Boom—
Two forces, each approaching the mass of fourfold single-universe, collided in an instant.
The speed of their clash was too great. Light speed? Under such power, even light itself seemed frozen.
Outside the arena, the gods who acted as witnesses were utterly entranced.
In their eyes, the battlefield—already at least ten times larger than a great universe—shifted its colors in an instant. Dark-golden and teal-green cosmic forces split the entire arena into two halves.
Where the two powers met, they annihilated each other. Countless cosmic laws were ground into fragments.
It was unmistakably the prelude to creation, the very eve before a cosmic singularity.
Focalors' expression was solemn, her gaze locked on the collision of those utterly different cosmic powers. "Nearly fourfold single-universe… Morax and Barbatos truly live up to their name as first-generation Archons. No matter the era, they remain unfathomable."
Yet she herself was not weak. Though born as a second-generation Archon, and with her true body once being Oceanid—placing her foundation and potential among the lowest of the Seven—
Ever since that time she and Lord Heavenly Principle had shared contact, her foundation had long been replenished, even surpassing Morax and Barbatos.
Neuvillette remained calm. "Whether Morax or Barbatos, their strengths differ very little. At this stage, we cannot tell who holds the advantage."
"I wonder—who will be my opponent?"
Charlotte, snapping back to herself, hurriedly transformed her authority into a camera to capture this awe-inspiring battle. But no matter what she tried, not a single image could be preserved. Finally, she could only sigh in frustration.
"Nothing remains—not even a trace. The battles of these lords are truly terrifying beyond imagination."
As the leader of Teyvat's greatest news community, the Steambird, she herself had just entered Supreme God rank.
She had been so excited by the Solar Sovereignty War that she could not sleep, yet to think such battles could not even be recorded!
Navia comforted her: "Don't be upset, Charlotte. After all, this is the highest, most unparalleled Gift Game. Perhaps never before, and never again."
"To leave an image of it would probably require at least Almighty God level."
Charlotte slumped in disappointment. "You're right…" If she, as the God of News, could have recorded this, her essence would surely have soared—perhaps even breaking through to Primordial God.
...
Childe stared wide-eyed, unable to even see their figures, only the swelling of boundless cosmic energies across the battlefield.
"Your Majesty! Has the fight already begun? But I can't see a thing! What's happening? It's driving me crazy!"
Tsaritsa cast him a calm glance. As Childe fidgeted impatiently, almost ready to rush forward, she casually flicked him aside with divine might.
"The fight has not yet begun. This is only the clash of divine auras."
"Being Almighty God, even their mere divine pressure is enough to reveal who is stronger."
"Though there are differences among us leaders of divine collectives, those differences are not vast. Even the weakest—Odin, the Norse God-King—possesses the mass of two universes, and with the Pseudo Star Map, three."
"By now, all leaders of divine collectives have stepped into strong single-universe."
"Watch closely. The battles of divine collective leaders—the collision of universal total mass—will benefit you endlessly."
"Of course, the divine nature of leaders has already reached the ultimate. Only Supreme Gods can endure it. Thus, only Supreme Gods and above may serve as witnesses."
Arlecchino bowed her head. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the explanation."
Childe rubbed the large bump forming on his forehead from striking the unyielding ground. "So that's how it is…"
Hiss— Even the stones of this divine realm below Celestia were so hard they had given him, with a head tough enough to smash into black holes unscathed, a massive lump.
...
"It's beyond words—too exaggerated to even describe… If not for the barrier of the battlefield, a mere wisp of the aftershock would have reduced all of us, save Her Excellency the Lesser Lord Kusanali, to ash."
Kaveh exclaimed in shock.
Alhaitham sighed, utterly exasperated. "Ah… what foolishness, so blind to one's own limits."
Kaveh instantly glared at Alhaitham. "What did you say? Alhaitham! You want to start another argument, don't you!"
Alhaitham replied calmly, "Can't you just be quiet? Why must you always behave like some circus clown, ridiculous and contemptible?"
Cyno spread his hands. "Here they go again."
Amun-Ra, the Egyptian Ennead's Sun God and God of Creation, shook his head. "Ridiculous… What's this about everyone except Her Excellency the Lesser Lord Kusanali being reduced to ash? I am a single-universe level Almighty God. I might not be able to win, but lasting ten exchanges is no problem."
Ever since becoming an Almighty God, he had sparred with Odin, managing more than ten rounds. Against other divine collective leaders, holding out for ten exchanges was within his reach…
Nahida looked at Kaveh with displeasure. "Kaveh, I've told you already—address me as the God of Wisdom. The title of Lesser Lord Kusanali is abolished."
When she had been small, being called Lesser Lord Kusanali had been fine. But now, with a stature no different from the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, such a name was clearly inappropriate.
"Ahhh—"
A sudden burst of divine might swept from Nahida, knocking Kaveh straight from the sky. His panicked scream echoed out, like that of a helpless little girl.
...
Just then, the battlefield filled with dark-golden and teal-green cosmic forces suddenly cleared. The two colors of power vanished without a trace.
But when they looked up, the skies—spanning the range of ten great universes—were filled with golden, ochre, and earthy-yellow radiance. It was the glow of thousands upon thousands of stone spears.
Each spear carried within it a fragment of the mass of a great universe. Together, the mass of all these spears equaled the total of four great universes.
The combined weight of four universes plummeted toward the divine arena. In that moment, even the laws within the battlefield seemed to wither.
This was imprisonment wrought from the mass of four great universes.
Within this binding, even an ordinary Almighty God could not move a single step.
These stone spears were not massive—each only the size of a planet. Yet any one of them could pierce straight through a normal great universe with ease.
This sight choked off the voices of all the gods who had been gasping in awe.
The Overlord of the Vortex Osial felt his limbs turn icy cold. His entire body trembled, his terror so overwhelming he couldn't even move his eyes.
Gulp… Dead memories strike me again! Even though this isn't directed at me, I just want to flee—what should I do?
In the eyes of every god was reflected the Sovereign of Rock's stance in his full power.
...
Zhongli stood, his entire body radiating golden and earthen cosmic light. Arms crossed, his gaze cold, he looked down upon his opponent.
"World-Piercing Stone Spear—"
Rumble—
Behind him, the thousand stone spears condensed from the total mass of four universes rained down, suppressing Barbatos trapped within the imprisonment.
The heavens above the entire divine arena were now nothing but the apocalyptic hues of gold and ochre interwoven.
The power of imprisonment had already sealed the entire battlefield.
This imprisonment was the power of contracts—the primordial concept belonging to Morax himself.
Such primordial concepts were possessed only by Almighty Gods. It was the final form of divine authority. And now, Morax was the very source of the concept of Contracts.
If he chose to abandon his divine collective, to cast aside his Pseudo Star Map, and elevate the concept of Contracts into a Path, he could instantly become a Lord of Path, and by continuously broadening it, eventually raise his Law.
However, only a fool of a divine collective leader would ever give up their collective.
For a divine collective leader, simply advancing step by step guaranteed eventual ascension to super single-universe. The path of Law, however, was one of unknown destiny.
As things stood, all current Lawbearers had been directly ordained by Heavenly Principle, ascending straight from Almighty God to Lawbearer.
"Old man… to go all out right from the start. You truly hold me in high regard."
Venti glanced down at his hands. Dark-golden light, like chains, spread across his body, binding him completely.
This was not a mere imprisonment of the body. His very essence—his divine power, his spirit, everything—was sealed.
"With just this, even a group of Almighty Gods would be suppressed beneath these stone spears."
He looked at Morax, arms crossed, gaze sharp and commanding, majestic beyond compare.
Countless stone spears rained down upon him, their speed utterly transcending causality.
The closing distance of those spears, carrying the weight of four universes, was like a mortal facing the collapse of a mountain. Even without the imprisonment, a normal Almighty God could never escape.
"When we were younger, during the Archon War… wasn't this the same way you crushed other gods so effortlessly, old man?"
Behind Venti, his golden magic circle suddenly contracted, shaping itself into a divine bow of teal and gold interwoven.
This was the weaponization of the Pseudo Star Map.
Once perfected, a Pseudo Star Map could be wielded this way.
In truth, Teyvat's Pseudo Star Maps were themselves weapons that grew stronger alongside their wielder.
Now, the primordial universes corresponding to the Pseudo Star Map had already reached the mass of double single-universe—stepping into strong single-universe.
Thus, the Pseudo Star Map had also doubled in strength.
A stronger Pseudo Star Map made the wielder stronger. A stronger wielder strengthened the primal universes. Stronger universes, in turn, reinforced the Pseudo Star Map.
This formed a perfect cycle. A leader of a divine collective could not help but grow stronger.
"Just hurling stone spears won't work on me."
"And besides… Contracts cannot bind Freedom, nor can they restrain Hope."
Venti fully released his own primordial concepts. His fingers drew upon the string of the bow formed by his Pseudo Star Map, condensing an arrow of wind, freedom, and hope. He pulled it taut and loosed it straight toward Morax.
Boom—
The combined force of four-universe mass gathered into one, the arrow shooting forth. Wherever it passed, the world itself began to spin.
The winds had formed a vortex vast enough to envelop an entire great universe.
Stone spears, falling straight down, collided with the vortex and were diverted, forced aside by the pull of wind.
Rumble—
Each spear that struck the divine land below shattered the ground, erupting in explosions so blinding that even an Almighty God's gaze would be wounded.
Each spear carried a fragment of cosmic mass. Each impact upon the divine ground triggered a Big Bang.
Within those explosions, in mere microseconds, all manner of primordial cosmic concepts were born—and then, as the blasts subsided, annihilated once more.
At the same time—
Venti's arrow had already reached Morax.
As the foremost warrior among the Seven, Morax could anticipate every possibility in battle. He had long foreseen that once Venti witnessed him unleash his full might, he too would respond in kind.
The instant he had unleashed the World-Piercing Stone Spears, his Pseudo Star Map had already condensed the shape of Vortex Vanquisher.
Of course, this was only its form—merely resembling the true Vortex Vanquisher.
Contracts, precious metals, wealth, commerce… all these primordial concepts gathered into the Vortex Vanquisher, thrust straight toward the arrow.
Hum—
The entire battlefield was engulfed in white light—this was the clash of two forces, each multiplied several times beyond the scale of a great universe.
All cosmic laws and energies were reduced to dust the instant they collided. The power released from the disintegration of laws was as exaggerated as matter undergoing nuclear fission.
Such aftershocks meant certain death or crippling injury for gods of unequal strength.
The white light came quickly and vanished just as fast, giving way the next moment to a radiance of golden hues.
"Order guide you."
From the high heavens above the battlefield, a massive cube-locked meteor, carrying the combined mass of four great universes, suddenly appeared—and fell straight toward the land.
To call it a meteor was only due to a lack of words to describe it.
It was colossal—so vast it spanned a tenth of a great universe.
According to cosmic law, such an immense object could never exist.
Only because this Supreme Divine Realm was the very heart of Teyvat could it appear here at all.
This monstrosity, bearing the weight of four great universes, was something even an equal-tier super god could not withstand.
And beyond its size and mass, it carried the origin will and domineering intent of its creator.
"I already told you, old man. Contracts—they can never bind Freedom and Hope."
Crack—
Even as the Heavenly Meteor bore down upon him, Venti, untouched by the World-Piercing Stone Spears, allowed the imprisoning chains to shatter. His body scattered into countless azure winds.
"The formless, shapeless wind—no bonds can restrain it."
Though the old man's power was overwhelming, Venti knew this was merely his "basic attack." It was far from a true ultimate move.
Boom—
After the brief blinding light faded, what remained was shattered fragments of land rolling across the battlefield.
When their vision cleared, they were stunned to find that the divine arena's ground had been utterly destroyed. Matter itself had been annihilated, leaving only void—without rule, without substance.
Two streaks—one dark-golden, the other teal-green—clashed again and again within the void.
Each collision gave birth to the concept of a Big Bang.
One instant's Big Bang had yet to fully expand before it was overwritten by the next.
In less than a microsecond, thousands upon thousands of cosmic singularity explosions erupted in the void.
Boom—
Morax thrust forward relentlessly with the Vortex Vanquisher, each strike aimed at Barbatos. Venti dodged frantically, loosing arrow after arrow from his bow.
It was the ultimate duel of spearman versus archer.
At their level, flashy skills and so-called "ultimate moves" were little more than child's play—useful only for overwhelming the weak.
To defeat an equal, only the most straightforward attacks mattered.
Barbatos' spirit and body were stretched to their very limits as he evaded Morax's assaults while still countering whenever possible.
He was never a god specialized in direct combat—far inferior in battle to Morax, the Warrior God.
But even so, though he lacked martial mastery, he still carried a hidden trump card that could grant him a narrow victory.
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