Chapter 110: Returning to the Void

The moment the golden radiance emerged, it caused a violent tremor across the surrounding Sea of Psionic Energy, naturally drawing the attention of the gods enthroned on high.

Rohana opened her eyes, which had been sealed shut for over five thousand years since her ascension. During this vast expanse of time, beyond refining her own laws, Rohana had wandered the void, engaging in overt and covert confrontations with the malevolent deities lurking in the darkness. As the Protoss Empire explored parallel universes, the gods engaged in an ongoing struggle against the forces of darkness. As the Goddess of War, Rohana had gradually developed the Authority of Victory through these skirmishes, ensuring a greater advantage when the final battle arrived. Even now, she was intervening in the progression of various wars through the laws, deepening her understanding of victory and solidifying her control over the corresponding laws.

However, Rohana’s consciousness was now recalled by that piercing golden light, and she perceived the prayers of her devotee contained within it. Her brow furrowed slightly; with a light lift of her arm, she transported the golden light before her and quelled the turbulent Sea of Psionic Energy.

After Qu Yizhi had performed the arcane rite, her consciousness began to be eroded by the overwhelming power. With a gentle tap of her index finger, Rohana preserved Qu Yizhi’s flickering, fragile spiritual light. While mending the girl’s essence, Rohana grasped the reason for her arrival and was astonished to find that a malevolent god had breached Midgard’s magical barrier to project its influence.

Knowing time was of the essence, Rohana focused her intent, and a golden wheel behind her surged toward the location where Qu Yizhi had appeared. This wheel, once the neural bundle of the three sisters when she served as the Highest Preserver with the power to harmonize the Khala, had been transformed into the Wheel of War after her ascension. The golden disc was an avatar of this instrument.

In the physical world, Steve and the others watched as Qu Yizhi grew brighter during her prayer, eventually becoming a sphere of golden light that resembled a star. The sphere contracted until she vanished entirely, leaving only the relic known as the Heavenly Spirit Seal suspended in mid-air.

"Qu Yizhi!" Tony was the first to notice her disappearance. Overcome with concern, he prepared to rush onto the sacrificial altar but was sent flying by a sudden surge of power.

"Tony!" Steve, shielding his dazzled eyes, saw Tony knocked back and, assuming a cultist had charged the platform, prepared to throw his shield. But the resurgence of golden light halted his action.

The power of the Black Obelisk had caused darkness to consume Washington D.C., leaving only the altar glowing weakly. No one expected the light to erupt, vanish, and then burst forth once more. Everyone present was blinded, save for War Machine and Tony, who were shielded by their armor’s visors.

Though knocked back, Tony stabilized himself just as the golden light flared again, causing him to pause. The radiance shot into the dark, smog-choked sky, triggering the transparent barrier that shrouded the city. Sensing a threat, the Black Obelisk surged with viscous black matter, rising from the earth to consume the Avengers and the altar.

The golden light did not attempt to shatter the barrier immediately. Instead, upon contact, it utilized the rebound to strike the ground. This pillar of light, connecting heaven and earth, caused no harm to the Avengers; rather, it cleared a clean space beneath their feet. Even the ice layer previously conjured by Qu Yizhi dissolved into stardust under the pillar’s glow.

Bathed in the golden light, everyone felt as if they were immersed in a warm, maternal embrace. Steve and Tony, possessing latent psionic sensitivity, felt it even more profoundly, sensing a world of immense warmth that seemed both infinitely close and impossibly distant.

The feeling was fleeting. A golden vortex flickered upon the altar, and the golden wheel flew forth, streaking toward the Black Obelisk. Its movement was so swift that only the advanced sensors on Tony’s armor could track it.

Moving at near-light speed, the wheel reached the Black Obelisk in an instant, shearing it in two before returning to the vortex. The Obelisk’s tentacles writhed, severed, and the structure collapsed in a cloud of dust. Yet, the influence of the malevolent god was tenacious; as the tentacles broke, they reconnected, abandoning the architectural form of the Obelisk to coalesce into a new, purely biological structure of writhing black matter.

The wheel’s initial strike seemed ineffective as the tentacles accelerated their movements. A black portal began to take shape, and the Avengers could sense the countless evil breaths emanating from within. The wheel, however, did not grant its enemy another chance. Having analyzed the nature of the corruption, it determined the optimal solution.

Shattering the city’s barrier would have expelled the malevolent influence but would have also banished the wheel before it could eradicate the threat. Thus, the first strike had been restrained. But with the Abyss Gate nearing completion, the wheel chose to break the barrier. Before the observers could process the collapse and reconstruction of the Obelisk, the wheel ascended, and a sound like tearing fabric echoed in everyone’s ears.

As the sound pierced the air, the black matter rushed back into the tentacles as if in reverse. The tentacles shrank rapidly, collapsing into a single black point that was consumed by the Abyss Gate behind it, which then vanished into nothingness.