Chapter 194: Axion!

The creature’s breath rumbled like distant thunder, its molten-gold eyes reflecting the three of them with unnerving clarity. The question hung in the air, simple, short, yet impossibly heavy.

“WHAT IS UNITY?”

Albedo let the silence live for a moment longer. He felt Lilian’s tension beside him, Elara’s steady presence, Ember’s warmth radiating against his hand. The answer pulsed through him, not as a rehearsed idea, but as something born from the trials themselves.

He stepped forward, not aggressively, but with the certainty of someone who had walked through illusions and shifting labyrinths and come out the other side unchanged.

“Unity,” Albedo said quietly, “is not obedience. Not people following one leader, not bodies walking in the same direction…”

“It’s understanding,” he continued, “It’s choosing to align—not because of fear or pressure, but because you trust the people beside you. It’s moving forward with the same intention, even when the path shifts or vanishes. It’s not something forced.”

His voice strengthened as he finished his answer, “Unity is something lived.”

The echo of his words disappeared into the chamber. The creature didn’t move. For a long breath, there was nothing—no rumble, no glow, just the oppressive weight of its scrutiny.

Then… the beast inhaled, very slowly but deeply and the chamber dimmed until the torches shrank to blue needles of light. Ember stiffened, her flames curling tight around her form, but the beast made no aggressive move towards her or any of the trio.

Instead, the air trembled with a low vibration, approval.

“YOU SPEAK NOT AS A CHILD OF FLESH…”

the creature rumbled, bowing its head a fraction.

“…BUT AS ONE WHO HAS WALKED THE THREADS OF FATE.”

Lilian blinked, “So that’s a yes?”

Elara elbowed her lightly, but even she couldn’t hide the shaky exhale of relief. The beast rose to full height. The chamber shook. Dust drifted from above. Its mane unfurled, expanding like a halo of storm clouds.

And then its eyes softened.

“YOU HAVE PASSED.”

The words struck them with force, an invisible pressure rippling outward in a shockwave of warm air. Before Lilian could cheer or Ember could step forward, the light began.

It started at their feet—soft ripples of silver expanding outward like circles in calm water. The runes on the archway ignited, pulsing brighter… brighter… until the entire structure blazed like a newborn star.

The beast stepped into the center of the chamber.

“PREPARE YOURSELVES.”

Albedo barely had time to register the warning before the light erupted, swallowing all of their forms.

When the light faded and the sensation of dissolving reversed itself, solid ground returning beneath their feet, air rushing back into their lungs as if re-created anew, what greeted them was an immense grandeur that shocked them stupid/

They stood at the entrance of a colossal hall, so vast the ceiling vanished into a shimmering aurora of violet and blue.

Pillars of translucent crystal lined the path forward, each carved with fractal patterns that shifted like living constellations. The air hummed with ancient mana, saturated and pure, untouched by time.

A river of light flowed through the center of the hall, suspended in midair like a ribbon of liquid stars. Strange glyphs spiraled along the walls, resonating with notes like soft chimes.

Star-patterns shimmered across the walls, shifting like the slow dance of constellations. A bridge of luminous stone extended beneath them toward an enormous throne, empty, carved into the shape of a rising sun encircled by three rings.

It was beautiful, more beautiful than anything they had seen in the Demonic Sea or in any other location in their short but experienced lives.

Lilian slowly raised her hand, “Are we… dead?”

“No,” Albedo said softly. “This is real.”

The beast appeared beside them and its voice echoed without echo—resonating naturally with the chamber.

“WELCOME TO THE PALACE HALL OF AXION.”

Elara stiffened, “Axion… that name sounds strange,”

“Ancient,” the beast finished. “Older than kingdoms. Older than most written history.”

It walked forward, each step silent despite its size, its mane drifting about it as though it floated underwater.

They followed.

“The Axion civilization was far before your current written history, so it’s normal you do not understand it, the civilization was unlike any other,” The Beast said, beginning its explanation.

“It was not ruled by bloodline, nor by power, nor by race. It was a union… a harmony of species.”

It stopped before one of the crystalline pillars. With a soft touch, it illuminated. Images formed inside the crystal, scenes of towering cities, creatures of every shape walking alongside humans and demons and beasts, all without hostility.

“Beastfolk, humans, demons, spirits, creatures of mana… all lived here. All thrived.”

Lilian’s voice dropped to a whisper, “A utopia.”

The beast nodded, “Utopia’s are impossible, but this was our closest chance of achieving something like one,”

“So how did such a powerful civilization get lost to time? We still have knowledge of other civilizations from this time period such as a Xerans and Yotals,” Elara asked, a bit curious.

“That is because Axion was not destroyed by war,” the beast said quietly, a reminiscent gaze in its eyes.

“It fell to corruption,” The temperature of the hall seemed to drop as it said that sentence.

Albedo’s eyes sharpened, “Abyssal corruption? I thought those ancient civilizations were before the Abyss?”

The beast’s golden eyes turned toward him, “Do you think an all-powerful entity like the Abyss just spontaneously appeared in our world young man? The Abyss did not have a specific point of arrival, it has existed before memory and time itself,”

Silence fell thick and unbreathing.

“The reason the Abyss’ appearance was so sudden was because the Axion civilization slowed it, suppressing the Abyss to within a specific region for as long as we could, which allowed the rest of the world to remain relatively unaware,”

The Beast walked deeper into the hall, stopping before a large circular dais etched with thousands of glowing runes.

“What happened then? How did everything fall apart,” Albedo asked.

The beast exhaled slowly, a sound like the groan of mountains, “We still had no idea the true power of the Abyss. Before we knew it, the minds of high officials had been corrupted, desperate for more power, power to reach the Final Eclipse,”

’Final Eclipse’ That phrase struck a cord in Albedo’s mind. It was the same phrase the will of Aevarion said when talking about why he created the Crimson Moon Technique, and his failure.

It was something Albedo had heard of multiple times, but he had no idea what this ’Final Eclipse’ was.

“Leaders fell, cities fractured, and our beliefs shattered. The various species turned on each-other, blaming the greed of others for the downfall of our civilizations, driven by abyssal greed, internal wars were waged,”

Its voice softened, mournful, “At the very end, with the Abyss on the brink of swallowing the civilization whole, the Axion King, Zoltrax the Unified, made the ultimate decision.”

Elara’s stomach tightened. “He destroyed the capital.”

“Not destroyed,” the beast corrected gently, “Purged. In a single cataclysmic spell fueled by the lives of his trusted circle, he eradicated every ounce of corruption within its borders, mortals, monsters, and memories alike.”

“Holy hells…” Lilian said.

“Once he was done, he gathered all his remaining knowledge of the Abyss, and power, sealed all his greatest treasures, and created this place, a pocket dimension untethered to the physical world, drifting endlessly through the chaos that became the Demonic Sea,”

Albedo took a slow breath.

“And you… are its guardian.”

“Not guardian,” the beast said quietly, “Its last witness.”

The hall pulsed once, like a heart that hadn’t beaten in thousands of years.

“I’ve been aware of what’s going on outside for ages. The people building Vorago had found the location of this Dimension, and built the city near the Demonic Sea for this very reason, hoping to find a way to crack the seal and enter themselves,”

“So how did we get allowed in?” Albedo asked, and the Beast shook its huge head.

“I myself am unaware, but King Axion works in mysterious ways. I can sense your talents, so you all must be special,” The Beast said, and they finally arrived at another door.

“In this room holds 3 Spacial Rings, with everything left of our civilization, take it and leave this space, I only hope you 3 can defeat the Abyss once and for all,” The Beast said with a sigh.

“You won’t be leaving with us?” Elara asked.

“I am but a withered soul, with my task completed, I can finally rest,” The Beast said.

“I have one more question, what is the Final Eclipse?” Albedo asked, not able to hold back asking that question anymore.

The beast’s expression, if such a massive, ancient thing could be said to have one, shifted. Its molten eyes dimmed, ripples of memory and uncertainty flickering within them.

“I do not know,” it said at last, and the honesty in those words felt heavier than any roar, “Even back then, no-one knew,”

Albedo absorbed that quietly. The beast continued, voice lowering until it seemed woven into the humming crystal pillars around them.

“The Final Eclipse is spoken of as many things: A Place, An Idea, and even a state of power that transcends God Rank, but no living being has ever step foot on it, despite efforts,”

It turned its gaze upward, toward the unending aurora swirling above the hall.

“The theory of its existence predates Axion itself. Every species, Human, Demon, Spirit, Elf, all of them have fragments of legends of the Final Eclipse and countless transcendent geniuses perished searching for it,”

Lilian swallowed, suddenly aware of how small they were in the shadow of such a mystery.

“Once you reach a certain rank, you will feel it, that you are not at the limit, that there is a level beyond what you understand, and that knowledge has drawn everyone to this Final Eclipse,”

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