Death... and me

Chapter 2766: Strength To Do Something

"Grape... Vortex?" Rean asked back at him, completely puzzled. The others were no different. Romario nodded. However, he quickly noticed that his outburst caught everyone's attention, not only the twins. "Do you know what it is?" Gragatou asked with a heavy voice. This is something from outside the universe. How did this guy know about it?"

The other Semi-Celestials and Divinity Realm experts exchanged wary glances. Could this newcomer be connected to the outsiders? Their suspicion hung heavy in the air.

Of course, Rean quickly came up with an excuse. "Right! We gave you that data to analyze back when we went to the Ruins of the Stars. Was the information of this thing inside?"

Romario understood Rean immediately. "That is correct. There was just way too much information inside, and I couldn't make sense of most of it. But some of it did mention this thing. It's just that I took a long time to remember."

Gragatou was still skeptical. "First of all, who are you? How come we've never heard about a Peak Divinity Realm human like you before?"

Romario crossed his arms and smiled. "And you would never have heard up to the very end. I'm Trulin. The only reason I even came out is that I owe the twins a favor. I specialize in the technology of the outside, so when the twins came to me with information regarding it, I got to work. As for how the twins and I got to meet, that's a secret. I don't need anyone else knocking on my door in the future."

Rean vouched for him. "Don't worry, senior Gragatou, everyone. He can be trusted. It's just that he is a little annoying to be dealt with."

"The last part was unnecessary," Romario complained. At the same time, he felt relieved. Rean's Body Transformation Technique was truly all-encompassing. His Divine Energy, body, aura, and everything about him truly looked like a human. If others doubted for a second he was an Archangel, they would probably connect him to his real identity as the Archangel that dominated the Heavens with the Soul Worms.

"Everyone, where he is and how he knows about it matters not. What matters is what we do with this thing," said Kafan. "Trulin, right? You said it was a Grape Vortex or whatever. Since this is information you got from the Ruins of the Stars, your information probably has a degree of truth, even if it has been so long. Can you tell us?"

Romario, pretending to be Trulin, nodded. "Yes. Also, you won't like it. You won't like it at all."

Turns out that a Grape Vortex was nothing but a concept back when the Ruins of the Stars was still a working spaceship. It was being researched as a means to substitute the common method of pulling out the Chaos Origin Source of a Universe.

It worked by absorbing a Universe's everything. Cultivation Energy, Laws, Elements, you name it. The thing would turn the Universe completely dry. Eventually, the Chaos Source would be revealed as it wouldn't be able to continue providing enough energy to fill the Universe.

With the Chaos Origin Source barrier gone, it would be countless times easier to retrieve it and bring it away. You could say this was a method that prevented common mistakes and dangers.

"The reason it is called Grape Vortex is because of these Spheres you are seeing. Don't they look similar to grapes? They are all close and touching each other, but they are still individual entities themselves," Romario explained.

"Each one of these 'Grapes' is transferring the Energies, Laws, and Elements into a Spatial Distortion and releasing it into the Great Void outside the Universe. All the energy used in the universe eventually goes back to the Universe itself. It is a cycle that repeats itself, and you could say it is how the Chaos Origin Source works."

Romario then looked at the grapes. "However, once the Energies, Laws, and Elements fall into the Spatial Distortions and fall into the Great Void, they will not come back. Every bit of it is a bit lost forever. At the moment, it seems it has just started. However, if this continues, life itself won't be able to sustain itself. Locations won't matter, races won't matter, cultivation realms won't matter, including Semi-Celestials. If this thing finishes its job, we will all die, no exception."

"The Universe will then collapse, and the Chaos Origin Source will be exposed to be taken away. You just leave it here and wait outside. No need for battles, no need for danger, no need for anything else. It's that simple," Romario concluded.

The expressions on everyone's faces turned darker and darker as Romario talked about the construction. By the end, they all seemed to have reached a mutual agreement, which was extremely rare. Regardless of what their differences might be, they must destroy this thing at all costs.

"How long do we have until we are doomed?" Sophia quickly asked, and everyone turned their eyes to Romario... or Trulin.

Unfortunately, Romario had no answer to that. "I told you. In the information the twins got for me to analyze, this thing was still nothing but a concept. Don't forget how old the Ruins of the Stars is. That thing has been there from before I was even born. As far as I'm aware, it has been there even before the events with the Extinction Sphere." Of course, that was a lie. Romario came to this Universe in the Ruins of the Stars itself.

"That isn't of much help," Black Locust said. "Nonetheless, our course of action is obvious. We need to destroy this thing."

"Now we know why we feel this danger and the sense of something calling for help," Kentucky added. "It's the Universe itself. It is begging for help to destroy this Grape Vortex. That's why it reached only the experts at the Space-Time Realm and above. Only we would probably have the strength to do something."