The tremor of the airship exiting hyperspace gradually subsided, and the familiar starlight of the Solar System streamed into the bridge through the portholes.
There were no tentacles, no blood clouds; planets hung silently in the distance, like an unexpected peaceful harbor in the eye of a storm.
However, the atmosphere on the bridge was even heavier than when they had crossed the graveyard.
The smell of blood and scorched energy overload permeated the air, and Allen's movements as he piloted the ship carried a subtle tremor.
In the corner of the medical bay, Mark Grayson leaned silently against the cold bulkhead.
His shattered battle suit had been removed, revealing crisscrossing scorch marks and bone-deep wounds beneath, with congealed blood forming strange patterns on his skin.
He clutched his father Nolan's tattered glove tightly in his hand; its cold touch was the only reality.
On the other life support platform, Trigg was in a deep coma, his severed arm connected to life-sustaining gel, and the terrifying wound on his back meticulously treated; his face was pale, and the powerful Viltrumite vitality maintained his body at a minimum level of function.
Every heartbeat tugged at Mark's wounds, but what hurt more was the truth that had shattered his understanding deep within his soul.
The cold indifference of the Titan Sanctuary, the resolute image of his father's annihilation in the chaotic storm, and the terrifying realization that the very foundations of the universe were crumbling.
The power of the Great Old Ones was not a mere corruption, but an erosion and collapse at the level of the universe's fundamental laws.
The Titans' purification was not only ineffective but, like pressing hard on a festering wound, accelerated the spread of the toxins.
"The entire universe... perhaps it's no longer safe," Mark's voice was hoarse, breaking the silence.
His molten gold eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the unconscious Trigg, yet it was as if his gaze pierced through the ship, reaching out to the deep, yet subtly diseased, star river.
"The Titans' failure... is not the end... it's the beginning of a disaster."
Allen nodded heavily, his large eyes filled with worry.
"Just now, an emergency announcement from the Planetary Alliance Court... not only the Viltrumite debris sector, the edge of the Solan Nebula, but also the outskirts of the Aethera homeworld... over twenty star systems have detected abnormal spatial distortions, and the background radiation shows an exponential surge in the power of the Great Old Ones!"
"Titan energy signatures briefly appeared near multiple sources, but... reports indicate their energy forms show unprecedented disorder and instability!"
"They seem to be... retreating or reorganizing? Chaos is spreading, Mark, what exactly happened?"
Mark's heart sank to the bottom.
Trigg and his plan had successfully interrupted the Titans' genocidal purification, but they had also completely torn open the fragile facade of order in the universe.
Exposing the cancerous collapse of laws lurking beneath.
The Great Old Ones were no longer a source of contamination to be purified; they were a sign of the return of the void that existed before the universe's birth!
And the Titans, that god-level civilization that prided itself as guardians of order, their power system seemed to have been eroded by this collapsing law, becoming no longer pure and stable.
As for him and Trigg, these two variables who had personally ignited all of this, had already become the fuse that the Great Old Ones must eliminate, and also a symbol of failed disgrace in the Titan Clan's cold logic.
"Collapse... is a festering at the law level... the Titans' wedge... was inserted in the wrong place..." Trigg's hoarse voice was like a broken bellows.
He suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils dim yet sharp as a knife, piercing the truth of the universe.
"Now... that festering is spreading... the Great Old Ones are not reviving... the void is devouring existence... the entire universe... has become their breeding ground... and... battlefield..."
He turned his head with difficulty, looking at Mark, a nearly ethereal curve on his lips.
"Kid... we... opened Pandora's box... now... what crawled out of the box... is going to eat everything... there's no rear... no refuge left..."
Allen silently looked at Trigg and Mark; from their few words, he seemed to understand that everything happening now was related to these two individuals.
"Where do we go now, Mark?"
Allen took a deep breath, looking at his friend's dejected appearance, not wanting to disturb him for a while.
Mark lowered his head, slowly uttering a few words.
"I want to go home..."
...
After more than a dozen standard Earth days, the airship smoothly glided into Earth's orbit, below was the familiar blue planet, so serene it almost made one forget the dramatic changes occurring in the universe.
The ship landed on a hidden GDA base tarmac.
Mark refused a stretcher, forcing himself to stand, and walked unsteadily out of the hatch.
Allen carefully carried Trigg's life support platform, following closely; Cecil and Debbie were already waiting anxiously outside.
When Debbie saw Mark, covered in scars and blood, and the unknown person on the life support platform, whose life or death was uncertain, her face instantly turned pale, and Cecil's brows furrowed into a knot.
"Mark!"
Debbie's voice trembled uncontrollably as she rushed forward, tightly grasping her son's arm, her gaze eagerly searching for wounds behind him.
Mark's body stiffened slightly; he lowered his head, avoiding his mother's gaze.
He slowly raised the tattered red glove in his hand, stained with gunpowder and cold cosmic dust.
The air instantly solidified.
"He..."
Mark's voice was low and hoarse, every word like lead.
"...remained in the starry sky, to prevent a disaster... that would engulf the entire universe..."
He took a deep breath, suppressing the surging grief and intense pain in his body, and in the most concise and clear language, recounted the unimaginable journey to his mother, Cecil, and the core members who had rushed to the scene.
The cold logic of the Titans and the terrifying consequences of the "Final Purification."
The true nature of the Great Old Ones' power—the erosion and collapse at the level of cosmic laws.
His father, Nolan, sacrificing his life in the chaotic storm to detonate the core, forcibly interrupting the Titan program, but also leading to the tragic acceleration of the universe's collapse.
The Titan Clan's own power being eroded and falling into chaos, and the current state of the Great Old Ones' full activity.
And... he and Trigg, who were estimated to have become targets that the two supreme existences would eliminate as quickly as possible.
"...The Titans' order has failed, the void of the Great Old Ones is devouring reality, over twenty star systems have already shown signs of collapse, and panic is gradually spreading throughout the universe."
Mark finally looked at his mother, Debbie, his molten gold eyes filled with pain and guilt.
Debbie covered her mouth, tears silently streaming down, her body trembling slightly, but she did not fall; she just held her son's cold hand even tighter, as if wanting to draw strength from it, and also to offer support.
Cecil's face was ashen, his fists clenched, cracking, his eyes filled with shock and a heavy sense of responsibility.
Eve, who had rushed over, bit her lip tightly, looking at Mark's wounds and the gauntlet in his hand, her eyes full of heartache.
"Trigg..."
Mark looked at the Viltrumite Regent.
"He needs the highest level of medical treatment; the Viltrumite fleet is one of the few forces still active on the edge of the collapsing star systems."
"Sending him back is crucial for the Viltrumite remnants, and for understanding the front-line situation..."
Allen nodded heavily.
"Leave it to me, I will personally escort him and ensure he returns to the Viltrumite fleet."
"At the same time... take everything that happened here, the true situation of the universe's collapse, back to the Planetary Alliance High Council."
His large eyes looked at Mark, filled with worry.
"Mark, you..."
Mark shook his head, interrupting him.
He looked at his mother, Debbie, his gaze complex and resolute.
"Mom... I need to leave for a while."
His gaze passed over everyone, directed beyond the base's dome, as if piercing through the atmosphere, locking onto the star that emitted endless light and heat.
"The Great Old Ones are looking for me... the Titans... might also be looking for me..."
Mark's voice was low and dangerous, carrying the calm of someone who understood the rules of the hunt.
"They now... all think I'm critically wounded... or still licking my wounds on Earth..."
A cold curve formed on his lips.
"Then let them... search slowly... in the collapsing universe."
He turned to Amber and Cecil, his voice firm and decisive.
"Protect Earth well, use the information I brought back to study the nature of the collapse; the Alliance's aid might not be reliable, but... don't give up hope."
Finally, he gave his mother, Debbie, a deep look, one that contained unspeakable guilt, love, and promise.
Without another word, he abruptly turned, the movement tugging at his wounds, causing him to sway, but he instantly steadied himself.
The next moment, Mark's figure shot into the sky!
No longer a stumbling injured person, Viltrumite resilience supported him, and the Kryptonian bloodline's craving for light transformed into the purest power.
He smashed through the reinforced aisle of the base's top level, transforming into a faint stream of light, and at a speed beyond limits, he fearlessly rushed towards the eternally burning sun outside the atmosphere!
"Mark—!" Debbie's cry carried heartache and worry.
"Where is he going?!" Cecil asked in surprise.
Eve clenched her fists, her eyes gleaming with understanding and trust.
"He is searching... for the power to fight against all of this!"
Allen watched the resolute shooting star disappear at the edge of the blue sky, then looked at the faintly breathing Trigg on the stretcher, slowly clenching his giant fist.
"We... also have our battlefield, let's go!"
He hoisted the stretcher and strode towards the airship.
Cecil took a deep breath, suppressing the tumultuous waves in his heart, and turned to everyone, his voice as firm as steel.
"You all heard it! The cosmic crisis has arrived! Earth is temporarily a safe haven, but it is by no means a paradise!"
"Activate the highest-level research protocol! Analyze all the data Mark brought back! Strengthen the global monitoring network! GDA, enter cosmic crisis response status!"
...
Mark broke through Earth's atmosphere, leaving the blue planet behind.
The cold vacuum of space enveloped him, the omnipresent whispers of the Great Old Ones and the oppressive feeling at the law level caused by the universe's collapse, like a cold tide trying to erode his will.
However, the closer he got to the scorching orb of light, the weaker this sense of erosion became.
Finally, he plunged into the sun's unparalleled light and scorching domain!
A golden torrent of light particles instantly swallowed him!
"Ugh!"
Unspeakable pain instantly swept through his entire body; this was no longer simple burning, but the decomposition and reconstruction of his very essence in the stellar furnace!
Damaged skin and charred muscles instantly carbonized and peeled away under the bombardment of violent solar winds and high-energy particle streams!
Blood boiled and dissipated in the vacuum, bone-deep wounds, like burning ravines, under the absolute light, the intense pain almost tore his consciousness apart!
Kryptonian cells, like parched land receiving sweet rain, greedily, madly devoured the endless yellow solar radiation!
Every cell was burning, destroying, and being reborn; old, damaged, mundane structures were completely decomposed, and new, stronger cells, more capable of bearing the mighty power of the star, were born in extreme pain!
His body seemed to be undergoing destruction and rebirth again and again.
The resilient Viltrumite bones groaned under the strain, developing tiny cracks under the high temperature and pressure of a stellar core, yet they were forcibly repaired, melted, and reorganized, becoming even denser, under the deeper, more fundamental energy immersion of solar radiation.
It shimmered with a restrained, dark golden luster, like a stellar core, as if an invisible giant hammer was repeatedly forging it.
Scenes from the past flashed through Mark's mind.
His father's annihilation, his mother's tears, Earth's tranquility, the truth of the universe's collapse, the whispers of the Great Old Ones, the coldness of the Titans...
All emotions, responsibilities, hatred, and fear, in this absolute furnace of light and destructive pain, were repeatedly tempered, hammered, and purified.
The lingering fear of the Titan Sanctuary was incinerated, and the Great Old Ones' whispers, attempting to corrupt, were completely dispelled and suppressed by the star's vast life-creating power.
His will, like a star core cast into the heart of a star, in the destructive pain, transformed towards something harder, more brilliant, and more unshakeable.
Mark hovered at the edge of the coronal firestorm, his body twisting and deforming in extreme pain, like a golden meteor floating in a stellar furnace.
The aura of the Great Old Ones was completely purified, and the residual energy of the Titans was erased by the stellar fire.
His two bloodlines, the Viltrumite's cosmic-level resilience and the Kryptonian's supreme potential to absorb stellar power, in this most extreme, most fundamental energy field of the universe, fused, transformed, and sublimated at an unprecedented depth and speed, towards an unknown, possibly unimaginable form!
Time lost its meaning on a stellar scale.
Mark seemed to have become a part of the sun; his life fluctuations perfectly merged into the sun's violent and eternal energy field, completely disappearing.
The madly searching will of the Great Old Ones swept through the Solar System like blind tentacles, only sensing a hot, pure, vibrant light.
The Titans in their chaos, their cold gaze sweeping over this ordinary star, also failed to detect the dust struggling, transforming, and accumulating power within the core flames, power enough to challenge the collapsing laws.
Earth stood ready for battle in a brief calm, and the universe trembled on the edge of silent collapse.
And at the center of this source of light that nurtured life in the Solar System, a son of the sun, bearing blood feud, the responsibility of guardianship, and the last hope of the universe, underwent the most cruel, most complete, and most powerful nirvana in silence.
-----------------------------
🚀 Want to read extra chapters and exclusive content? Support me on Patreon and let's explore more together!
👉 [[email protected]/TripleCrown07]