"Something's wrong..."
Rosen suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and a slight sense of mental disorientation.
At a critical moment, the Dream Seed helped him regain his clarity.
Rosen immediately realized that although the Ancient God's Avatar had stopped the "Ten Directions Obliteration," it had already used the Eternal Dream Demon's ability to enter dreams. It had almost pulled his consciousness into the dream world. He was already in this state outside, and it had nearly happened even while controlling the Dream Seed.
And the World Will, not only was it inside, but none of them had the Dream Seed to defend against entering the dream.
Rosen was worried at first, but then he quickly realized he had worried too soon.
The power of the Memory Seed finally made him recall that the World Will had already fused with the Eternal Dream Realm.
The Eternal Dream Realm itself was a dream, and with the World Will controlling the Eternal Dream Realm, it had nothing to fear about entering dreams.
Under the protection of the World Will, the Old Fisherman and his companions didn't need to worry either.
This meant that he wasn't affected by the Ancient God's Avatar trying to enter his dream. Instead, the Ancient God's Avatar was targeting him. If it weren't for his timely recall using the Memory Seed, he would have already been hypnotized by the Ancient God's Avatar using the Dream Seed, making him forget the danger and wait to die obediently.
The World Will's group didn't go after the problem; they instead focused on him, who was watching from the outside.
Rosen didn't need to think to know that the Ancient God's Avatar thought he was easy to deal with and planned to eliminate him first to weaken the living forces.
The Eternal Dream Realm had already been taken under the World Will's control, and he no longer needed to assist in suppression.
The Creator Domain instantly expanded, covering the surrounding void for millions of miles.
His wrist snake bracelet immediately transformed into the Burning Sky Sacred Serpent and the Frost Sky Sacred Serpent, coiling around the void.
The Burning Sky Sacred Serpent could use the Burning Sky Soul Fire to sense all souls, and then the Frost Sky Sacred Serpent would manipulate its chilling frost to freeze them.
However, despite the Burning Sky Soul Fire's tracking and the Frost Sky's interception, they couldn't do anything to the Ancient God's Avatar, which was lingering in the void as the Eternal Will.
Rosen originally thought that if the Ancient God's Avatar wanted to kill him, it would be through some secret departure from the Eternal Dream Realm. However, that wasn't the case at all. The Ancient God's Avatar was still in the Eternal Dream Realm, and the one attacking him was merely a projection formed by the Eternal Will, gathered through laws and energy. It was like using a clone of a clone to kill him. This wasn't just seeing him as easy to bully; it was essentially ignoring him entirely.
Rosen was angry at first, but soon calmed down and accepted reality.
He realized that the Eternal Will still had the right to look down on him.
Both he and the Ancient God's Avatar possessed the Eternal Will and the power of the Source Seed and laws. However, while Rosen's full strength could only exert about sixty to seventy percent of his potential, the Ancient God's Avatar could exert multiple times more power.
The Ancient God's Avatar only had the Plundering Source Seed, and it controlled the World Laws.
At first, the Burning Sky Soul Fire was able to lock onto the Ancient God's Avatar's Eternal Will, but in the blink of an eye, the Ancient God's Avatar's Eternal Will had dispersed and fused into everything in the world. By using the Plundering Source Seed, it had controlled all the laws and energy in the void.
Then, using countless laws and energy, it created a world domain that was even more powerful than the Creator Domain.
It then began using this World Domain to devour Rosen's Creator Domain.
The control over laws and domains between the two sides was like the difference between a grade-school math problem and a top mathematician.
At first, Rosen felt reluctant, but soon he accepted the truth.
He had only lived for a little over a thousand years, and with the time acceleration, he would last only a few hundred thousand years at most.
Moreover, the vast majority of his time had been spent in silent cultivation.
He didn't lack combat experience, but his opponents were only powerful beings in various realms.
His most significant experience came from the period in the King's Continent, but he had very little experience in fighting against the Immortal Gods and Demons, and even less in combat against Eternal Beings. The only real experience he had with them was the current situation.
In contrast, the Ancient God had conservatively lived for over a hundred billion years.
Such an immense span of time had allowed the Ancient God to study Source Seeds and laws far more extensively than Rosen, and the Ancient God had fought against countless Eternal Beings. How could Rosen's few hundred thousand years of cultivation compare to the Ancient God's hundred billion years?
It was only at this moment that Rosen truly understood why the World Will had him assist from the outside.
Because the World Will knew full well that he wasn't qualified to directly face the Ancient God's Avatar.
It was the same reason they pulled him into their plan—just so he wouldn't spoil things.
From the World Will's perspective, his displayed strength was little more than a hindrance.
Rosen, of course, had been holding back; up until now, the power he had used was still at the level before his ascension to the Immortal God and Demon realm.
The much-enhanced strength after his ascension was still held back as a trump card.
He had originally thought of showing it at a critical moment to take more spoils of war, but now it seemed that keeping it hidden was the best choice.
Indeed, his origin beyond the Immortal God and Demon limits, along with the Eternal Will, could make up for his lack of experience.
But now that he realized his foundation was far more formidable than imagined, the World Will would also begin to fear him.
After all, experience could be acquired, but foundation was much harder to improve.
What Rosen needed to do now was not covet more foundation, but instead find a way to fully convert his foundation into power.
The Ancient God's Avatar and the World Will were his best teachers at this stage.
Rosen stopped thinking about how to kill the Ancient God's Avatar and focused on seizing the opportunity to learn.
The All-Knowing Source Seed enhanced various detection eye techniques, responsible for observing every movement of the ancient god's avatar and others.
Then, the Memory Source Seed strengthened the Photographer Sequence, recording everything seen by the eye techniques.
Next, the Gathering Source Seed strengthened the Psychologist Sequence, allowing countless distractions.
Finally, the Information Source Seed organized all recorded videos, selecting and summarizing valuable techniques and experiences, and through the Wisdom Source Seed, he could learn from them, gaining the most direct growth every second.
Under the protection of the Sacred Serpents of Skyfire and Frost, the ancient god's avatar could not harm Rosen.
This made the ancient god's avatar gradually abandon its focus on him. Instead, Rosen tightly latched onto the projection of the avatar, not letting go.
Compared to the entanglement outside the Eternal Dream Realm, the battle within it was far more intense.
The ancient god's avatar transformed into all things, merging with everything, plundering and controlling all.
All of heaven and earth had been controlled by the ancient god's avatar, and the Immortal Dawn could no longer command them naturally.
Fortunately, the Immortal Dawn all carried their own Immortal Worlds, and they had long expected such a situation, so within each person's Immortal World, there was no trace of life, as all space was filled with accumulated Eternal Origins.
Even though it was difficult to control external energy, relying on their own stored energy, they could fight for an extended period without retreating.
In a battle between the extraordinary, the conditions for determining life and death were simple.
The amount of Eternal Origins stored, the strength of the Source Seeds, the strength of Eternal Will, the power of the extraordinary beings' foundations, and their combat experience—whoever had the advantage in these areas, victory or defeat was already mostly determined.
Victory had always been decided by strength defeating weakness; the concept of the weak overcoming the strong didn't exist.
The ancient god was worried that its avatar might become a threat to its main body, so it didn't grant the avatar true Eternal-level power.
Thus, the ancient god's avatar, like the Immortal Dawn, was an extraordinary being beyond the Immortal Demon level.
The plundering Source Seed of the ancient god, though powerful, was only one of nine such Seeds that the avatar possessed.
In contrast, the Immortal Dawn held complete Source Seeds.
In these aspects, the ancient god's avatar and the Immortal Dawn were nearly equal in terms of foundations.
In fact, when it came to the storage of Eternal Origins, the Immortal Dawn had a clear advantage, having prepared more.
Moreover, with four of them attacking one, even if the ancient god's avatar had combat experience, it couldn't offset its disadvantage.
From the beginning, the World Will had been fighting a battle it was sure to win.
The difference was how long it would take and how much it would cost.
If the ancient god's avatar were pushed to its limit, it would undoubtedly use a last-ditch, self-destructive method to drag the World Will down with it.
Thus, the Immortal Dawn had to be cautious, keeping about sixty percent of their strength focused on defense, because they wanted to survive, kill the ancient god's avatar, and enjoy the fruits of victory—not perish along with the avatar, leaving everything for others to take.
As time passed, the ancient god's avatar was struggling to transform into all things and avoid damage.
The World Will had already cleared everything within the Eternal Dream Realm.
However, whether it was Rosen, watching from the outside, or the World Will and others in the heart of the battlefield, none of them let their guard down even though they held the upper hand. They all understood that the ancient god's avatar still had hidden cards it hadn't played yet.
The ancient god restricted its avatar to the Immortal Demon level out of fear it might break free of control.
But the ancient god's avatar was facing enemies who could very well be true Eternal Life forms.
Historically, the ancient god's avatar had once awakened and killed an Eternal Life form.
It was certain that the avatar had relied on external objects to do so, and it would be difficult to continuously use such objects that could defeat Eternal Life.
But no one dared to say for sure whether the ancient god's avatar still had hidden cards that could kill Eternal Life forms.
Thus, the World Will was also gambling, betting that the ancient god's avatar no longer had any hidden cards that could kill Eternal Life.
If they lost that gamble, everyone would die within the Eternal Dream Realm.
As expected, with nowhere to retreat, the ancient god's avatar finally couldn't hold back and used its trump card.
A trump card for extraordinary beings was always their strongest method.
They wouldn't use their trump card unless absolutely forced to.
Because everything in the world was interconnected—no matter how strong a trump card was, once it was used, there would always be someone prepared to counter it. The strength of the spear and shield were never absolute; the stronger the spear, the stronger the shield that would arise, and the same applied in reverse.
And no matter how powerful the spear, it still needed to hit the target to cause damage.
Both sides were at their peak. Using a trump card easily wouldn't necessarily hit the target in its peak state.
Only when the opponent's condition weakened through continued battle, only when a flaw was found in the enemy's defense through sustained fighting, could the trump card show its maximum destructive power and play a crucial role in determining the outcome.
The ancient god's avatar no longer transformed into all things, but instead merged into the true form of the ancient god, shifting from defense to full-out offense.
A straw-like object appeared in its hand, which it used to pierce its brain and draw out a tube of cerebrospinal fluid.
Blowing into the straw, a colorful bubble formed.
At the moment the bubble appeared, the World Will and the Immortal Dawn all lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.
The ancient god's avatar didn't seize the opportunity to attack the World Will and the others but instead vanished from the spot, reappearing behind Rosen. With a giant axe in hand, it locked onto Rosen and swung down with full force.
The Creator Domain was torn apart like paper by the axe blade, and the Butterfly Feather Garment Rosen wore was instantly shredded.
The ultimate immortal body of the Immortal God Demon was split in two, and the Eternal Divine Essence was shattered in an instant.Rosen had died before, but never so decisively.
In the moment his consciousness dissipated, he finally realized something was wrong with himself.
He had come with the World Will to hunt the Ancient God Avatar, a task as dangerous as dancing on a tightrope over a cliff.
Yet, he had ended up watching from the outside, and even had the mind to learn and steal techniques in the middle of the battle?How arrogant. He had completely lost all sense of vigilance.
There was no need to learn now. After killing the Ancient God Avatar, he could reflect on the battle and learn from it. It was normal to study after the fight. Facing a stronger opponent and still focusing on learning mid-battle—this was the arrogance that only the strong could afford when dealing with the weak, and geniuses showed when confronting fools.
Yet, with such a lack of vigilance, he didn't even realize there was something wrong with himself.
It seemed that the Ancient God Avatar, without him even realizing, had taken away his sense of vigilance through the Plundering Seed.
The Ancient God Avatar's mastery over the Plundering Seed had reached a terrifying level, able to steal even such mental traits as vigilance without him noticing.
Perhaps, aside from his vigilance, other traits like humility might have been taken away as well.
What remained was only arrogance, which caused him to focus almost entirely on studying the battle experiences of the Ancient God Avatar and others.
It was only when facing the Ancient God Avatar's hidden strike that he was instantly killed without the slightest chance of resistance.
It was through the extreme terror of life and death that Rosen regained the vigilance that had been taken.
Even the Eternal Will, despite being an eternal life, could not erase his vigilance. It was impossible for the Ancient God Avatar to permanently take it. At most, it could only be temporarily taken. Now, with his vigilance regained, the cycle of time and space silently enveloped him.
Rosen vanished like a dream or illusion, reversing the state of time and space and returning to the moment before his death.
He now knew for sure that the Ancient God Avatar had learned everything that would happen today through the Book of Fate.
But in the version of future fate the Ancient God Avatar knew, there was probably no trace of him.
Because at this moment, he had already mastered the Time Seed, allowing him to break free from fate.
The Ancient God Avatar had sent projections to kill him, not because he thought Rosen was weak, but because Rosen's presence broke the Ancient God Avatar's control over fate, causing what should have been a controllable situation to spiral out of control. So from the beginning, the Ancient God Avatar had decided to eliminate him at any cost.
Otherwise, there was clearly an opportunity to heavily injure the World Will, but the Ancient God Avatar had chosen to kill him instead.
The Ancient God Avatar looked at Rosen in surprise, not understanding how Rosen had come to master such powerful temporal and spatial forces.
Rosen saw the Ancient God Avatar's surprised look and immediately understood that the Ancient God Avatar probably didn't know about Blue Star. The Avatar's memories depended on the information imparted by the main body. The Time Seed from Blue Star was clearly of immense importance to the Ancient God, so much so that the Avatar was not even qualified to know about it.
The Creator Domain enveloped the Eternal Dream Realm, initiating the cycle of time and reversing the state of time and space, causing the World Will and others to awaken.
The time and space cycle could reverse their state but not their memories.
At this moment, having escaped the Ancient God Avatar's dream, everyone looked at the Avatar in the void with lingering fear.
The object that resembled a straw was most likely the Dream-creating Straw, an eternal sacred item of the Eternal Dream Demon.
Although its power was formidable, it was only effective against the Immortal God Demons and wasn't considered one of the best eternal sacred items.
However, the Ancient God Avatar wielded the Open Sky Divine Axe, one of the top three eternal sacred items in the universe. They had never expected the Ancient God's main body to give the Avatar control of the Open Sky Divine Axe. From the very beginning, they had no hope of successfully hunting the Ancient God Avatar.
The Ancient God Avatar was not forced to reveal his hidden trump cards but was testing the trump cards his enemies had.
Now, with the Ancient God Avatar actively revealing his trump card, he was fully prepared to strike them down.
Although the Ancient God Avatar most wanted to kill Rosen, he didn't hesitate to let him go after one failed strike.
This was because the Ancient God Avatar didn't know how far Rosen's time and space power could go. The Open Sky Divine Axe couldn't counteract the extent of the time reversal. So, since he couldn't kill Rosen, it was better to focus on killing the World Will and others, whose weaknesses he had already discerned.
The Open Sky Divine Axe swung again, and the void shattered, turning everything into chaos. The Eternal Dream Realm was split open from the outside in.
The World Will, integrated with the Eternal Dream Realm, exerted all its strength but couldn't transfer a single bit of the damage onto the Ancient God Realm. After withstanding all the damage, it was severely injured. The destructive power of the Open Sky Divine Axe was even stronger than the World Will had anticipated.
The Ancient God Avatar didn't intend to annihilate the World Will completely, because without the World Will, the Ancient God Realm would be affected.
So, the third swing of the axe targeted the Eternal Dawn. Although the Eternal Dawn instantly transformed into the light of the universe's origin, trying to evade the damage, the Ancient God Avatar transformed into a light himself and caught up with it faster than the Eternal Dawn, striking with the Open Sky Divine Axe.
It turned out that during the previous battle, the Ancient God Avatar had quietly plundered some of the Eternal Dawn's power.
Though the plunder was not much, it was enough for the Ancient God Avatar to briefly transform into the light of dawn.
But that was enough. The axe cut down on the Eternal Dawn, severing all its vitality.
Even the avatars of the Eternal Dawn scattered across different locations were killed by the Open Sky Divine Axe from afar.
In an instant, the Eternal Dawn was slain, leaving only the Eternal Dawn Seed, which had merged with the Eternal Will, in the hands of the Ancient God Avatar.
Any attempt at reincarnation was now a fool's dream.
The Ancient God continued to chase the Immortal Particles, but the Immortal Particles, being a triune entity, were stronger than the Eternal Dawn. One of the Immortal Particles abandoned its triune form to block the Ancient God Avatar, protecting the remaining two avatars as they fled the battlefield.
The Old Fisherman's power was on par with the Eternal Dawn, but his escape methods were far inferior.
Seeing he could not escape, the Seed inside his body quickly hooked onto the fishhook and disappeared into the void.
Since he was the last one targeted by the Ancient God Avatar, even though he couldn't escape, at least he could send his Seed away, avoiding the same fate as the Eternal Dawn. The Old Fisherman was luckier in that the Ancient God Avatar didn't target his Seed for a final strike.
The Ancient God Avatar still hadn't given up on killing Rosen, and the Open Sky Divine Axe was once again raised, ready to strike.
Rosen, once again, used the time-space cycle. This time, not just a time reversal, but a spatial reversal as well.
By the time the time-space cycle ended, he had already left the battlefield and arrived at the Super Star Cluster.
(End of chapter)