and there was no trace of human limbs on its body. Only fragments of metal clinging to its skin indicated that it might once have been a Black Sword Knight or a member of the Imperial Legion.

Constance raised her hand and swung her sword. Powerful magic focused on the blade, unleashing a force even greater than the light blade of a Broken Sword Knight. The monster was cleaved in two before it could reach her, turning into a cloud of dust in the rain.

"Keep moving forward! Watch the flanks! Level all obstructions—including every house you see!"

"Monsters can appear from anywhere!"

The shouts of squad commanders echoed from afar, penetrating the rain curtain. The occasional bursts of cannon fire and explosions sent visible shockwaves through the air. The ancient houses of the Imperial City were destroyed by crystal cannons, and city sculptures and towers full of history and glory collapsed under the bombardment of battlefield magic. All those things were what Constance had grown up seeing.

Today, in a single day, they would all vanish.

The giants were just outside the city, gazing at the battlefield from afar with the "little girl" they served—as if adhering to some ancient creed, observing the battle with ritualistic solemnity.

The soldiers had no questions or complaints about this.

Constance cleaved another monster in two, while her other hand released a bolt of lightning, saving a Northern warrior who had fallen.

She stared at the city slowly being destroyed by the flames of war, and Leah's words seemed to echo in her mind.

"Do you know the truth of this world? The truth about those cycles…"

"They are not a curse, nor are they the malice of this world. They are the only legacy that the ancestral civilization left you, the only hope they snatched from the jaws of doom and disaster at a great cost."

"While you are fighting, another battlefield is also erupting in battle…"

A loud rumble came from the sky, and even the relentless rain seemed to weaken for a moment. The soldiers cried out in surprise, and Constance could not help but look up.

She saw the clouds split open, revealing a chaotic, filthy space-time, where countless warships were engaged in battle.

This time, she was not seeing the scene of another world through divine resonance, but rather an interaction between the two worlds caused by the tearing of space-time. Therefore, not only she could see the strange phenomena in the sky, but ordinary soldiers could too.

"Don't mind the sky!" she shouted, her voice amplified by magic, echoing across the battlefield. "Keep moving forward!"

"Keep moving forward!" "Keep moving forward!"

The commanding officers quickly maintained order, but Constance seemed to see Leah's slightly pitying face.

She heard Leah's voice again in her mind: "...But, Constance, do you know? You are not a true inheritor, or rather, you are not a normal inheritor…"

Almost instinctively, she raised her hand and swung her sword, blocking an attack from a black claw.

"After learning that you could jump between more than a dozen clones in a way similar to how Black Sword Knights transfer consciousness, I became a little interested in you, and we know your unusual birth—you were brought out of a lava lake by Emperor Berendin more than two hundred years ago. You are neither like short-lived inheritors who have normal parents, nor like long-lived inheritors who come from ancient times…"

The monster with black claws fell. In the rain, his body quickly rose and dissipated, and his face was restored to human form at the last moment. It was an ordinary-looking man, an anonymous Imperial soldier.

He even smiled at Constance, a smile filled with admiration.

Just like the expressions many Imperial soldiers and knights showed when they were presented to the princess—although they always tried to hide it, Constance could always spot it at first glance.

Constance looked up and saw the Imperial Palace in sight. It was the place where she was born and raised. Looking at the familiar high walls and towering spires, she found her heart was calmer than she had expected.

The warriors around her were all wounded, and less than half of the Broken Sword Knights who had charged into the city with her remained. A large number of soldiers formed a defensive line in the rear, resisting the monsters that kept counterattacking. In the water curtain formed by the rain, those figures looked particularly distant.

Most of the soldiers who had fallen along the way had taken their own lives—after being attacked and injured by Annihilation claws, or after falling behind due to exhaustion, almost all soldiers would commit suicide. They would activate the rune stones they carried, blowing themselves to smithereens.

That way, the number of enemies would not increase.

The gates of the Imperial Palace were open, and it was strangely quiet inside. Mutated monsters were everywhere else in the city, but here, at the source of Annihilation, everything was as quiet as a sanctuary.

Constance took a deep breath, and the voice that was slightly childish but inexplicably trustworthy and reassuring sounded in her mind again: "Constance, I checked your soul—checked it when you weren't aware. Do you know why you can transfer consciousness between more than a dozen clones so easily without any discomfort or delay?"

"Because your soul is artificial."

Charlemagne walked over through the rain, steaming with heat, carrying the world-famous Isu Holy Sword "Radiant Sun" in his hand. He looked at Constance, his face showing more composure than before: "Something seems strange inside. We can first…"

Constance waved to interrupt him: "I'll go first, the others follow me."

Without any questions or hesitation, Charlemagne immediately began to reorganize his soldiers. The Broken Sword Knights and Northern warriors also gathered, forming an advancing defensive formation behind Constance and on both flanks.

"Constance, your soul is pieced together from a large number of fragments and memories. Those memories are the 'inherited knowledge' you know, and the fragments that make up your soul should come from those true inheritors.

The palace was eerily quiet. Walking through the gates felt like entering another world. There were no monsters here, and no bloodstains or signs of fighting, but everyone could feel the dark, terrifying power lurking here.

In every corridor, behind every door, under every lamp, flickered ominous dark shadows.

"If our guess is correct, Constance, the person who created your soul should be your father, and the lava lake where you were born was probably where Berendin tried to erase the traces, and the purpose of him doing so… is probably because he is the only true inheritor left."

"He created you, gave you the knowledge an inheritor should have, and told you the mission of the inheritors, but those memories of your cycles are actually false. The time you were truly born was two hundred years ago, and the life you have truly experienced… is only those two hundred years."

Stepping into the main hall unimpeded, Constance saw the figure sitting on the throne, just like in her memories. He sat on the throne, still wearing a full set of armor, even his face hidden beneath a heavy mask.

Besides him, there were no guards or officials in the hall.

The Dragon Soul Emperor Berendin sat there alone, and before Constance and her warriors arrived, he was the only one in the entire palace, just like his identity in this world—the only, the last inheritor.

Also, the loneliest emperor in this era.

As the vessel of the Annihilation force in this era, the source of all mutated monsters, Berendin did not seem to have undergone any visible mutations, at least his armor made him look like he still had a human form.

But everyone still couldn't help but grip their weapons tightly—because from that dark and deep armor, came an aura that was more terrifying than any monster before, extremely insane and suppressed.

Constance quietly stared at the throne. She knew that her imperial father was no longer there. The only thing contained in that armor was emptiness and madness.

Under her gaze, the armored figure slowly stood up. "It" walked down from the throne step by step, the friction of steel making a hoarse, unpleasant sound, and the sound coming from the armor was even more piercing and terrifying than the friction of steel: "Ah, you've come, my dearest daughter… Why have you come here?"

Constance slightly raised her long sword and walked towards the monster: "To be crowned as king."