That message, manifesting unbidden in the depths of its mind, poured over the Lightchaser like icy water, freezing its gleeful calculations in an instant.

Before it could comprehend the source or meaning of the information, before it could fully suppress that absurd, terrifying conjecture…

BOOM!!!!!!

A deafening roar erupted from the heavens!

Not sound, but the wail of an entire world!

The Lightchaser instinctively “looked up” in terror. A fleeting, overwhelming pressure caused its pure luminous body to fluctuate violently with extreme fear.

The sacred realm it inhabited, shrouded in eternal radiance, had just undergone a soul-shaking tremor without warning.

Above the firmament, the divine barrier woven from countless sacred laws—guardian of the Radiant Civilization for eons—now emitted a piercing, overburdened distortion!

Visible ripples spread madly across its surface, as if an invisible, irresistible giant hand were brutishly squeezing the entire world from outside!

The world membrane beneath the barrier undulated wildly, seemingly gravely damaged.

“Which madman?! Which high god has lost its mind, daring to harm the world’s origin?!” This was the Lightchaser’s instinctive first reaction.

It could not—would not—entertain the possibility of external invasion.

How mighty was the Radiant Civilization?

They ruled countless worlds, with innumerable high gods, and the supreme God of Gods standing as one of the greatest existences at the pinnacle of the endless void!

Who would dare invade? Who could?

Yet, after that knee-jerk response, it involuntarily recalled the message that had appeared in its thoughts.

That terrifying conjecture it desperately denied gnawed at its core like a venomous serpent.

“No! Impossible! It must be my own delirium… Even the God of Gods couldn’t, across the endless void, for a mere trivial probe…” It flickered frantically, attempting to dispel this belief-shattering notion with vehement denial.

“No, your deduction is quite correct.”

The message appeared again in its mind.

Calm, indifferent, yet with the certainty of a verdict.

This time, perhaps because it had once more linked to the other’s mental activity, strengthening some ethereal connection…

Buzz!!!!!

An indescribable, incomprehensible terror—transcending all its known categories—descended abruptly, ignoring all spatiotemporal rules and dimensional barriers!

Like the full weight of the endless void, it pressed down squarely and without flourish upon the Radiant World Cluster!

The outermost divine barrier’s burden intensified instantly, shattering like glass with scarcely any resistance!

The world membrane beneath twisted in the same moment, on the verge of collapse.

“Enemy attack!!!”

A shrill divine sense alarm laced with boundless terror swept the Radiant Civilization’s core in an instant!

Majestic figures, ordinarily secluded in their divine kingdoms, surged skyward like a disturbed hive, brimming with vast divine power and mingled rage and shock.

Their numbers and divine might were enough to reduce any known invader to ashes in a heartbeat.

Yet, upon emerging at the world’s edge and sensing the force upon the membrane, the gods’ fury swiftly gave way to disbelief and bone-deep horror!

That power… tyrannical, vast, infused with an absolute “dominance” they could not comprehend!

“Insolence!”

A cold snort of fury thundered like genesis lightning, momentarily stabilizing part of the world’s tremors.

In the Lightchaser’s excited, reverent gaze, the supreme ruler of the Radiant Civilization—the God of Gods—finally appeared!

Its form shrouded in endless sacred radiance, its aura so potent that all restless gods calmed involuntarily.

Every being bowed in that moment, hope reigniting in their hearts.

With the God of Gods present, the Radiant Civilization was invincible!

Yet, the God of Gods’ face held none of its usual detachment and majesty—only unprecedented gravity.

Its gaze pierced the world membrane toward the source.

All present instinctively followed Its line of sight…

The next instant, every god—including the Lightchaser, nearly unraveling—beheld a sight they would never forget, even in their nightmares:

In the nothingness beyond the world cluster, at some unknown point, a… palm had appeared!

A palm so immense it halted thought!

It was faintly illusory, a paradoxical amalgam of energy, matter, laws, even concepts themselves—indefinable by any known knowledge.

But its form was unmistakably a human palm!

And its size…

The Radiant Civilization ruled a vast cluster of countless plane groups.

Yet the entire cluster was as insignificant as a few specks of dust in a giant’s hand before this slowly extending palm!

“Bind!”

The God of Gods roared, shaking the universe, Its hands forming the profound divine seal of the Radiant Civilization’s supreme authority!

In that moment, countless plane groups, demi-planes, even powerful divine kingdoms around the Radiant World summoned into existence!

Their lights merged, powers interlinking, then twisted and deformed into innumerable colossal chains flickering with star-shattering brilliance.

This was the God of Gods’ strongest binding divine art, capable of shackling peers and suppressing all rebellion!

Each chain represented a sacrificed, refined world!

The dense chains ensnared the descending palm, wrapping it impenetrably.

Crack… crack… snap!!!!!

Yet, under the gods’ constricting pupils, these chains—each embodying a world’s full power and laws—were as fragile as children’s toys before the giant hand.

They couldn’t slow it even slightly, shattering one after another upon contact, blooming brief fireworks of destruction in the void.

Each chain’s break meant a world’s utter annihilation.

The giant hand ignored this seemingly heroic yet futile resistance, closing with despairing casualness toward the Radiant World Cluster.

“Impossible!!”

The God of Gods unleashed a roar of ultimate fury. Divine power erupted at unprecedented intensity, forming a radiant silhouette larger than the entire cluster, its light illuminating nearby star domains!

This silhouette gathered the God of Gods’ full might and the civilization’s will and faith, crashing toward the giant hand with heaven-shattering force!

The terrifying clash blinded all perception. The Lightchaser, born amid radiance, felt “dazzled” for the first time.

From birth, it had heard endless praises of the God of Gods and subconsciously believed It unbeatable.

But the mental message and the God of Gods’ performance instilled a subconscious dread.

Soon, the God of Gods emitted a screech that stunned all present gods:

“Why… we are both ninth tier?! Impossible!!!”

It sensed the opponent’s power at the same realm, yet the mastery, the essential… “quality” gap was abyssal!

The next second, amid indescribable thunder, the God of Gods’ colossal divine silhouette—condensing civilization’s might—shattered like a crystal statue struck by a hammer!

Billions of sacred radiances scattered, like a grand funeral.

The giant hand effortlessly crushed the Radiant Civilization’s strongest resistance, then fingers curled slightly, grasping the entire cluster as casually as picking pebbles from a stream.

…

…

In the void depths, distant beyond any spatiotemporal concept, where even causal lines blurred.

A young wizard in plain gray robes, indistinguishable from an ordinary human, slowly retracted his extended right hand.

He looked down, gazing at his palm with interest.

There, a landscape miniaturized billions of times rotated slowly—the Radiant World Cluster.

Countless radiant gods within, like insects trapped in amber, futilely battered the invisible barrier, emanating despair and fear.

Among them, a particularly bright light cluster—constantly trying to hide yet inescapably exposed—stood out.

The young wizard’s lips curved in a faint arc, as if completing a trivial task.

He casually squeezed the “miniature landscape” in his palm. The vast cluster, enough to tremble countless civilizations, compressed silently amid wails into a marble-sized orb, still flickering with struggling lights.

Then, like savoring a passable snack, he tossed the orb—containing countless worlds and gods—into his mouth.

“My lord…?”

Behind him, a wizard with an aura obscure as the abyss inquired cautiously.

Deep in his gaze lingered unrest from the shock.

Though not the first witness, such might still swayed the soul.

“Nothing.” The young wizard waved dismissively, tone as flat as brushing off dust. “An impudent little bug sniffed from afar—I cleaned it up en route. Continue. These enemies ahead are tougher than anticipated; they merit a touch more seriousness.”

Behind him, the boundless, iron-silent wizard legions instantly quelled all ripples from the void-spanning interlude.

The torrent of destruction surged forward once more.