Chapter 232: Destroying The Stairway To The Heavens

Chapter 232: Chapter 232: Destroying The Stairway To The Heavens

The assimilation of the Exoseleron Galaxy was supposed to be a seamless transition of power. Neo had left Dark Empress Noir in charge of integrating the billions of stars into the Zenith Empire, confident that the absolute terror he had instilled in Emperor Glatos would keep the local populations completely docile.

​Everything was proceeding with perfect, brutal efficiency.

​Then the heavens literally tore open.

​Far away from the newly conquered Exoseleron territories, deep within the heart of the original Zenith Empire, a cosmic anomaly of unprecedented scale manifested.

It did not appear as a violent tear in space or a swirling black hole. It appeared as a staircase.

​The Stairway to the Heavens was an ancient, conceptual bridge. It was woven from condensed nebulae, crystallized faith, and the literal bones of dead primordial titans.

For three million years, it had remained hidden, serving as the emergency divine artery between the God Realm and the mortal plane.

​With the Greater Deities trapped inside the Apex Pantheon Hall, fighting a desperate war of survival against the Primordial Horror, the Lesser Gods had panicked. They saw the Zenith Vanguard expanding across the universe. They saw their mortal worshipers bending the knee to a human.

​In a frantic bid to restore order and reclaim their stolen authority, a coalition of three hundred Lesser Gods descended the Stairway.

​They did not come to conquer. They came to exterminate.

​Sector Four of the Zenith Empire was a thriving commercial hub containing seven heavily populated planets and three massive orbital shipyards. When the glowing alabaster steps of the Stairway materialized in the vacuum of space, the local Zenith defense fleets immediately raised their energy shields.

​It was entirely useless.

​Kaelith, the Lesser God of Searing Winds, stepped off the final golden stair. He raised a hand wrapped in glowing white bandages and simply blew a breath of divine air across the void.

Buzzzzzz!

​A hurricane of holy fire materialized in the vacuum of space. The cosmic winds bypassed the Zenith energy shields as if they did not exist. The entire defense fleet, consisting of three thousand advanced cruisers, instantly turned into molten slag. The crews inside were vaporized before they could even sound the alarms.

​"Cleanse this filth," Kaelith commanded coldly. "Burn the planets to glass. Let the mortal who calls himself an Emperor return to a kingdom of ashes."

​Beside him, Valerica, the Goddess of Celestial Blades, drew two swords made of solid starlight. She swung her blades in a wide arc.

Swoosh, swoosh, swish...

Millions of microscopic light needles rained down upon the planet of New Eden.

​The planetary atmosphere ignited. The oceans boiled into steam within seconds. The Zenith citizens, billions of loyal subjects who had sworn their lives to Neo, were incinerated where they stood.

The screaming lasted for less than a minute before the entire planet was reduced to a blackened, smoking cinder.

​"Tsk, They die too quickly. We should have brought the torture engines," Moros, the God of Righteous Fury, sneered as he crushed a fleeing Zenith escape pod between his massive, glowing fingers.

​Back in the Sanctum Prime throne room of the Exoseleron Galaxy, Neo was looking at a planetary ledger when his supreme communication terminal blared with a terrifying, high pitched siren.

​The holographic projector flickered to life. The image was heavily distorted by divine interference, but the message was clear. It was General Vane, the commander of Sector Four.

​The General was covered in severe burns. The bridge of his flagship was actively collapsing around him.

​"Emperor Neo! Sector Four is gone! The heavens opened up! The Lesser Gods are marching down a glowing staircase! They are not trying to conquer us! They are glassing the planets! Billions are dead! We cannot pierce their divine auras!"

​Neo stared at the flickering hologram. His expression did not change. His face remained perfectly, unnervingly still.

​"Understood, General," Neo replied softly. "Eject your core and initiate the self destruct sequence. I am coming."

​The hologram cut to static.

​Noir stepped forward. Her crimson eyes were wide with genuine shock. "My husband. Three hundred deities. Even if they are Lesser Gods, their combined divine authority is enough to erase galaxies. We must rally the entire Vanguard fleet."

​"No," Neo said coldly.

​Deep within his soul, the First Dragon was not laughing anymore. Eragon was completely silent. The ancient beast was sharing his host’s absolute, unadulterated fury.

​They had burned his planets. They had slaughtered his people. They had dared to step foot in his domain while he was busy expanding his empire.

​"Keep the fleet here. They want to show my people the wrath of the heavens. I am going to show them the wrath of the abyss."

​Neo did not wait for Noir to respond. He tapped his foot against the floor, instantly activating his Spatial Displacement skill.

​He crossed the distance of three galaxies in a single second.

​Neo materialized in the vacuum of space directly above the burning ruins of Sector Four. The seven planets below him were glowing like dying embers. The debris of his destroyed fleets floated aimlessly in the dark void.

​And there, stretching infinitely upward into the cosmic veil, was the Stairway to the Heavens.

​The three hundred Lesser Gods were currently floating above the final surviving planet, preparing to unleash a combined orbital strike to shatter the core.

​Neo did not announce his presence. He simply summoned the Sunfire Judgment Blade.

Hum!

​The platinum sword materialized in his hand, radiating a heat that instantly vaporized the surrounding space dust. But Neo was not finished. He reached into the deepest, darkest corner of his soul and ripped the seal off the First Dragon’s bloodline.

​"Eragon," Neo whispered. "Burn it all."

"Understood!"

​Black and gold hellfire erupted from Neo’s skin. The flames coiled around his arms, wrapping around the Sunfire Judgment Blade until the pristine platinum weapon was completely consumed by the dark fire of the apocalypse.

Neo’s golden reptilian eyes flared with blinding intensity. Scales made of condensed starlight materialized across his neck and jawline.

​He swung the sword.

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

​A crescent wave of black and gold hellfire, measuring ten thousand miles across, detached from the blade and shot toward the gathering of Lesser Gods.

​Kaelith, the God of Searing Winds, turned around just in time to see the universe turn black.

​"What in the name of the Prime Deity is that!" Kaelith screamed as he raised his hands, desperately trying to summon a divine hurricane to deflect the incoming wave.

​The hellfire hit the divine wind and completely devoured it. The flames did not just burn physical matter. They burned the concept of the wind itself.

​The crescent wave slammed into the formation of Lesser Gods.

​There was no explosion. There was only the horrifying sound of divine flesh turning into ash. Fifty Lesser Gods, beings who had lived for millions of years and demanded absolute worship from mortals, were instantly erased from existence. Their golden blood boiled away before it could even spill into the vacuum of space.

​The remaining two hundred and fifty gods scattered in absolute terror.

​Valerica looked at the spot where Kaelith had been floating a second ago. There was nothing left. Not even a soul remnant.

​She turned her glowing eyes toward the lone figure floating in the distance.

​"It is the mortal! He wields the flames of the First Dragon! Combine your authorities! Strike him down before he swings again!"

​The Lesser Gods panicked. They began throwing everything they had at Neo. Spears of concentrated lightning, massive spheres of absolute zero ice, beams of righteous judgment, and curses of eternal rot painted the void in a million different colors.

​Neo did not move. He let the divine attacks hit him.

​The attacks slammed into the black and gold hellfire radiating from his body. The flames greedily swallowed the divine energy, using the attacks as fuel to burn even brighter.

Neo walked forward through the vacuum of space, stepping directly through the apocalyptic bombardment as if he were taking a casual stroll through a spring shower.

​He raised his left hand and pointed his fingers at Valerica.

​"Grasp," Neo commanded.

The Goddess of Celestial Blades was instantly grabbed by ​a giant hand made of pure hellfire.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Valerica screamed as the flames instantly melted her starlight swords. The hand squeezed shut, crushing her divine body into a condensed sphere of golden blood and ash.

​"He is immune to our authority!" Moros yelled, his voice cracking with fear.

The God of Righteous Fury completely abandoned his pride. He turned around and flew desperately toward the glowing golden steps of the Stairway to the Heavens.

"Retreat! Flee back to the God Realm! Warn the Upper Court!"

​The entire coalition of Lesser Gods broke rank and fled. They scrambled over each other, desperately trying to climb the glowing steps back to the safety of the higher dimensions.

​Neo watched them run. His reptilian eyes narrowed into slits of pure malice.

​"You think you can just leave?" Neo whispered.

​He gripped the hilt of the Sunfire Judgment Blade with both hands. He channeled every single drop of his mana, every ounce of his divine authority, and the absolute maximum output of Eragon’s hellfire into the blade.

​The weapon hummed so violently that the fabric of space began to tear around the edges of the metal.

​Neo did not aim at the fleeing gods. He aimed at the glowing golden staircase itself.

​He flew forward at blinding speed, appearing directly at the base of the Stairway to the Heavens. The fleeing gods looked down from the higher steps, their faces twisted in absolute horror as they realized what he was about to do.

​"No!" Moros screamed from the thousandth step. "You cannot break the path! It is the conceptual pillar of the universe! You will sever the realms forever!"

​"That is exactly the point," Neo roared.

​He swung the hellfire infused blade directly into the first golden step.

​The impact was entirely silent.

"....."

​For a single, agonizing second, the universe seemed to pause.

​