Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 470 Star Abyss Choice

The cries of the Chaos Infant were like invisible blades piercing everyone's eardrums.

The cries were sharp and piercing, each one seemingly able to penetrate the soul. The fused body felt a "buzz" in her head, her eardrums instantly ruptured, and warm blood flowed down her earlobes. Blood also gushed from her nasal cavity, outlining terrifying blood-red lines on her pale face.

She staggered and grabbed the stone pillar for support. A chill emanated from the rough bronze surface, and the dark vines that sprouted from the cracks had an eerie dampness to them. The eye-shaped protrusions covering the surface of the vines slowly rotated, each eye reflecting her disheveled appearance. Those gazes seemed to carry a tangible weight, making it hard for her to breathe.

Xiao Ying's newly formed body swayed precariously under this oppressive force. Fragments of the blue light crystal floated around her, their light flickering like a halo about to extinguish, ready to dissipate at any moment.

"Destroy the Azure Sphere immediately!"

The old man's voice was urgent and anxious. He swung his scepter with great force, and starlight streaked through the black mist like a meteor, opening a brief passage in the chaos.

But his veil had long been stained a dull gray by the chaotic aura, and the ornaments in his hair flickered erratically, as if they might go out at any moment. "That is the core that controls the loom!"

The fused entity gritted its teeth, and tri-colored light and dark purple patterns surged wildly on its body surface, intertwining to form a suit of armor that shimmered with a strange light.

With each step she took forward, countless masked phantoms swarmed out of the crack, their blades glowing with a ghostly blue light and carrying a chilling, corrosive quality as they mercilessly slashed at her armor.

Each impact sent piercing pain through her arm, leaving charred marks on her skin. Black smoke billowed from the wounds, and the air was filled with the acrid smell of burning flesh.

The man in black robes stood still, showing no intention of dodging, allowing the fused entity to grasp the halberd that exuded an aura of destruction with its bare hands.

His eyes, hidden behind his mask, suddenly became clear and gentle. He reached out and lightly stroked her blood-stained cheek, the movement as gentle as if he were touching a fragile treasure, carrying a hint of reluctance and longing.

"You think I wanted this?"

His voice was no longer filled with malice, but with deep helplessness and pain, each word seeming to be squeezed out from the bottom of his heart: "From the moment the first observer stripped me into the 'shadow,' my fate was already written."

The fused being's pupils contracted sharply as a fragment of unfamiliar memory traveled through his palm.

In that memory, a thousand years ago, in order to balance the power, the guardian resolutely and voluntarily split off the dark side of the black-robed man. However, he did not expect that this decision would plunge the black-robed man into an endless cycle of being corrupted by chaos, with loneliness and pain following him like a shadow.

Just as the fused entity was stunned, the man in black robes suddenly pressed the azure sphere against her chest.

The sphere burst forth with a dazzling, eerie light, within which the complete form of the Loom of Destiny slowly emerged: countless luminous threads were wound around the enormous gears, each thread connecting to different times and lives, the threads flickering as if telling the story of the rise and fall of countless lives.

"To start the loom, one needs the bloodline of the observer, the key of the guardian, and..."

Black blood spilled from the corner of the black-robed man's mouth, and his body began to turn transparent. With each word he spoke, his figure became more and more illusory.

"The sacrifice to the core of chaos. Xiao Ying is the final key."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiaoying's blue crystal fragments suddenly flew uncontrollably toward the stone pillar, spinning rapidly in mid-air and piecing together a holographic projection of the first observer.

The old man in the projection was in tears, his face full of regret and self-blame: "I'm sorry." His voice choked with sobs, full of guilt, "Back then, in order to stop the gatekeeper, I sealed the consciousness of the Chaos Core into the child's body."

The fusion entity turned its head in horror, only to see Xiaoying's body being mercilessly disintegrated by the pillar of light, each piece of light slowly merging into the true form of the chaotic core.

The patterns on the core's surface resonated strongly with the silver mark on her chest. A powerful and terrifying suction force emanated from the core, like a vortex, slowly pulling her closer. Her body moved forward uncontrollably, her feet leaving long trails on the ground.

"stop!"

The old man roared hoarsely, and his scepter suddenly emitted a blinding light. The crystal at the top of the scepter shattered under the immense force, releasing the last power of the first observer.

Amidst the light, twelve golden chains flew towards the core of chaos like giant dragons, their surfaces shimmering with ancient and mysterious runes.

But the giant shadow deep within the crack simply waved its hand, and an invisible force instantly severed the chains. The shockwave from the broken chains swept over the old man like a hurricane, sending him flying. He crashed heavily into the edge of the altar, his body leaving a long trail of blood on the ground. The scepter also slipped from his hand and rolled to the side.

The outline of the colossal shadow gradually became clear in the chaos—it was a terrifying being with a thousand eyes and ten thousand tentacles, each eye reflecting the birth and death of the universe, and space was distorted and deformed wherever its gaze fell.

The fused entity felt the black worms inside her body begin to boil wildly, rampaging through her meridians and forming eerie runes that outlined the mask pattern of a gatekeeper on her skin.

The mask gradually took shape, and an evil and powerful force emanated from it, eroding her consciousness.

Before disappearing, the black-robed figure used his last strength to place the azure sphere into her hand, his voice weak yet firm:

"Use it to connect the loom... to rewrite the ending of all time and space."

After saying this, his body transformed into countless black butterflies, dancing gracefully in the chaos before finally merging into the core of chaos, leaving only a scorching blue sphere in the fused body's hand. On the surface of the sphere, a line of blood-red words appeared: "The price of balance is the eternal slumber of the observer."

Just then, the fragments of the Guardian's armor suddenly vibrated violently in the air, emitting a bright silver-black light.

In the light, a semi-transparent figure slowly emerged. His left eye shimmered with the silver-black mark of a guardian, while his right eye was the scarlet of a gatekeeper. Two completely different powers intertwined within him. In his hand, he held a longsword woven from starlight and chaos, its blade gleaming with a mysterious light.

"let me help you."

His voice carried two different timbres, yet it was incredibly firm, as if it contained boundless power: "This time, I will end my destiny."

The fusion entity took a deep breath, a resolute glint in its eyes, and embedded the azure sphere into the groove of the stone pillar.

The loom of fate roared deafeningly, the entire altar trembled violently, and all the gears began to turn in reverse, making a "click-clack" sound, as if telling the story of the reversal of fate.

The true form of the Chaos Core erupted with dazzling light, and within that light, Xiao Ying's consciousness transmitted its final message:

“Sister, remember… true balance isn’t found on the loom…”

The sound grew weaker and weaker, and after the light dissipated, Xiao Ying's figure completely disappeared, leaving only a faint blue light that slowly drifted away in the air.

The reversal of the loom triggered a terrible backlash in spacetime.

The colossal shadow roared in fury, a sound like the roar of the universe, shaking the entire space to the point of collapse.

Its tentacles, like black mountains, pierced through the altar, tightly binding the fused beings. The tentacles were rough and cold, carrying a powerful sense of oppression. The fused beings felt their consciousness being mercilessly ripped away, their bodies no longer belonging to them.

In countless parallel universes, those masked "selves" simultaneously raised their battle halberds, their eyes empty and indifferent.

From the depths of the rift came the shrill laughter of the Chaos Infant: "You think you can change your fate? All your resistance is nothing but a scene from my script."

Just as the merged entity's vision was about to be swallowed by darkness, she saw the guardian brandishing his longsword, forcefully piercing one of the giant shadow's eyes. The giant shadow let out a painful roar, and blood gushed down like a waterfall.

The fragments of the old man's scepter transformed into starlight, flowing into her body and through her meridians, bringing warmth and strength.