Everyone watched in bated breath as their gazes were locked onto the Abyssal Gates before them, their focus completely fixed because even looking away for a moment felt dangerous, as if they might miss the exact moment everything changes.
It was not that the Mortal Realm had never witnessed another Abyssal Gate. It was just that this was the second Abyssal Gate being opened after millions of years, meaning no living being had ever seen this happen with their own eyes.
Everything known about such events mostly came from records, myths, and preserved memories of higher beings.
As for the first gate that had appeared, it had always remained in stalemate with the Angels guarding it at all times. It was a literal battlefield that never truly stopped, where the Abyss constantly tried to push forward while the Angels continuously suppressed it.
Because of that history, a single thought formed in everyone’s mind.
Is this place going to become the second Immortal Battlefield?
What made the situation worse was that, unlike the restriction placed on the entire realm through the sacrifice of two Goddesses of the Heavenly Realm, who gave up their existence to suppress the Abyssal Gates, the gate standing before them existed despite those laws.
Those restrictions were supposed to prevent exactly this type of large scale gate formation in the Mortal Realm. But somehow the restriction was being undone.
Which would, in the future, also affect the Abyssal Gate located in the Immortal Battlefield.
If a gate without restriction exists here, the balance maintaining restrictions there will slowly weaken too.
That means stronger Abyss beings will eventually be able to enter the Mortal Realm, something that was previously impossible.
But what made everyone’s hearts pound was the fact that the current gate before them had no restrictions on it. In fact, it was slowly removing whatever minor resistance still existed around it, as if something from the other side was actively forcing the gate open.
The Angels readied their weapons with grim and determined expressions, forming combat formations automatically through long trained instinct and divine coordination.
They were preparing not to suppress, but to directly fight whatever was about to emerge.
The Transcendents stood far away at the edge of the Dwarf Continent, specifically positioning themselves there to block shockwaves, spatial collapse, and energy overflow from reaching the main mortal populations.
Their job was not direct combat yet, but damage control and protection of the realm itself.
And the mortals felt their entire existence shrink in fear, their minds and bodies slowly deteriorating under the pressure of so many divine beings existing in one location.
This was not just fear, but instinctive suppression caused by higher existence levels. Some could barely breathe, while others lost consciousness because their bodies could not handle the spiritual pressure.
As for the Dwarf continent, for now it was nothing more than a vast stretch of flattened land, bearing two colossal Gates of Heaven and Abyss, along with the overwhelming presence of millions of Angels.
The mountains that once dominated the landscape had long since collapsed into endless fields of broken stone, unable to endure the ever increasing pressure radiating from the Gates.
Suddenly, a subtle shudder passed through the fabric of space and the ground, caused by the Abyssal energy forcing itself into the Mortal Realm and destabilizing natural space laws.
Along with it, a vast ancient presence began to pour out from the Gates, not fast, but constant and endless, like pressure building behind a dam that had finally cracked.
The presence was endlessly vast, yet close enough to be felt directly. It was corrupted, impure, and demonic, with malicious intent embedded inside it. This was not just energy, but will.
Abyssal will.
Then the gates opened inwardly, and the presence intensified, turning into crushing pressure that pushed down on everyone, causing ground cracks and minor spatial distortions around the gate area.
Those who were flying felt their bodies grow heavier because the surrounding energy density was increasing rapidly, interfering with flight techniques and divine movement methods. Yet they were not weak, thus controlled themselves.
Within moments, the gates were finally opened.
The connection between the Mortal Realm and the Abyss was now direct and stable enough for higher existence beings to cross without being instantly rejected by realm laws.
While the Heavenly Gates had a golden screen covering the entrance, blocking the sight inside, the Abyssal Gates also had a pitch black darkness covering the entrance, completely swallowing any light and blocking the sight inside.
The darkness was not just absence of light, but something that felt dense, like a physical layer separating two realities.
Everyone present, when they looked toward that endlessly vast darkness, felt a sudden chill run through their spine.
It was not simple fear, but an instinctive warning from their soul, like standing at the edge of something that should never exist.
If you look at the Abyss, the Abyss will look at you.
This was not a simple phrase. It was reality, proven countless times in ancient records, where beings who stared too long into Abyssal manifestations lost their sanity, or worse, had their existence slowly eroded. The Abyss was not passive. It was aware.
But unlike the descent of the Heavenly Gates, which was mostly harmless other than the burden and pressure it placed on everything’s existence, whether it was the world of Akumia, the surrounding space, or the people and natural laws themselves, the Abyssal Gates were fundamentally different in nature.
The Heavenly Gates spread radiant energy that, while overwhelming, still nourished the ground and purified the air at a basic level. Their presence was oppressive, but still aligned with order and structure.
The Abyssal Gates, however, carried only decay and corruption.
The moment the Abyssal Gates opened, corruption began to spread into the world around it, not explosively, but steadily, like ink spreading through clear water.
The ground slowly turned black, not just in color but in nature, losing its vitality. The plants, grass, and trees, everything that carried life force, suddenly withered and died as if their energy was being drained from the roots.
Even the air itself began to change, becoming heavy, poisonous, and foul, making breathing difficult for weaker beings and causing nausea and dizziness even in trained warriors.
The Angels were the first to truly feel the deeper effect. Their bloodline became unstable, reacting violently to the presence of something that was their absolute opposite in nature.
Without realizing it, many Angels began releasing more and more pressure into their surroundings, their instincts pushing them into a combat ready state against something their very existence rejected.
Elizabeth and Perseus looked at each other as they also felt the changes. But more than that, they could clearly sense that humans, Elves, and other mortal races across the planet were dying at an increasing rate, unable to withstand the combined pressure of millions of divine beings unconsciously releasing their aura.
They immediately released their own auras, carefully spreading it outward in an attempt to suppress and stabilize the surrounding pressure, creating pockets of survivable space for mortals. But even they knew the truth.
How could just two of them possibly counterbalance the combined pressure of millions?
But fate was on their side. As they struggled to bear the auras of so many Angels while still shielding the mortals below, a sonic boom suddenly echoed above them, tearing through the heavy atmosphere like a signal of arrival.
Elizabeth looked up and smiled brightly, relief and confidence flashing across her face. "They actually came at the correct time."
There, she saw countless dots speeding toward their position, each one radiating immense power that distorted the surrounding space slightly as they moved.
"True, the space is solidified due to the Gates, otherwise they would have arrived much sooner," Perseus spoke in the same calm voice, though there was a faint easing of tension in his eyes.
Even though they were facing the pressure of millions, they themselves were still stable. The real strain came from extending their protection over the mortals below, constantly redirecting and absorbing fragments of divine pressure that would otherwise kill millions.
Due to the sudden entry of a large number of beings, even the Angels noticed the arrival of the reinforcements, many of them turning their gazes upward in silent acknowledgement.
Their number was nearly ten thousand, but if one observed closely, they would notice that all of their cultivation was above God Rank, firmly within the Celestial Rank, placing them far beyond ordinary divine existences.
But not all of them were Transcendents. Only a few dozen were, which was considered normal.
After all, their organization was never composed of only Transcendents. As the Transcendents were barely few thousands.
From across the mortal realms, many individuals who had left their original worlds in search of greater power eventually found their way to the Transcendents.
That path offered them a way to overcome their natural limitations, while also giving them a sense of belonging within the vast and often indifferent universe.
Although the Path of Genesis offered them power, treading the Path of Transcendents too would make them a peerless monster.
While Elizabeth and Perseus spoke with the newcomers, quickly sharing the information of what had happened and the current state of the Abyssal Gates, the rest who arrived with them immediately spread out through out various continents and took upon themselves the majority of the burden created by the aura released by the Angels.
At least people were not dying for now, though the atmosphere still remained heavy with danger.
But before they could even rest or take a breather, the darkness of the Abyssal Gates suddenly shimmered, as if disturbed by something from the other side, and then someone walked out.
Filling the world with pin drop silence.
The being that stepped out of the Abyssal Gates looked like something that should never have been allowed to exist within reality.
Its figure was tall like the angels and unnaturally slender, like a shadow that had learned how to stand upright. Long strands of pitch black hair fell over its shoulders and chest, moving slightly as if touched by a wind that did not exist in this world.
The darkness around its body did not behave like normal shadows, instead it clung to it, almost like living smoke trying to crawl back into its corpse like skin.
From its head rose multiple massive horns, curved and jagged, stretching outward and upward like twisted branches of an ancient dead tree. They looked heavy, ancient, and impossibly dense, carrying an oppressive aura that made space itself feel suffocated around them.
At the center of its forehead, a single red eye burned like a dying star. It was not bright in a warm way. It was sharp, cold, and observant, as if it was not just looking at the world, but dissecting it layer by layer.
The faint glow from that eye reflected across its pale, almost corpse-like face, making the black liquid streaks running down from its eyes look even more unnatural, like tears formed from pure corruption.
Its lips rested in a neutral line, pale and still, giving away no emotion, no intent, no trace of thought.
That expressionless mouth made its presence feel even more unsettling, like it had no need to show feeling to beings it considered insignificant.
Around it, fragments of dark matter and broken particles floated slowly.
The air felt heavy, suffocating, and wrong, like breathing inside a place where life was never meant to exist.
It simply stood there, its presence alone enough to make instincts across the battlefield scream danger.
And then, when the creature looked at its surroundings, at the Angels, the Transcendents, the mortals, and the world itself...
A creepy smile slowly appeared on his face, as if the very act of observing existence was enough to amuse him in a way no living being could understand.
Its lips stretched into a thin, unnatural curve, the skin pulling just slightly too far, revealing sharp, uneven teeth that looked more like jagged weapons than something meant for a mouth.
They were not aligned like natural teeth, and that subtle imperfection made the smile feel even more disturbing, as if it belonged to something that only imitated life rather than truly being alive.
**