Let alone the Hero Party alone, even gathering every ally she could think of, there was no way they could confront a real Elder God True Body head-on. "So there will be outside help when the time comes. You do not need to worry. It will be quite easy."
"If it is that easy, can I quit? It does not seem like it matters whether I am there or not…" "Up to you."
"Huh?" She had lost count of how many times she had expressed confusion, and a single word could no longer capture how many question marks were packed into that sound. One moment it sounded like she was indispensable, and the next it was fine whether she came or not.
She really could not figure it out. Were all God like this? "I said it is not up to me, but whether you can control yourself at that time is another matter. I am just giving advance notice, like the question I asked you earlier. It is still up to you, because you are the the Lord of the event."
The White Tier golden figure grew harder and harder to see, and the Great Dragon in the dream became increasingly blurred. Fei'er Li somehow knew that this time was almost over. She suddenly rushed forward, raised her hand, and shouted loudly.
"Wait! Can I ask one question?" "Mm… in your current state, you can. Only one."
"Most questions are fine, but you know, there are always things that cannot be said. Of course, if you want to probe from the side and can guess it yourself, that is fine." The girl kept swinging her legs, but she had already pulled a glowing door out of space, clearly planning to leave at once.
"Have we met before?" "Huh?"
The question seemed to surprise her. She let out a small exclamation, and then Fei'er Li saw that the previously blurred face became slightly clearer, revealing a more familiar outline of features, and she even smiled faintly. "It seems you are about to wake up, so I will answer you directly. Yes."
"A very, very long time ago, we did meet. Like many others, you have all met me." She turned around without hesitation and walked into the light door. When it closed, everything around collapsed into illusion, the dream shattered, and she naturally woke from this abnormal sleep.
Fei'er Li jerked her head up. Outside the window, everything was still bright, and her internal clock clearly told her the time. It was early Dawn, and her physical condition felt just like waking up normally.
Just like before, it was as if she had only slept for a while, and everything had merely been a dream.
Ham went out for a short while, and when she came back, she found that Belial's World Thin-Film Plan had already reached the complete first step. A Nanomechanical Swarm far larger in scale than what Ludwig had used before condensed into solid silver White Tier pillars and drove straight into the Outer Void. At their tips, strong gravitational waves spread outward, artificially creating hanging nodes on the outer membrane.
The purpose of this was not only to provide anchor points but also to extend part of the remaining rules of the World itself. Those extended rules were used to connect with the detached cosmic Shard fragments left behind by Mephist. Because of this, not only was Safas busy stabilizing spatial fluctuations everywhere, but Lilith had also been sent out to prepare on-site for the descent work. Overall, the progress was still steady.
"By the way, Bella, how much of the outer membrane is covered now?" "Because the World doesn't have a fixed form and keeps changing, it's hard to pin down precisely. Roughly speaking, it fluctuates between 37.56 and 39.21 percent. The World has been pretty cooperative, so nothing like having to punch it twice to make it behave has happened."
Bella answered casually, though she herself did not appear, since she was busy in the outer gaps adjusting the gravitational waves at each node. "Be careful and don't get too close. That side is where another piece is about to be hung, and Belial is over there. Be careful not to get dragged outside or smashed."
"Ah, is he awake?" "No. But whatever the situation is, you'll know once you go take a look."
What did that mean, go see for yourself? Somehow, she had been dragged back into the question of whether he was asleep or awake. After Ham flew out, what she saw was layer upon layer of cosmic starlight rippling like the surface of water.
For a moment, she felt dazed. It looked chaotic, with many visible seams, but what lay outside was a genuine universe. It was fragile, like the skin of a newborn, yet it was completely different from the empty Void of the past.
There were also vast amounts of tangled cosmic radiation and mixed energy flows streaming past her like a star river. Ham even noticed that about a billion meters away, several planets were floating there, pitted and scarred but already possessing gravity. "This really is a sight I haven't seen in a long time. A universe this complete, it's been so long."
As she flew, Ham let herself drift and enjoyed the feeling of being a ghost in space. She then passed through an area that looked like a black hole, though it was not a real one. A silver White Tier Nanometal pillar was connected outside it, and this was actually the tip of an extremely dense metal column where gravity was strongest.
Because of that, it could serve as a node to hang the outer cosmic curtain. Beyond that lay what used to be the Abyssal Void, the familiar Blood-Black Prison. It was still in the same sorry state, though the resentment and Dark Power had clearly weakened a lot, and Ham had no desire to go out there.
Still, taking a glance was fine. "He's definitely still asleep. Then where is he? Didn't Bella say Belial was nearby?"
What they observed outside was still a mass of violent pitch-black storm, impossible to judge in scale. Just like before, there was no visible boundary, so there was no point estimating it. It did seem a little calmer than before, and perhaps deeper as well.
There was still no clear sign of Belial, and at that moment, Ham heard movement from behind her. "Boom!!!"
Powerful gravity spread outward like a physical wave, lifting the entire cosmic backdrop into ripples. This was not the real objective, only a negligible aftershock. Even so, it startled Ham into jumping on the spot and leaping over the waves.
She would not die, but being crushed down to nothing from start to finish would still hurt. Those planets that had been carelessly turned back into asteroid belts were the best proof. Energy on the scale of a supernova, mixed with countless rules, was kneaded together and wrapped in the four fundamental forces as a shell.
When it slammed down, rings of intense silver White Tier light spread outward. A dead and filthy old-world Shard fragment was cleansed and refined in that instant, then hurled toward the gravitational black nail formed by a silver White Tier Nanometal pillar. It was only then that Ham finally saw Belial.
He was still bound within a material form, but he was utterly different from before. He could no longer be defined as a biological being, and the sheer scope contained within him made it impossible to see him as a single individual. What stood there was a universe, not a metaphor or exaggeration, but in the most literal sense.
Ham had not seen it earlier only because, like Sylvia in the past, she had been too close to recognize the whole. In truth, Belial had been right there all along. He stood with his feet on the star river and the sky of stars above his head, a vast presence beyond belief.
He maintained the same dispersed, immense form as before, but this time it had expanded to a size comparable to the Sun. Starlight flowed between his scales and skin, and his eyes hung in the heavens like blazing suns, far brighter than the Sun. Along his back rose enormous spines like a flowing galaxy, and with each breath he released photon storms that covered this small universe.
In the deepest darkness, there was a depth no less than a black hole. His open mouth devoured the remaining traces and resentful Dark Power within the polluted Shard fragments. Then he raised his hand, dragged a massive hammer into place, and nailed it firmly onto the outer membrane.
Wave after wave of gravity and layers of rules washed over the fragment, repeatedly covering it until it gradually harmonized with its surroundings. He was very different from before, and every inch of his body had been forged by his own hand. It was composed almost entirely of energy and g-particles, so each part reflected the cosmos like a mirror.
The first thing Ham noticed was that Belial had lost the pair of horn-like protrusions that once resembled a Crown. His wings were gone as well, and his overall body shape had changed. He now looked like a gigantic, bipedal terror Dragon with a long tail and dorsal spines, very different from his previous Great Dragon form.