“If you wish to become a Lord of Chaos and master a Chaosverse, you must first become an Autarch! Then, you must master and bind the entire Quintessence of that Chaosverse, which would give you full control over all the power that Chaosverse has.” Autarch Titanos looked at Ning. “You should understand by now how much strength would be needed to take full control over the power of the Chaosverse.”
Ning was stunned. Of course he knew! The power hidden within the vast Wellspring Seas of the Eight Domains was already vastly beyond the power which Autarchs could command. The power of the entire Chaosverse? That would be insanely, indescribably vast. Taking control over all of it was completely inconceivable.
“The Sithe come from a different Chaosverse which already has a supremely exalted Lord of Chaos controlling it! This was why their civilization has reached such incredible heights, and why they have so many marvelous techniques at their disposal,” Autarch Titanos said. “But because their Chaosverse already has a person in control of it, there’s no way for a second Chaoslord to arise… and so they have invaded our Chaosverse and seek to dominate it instead!”
“But they are foreign invaders, while this is our home. Here, they will suffer invisible pressure which ensures that they aren’t able to gain any additional power from the Dao here. Even their Autarchs are weakened by this invisible pressure. Without the power of the Dao supporting them, they are naturally much weaker than they should be,” Autarch Titanos said.
“They are completely different races from us, because they were born in a completely different Chaosverse… but once they are able to take control over our Chaosverse, they can transform it and make it suitable for them. As for those of us who were born here? All of us will perish! From that day forth, all creatures born from our Chaosverse shall be like them – Sithe.” Autarch Titanos looked at Ning. “This is literally a war of survival. We cannot shirk our duty.”
Ning asked, “So the enemy Lord of Chaos is afraid to come here?”
“He wouldn’t dare.” Autarch Titanos explained, “The wellspring of his power is his Chaosverse! He’s able to make use of that power anywhere in the Infinite Void, which is why he is invincible. But… if he was to enter our Chaosverse, he would lose access to that power and would be suppressed, just like everyone else. That’s why he wouldn’t dare to enter himself.”
Ning nodded.
“And besides… why would he? He already stands at the very peak of power in all the Infinite Void, capable of accomplishing anything he desires.” Autarch Titanos sighed. “Alas, the other creatures within his Chaosverse wish to become Lords of Chaos as well. Their only choice is to leave their Chaosverse and invade other ones… and so, we ended up becoming a target for them.”
“We’ve already killed sixteen Sithe Exalts and trapped six of them. There are probably other Exalts sealed away within the Sithelands as well. In other words… tens of ‘Autarchs’ from their Chaosverse have invaded ours. From this, you should be able to tell the difference in power between them and us.”
Ning nodded. The difference was clear, obvious, and enormous.
“They surpass us in many ways, such as in fashioning treasures and techniques,” Autarch Titanos said. “We were able to suppress them during the war thanks to our geographical advantage and managed to lock them away into their ‘homelands’, making it impossible for them to invade us again… but in the end, they will always pose a threat. Even worse, if enough time passes we might be invaded by other civilizations as well!”
“Thus… the only way to forever get rid of all these problems is to produce a Lord of Chaos ourselves!” Autarch Titanos said. “If we can take control over our own Chaosverse, then we’ll be able to make full use of its power. When that happens we would have the power to invade others, but no one would dare to invade us.”
Ning agreed with this assessment. Their Chaosverse was without a ruler, but they had still managed to fight back for so long. Once they did gain a Chaoslord, then they would become truly invincible.
“Alas, taking control over the Chaosverse is simply too hard.” Autarch Titanos shook his head. “Entropos gave it a try, but he died. Awakener also tried, but he also died.”
* * *
Book 40, Chapter 12 - Help
“The power of the Chaosverse is too overwhelmingly mighty. Although we were born from this Chaosverse and thus the prime essences do not reject us, we still cannot withstand their incredible might.” Autarch Titanos sighed. “Trying to accomplish this task through raw force simply results in us imploding under the weight of the Chaosverse’s power. It’s sheer suicide! Entropos and Awakener were both extremely powerful, but neither of them were able to endure the weight of that power. Before they died, they sent us messages to never try it again; the difference was simply too great.”
The other four Autarchs all fell silent, while Ning himself nodded slowly. It was like death through over-eating. Sometimes, accepting an excessively heavy burden would result in you being crushed to death by it! Even the most powerful figures in the Chaosverse, the Autarchs, were unable to withstand even the minimum pressure required to take control over the full power of the Chaosverse. This must have been why the estate-spirit of the Azureflower Estate had stated that Autarch Awakener had essentially commited suicide.
“But we had no other choices available to us,” Autarch Titanos said. “This is the only method we had available for ensuring the perpetual security of our Chaosverse. There really are no other options available to us. That’s why Skyfeeder was planning to make the attempt as well.”
“I’ve spent an incredibly long period of time training in the Quintessence,” Autarch Skyfeeder said. “I’ve tried a few low-level mock-bindings. I think I have a shot.”
“Awakener and Entropos both felt the same way.” Autarch Titanos shook his head.
“That’s the allure of it all.” Autarch Ekong chuckled. “Stop playing the fool. There’s ALWAYS a ‘shot’, but we’d probably all die chasing after that flitting chance. Now that we have Darknorth, our civilization has a real shot. There’s no need for us to foolishly go off and commit suicide.”
Puzzled, Ning asked, “Are there really no other options? Is becoming a Lord of Chaos truly the only path which is available to us? If we’ve already defeated the Sithe and sealed them away, why don’t we just kick them all out?”
“If we could kick them out, we would’ve done so long ago.” Autarch Bolin chuckled softly.
“We’re not able to do that,” Autarch Stonerule said.
Autarch Skyfeeder smiled and explained, “Daolord Darknorth, as you know the Sithe have incredibly powerful weapons at their disposal. The deeper you go into their ‘homeland’, the stronger their defenses become and the more powerful their weapons are! Their homeland is the most dangerous place in all the Chaosverse. During the Dawn War, what we did was to attack their bases throughout the Chaosverse. We didn’t fight them in their lair!”
“We had a geographical advantage when fighting in the other parts of the Chaosverse. The Sithe were confident in their chances at first, and if they wished to bind the Quintessence they would have to kill us all,” Autarch Skyfeeder explained. “That is why they came out of their main base and fought against us throughout the Chaosverse. In the end, we won an extremely narrow victory.”
“If they wish to bind the Quintessence, they must kill you all first?” Ning didn’t fully understand.
Autarch Titanos nodded. “Correct.”
Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)
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