CHAPTER 409: OH! I

Far, far across space.

In the cosmic depths where reality bent under forces too immense for ordinary matter to withstand, nine Black Holes danced their eternal waltz of gravitational supremacy.

Each one was a stellar titan that had collapsed beyond the event horizon of conventional existence, their combined presence warping space-time.

The gravitational tides they generated should have torn apart anything foolish enough to venture near their terrible embrace, yet at the very heart of their impossible formation sat something that made a mockery of cosmic forces.

A white shrine gleamed like captured starlight against the absolute darkness that surrounded the singularities. Its crystalline walls remained unmarked by the gravitational storms that raged around it, while delicate spires rose toward heights that existed in dimensions beyond normal perception!

The structure was beautiful...too perfect, too pure, as if someone had crystallized the concept of celestial architecture and given it physical form.

Within the shrine’s impossible interior, miniaturized moons floated in perfect suspension, each one no larger than a human head yet containing the compressed essence of entire worlds. Above each moon hung a bell crafted from materials that sang with the accumulated wisdom, their surfaces inscribed with runes that shifted and flowed like living calligraphy.

At the shrine’s heart, a golden tower stretched upward.

And within that tower, twelve auras blazed with power that made Stellar Genesis Embodiment seem like the first tentative steps of evolution.

Two of the entities conversed with the casual ease of beings who had witnessed the birth and death of galactic clusters, their voices carrying weavings that made the shrine’s crystalline walls ring with resonance.

"Morgana remains absolutely unmatched," one declared, her form radiating excitement that could have ignited gas giants. "Who in their right mind throws entire galaxies at their opponent until they submit? I genuinely regret not witnessing that display in person!"

"The Universal War Competition has produced remarkable champions over the eons, but none quite so... enthusiastic in their approach to cosmic violence."

Their discussion continued with the relaxed pace of beings who measured conversations in geological epochs, but their casual exchange was suddenly interrupted by a sound that transformed their amusement into something approaching shock.

DING! DING! DING!

One of the bells above the floating moons began to ring with notes that carried across dimensional barriers, its bronze surface glowing with symbols that had not activated for millennia.

The sound was not merely audible...it was a vibration that touched the fundamental frequencies of existence itself, announcing truths that reality could no longer contain!

The woman turned toward the source of the tolling with confusion that quickly transformed into growing alarm. "Is this a warning bell or a notification bell? I don’t recall this particular chime..."

But her question died unfinished as she witnessed her companion rise from his position with an expression of absolute horror.

Power erupted from his enhanced form in waves that made the shrine’s walls pulse.

"This is the Tolling of Taboo!" he declared. "A tolling that signals the Star Weave has detected reverberations of the most horrid Taboo of them all...the Adrastia Taboo! Fuck...Fuck!"

The woman’s expression shifted from confusion to grim understanding as the implications struck her with the force of colliding neutron stars!

She rose with movements that carried their own gravitational authority, her enhanced consciousness already reaching out to communication networks that spanned galactic distances.

"Alert the Nine Star Emperors immediately!" her companion commanded, his voice carrying urgency that transcended normal hierarchy and protocol. "The last time these bells rang, the Star Seas endured hundreds of years of warfare! I thought that lineage was extinct beyond any possibility of resurrection! Fuck me!"

HUUM!

Across the shrine, other entities began stirring as ancient warning systems activated protocols that had remained dormant since the last great purge.

The very foundations of cosmic weavings were about to be tested by forces that most civilizations had relegated to cautionary tales told to frighten children.

Terrifying undercurrents began spreading through the hidden networks that connected cosmic powers across impossible distances, carrying with them whispers of a name that had once made emperors flee into the deep void and caused entire star sectors to unite in desperate alliance.

The Adrastia Taboo had returned.

And it eas unknown exactly how...they had been alerted to it.

What could have possibly acted as a signal?!

---

Light-years away, in the expanding Sea of Thalassara where stellar waters now flowed through space with the grace of living aurora, a very different gathering was taking place.

Achilles sat upon his throne of crystallized starwater, its flowing surfaces reflecting the radiance of cosmic forces that bent reality according to his will. Around him, the impossible sight of his family and allies marveling at wonders that redefined the boundaries of what individual power could accomplish filled him with satisfaction.

Arya bounced with enthusiastic energy, her silver-green hair catching starlight as she gestured toward the eight massive Void-Born Thalassarian Sovereigns that floated in perfect formation nearby.

"They’re going to be the bouncers of our empire!" she declared with the bright confidence of childhood, her words carrying implications that would have terrified civilizations if they could comprehend the scope of what she was describing so casually.

Sun, the Monkey King, floated beside her with an expression that cycled between incredulous amazement and existential bewilderment.

Behind him, the leaders of Ancient Lineages gazed upon the moon-sized biological weapons with expressions that mixed awe and carefully controlled terror.

The Magitech Throne Aliya maintained her position beside Dr. Shaw and other enhanced beings who had sworn allegiance to powers they were still struggling to fully comprehend.

Each one radiated the distinctive auras of Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendents, yet in the presence of the Void-Born Thalassarian Sovereigns, they seemed diminished...not lessened in their own capabilities, but made aware of how much further the hierarchy of power extended beyond what they had previously imagined possible.

Achilles observed these scenes with the detached interest of someone who had learned to appreciate the reactions his capabilities inspired, but his attention was already turning toward more immediate concerns!

The throne beneath him rotated with movements that carried their own gravitational authority, allowing him to gaze outward at the vast expanse where the Sea of Thalassara continued its relentless expansion into territories that had never known the touch of underwater empires.

This was what he had to protect. This was what justified every sacrifice, every moral compromise, every choice that pushed him further from the man he had once been toward something that operated according to principles beyond human understanding.

He had to become unfathomably strong. Not just for vengeance, not just for conquest, but for the preservation of everything that mattered in a place that seemed designed to destroy anyone who dared to love something more than their own survival!