"He was right."
Suddenly, the Origin surged and transformed into a humanoid light form. It raised its fingers toward the axe blade and pinched the giant axe between them.
The corridor was deep and silent, leading into the unknown. The Origin, in human form, appeared magnificent and radiant in the eyes of all beings. It was everything and everywhere.
"I've been protecting my brothers and sisters for far too long."
Origin sighed. Everyone could feel its loneliness and the burden of being misunderstood.
Since the dawn of the era, Origin had turned itself into the foundation of all things, creating all matter and essence, working with master craftsmen, imprisoning and safeguarding the essence of life for eons.
It had no face, but the few present could sense its solitude and the weight of countless ages in its presence.
Bardi was filled with awe.
He never imagined that the Origin's purpose... was to protect the gods. Was that why they were fused into the wall?
This was completely different from the narrative the gods had told.
Somewhere within, there was an untold story too complex to speak.
"No!!!"
"You're a sinner! You imprisoned the gods, drained their divine power, and made their lives worse than death! That is the greatest sin committed across several eras!"
Yuga Khan roared furiously. The muscles in his axe-wielding arms bulged. Terrifying divine power surged as he exploded with the most powerful might, attempting to cleave the Origin apart.
But Origin had drawn divine power from three entire eras of the Wall of Origin. Backed by the strength of the Wall itself, how could it possibly be cut down?
Yuga Khan's blade was held between the Origin's two fingers. He trembled. His face bulged with veins in rage, but he couldn't move at all.
The Origin wasn't immobile because of the vastness of the Wall. Perhaps, all along, the stories about Origin drawing the gods into the depths of the wall were mere rumors.
"What a pity. You were once the chosen candidate, but your heart was clouded by greed."
"You have no right to what I possess."
With a flick of the Origin's finger, the divine axe—formed from the condensed power of the Dimensional Universe—shattered like waves crashing.
Yuga Khan was blasted away like a cannonball, tearing through the air with a deafening boom, crashing into the wall and embedding into it with a loud thud.
The Origin looked at Bardi through the Dimensional Universe.
They were separated by the vast Dimensional Universe.
Bardi's gaze met that of the Origin.
"Even if you're the Origin, you can't break into the Dimensional Universe! If I can't have it, then no god can!!!"
Yuga Khan coughed up blood, his hair disheveled, face twisted in madness. He slid down from the corridor wall, blood flowing from his teeth. He condensed the power of the Dimensional Universe once more, forming a massive axe that looked like half the world, swinging it toward the sky and the Origin.
Only Bardi's divine power could harm the Origin. As long as the Dimensional Universe existed and remained under his control, he would never lose.
"Enough!"
Suddenly, from deep within the corridor, behind the Origin, a cold mechanical voice echoed from the black abyss, emotionless and ruthless.
Yuga Khan's divine axe instantly vanished.
In that moment, Bardi felt a sudden release. The Dimensional Universe no longer absorbed his divine power. The entire structure seemed to disassemble like a machine, pieces of it falling away.
Then, the disassembled pieces of the Dimensional Universe flashed with light and shadow, chasing after Morgan. In the blink of an eye, they turned into armor that bound and imprisoned him.
"No! Monitor, you promised me! You promised me!!!!"
"We were comrades! We fought side by side!"
"Why!!!"
Yuga Khan collapsed in despair. Under the binding of the Dimensional Universe, he even shed blood and tears, screaming and crying, breaking down in agony.
Watching this, Bardi couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.
"I told you long ago. Only I share the Origin."
Yuga Khan had chosen to assist Bardi in obtaining half the Origin.
But he had grown too greedy.
Although Bardi had long foreseen this moment, witnessing it unfold firsthand gave him a suffocating sense of being used like a pawn.
Slowly, amidst Yuga Khan's cries and flowing blood and tears, the Dimensional Universe transformed into armor. It tightly bound and contracted around him, ultimately compressing him into a dark, boundless spherical universe. It flew toward the abyss behind the Origin, vanishing until even Bardi could no longer see it.
"Don't think you're just someone else's pawn."
"We're all pawns. No one can escape that fate."
"Please..."
The Monitor's mechanical voice, cold and emotionless, gradually faded from behind the Origin, but there was a faint trace of sorrow in it.
The sound slowly disappeared.
Bardi's heavy heart grew even heavier.
Upon hearing this, the Origin's humanoid form of light seemed to smile.
"This is the realm of the gods' despair."
The corridor was silent and profound.
The Origin seemed to be reminiscing about memories long past.
He remembered the laughter and sadness of those days.
He remembered the hardships his siblings had endured with him on the path to godhood.
He remembered the pain of betraying them all.
He remembered the joys and sorrows of the past.
"I finally protected them..."
"Kill me!"
Bardi raised his eyebrows...
...
At that moment, the god who had been licking the Wall of Origin for eternity, hoping to regain even a trace of divine power, was suddenly overjoyed.
He felt a sliver of Origin seep into him through his tongue, flowing into his body, restoring strength. Though it felt like an illusion, he licked again—and really absorbed divine power.
"I've licked the power!" he shouted, trembling with excitement.
Countless days and nights, countless attempts, across countless epochs—finally, for the first time, a god at the Wall of Origin felt hope.
"What!"
"It's real!!"
"The Wall of Origin is loosening!"
"I can feel my fingers moving!"
"Divine power is pouring into my body, an endless stream!"
"Hahaha... the Origin is dead!!!"
"The Origin is dead!!! We're breaking free from the Wall of Origin! Hahahaha..."
"Good! He's dead!"
"Die well!"
Gods of the new age shouted with glee. Gods of the old age erupted in wild joy. Even the lone god from the ancient times shed tears of joy and shouted, "Good! The Origin died well!"
Right then—
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
From the depths of the Origin, a magnificent divine figure stepped out with heavy footsteps, shaking the Wall of Origin. A suffocating pressure, like the depths of a cosmic ocean, silently crushed down on the gods.
Bardi's body was radiant and immense. With just one glance at the gods attached to the wall, they felt as if they had been sliced by blades.
Then—
He stepped out of the Wall of Origin, leaving it behind, and returned to Apocalypse.
Apocalypse was already in ruins. The battlefield was covered in corpses, blood ran like rivers, and the sky was choked with ash. The oppressive atmosphere was maddening.
Half of Highfather's body had turned to stone. He knelt on the ground, his face contorted in terror, pleading.
"Who are you praying to!"
(To be continued.)