The Seal of Darkness

Amidst the erosion of the alien power originating from Chang'e, all things fell into eternal silence. Pure white crystals covered almost the entire wilderness of East Siberia. Viewed from space, vast swathes of the Earth's surface reflected a brilliant glow.

To the south, the expansion of the white crystal land swallowed the vast grasslands of the northern borders of the Central Plains. The guards atop the Great Wall were transformed into flawless white crystal sculptures along with the walls beneath them. The pure white tide had already breached the passes and headed south, beginning to ravage the heart of the Central Plains. To the east, the alien power turned the seawater into a mercury-like substance flowing with particles of light. Across the strait, the island of Hokkaido was already entirely white, as the purest purity began to erode the northern tip of Honshu. To the west and north, the alien environment expanded at high speed, ruthlessly devouring wilderness, deserts, and glaciers as it forged a path toward Europe and North America.

The storm of alien power was sweeping across the entire world. Wherever this storm reached, any movement or free will was erased. All things were reduced to an infinitely static 'eternity.' At the very center of this storm, a few sparks of consciousness remained, flickering like candles in the wind.

The sole remaining light sphere among the Chief Gods' avatars had shrunk to a minuscule size. Although he continuously released divine power to maintain himself, he remained as unsteady as a flame in a gale, liable to be extinguished at any moment. The white-robed Daoist channeled all his strength to defend himself, struggling to maintain his self-awareness within layers of shattering protective arrays.

On a distant hill that had already turned into a pure white sculpture, Suwako lay on the ground, resisting her increasingly heavy consciousness. She remained awake only because of her status as an Ancient God, but lacking continuous divine power, she was still sinking step by step into a deep slumber.

"Is there... truly... no other way?"

Under the endless encroachment, Suwako felt her mind growing heavier. Gradually, unable to hold on any longer, she slowly closed her eyes.

But just as she hovered between consciousness and oblivion, she witnessed a profound black color soaring into the sky from the distant battlefield. In that moment, her final murmur escaped her lips.

"Heaven's... Will?"

...

Miketsu, her godhead shattered, fell unconscious onto the white crystalline earth. From her body, black aura seeped out continuously. This aura was like a flame burning out of thin air, streaking straight toward the heavens. It suddenly expanded and erupted across the sky, surging outward in all directions.

Instantly, the profound blackness obscured the land that had only just been liberated from the False Canopy. It was as if an eternal night had descended once more.

"That... that is..." The white-robed Daoist, still in a daze, stared blankly at the new phenomenon, his eyes fixed on the deep, profound blackness that almost covered the entire sky.

Finally, the black aura stopped seeping from Miketsu's body. The profound blackness covering the firmament began to contract rapidly. Through repeated twisting and warping, it eventually condensed into an unstable form.

Wings constructed purely of black aura spread wide, their wingspan stretching nearly a thousand meters. Several pitch-black tail feathers, also a thousand meters long, swayed and flickered. Between the wings that blotted out the sun, a graceful and slender head manifested, with long plumes extending from both sides toward the back.

This was a colossal entity constructed purely of profound black aura—a bird-like creature without a physical body. In terms of size, even the three-hundred-meter-tall Moon Feather Princess appeared like a mere toy before it.

The God of Darkness looked down upon the earth from the peak of the heavens. Seeing the endless pure white plains, He slightly lowered His head and then beat His wings.

In that instant, the entire world went still. The Earth... and even the distant satellite, the Moon, ceased their rotation and revolution. Everything upon them stopped simultaneously.

From the smallest insect to the grandest celestial phenomena, every activity in the world was frozen in this moment. The world had pressed its pause button. This pause did not just include the mortal world; even the Underworld and the Celestial Realm were the same. Even the deities and Buddhas of the heavens were frozen in place. Likewise, the white crystals that had been eroding everything also came to a halt.

With that single beat of His wings, all causality in this world was forcibly stagnated. Although the 'cause' had occurred, all 'effects' were unable to arrive.

In this frozen world, the only being besides the God of Darkness that could still move was the Moon Feather Princess. She stared fixedly at the entity in the sky with eyes full of blood and tears. She had stopped her screeching. Her clenched teeth parted, and she actually forced out a distorted sentence in human tongue.

"It... is... you..."

Suddenly, the Moon Feather Princess swung a giant claw, releasing a barrage of silver light toward the entity in the sky. Facing the incoming silver light, the God of Darkness did not dodge. He took the full brunt of the attack, His form pierced with countless holes, only to be rapidly restored as the black aura filled them back in. At this moment, He did not seem to possess a physical body, existing purely as a form of energy.

The Moon Feather Princess, who had already exhausted her origin, suffered even more severe backlash after this large-scale attack. The wounds spontaneously bursting across her body increased a thousandfold, and more blood and tears flowed from her eyes.

Seeing this, the God of Darkness lowered His altitude. The black aura on His body condensed into two giant claws. One reached down toward the Moon Feather Princess. She did not dodge. Instead, she stood there with her head bowed, her scarred body allowing the non-corporeal black claw to seize her. The giant claw sank directly into her skin, penetrating her body.

"Wait... a... moment..."

At that moment, the Moon Feather Princess suddenly raised her head and looked at the God of Darkness in the sky. She issued a plea in a distorted, muffled tone. Her eyes, streaming with blood and tears, were filled with a hollow numbness.

Hearing her words, the God of Darkness ceased His movements and did not proceed further. At that time, the Moon Feather Princess took a deep breath and channeled her energy. For a moment, a faint light shimmered across her body.

Instantly, the wounds on the Moon Feather Princess began to heal rapidly. Her battered body was restored to a pristine state in a flash. Although this was only on the surface and the damage to her internal origin remained, she spoke again slowly after finishing the process.

"It... is... time..."

Suddenly, the black giant claw holding the Moon Feather Princess yanked violently. A silver-white, pure energy body was ripped from her form. Deprived of this silver energy, the Moon Feather Princess's body shrank rapidly. Her three-hundred-meter colossal frame shriveled in an instant until she was only a little over a meter tall. Her fur receded, her beastly features vanished, and the giant claws reverted into fair, clean arms.

The restored Reisen lay unconscious and naked upon the white crystalline earth. Every inch of her skin was flawless. Even the many old scars left from over a decade of imprisonment and interrogation in the Lunar Capital had vanished without a trace.

Having extracted the silver energy body from the Moon Feather Princess, the form of the black bird began to warp and blur. He reverted to an unstable state without a specific shape, enveloping the silver energy body within Himself. Then, He soared into the sky, flying straight toward outer space.

In this manner, the profound blackness, carrying the silver-white light, flew toward the distant Moon. Upon arriving above the Lunar Secret Realm, He dove straight down into the center of the giant crater where the Lunar Capital once stood, plunging into the abyss that led directly to the Moon's core.