Thorn's confident expression faltered, his life's mission, the one he had just dedicated himself to, evaporating in a single sentence. "What?" he whispered, his mind reeling.

"Thus, the souls living in the realm of advancement will not suffer any longer," Sunny continued, placing his hand on Thron's shoulder. "I have a new, and far more important, task for you."

"Just give me your command, my God. My life is yours to take," Thorn replied, his devotion towards Sunny was absolute.

He was the first chosen, one of the oldest living beings in Veridia.

He had seen his wives, his parents, and even his own sons, grow old and die. He had watched the empire he founded prosper.

He knew that their God was not a static, perfect entity, but a being who, like them, was constantly growing stronger, constantly evolving.

He knew his God was trying his best for all the lifeforms and demigods.

The creation of Heaven and Hell, giving the lifeforms buffs, giving 9 lives to each of them, taking billions of Gods under him; all of it was proof that his God was on a level beyond comprehension, and he would be more than happy to help him grow stronger still.

"I want you to wander into the true darkness, Thorn," Sunny said, his cosmic gaze turning towards the sky, towards the infinite, unknown expanse beyond his territory. "I want you to find the Godless worlds, the world that have no Gods, no protection. Find the lifeforms who live in constant, genuine suffering. You will be my beacon in the void. You will show them the path to life."

"I accept, my God," Thorn replied instantly, without a flicker of hesitation.

Sunny smiled bitterly. "Don't say 'yes' so readily. This is not a request to walk through a protected realm. The true multiverse is teeming with roaming demon gods. It will be exceptionally dangerous."

"I know you would not give me a suicide mission, my God," Thorn replied, his faith absolute. He stood, his form radiating a new purpose. "And even if I am to die, I have died once already. I have nine lives left to spend in your service."

Sunny looked at his first champion, his heart swelling with a profound, paternal pride. "Very well, Thron. I will give you the full details of your mission through Thea. Until then… enjoy the show."

Thorn nodded, and then asked, "But my God, the tournament is about to end. What show are you talking about? Is there something… big… coming after?"

"Nice guess," Sunny's avatar said, a final, mysterious glint in his cosmic eyes. "You will have to see.... or perform that show." With that, his projected figure dissolved into nothingness.

Thorn, puzzled yet expectant, turned his attention back to his system panel. He watched as Nexus, the small, unassuming black slime, faced his final opponent. Mammon.

The air in the arena was thick with a tension that was almost a physical force.

"Little brother," Mammon's voice was a smooth, aristocratic purr, "you have spammed that same move since the start of this tournament. Did you truly not expect me to devise a way to bypass it?"

Nexus, quivering slightly in the center of the arena, replied with a voice that was both childlike and ancient. "I do not need to expel you, Elder Brother. I can win, even without that move."

And then, the world screamed. Nexus, who had until this point been a passive, finally attacked.

The entire arena, the very ground, the air, the laws of physics, turned hostile. Mammon felt a killing intent not from one being, but from an entire world.

Dark clouds, pregnant with a furious, divine-level energy, formed above him, thundering with colossal bolts of lightning that began to chip away at his defenses.

The rivers and lakes of the arena rose up, as towering, liquid mountains, watery fists the size of cities that crashed down upon him.

Fire, hotter and more malevolent than any natural flame, erupted from the very ground, while the roots of the jungle trees, now like living, sentient spears, lashed out, trying to ensnare him and suck his mana dry.

This was just the appetizer.

As Mammon deftly defended himself, Nexus himself, the true force of the realm, made his move.

The small slime expanded. It shot up, a tidal wave of living darkness, and formed a dome over Mammon, sealing him in an inescapable, suffocating sphere of darkness.

Inside the dome, there was no light, no sound, no air. Only Mammon, floating in an absolute, crushing blackness. But he was not scared. He was amused.

"Good, good," he whispered to the darkness. "Now this is a fight."

He dissolved. His body, his aura, his very presence vanished, as he slipped from the physical world into the chaotic, untamable dimension that was his territory: the Void.

He focused his will, gathering his power, he used his talent resonance to combine all the physical as well as elemental talents into one.

He created a punch with hltbis new talent. He pulled back his arm in the void and, with a silent roar, punched reality itself.

"Bye, bye," he whispered.

The attack, traveling between realities, exited the void. It appeared inside Nexus's slimy, black body, an energy designed to detonate and annihilate him from within, like what Vel did with Lux.

BOOM!

A crackling, muffled explosion, like thunder in a storm cloud, sounded from within Nexus's massive, dome-like form.

His dark, slimy surface rippled violently, like a black ocean in a hurricane. But he did not burst. He did not dissolve. The ripples calmed. He had taken the full, internal, void-infused blast… and was completely unharmed.

"I was preparing for that, you know," Nexus's voice echoed, his childish tone now holding a hint of smug, cold calculation. "I know you are powerful, Elder Brother. I knew that just the ownership of this realm would not be enough to defeat you."

Mammon, his form still hidden in the void, was genuinely stunned. He had poured an immense amount of power into that single attack. How had he survived?

The answer was as brilliant as it was simple. The moment Mammon's attack had materialized, Nexus had reconfigured his own body, shifting his vital core away and creating a hollow vacuum at the exact point of the attack.

Mammon's void-punch hadn't hit him at all; it had detonated in an empty, perfectly contained chamber, its power dissipating harmlessly against the regenerating walls of Nexus's balloon-like form.

A savage grin spread across Mammon's face. He didn't reply. He simply attacked again. And again. And again.

A furious barrage of void-punches, dozens per second, rained down on Nexus's internal structure from every conceivable angle.

But it was useless. Nexus was was a fluid, ever-shifting ocean. With his Controller talent, he could process Mammon's attacks and reconfigure his defenses at the speed of thought. Mammon was trying to punch a tsunami.

This continued for a long, grueling while. Mammon, hidden in the void, relentlessly assaulted his brother. Nexus, a living fortress, effortlessly absorbed and digested every single blow.

Eventually, the attacks slowed, then stopped. Mammon understood. This was a perfect stalemate.

His unhittable offense was being perfectly countered by an unbeatable defense. He needed a new plan.

And in the heart of the explosion, Nexus, too, began to think. His control of the realm was absolute, but his brother was not in the realm. He needed to find a new way to win.

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