Chapter 294: The Eye That Never Slept (3)

The entire Earth shook as if the whole world was having a cataclysmic Earthquake.

It first began in silence—a low, bone-deep rumble that rose from the planet’s core like a waking heartbeat.

Then the surface answered.

RUMBLEEE!!!!

CRACK!

CRACK!!

CRACK!!!

Continents groaned with deep, grinding sounds that rolled across landmasses as if the very core was crying out for help.

Mountain ranges cracked like eggshells—peaks splitting with sharp sounds that carried for thousands of miles.

Oceans heaved in sudden, impossible tides—waves towering hundreds of meters before were now collapsing inward as though the water itself had been pulled into the world’s deepest currents.

Cities trembled... with every skyscraper swaying like reeds in a storm, ancient temples crumbled into dust, every single thing on the world was screaming at once... even most inhabitants.

On the ice wall of Antarctica...the seals finally broke.

Not one by one.

No, they all gave all at once.

CRACKKKK!!!!

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

The very wall of ice that was shrouded in deep mystery —the one that fueled centuries of conspiracy theories—finally cracked.....

Then it exploded....

The sound wasn’t merely loud; it was apocalyptic, as if the sky itself had been split open and hammered apart by a barrage of nuclear fire.

At its center, the largest golden‑black seal pulsed once... twice... before shattering in a blinding eruption of black‑gold radiance that devoured the horizon.

HUMMMM!!!

From the ruptured seal unfurled a woman of impossible beauty.

An ocean of roses churned around her, swirling as if deciding what shape reality should take.

Blood‑red petals drifted upward like inverted snowfall, rising instead of falling, filling the skies for thousands of miles.

And from that blooming storm...

Lucy emerged.

She rose slowly, weightless, serene.

Long white braids flowed behind her like comet trails, while crimson tattoos pulsed along her throat and arms—alive, shifting, whispering...

Her eyes were deep scarlet: calm, ancient... and utterly devoid of mercy.

Before she even stepped beyond her ’realm’, the ancients followed.

They poured out in a tidal surge—beings from before the Third Cycle, some native to this Dimension, others long‑sealed invaders.

Their presence alone warped the air.

The first to break through were the Dragons.

Colossal forms tore free of the rift, each one large enough to claim a piece of the sky. Their scales were living obsidian veined with molten gold, and every beat of their wings blotted out the sun.

The world trembled beneath their arrival.

ROARRRRR!

Their leaders roared—voices so vast they rattled the world’s core—commanding their kin to scorch the skies... and then the Dimension itself.

Next came the Demons.

Hordes of horned, winged monstrosities surged through the rift, bodies glowing like cracked magma, eyes burning with abyssal fire.

Their generals laughed.... it was deep, guttural and cruel. While ordering their legions to flood the surface, to drown the world in shadow and flame.

Then the Elves emerged.

Tall, ethereal, their skin shimmered like star‑flecked marble, their eyes glowing with ancient verdant light.

The High Elves stepped forward, speaking a melodic tongue that bent reality with every syllable—commanding their armies to rise and defend the land.

And still more poured forth.

Beings older than progenitors, sealed away since the Second Cycle.

Void‑born wraiths with bodies of living darkness. Celestial serpents whose scales formed constellations. Titans of raw elemental fury whose footsteps alone cracked the earth.

Each leader—whether of light or ruin—gave only two possible orders.

Destroy. Or protect.

Simple commands, yet world‑shaking in their consequences.

The world shuddered, as if bracing for its own doom once again.

And while the heavens split and ancient armies marched...

The Seraphim arrived... of course with Adam and Eve.

Wings of blinding light tore open the sky.

Adam and Eve descended at the head of the Seraphim; tension carved into their faces.

Adam’s dark eyes burned with crimson fire, and Eve’s halo pulsed erratically—like a dying sun struggling to stay alive.

They landed on the shattered Antarctic plateau.

Ice cracked beneath their feet. Their aura density was so thick it rippled visibly, warping the space around them.

Their gazes snapped instantly to the broken seal.

To her.

"LUCY!" Adam roared as his aura detonated outward.

BOOOOM!

Lucy only smiled.

She hovered above the fractured seals, blood‑red roses swirling around her like a personal storm.

"Not yet, Adam boy," she said lightly. "I still need to gather my little toys."

Adam didn’t bother responding.

Why would he? She wasn’t just his enemy—she was the enemy of all existence.

He moved to strike—

But the world answered first.

BANG!!

BANGG!!!

BANGGG!!!!

Fourteen Lucys materialized from a single thought.

Not illusions.

Not projections.

Not weakened copies like Mia’s early creation.

These clones held 100% of her power.

The Guardians reacted instantly, spears and wings flashing as they intercepted the onslaught—but even they were caught off guard. Heavily.

"Clones...?" Eve whispered, disbelief cracking her voice.

They had fought Lucy long enough to know her tricks.

Or so they thought.

While the Seraphim struggled to hold the line, Lucy tilted her head—white hair drifting in an unseen wind.

Then—softly, impossibly far yet clear as if whispered directly into his ear—she answered the question that still hung in the frozen air.

"Who... are you?"

The Eternal Deceiver—standing alone on a distant ridge—froze.

Lucy’s voice carried no malice.

Only truth.

"I am the Record that could never die."

HUMMMMMM!

The moment those words left her lips, the world shifted.

Every being bearing a Record title—every cheat, every aspect, every stolen boon—felt it.

A golden‑red thread snapped taut in every soul.

And Aster’s lingering essence—the one The Eternal Deceiver had just absorbed—flared once.

Of course, Lucy had planned this. Why settle for a clone... when she could force the Original to be a slave instead?

The Eternal Deceiver’s grey eyes widened—barely, but enough.

Then the assimilation began.

Lucy lifted one hand. Her crimson tattoos blazed like molten runes.

And every titled being on Earth—billions of Humans, Beast‑kin, Vampires, and more—fell under her dominion.

Their wills bent. Their hearts realigned. Their very existences tethered to her soul.

They were no longer inhabitants. No longer invaders. They became hers—mindless, absolute slaves.

Even some of the Ancient Invaders—Dragons, Demons, Elves, void‑born wraiths, celestial serpents—stumbled mid‑command as crimson threads laced through their auras.

Their eyes flickered.

Then glowed with her light.

They turned—not just toward Earth’s defenders, but toward each other... toward the Seraphim... and toward the universes beyond the world itself.

Lucy smiled.

Small.... serene.... but utterly terrifying.

"Fufufu~ Now, we can have some fun."