Published at 6th of September 2023 11:12 am

Chapter 504 A Split in the Sea of Stars

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The world was completely different in the infinite void of space that existed outside the boundary of Pangea.

Unlike the current Pangea, which possessed all the conditions to support life, the vast expanse of space was the complete opposite.

It had no air, no water, and no heat – nothing but nothingness.

Even if they were present in some region of the vast nothingness of space, they would still be too scarce and scattered to support life.

That’s why the vast expanse was so cold for the most part.

Any forms of gas and dust particles that existed within its boundless region of vacant space were so distant that it limited their ability to collide and transfer heat.

It was a lifeless, cold, and unforgiving world.

Perhaps, the endless void in the sea of stars was a reminder to all life of what the world once was, what it is now, and what it will eventually be – nothingness.

Born from nothingness and return to nothingness.

‘The cycle of life and death, creation and destruction… To think someone in the long history of Chaos was able to break free from this heartless cycle and rise above it,’ Vaan mused.

Toward such a being, who had carved out a new path and allowed the continuation of life beyond the end of time, Vaan had nothing but pure respect.

Even if the being was forgotten through time and only the being’s glorified achievement remained behind, Vaan could vaguely sense the sheer desperation and will to save everything as the world was ending during those moments.

It gave him goosebumps.

As someone who had barely stepped into the Divine, even Vaan found it difficult to fathom the sheer will required to surpass the cosmic boundary and rewrite the natural order of all things.

Nevertheless, Vaan only briefly admired the sea of stars and history before his casual gaze flickered with focus.

The first thing he noticed in the sea of stars was a thin, disconnected, red line extending as far as he could see.

What was the red line? Where was it headed? And why did it exist?

At first, Vaan didn’t understand the answer to these questions because he peered into the distant stars.

However, the disconnected red line also extended to the Pangea system, passing through the asteroid field and even reaching a point on the moon. The disconnected red line was comprised of cracks in the dimension, splitting the vast sea of stars in two.

Furthermore, the behavior of these dimension cracks was far more unpredictable than Gehenna’s Gateway.

The second closest dimensional crack located in the asteroid field further away from Pangea and the sun fluctuated like crazy – almost like a red, rubbery jelly being playfully stretched by a kid.

At normal times, it remained in a straight line. At other times, it turned into the shapes of spiky balls, crosses, ovals, diamonds, and squares.

There wasn’t a fixed pattern to its fluctuation either; it was completely random.

Nevertheless, the fact that Vaan could observe these dimension cracks and even make their changes despite the great existing distance between them proved they were far, far larger than Gehenna’s Gateway.

More importantly, Vaan did not know whether these dimensional cracks existed before the spacequake and were even responsible for it or if they were only formed after the spacequake.

As Vaan continued to study the dimensional cracks, he realized the dimensional cracks were mainly divided into three types: fixed, binding, and destructive.

Fixed dimensional cracks seemed to fluctuate the most.

Whether they inflate or deflate in size, their center would always remain fixed in space, which was why the compilation of dimensional cracks across the sea of stars looked like a straight line, to begin with.

On the other hand, the binding dimensional cracks were like Gehenna’s Gateway – they were stuck to celestial objects like glue and followed their movement.

That’s why Gehenna’s Gateway didn’t shift from the Great Ashfallen Forest in the north despite Pangea’s rotation and orbit around the sun.

The dimensional crack on the moon was the same.

In a sense, these binding dimensional cracks had become a part of their host celestial bodies and acted more like connection points to Chaos.

Vaan guessed some shooting stars, celestial bodies, or large asteroids had crashed into the long dimensional crack, robbing them from the main line.

However, this conclusion didn’t make much sense to him.

After all, it was strange for some dimensional cracks to break away from the main line splitting the sea of stars instead of simply devouring whatever celestial object was thrown at them.

Some hidden force was at work, which made it happen.

Vaan couldn’t be certain what kind of force it was, but he was certain it existed. After all, Pangea and the moon had already set precedents for its possibility.

Nevertheless, fixed and binding dimensional cracks were the least of Vaan’s worries.

Although there were some concerns regarding which part of Chaos they led to, at the very least, they didn’t seem to pose immediate danger like the destructive dimensional cracks.

The destructive dimensional cracks didn’t let anything pass through them. Anything that even came close to them disintegrated into nothingness.

How did he know this?

Because he could see large asteroids in the asteroid field disappearing before they could make contact with the destructive dimensional crack there.

Considering there was also a fixed dimensional crack located there, the contrast between the two was as clear as day to him.

‘The Law of Nihility…’ Vaan’s eyes narrowed.

Although he had some insights into nihility, he also understood it wasn’t a native power.

The Law of Nihility only existed as a concept within the universe. Its actual power could only be found outside. As such, unless some talented person comprehended nihility, the power of nothingness would, in most cases, never manifest in their world.

Unfortunately, he was now witnessing one instance that wasn’t included in the ‘most cases.’

He watched the power of nothingness seeping out of the destructive dimensional crack and eating away at the foundations of his chaosverse.

In other words, those destructive dimensional cracks were connected to the sea of nothingness.

‘Chaos isn’t as all-encompassing and boundless as I thought… At the very least, compared to the sea of nothingness, which existed from the start, Chaos is like a child that’s still growing,’ Vaan thought.

His chaosverse would be saved by Chaos.

Vaan did not doubt this.

However, he also understood that some parts of his chaosverse would still be lost to the sea of nothingness in the process.

Although it seemed like Vaan had observed the sea of stars for quite a while, not even five minutes had passed since he left the boundary of Pangea.

Of course, he could hold his breath for much longer than a mere five minutes.

However, thanks to the abundant air he previously stored within his Heaven-Swallowing Space, it was unnecessary for him to hold his breath.

After observing the sea of stars, Vaan concluded that the three types of dimensional cracks, at least existing within the Pangea system, had nothing to do with the spacequake.

Suddenly, Vaan sensed unprecedented danger.

At the same time, his pupils narrowed into slits almost instantly. He discovered multiple large shadows hurling toward him with incredible speed.

They were a group of asteroids heading for Pangea.

For him to sense such great danger at his level showed the force behind them was at least comparable to a Divine-rank attack or above.

Still, Vaan had more than enough to evade.

However, if he did so, the devastating impacts on Pangea would be unimaginable. He did not want to be left alone if they were planet killers.

‘I have to stop them!’ Vaan thought gravely.

Just when he steeled his determination to give it his all, the asteroids suddenly clashed against each other, triggering a series of spacequake-like explosions.

Although Vaan failed to determine the cause immediately, it was fortunate that the asteroids had shattered into numerous pieces and veered off course as a result of them.

The danger level was steeply cut down to Transcendent-rank attacks by a miracle.

Nevertheless, it still wasn’t enough for Vaan to ignore them. If someone close to him were hurt because he dismissed the low-level danger, he would regret it.

‘These minor asteroids could be extremely volatile,’ Vaan quickly thought.

In that instant, he refrained from using his strongest ability, Fire Authority. Instead, he used his Space Authority and created a net of spatial whirlpools leading to his Heaven-Swallowing Space to catch them all in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, the rain of asteroids was too widespread and exceeded his range.

Vaan could only cover the Black Rose Kingdom and roughly half of the Holy Knight Empire. The rest of the shattered asteroids that slipped past him rained down on other parts of Pangea.

Nevertheless, most of them either melted or exploded into azure light from the intense friction heat upon entering Pangea’s atmosphere.

In the end, only less than a dozen meteors struck the planet, and the damage wasn’t severe.

Although the crisis somehow averted itself, for the most part, Vaan was reminded how insignificant life on Pangea still was on the cosmic scale.

Shortly after Vaan calmed down, he took out a small piece of the asteroids from his Heaven-Swallowing Space and studied it.

Although the boulder-sized asteroid was mostly ordinary rock, one part was azure and emitted a crystal-like luster.

Furthermore, it possessed rich yet unfamiliar energy that also seemed beneficial to all life.

‘What kind of energy is this?’ Vaan wondered with surprise.

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