pdf-ebookys Chapter 288: Echoes of Nothingness
Chapter 288: Echoes of Nothingness
Deep in space, the Guardians' ships traversed the void between stars. The core of the rift had been destroyed, and the rules of the universe were gradually returning to normal. However, in this brief period of calm, Ares, Selena, and Wagner were not truly at ease.
Inside the spaceship, Selena stared at the star map screen, her fingertips tapping incessantly on the control panel. "All the rift energy has vanished, and the flow of the universe's rules has stabilized." Her voice held a hint of uncertainty. "But why... do I still have this uneasy feeling?"
“Perhaps we’ve been fighting for too long, and our bodies haven’t adjusted to the quiet environment yet.” Wagner lay half-reclined in his chair, his hands behind his head. Although his tone was casual, his hands never left his battle axe.
Ares remained silent, his hand gently gripping the rune sword, feeling the faint tremor emanating from its blade. The rune sword's light did not extinguish; instead, it seemed to stir with a restless energy, as if warning him of some unknown danger.
"Is this war really over?" Ares murmured, gazing thoughtfully into the depths of the universe.
Selena stopped what she was doing, looked up at Ares, and asked, "What does your intuition tell you?"
Ares paused for a moment, then slowly spoke: "The core of the rift was destroyed, but its essence... is a deviation from the rules of the universe. As long as the universe continues to operate and the rules still exist, new rifts will always be created."
Wagner frowned. "So you mean—we've only solved one phase, not completely ended the rift?"
Selena said slowly, "If the rift is a phenomenon rather than a physical entity... then its will may still exist."
A hush fell over the cabin. Everyone knew that the battle might not be truly over.
Just then, the spaceship's alarm suddenly sounded, and a piercing red signal flashed on the screen.
"What's going on?" Wagner suddenly stood up from his seat and gripped his battle axe tightly.
Selena quickly checked the instruments, her expression instantly turning serious. "Something's wrong... The star chart shows abnormal fluctuations in the space ahead. We're entering an unstable region."
Ares gripped the rune sword, his gaze calm. "Can you confirm whether it's a remnant of a rift, or some other unknown phenomenon?"
Selena shook her head. "The scanner can't analyze the energy here. This area... seems to be an alternate dimension separated from the universe."
The spaceship's light screen suddenly dimmed, and the surrounding starry sky seemed to be enveloped by an invisible barrier, distorting the light and blurring reality. Selena's fingers flew across the control panel, typing commands, but all the data turned into gibberish.
“Our communication system has failed,” Selena’s voice was calm yet dangerous. “We are trapped in some unknown space.”
"Then break it." Wagner roared, charging his battle axe to smash into the darkness outside the spaceship.
“Wait.” Ares raised his hand to stop him. “We don’t know the nature of this space yet. A rash attack could make things worse.”
At that moment, a distorted vortex suddenly appeared directly in front of the spaceship, and the deep black core slowly rotated, with a low and eerie sound faintly emanating from it.
"Guardians...did you really think it was over?"
Wagner's expression changed, and he gripped his battle axe tightly. "Another rift?!"
“No.” Selena’s pupils contracted slightly, her tone tinged with surprise and doubt. “This thing… isn’t a rift. Its energy fluctuations are completely different from a rift… it’s more like…”
Ares's gaze deepened, and he whispered, "Nothingness."
Nothingness, a concept deeper than the rift. If the rift is a distortion of the universe's rules, a rebellion against the existing order, then nothingness is the universe's true enemy—it belongs to no rules, nor is it affected by them; it devours everything, reducing all existence to zero.
“The rift is a deviation from the rules of the universe, but the void… it is an existence that cannot even be defined by the rules.” Ares’s voice was low, with a hint of solemnity. “If the will of the rift fails, will it choose to turn to the void?”
Selena quickly analyzed the energy fluctuations of the vortex, her expression growing increasingly grim. "If the Void has truly intervened in the battlefield of the Rift... that means we are about to face not just a rebellious rule, but the threat of the end of the universe."
"Then smash it first!" Wagner roared impatiently, and his battle axe slashed fiercely at the vortex! However, the battle axe pierced through the vortex without bringing any impact, as if it had cleaved into a non-existent space.
The voice from within the vortex was deep and slow, “You cannot destroy me… because I never existed.”
Ares frowned even deeper. He gripped his rune sword tightly and tried to strike the vortex with his sword energy. But the moment the blade passed, the vortex swallowed the sword energy completely, leaving no trace.
“Physical attacks are ineffective, and energy attacks have also been absorbed,” Selena said calmly. “The essence of this thing… is indeed not a rift, it is true ‘void’.”
"Then what do we do?" Wagner frowned. "Are we just going to watch it like this?"
Ares narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "The void is not the enemy; it is more like the other side of the universe—it does not attack actively, but waits for the rules to collapse on their own, thereby devouring everything."
"So, its goal is to wait for the universe to collapse on its own?" Selena murmured.
“Or…” Ares’s gaze sharpened, “it wants to use us.”
As soon as he said that, everyone fell silent.
Within the vortex, the voice rang out again: "Guardians, you have used all your strength to destroy the rift, but little do you know, your actions are benefiting me. I don't need to take action; I only need to wait for the rules to decay, and you... are the perfect tools to accelerate all of this."
Wagner's face immediately darkened. "So, we fought a hard battle, only to end up helping it?"
“It’s trying to sow discord among us,” Selena said calmly, “but its words… may also contain some truth.”
Ares narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then said coldly, "We will not let the universe fall into nothingness."
The vortex trembled slightly, and a deep laugh rang out again: "You ultimately cannot change your fate. The rift is destroyed, and the balance of the universe was already extremely fragile. Next... you will witness firsthand what true collapse is."
The next instant, the vortex suddenly expanded, the entire space shook violently, and the starry sky outside the spaceship began to distort and deform, as if the entire reality was dissolving.
"Everyone, hold on!" Ares shouted suddenly, his rune sword plunging into the ground and releasing a bright light, barely stabilizing the collapsing space.
However, just as the light was about to engulf the vortex, it suddenly disappeared.
The starry sky returned to tranquility, the alarm was lifted, and all systems returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
But the three of them knew that this was just the beginning.
Their enemy is no longer the rift, but the end of the universe itself.