399: Ignite the flame, farewell, Tomb of the Epoch.

BOOM—

A thunderous roar from the depths of their Souls caused the tens of thousands of survivors on the plaza to vomit blood simultaneously.

The pillar of energy, which had already climbed to 99%, seemed to be firmly throttled by an invisible, divine giant hand, unable to advance a single step.

The formation collapsed.

The power that had been converging like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea was instantly cut off.

A deathly gray despair surfaced on everyone's faces.

At the very moment hope was within reach, it was utterly crushed.

“It's the God... personally intervening.”

The Great Elder of the Tomb Keepers looked up, his voice dry and filled with helplessness.

The golden chain that tore through the Void Realm and directly lashed the Engine Core bore the Divine Might of “Order,” far surpassing any previous attack.

This was undisguised, direct suppression from a higher dimension.

It announced that this struggle of ants—this game—was over.

Outside the Ark, the Giant Golden Capture Net that was slowly closing suddenly accelerated.

The entire Tomb of the Epoch groaned under the strain of this force; massive rock formations began to disintegrate, and the spatial structure was being forcibly distorted and folded.

Ten seconds at most.

Everything here would be compressed into a dense Energy Singularity, becoming a trophy for the God.

Subconsciously, everyone's gaze converged once more on the center of the formation.

That figure was still standing.

His face was no longer just pale, but had a nearly transparent quality, as if he might dissipate at any moment.

His body swayed as if he would collapse in the next second.

But he did not fall.

Lin Fan slowly opened his dim eyes.

His gaze passed through all the despairing faces, through the thick hull of the Ark, as if seeing the tightening giant golden net and the high-and-mighty, indifferent will behind it.

'Not giving me a chance, huh...'

'Not even giving me a single second of lucky chance.'

'Truly overbearing.'

Lin Fan's heart was strangely calm, without the usual frantic mental chatter.

He could feel that his divinity, under the backlash of that majestic power, was already covered in cracks and on the verge of shattering.

Conventional methods were no longer useful.

The gamble had reached the final moment, and the opponent had flipped the table.

In that case... I can only flip the table as well.

He didn't look at anyone, but simply raised his hand and slowly pressed it against his chest, where the core of his divinity was located.

His movements were very slow and light.

Zhao Linger's heart suddenly tightened; an ominous premonition left her nearly breathless.

“Don't...”

She spoke subconsciously, her voice so weak it was almost inaudible.

At that moment, the corners of Lin Fan's mouth curled into an extremely subtle arc that only he could understand.

It was a smile mixed with madness, resolve, and a hidden anticipation for the death reward.

'Dammit, I have to die again.'

'If I don't pull a golden future this time, I'm not done with this crappy System!'

One final thought flashed through his consciousness.

In the next instant, he made a move that no one could understand.

The fingers of the hand pressed against his chest suddenly tightened.

It wasn't defense.

It wasn't mobilizing power.

It was... self-destruction.

“At all costs.”

This was the command he gave to the System, and his own death sentence.

“Analyze it for me! Explode it!”

What he was referring to was the hard-won fragment of the World Origin within him, which was deeply bound to his Soul.

Buzz—

An indescribable light, not from the outside world but from within Lin Fan's body, bloomed violently.

It wasn't the gold of divinity, nor the colors of the elements.

It was the most primitive conceptual light, representing “existence” itself.

[Warning! Detected Host is executing a self-destructive command!]

[Forcibly executing Fusion with World Origin... Fusion degree increasing!]

[Warning! The divinity rank core cannot withstand the power of the Origin and is shattering!]

[divinity rank falling: Lv.9... Lv.7... Lv.5...]

“Pfft—”

Lin Fan could no longer stand straight; he suddenly doubled over as a liquid mixed with golden divine blood and Origin fragments sprayed from his mouth.

His body was cracking.

Every inch of skin and every bone was being torn apart by the Origin power erupting from within, far exceeding his limit of endurance.

Agony was no longer enough to describe what he felt.

His consciousness was being ground into powder.

But his eyes, which were about to lose their luster, stared fixedly at a certain point in the void.

There, the Law chains were bound to the Jump Engine.

'Break...'

'For me!'

BOOM!

An invisible shockwave, formed purely from the power of the World Origin, crashed from Lin Fan's body toward the core engine deep beneath the Ark.

This was a suicidal attack.

Using the fragment of a “World” to strike the shackles of “Heavenly Principles.”

The golden Law chain of Order seemed to sense this power of the same level, yet more violent and primitive.

It jolted violently.

The Order runes on the surface of the chain flickered frantically at an unprecedented speed, attempting to suppress this riot from the “World” itself.

However, what Lin Fan detonated was the Origin.

It was “existence” itself before the birth of rules.

Crack—

A crisp sound, like glass shattering, echoed clearly in everyone's Soul.

A tiny crack appeared on the surface of that indestructible golden chain of Order, which represented the divine will.

Then, the cracks spread instantly like a spiderweb.

Bang!

The chain exploded at the sound.

The final shackle binding the Jump Engine was forcibly snapped.

“Now is the time!”

“Activate!”

The hoarse roar of the Great Elder of the Tomb Keepers rang through the entire Ark.

Almost at the same instant the chain shattered, he slammed his hand onto the console in front of him.

The energy pillar that had stalled at 99% instantly broke through its constraints.

100%!

Humming—

The ancient epoch Jump Engine, after slumbering for eons, finally let out its first—and last—roar upon awakening.

The entire Ark, along with the space it occupied, began to violently distort and disintegrate.

The vision of all survivors was stretched into bizarre, kaleidoscopic lines.

An irresistible tearing force acted upon everyone's bodies.

The internal structure of the Ark emitted ear-piercing sounds of metal snapping under the immense spatial pressure.

Meanwhile, outside the Ark.

The capture formation, which had shrunk to its limit, sensed the prey's escape.

Without the slightest hesitation, it snapped shut with thunderous momentum.

The golden light formed by billions of Order runes was enough to crush a galaxy.

However, the place where it finally closed was left with only a collapsing, empty void, lingering with the aftershocks of a spatial jump.

The Epoch Ark had vanished.

Within the Jump Tunnel, chaos was the only theme.

There was no up, down, left, or right here, only the churning Spatial Storms capable of shredding gods.

The damaged Ark was like a lone boat out of control in this violent ocean.

Alarms blared shrilly in every corner.

“Warning! Course deviation 90%!”

“Warning! Encountering unknown Spatial Storm! Hull damage 70%!”

“Warning! Energy core overloaded! Imminent shutdown!”

Inside the control room, the Grand Elder gripped the console tightly, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth, his eyes filled with the relief of a narrow escape and bewilderment.

They had escaped.

But they were lost.

In the center of the formation, Lin Fan's body finally slumped powerlessly to the ground.

The light within him had completely extinguished.

His divinity had fallen to Lv.5, like a dust-covered pebble, dull and lusterless.

In the final moment before his consciousness sank completely into darkness, his gaze seemed to penetrate the distorted space-time for one last look at the coordinates that had been utterly crushed by the golden net.

'I... will return.'

He completely lost consciousness.

Dead silence.

The Ark tumbled through the chaotic Jump Tunnel, drifting toward an unknown destination.

Everyone was unconscious from the massive G-force.

In this absolute silence, a cold, emotionless System prompt quietly sounded in the depths of Lin Fan's deathly still Sea of Consciousness.

[Warning: Blind jump has attracted the attention of 'Void Predator'.]

[New environment scan complete: You have arrived at the lawless zone of the 'Crimson Expansion Belt'.]