Chapter 4 - Within the Annihilation Hive

“The Sithe are heading for the Annihilation Hive?” Ji Ning, Titanos, Mogg, Skyfeeder, Stonerule, Bolin, and Ekong fell silent. They stood there within the Great Dark, staring at each other.

Titanos said in a low voice, “I imagine you all know what their plan is. They are going to go to the Annihilation Hive and destroy Darknorth’s avatar! That will allow the Annihilation Hive to continue devouring power from our Chaosverse. We have to fight them there. We can’t let it just continue to weaken our Chaosverse unabated. Yes… we have no other options.”

“We do have another option!” Hard light flashed through Autarch Ekong’s eyes. “We’re faster than them. Let’s get to the Annihilation Hive first and destroy its quintessence core!”

“Destroy the sphere of annihilation?” The others were all intrigued.

“Is it possible?” Autarch Titanos looked at Ning. Ning knew more about it than anyone else present.

“The quintessence of the Annihilation Hive holds the mysteries of a type of destruction which I have named ‘Oblivion’ within it. It is incomparably profound and also tremendously powerful. I’m not even close to being strong enough to destroy it,” Ning said. “However… when we work together, we are also tremendously powerful. Perhaps we might just manage to destroy it after all.”

“We have to! Once we destroy the sphere of annihilation, they’ll have nothing to threaten us with,” Autarch Ekong said eagerly.

“Destroy the sphere of annihilation.”

“When we join forces, we are virtually unstoppable. We were able to crush entire temples in head-on attacks. I refuse to believe we can’t crack that thing!” Autarch Bolin’s eyes were filled with malevolence as well.

None of them wanted to be led around by the nose by their foes!

However, they all knew that it was uncertain as to whether or not they would be able to damage the ‘sphere of annihilation’. It was a completely foreign object that they knew nothing about… but they had to make the attempt! If they succeeded, they’d celebrate. If they failed, then they would have to go stop the Sithe!

“I hope this works.” Ning looked at his six comrades, silently praying to himself as he did. His avatar had been analyzing the sphere of annihilation for many years, and the more he understood the more nervous he felt.

“Come. Let us go to the Annihilation Hive!” They immediately began to speed towards the Annihilation Hive at maximum speed.

Roughly one month later, they finally reached the Annihilation Hive. Iyerre’s team was still far away; they’d probably need over half a month before they would arrive.

“The Annihilation Hive.” The seven of them stood shoulder-to-shoulder, staring at the great hive before them. It remained vast beyond measure, but the sucking power from it was now much weaker than when it was at full power. It was still able to destroy the raw darkness in the area around it, but the energies released by the destroyed darkness all returned to the prime essences of the Chaosverse. There was no way to steal them away at all.

“Let’s try and see if we can destroy the entire thing first,” Autarch Titanos said. “If we can, we don’t need to worry about destroying the sphere of annihilation.”

The sphere of annihilation, by itself, didn’t have the power to forcibly take energy from an entire Chaosverse. It was all thanks to the formation supporting it that made this possible.

“Darknorth.” Bolin looked at Ning.

“Let’s try using the Skycleaver stance with full power,” Ning said. The Skycleaver stance wasn’t necessarily the best technique to use in actual combat, but it was definitely the best for causing destruction.

Soon, the towering, loincloth-clad Sword Titan once more appeared within the emptiness of space. He strode towards the behemoth hive, glowing with pure sword-intent. Every single movement he made radiated power and destruction, and he quickly reached the surface of the behemoth hive. He then drew an enormous sword with his right hand.

“Skycleaver stance!” The Sword Titan held the sword in a two-handed grip, lifting it up high over his head. The six Autarchs began to use their various techniques, allowing Ning to guide their different Daos to merge together and unleash the Skycleaver stance! This was actually just one stance of an entire set of sword-arts which Ning had created for them.

Boom! The divine sword came crashing down, shattering spacetime and splintering the Five Elements. It destroyed all in its path as it came crashing down with absolutely terrifying power towards the surface of the Annihilation Hive.

Boom! A massive explosion occurred, causing even the enormous behemoth hive to tremble. As for Ning’s Sword Titan? A powerful counter-force pushed back against him, sending it stumbling a few steps backwards in space.

It was simply too powerful. Not even Ning’s Sword Dao was able to completely deflect this counter-force, and so the Sword Titan had to endure much of it.

“How does it look? Any cracks?”

“Did we cause any damage to it?” Ning and the others carefully inspected the behemoth hive while asking each other the same question. They were all hoping that the thing had been at least slightly damaged. Even the tiniest of cracks would symbolize that if they continued to hammer away at it, they would be able to completely destroy it in time. Alas, none of them could discover any cracks at all, which was why they were all asking the others if they saw anything.

“Nothing.”

“I can’t find any. I don’t see any damage at all.” Their hearts all began to sink.

“Let’s try a few more attacks and see if that does anything,” Autarch Titanos said.

“Alright.” Ning and the others nodded. They once more joined forces, having the Sword Titan raise its sword up high for the Skycleaver stance once more.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The Sword Titan delivered the terrifying Skycleaver stance again and again, furiously smoting the Annihilation Hive and causing it to shudder and even fly backwards.

……

Deep within a three-hundred meter hidden space inside the Annihilation Hive, there was a formation-base with a long-haired man seated in the lotus position atop it. The long-haired man’s hair was half black and half white, and he was nervously keeping track of the hive’s status.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Every single explosion caused the entire Annihilation Hive to shudder.

“Who is attacking the Annihilation Hive from outside?” Exalt Anitya was rather startled and nervous. He was only able to see what was happening within the hive; he was unable to see the outside world. “The entire Annihilation Hive is actually trembling. This level of power far surpasses what Emperor Darknorth can accomplish. Can it be that the cultivator leaders have joined forces?”

Exalt Anitya was rather nervous, but a short while later the attacks came to a halt.

“They dealt over a thousand strikes, but they weren’t able to even scratch the Annihilation Hive.” Exalt Anitya let out a sigh of relief. The Annihilation Hive was one of the most important Sithe trump cards, and it had been just as expensive to create as the Grassland World. It was far more powerful than the various temples. It wouldn’t be easy to destroy it!

“Hm. Outsiders have just come inside.” Exalt Anitya stared at the images which appeared before him. They displayed a stream of power that flew inside the hive and towards its core hive. The light and power surrounding the figure was so blinding that Exalt Anitya was unable to see who it was.

“I have to report this.” Exalt Anitya immediately contacted Iyerre. The formation-base below him slowly began to swivel as a pillar of light appeared. A figure appeared within the pillar of light which solidified into the seated form of Iyerre.

Exalt Anitya rose and bowed respectfully: “Almighty Iyerre, new invaders have entered the Annihilation Hive. They tried to assault the hive from outside, and they attacked over a thousand times with shocking levels of power. However, they still weren’t able to even scratch the Annihilation Hive!”

“Mm.” Iyerre’s eyes flashed coldly. “Someone actually dared to assault the Annihilation Hive? It must haver been those cultivator leaders working together.”

“They are moving closer and closer towards the core. They’ll reach the sphere of annihilation soon. Will they be able to destroy it?” Exalt Anitya was worried.

“Just keep watching. Don’t take any other action,” Iyerre said.

“Alright,” Exalt Anitya said respectfully.

Whoosh. The pillar of light vanished.

……

Within the behemoth hive. Ning and the other Autarchs had already reached the black pyramid located at the center of the vortex of astral clouds, reuniting with Ning’s avatar.

“So this is the sphere of annihilation?” Autarch Ekong stared at the nearby shadowy black orb, which continued to devour everything surrounding it. It was like an endless hole that swallowed and destroyed all things! It embodied the essence of ‘Oblivion’, causing the Autarchs to feel a sense of trepidation when they looked at it.

“What type of profound mysteries does this thing hold, for it to be able to destroy all things? It seems as though there is nothing whatsoever which surpasses it,” Autarch Stonerule said softly.

They had attuned to many different Daos before, but the mysteries embodied by this sphere of annihilation were more profound than any they had ever studied. It eclipsed all Daos they had seen. The so-called ‘Omega Daos’ and ‘Daobirth Essences’… they would all be devoured and destroyed by this power of ‘Oblivion’.

“My avatar has been meditating here for many years and is able to replicate a bit of Oblivion’s power.” Ning shook his head. “But I still do not understand its true nature.”

“My Destruction Daobirth Essence is shallow and crude in comparison,” Autarch Ekong sighed.

“Iyerre might be at the same level of insight as this ‘Oblivion’ Dao,” Autarch Mogg said. “But maybe not. He’s so far above us that we cannot judge him accurately.”

Omega Autarchs had extremely profound levels of insight, perhaps as profound as the mysteries of Oblivion. Both were far beyond the likes of these seven to comprehend.

“In the end, it is simply a naturally-occuring quintessence core. It’s unable to fight back against us. The seven of us, when working together, can summon the power of the Chaosverse itself. We should be able to destroy it,” Autarch Ekong said.