Chapter 710: How to Kill an Ancient Judge

For a moment, he rested his head against the inner shell of the cocoon, the healing process was now faster than the destruction.

But at that exact moment, something grabbed his consciousness.

Lian immediately raised his head.

’What?’

He felt a huge force pulling his consciousness away from his body.

It was as if something had connected directly to his existence and was trying to pull him somewhere else.

His first guess was White Oblivion.

Damn it.

’You won’t leave me alone even inside the cocoon?’

He tried to resist the force.

He still had the Calamity Devourer title, which increased his resistance to possession, soul erosion, and identity erasure.

But after a few moments, he noticed a strange difference, this force was not similar to the Calamity’s corruption, it was not trying to erase his memories or destroy his identity, instead, it had an orderly and very ancient nature.

Wait...

Suddenly, even his heartbeat sounded as if it were coming from far away.

He tried to move his hand, but he could no longer feel his body, and a moment later, everything fell into darkness.

The darkness had no end.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around for several seconds, there was no ground beneath his feet, no sky above his head, and not even a single point he could use to judge distance.

Even so, he did not feel as if he were falling.

The wounds caused by Noah’s daggers were not visible on his body, and even his World-Devourer Bastion armor was not with him.

So he was not here in his real body.

The last thing he remembered was the pressure of an unknown force that had separated his consciousness from his body while he was healing inside the cocoon.

At first, he had thought White Oblivion was trying to interfere again.

But now...

Lian raised his head, at an unknown distance, a huge sphere was floating in the darkness.

A black sun with a border of faint golden light, its surface produced no heat, and its rays did not shine on anything, but its presence was so heavy that it seemed the entire endless space existed only to hold it.

He stared at the huge sphere for a few moments.

’So it was you.’

Hollow Sun.

The ancient judge of the prisoners’ domain.

The same being that had issued death sentences over the past few days and kept thousands of prisoners inside the prison to serve their punishments.

Then a voice rose from the darkness.

"Human."

The voice did not come from any specific direction, and Lian heard it both around him and deep inside his own consciousness.

"Little time remains."

Young Vorhelm looked at the sun for several seconds and then placed his hands behind his back.

"Then you’d better give me a proper explanation."

"White Oblivion is corrupting the Judgment Connection."

Judgment Connection?

He remembered the Withered who had gathered below the plateau.

Thousands of creatures who were losing their identities and lives one after another without resisting.

"He wants to kill you, I know that, but how? That’s what I still don’t understand."

Then the judge’s voice echoed through the black space.

"I do not recognize the prisoners of this prison only at the moment I pass judgment, as long as their punishment remains in effect, their connection to the Judgment also remains."

"What they were, what they did, and what they must suffer are recognized through this connection."

Young Vorhelm slowly nodded.

This explanation matched the things he had seen before.

After receiving their sentences, the prisoners were still kept inside the prison’s structure, some remained in a state of stillness, while others were forced to experience the suffering of their victims from the victims’ own point of view.

To carry out such punishments, the prison had to maintain a connection to the prisoners’ identities.

"Well, White Oblivion wants to use that same connection?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"He has spread his corruption within the prisoners, and now he has gathered them together to release that corruption all at once."

"You mean he’s corrupted thousands of Withered?" Lian raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"And when he sacrifices them, all that corruption will enter you?"

"Through the connection that exists between them and the Judgment."

Young Vorhelm thought about this explanation for several seconds.

Then the corner of his mouth rose slightly.

So that’s what this is about.

White Oblivion did not intend to destroy Hollow Sun with a physical attack.

He did not need to do that at all, the Calamity was acting just like a disease.

Imagine someone wanted to poison a powerful human but could not approach him directly.

Instead, that person infected thousands of other creatures with poison and waited for all of them to connect with the target through a specific path.

Even if each amount of poison was small on its own, all of it entering at the same time could produce a different result.

And here, the poison was nothing other than the power of oblivion.

Lian raised his head.

"So he wants to use the prisoners themselves to transfer his corruption into your existence."

"Correct."

"And what happens after that?"

Hollow Sun remained silent for several seconds.

"First, I will forget the names of the prisoners, then the judgments I have passed, and after that, the laws I was created to enforce."

Young Vorhelm kept his eyes fixed on the huge sphere.

"And finally?"

This time, there was a longer silence.

The faint light around the sun became weaker for a moment, and then the judge’s voice echoed through the darkness.

"In the end, I will no longer remember that I exist."

Lian let out a short sigh.

So he intends to erase even the judge’s identity, this method matched White Oblivion’s nature in an unpleasant way.

A Calamity that attached itself to worlds, entered them, and gradually destroyed their memories, identities, and order, why would it need to use physical strength to kill an ancient judge?

It only needed to make that judge unable to recognize himself anymore.

"But you know about this plan, can’t you cut your connection to the prisoners?"

"As long as the judgment remains in effect, the Judgment Connection also remains."

"So you can’t."

"The law established to hold the prisoners cannot be canceled by my will."

Young Vorhelm looked at the sun for a moment.

"So even if you know someone is using one of your laws against you, you can’t set that law aside."

"No."

What a troublesome situation.

He thought for several seconds and then asked.

"What if I kill all the Withered right now?"

"The corruption gathered within them will be released along with their deaths."

"And because they’re still connected to the Judgment, all of it will move toward you." Lian narrowed his eyes.

"Yes."

Young Vorhelm slowly nodded, so killing them before cutting the connection is exactly what the Calamity wants.

This changed an important part of his previous plan.

He could destroy thousands of Withered with large-scale attacks, but if he did that at the wrong time, he would only be helping White Oblivion.

"How can I cut this connection?"

"The corrupted connection is maintained through White Oblivion’s presence within the prisoners. If the connection of corruption is broken, whatever is released from the prisoners afterward will no longer reach my consciousness."

"So I don’t need to destroy the Judgment, I need to cut the connection that the Calamity is using."

"Yes."

Young Vorhelm gave a short smile.

Finally.

This time, the situation was much clearer, thousands of Withered were carrying the corruption.

White Oblivion intended to sacrifice them and transfer the corruption to Hollow Sun through the existing connection between the prisoners and the judge.

So he only needed to cut that path of transfer before killing the Withered, first the connection, then the sacrifices.

"Good, now I know what I need to do."

But just as he was about to think about how to carry out the plan, another question came to his mind.

"Now that you’re finally answering my questions, there are a few more things I want to know....What kind of place is this prison, really?"

"The prison of White Oblivion and those who took part in his crimes."

Lian thought about the answer for a moment.

"So all these prisoners are connected to that Calamity?" His guess had been correct, and now it had been confirmed.

"They were gathered from different worlds and lands, some were his servants, some took part in the destruction of worlds, and some, knowing the truth, opened the way for the destruction of others."

"Who built this prison?"

The answer was only one word.

"Mother."

Lian remained silent for several seconds.

Mother again.

This was the second time he had heard that same word from Hollow Sun, and he still did not know exactly who it referred to.

"Who is Mother? The one who created you? The one who imprisoned White Oblivion?"

But the only answer was silence.

He let out a short sigh, apparently, he was not going to receive an answer.

"At least tell me, is this prison part of this world?"

"No."

"Then how did it appear here?" Young Vorhelm’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"I do not know."

For a moment, Lian thought he had heard incorrectly.

"You don’t know?"

"This prison was not built in this world, I was asleep for a long time, and when I woke up again, I found the prison in this location."

"Could White Oblivion have moved it here?"

"It is possible."

"And how did the Calamity manage to put you to sleep in the first place?"

There was a short silence.

"I do not know that either."

This time, Lian let out a longer sigh.