Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1102 Ether Level Seven

Inside the cockpit of the Holy Judgment Mech, Kondraki slowly raised his gaze, staring at the chaotic spectrum structure that was condensing, reorganizing, and gradually becoming complete. Black data streams and indescribable symbols flickered and intertwined in his retinal projection, like a set of divine formulas that were evolving on their own, while the values ​​on the status bar were almost approaching their limits.

[Mechanical Ascension: 99.99%]

[CNA write-through: 99.99%]

Chaotic writes: 99.99%

[Ophiuchus Protocol Control: 49.99%]

[Current Chaos Rank: Chosen of Chaos → Lord of Chaos (Preparing to ascend to Demonic Realm!!!)]

Kondrati could clearly feel that state of being just one step away—not a lack of strength, but a sluggish feeling that his status had not been completely reversed, like standing on the edge of a cliff, with nothing beneath his feet, yet his body was still being dragged along by the inertia of the old world.

Kondrati knew very well that the stagnation hanging on the edge of consciousness did not come from a lack of power, nor from the fear of failure, but from a more cruel and honest resistance.

The shift in status has not yet been completed; the self is still being dragged along by the inertia of the old order, as if standing at the very edge of a precipice, with utter nothingness beneath one's feet. The wind howls up from the abyss, yet there are still invisible ropes behind, binding the former self, unwilling to let go.

This is the third level of loneliness.

It is not the loneliness of being abandoned, nor the loneliness of being at odds with everyone, but rather the consciousness that begins to devour itself in extreme introspection; amidst the noisy crowd, grand narratives, and lofty slogans, it is instead gnawed and stripped away by reality, leaving only a "me" that can no longer be concealed by any identity label.

This loneliness forced him to confront the essence of himself.

So, deep in his consciousness, for the first time without any excuse, he examined himself—what kind of person was Kondrati?

He was once highly anticipated, regarded as a future asset, and placed on a chessboard called inheritance. He was qualified, had potential, and had a resume, and was even presumed to sit in the core of power in heaven.

He did indeed walk that path, experiencing two supernatural wars that were enough to change the course of civilization, seeing how glory was interpreted as sacrifice, how order could become a lie when necessary, and how so-called legitimacy could be layered on top of corpses.

It was at that moment that he realized that as long as one remains within the system, one is forever just a variable to be invoked, merely the correct answer that is allowed to exist.

What does he want?
It wasn't for justice, revenge, or even to save anyone, but rather out of an almost naked desire—to refuse to be defined by any authority, to refuse to be judged by any ready-made morality, and to refuse to let the value of one's existence depend on the meaning written by others.

Kondrati understood that what he was pursuing was never chaos itself, but a state of being that was no longer swallowed up by any narrative.

He has always known what he wants—he no longer wants to be anyone's pawn.

Once you become a [miracle], no one can treat you like a pawn, taking whatever they want from you as they please!
Therefore, Kondrati did not hesitate any longer.

In the instant he made the decision, Kondratiev voluntarily abandoned the last shred of attachment to the survival of humanity, choosing instead to use chaos theory as a ladder to advance to a higher level—no longer remaining a Chaos Lord, but stepping onto that truly irreversible path, charging towards becoming a Chaos Servant (Ascended).

It is important to know that chaos exists in nine stages:

Chaos Servants and Mutants → Chaos Warrior Class ≤ Chaos Demon (Warrior) → Chaos Champion → Chaos Chosen → Chaos Lord → Chaos Servant (Ascended) ≤ Chaos Archdeacon → Ether Lord.

The Chaos Demon was directly created and separated by the Ether Lord, and is in the eighth rank, belonging to a special independent rank; while the Ascended Demon, although only in the seventh rank, is the highest rank that other beings can reach after surrendering to Chaos... Sometimes he can even show a more terrifying strength than the Demon.

Kondratiev knew very well that it was nearly impossible to break through the seventh level of the Aether using the incomplete Ophiuchus Protocol, so he needed to draw upon the power of Chaos. Only in this way could he use the Judgment Mechs as a wedge for a miracle and complete a true leap.

You asked him if his defection to Chaos meant betraying his original intention—to no longer be anyone's pawn.

His answer was: How can that be the same?

He had only relied on the power of chaos to create the [miracle]. Once he completed his ascension to demonhood, he would no longer be borrowing chaos, but would become a part of chaos.

A good Ascended Demon is no worse than a Chaos Archmage.

If he successfully ascends to demonhood, he will at least be a Chaos Prince.

At that time, the four monarchs could not treat him as a pawn to be taken at will, and he was even able to be on equal footing with them in some aspects.

Therefore, it was not chaos that exploited him, but rather he that exploited chaos.

"I am the one who plays the game!!!"

The next moment, the four chaotic crowns behind the Holy Judgment Mech simultaneously burst into flames.

The crimson killing ring lit up first, burning like molten blood copper, with violent geometric patterns spinning wildly within it;

Following closely behind was a strange and dazzling ring of change, its purple-blue luster like a logic that was constantly rewriting itself.

The third crown tinged with a corrupt, dark green, heavy and viscous, as if even time itself was decaying within it;
The final ring of bliss glows with a dazzling pinkish-gold, soft and sweet, yet possessing a nauseatingly deadly allure.

Four distinct chaotic wills were activated at the same moment, like four alien stars igniting simultaneously.

The value was forcibly filled in at that moment.

[Mechanical Ascension: 100%]

[CNA write-through: 100%]

Chaotic writes: 100%

[Ophiuchus Protocol Control: 50.00%]

Along with the refreshed notification, a series of dull and continuous mechanical roars came from inside the cockpit. Countless pipes, interfaces, and neural rails seemed to have been waiting for this moment, piercing into Kondrati's body at the same time. His bones were disassembled into structural supports, his flesh was broken down into biological substrates, and his consciousness was compressed, reprogrammed, and embedded into the core logic circuit.

The wound left by Dr. Gear lost all meaning of "pain" at this moment, and instead became the best interface for the infusion of chaotic energy.

The human form has been completely erased in a systemic sense.

When the last physiological signal was cut off, the optical lens of the Holy Judgment Mech suddenly lit up, the cold golden light mixed with unfathomable darkness. It was no longer the gaze of the pilot looking at the world, but the gaze of an existence that had completed the dual upgrade of [machine-chaos], opening its eyes to reality for the first time in its own name.

The moment it completed its dual upgrade, the Holy Judgment Mech... or rather, Condragi did not take another step toward the Evangelical Mech, nor did it even maintain the most basic combat stance.

Because at this moment, Kondrati knew better than anyone else that time was no longer on the side of the battle; he couldn't kill his opponent, and his opponent couldn't hit him in his current upgraded state.

Kondrati is currently unselectable.

The chaotic ascension to demonic state has fully unfolded. It is not a path that can be walked slowly, but a cliffside cableway that must be rushed to the end in one breath. If he stops for even a moment in the middle, he will be devoured, assimilated by the power he has attracted, and completely become a vessel for the chaotic will, rather than the being that controls it.

So he no longer hesitated.

Charon's land fell silent at that moment, and the longitudinal energy spine in the center of the Holy Judgment Mech's chest suddenly lit up, with black data flames and chaotic spectra collapsing, superimposing, and reconstructing at high speed inside.

[Loading begins: Ether Level 7 —]

The next instant, a pure, almost conceptual black beam of light shot straight out from his chest, like a divine spear that pierced through heaven and earth, forcefully tearing open the originally invisible and untouchable barrier between reality and the ether. The moment the rift opened, space seemed to be forcibly turned over, emitting a shattering sound that made one's soul go numb.

That wasn't an explosion, but the sound of layers being opened.

Where the black beam of light touched, the world began to show layered bands of color.

Starting from the deepest ruby ​​color, intense and blinding red light surges like a gamma radiation storm. Radioactive particles accelerate the decay of real matter, causing rock layers and metals to age and disintegrate rapidly in the light—the first layer, the Reality Layer (Ruby-/Red).

Next comes the orange topaz layer, where the spectrum becomes intense and turbulent, and energy flows intertwine like an out-of-control neural network—the second layer, the etheric link layer/the spiritual projection area (topaz/orange).

Further up, the lemon yellow layer is like a stretched time film, where physical processes are delayed, replayed, and misaligned—the third layer, the Ethernet layer/Ethernet Starry Sky (lemon yellow/yellow).

Within the malachite-green layer, spiritual projections begin to take shape, with phantoms and realities overlapping each other, and causal lines visibly intertwining—the Fourth Guiding Layer: Etheric Transmission Layer/Information Authority Flow Layer (Malachite/Green).

The sapphire-blue Ethernet layer unfolds like an endless starry sky, where information and existence itself converge, transmit, and recombine—the fifth layer: the information interaction and modification layer/fragments of laws.
Subsequently, the ebony-colored layer of authority descended, and the laws were no longer a background, but manifested as a structure that could be touched and torn apart—the sixth layer, the etheric authority/law (ebony/black).

At the very top, in the super ebony region that almost devours all light, the narrative itself is solidifying, and the world's "why it is so" awaits rewriting here—the seventh layer, the etheric essence/narrative layer (super ebony/black hole).

The Holy Judgment Mechs did not stop.

Kondrati surged upwards along the black beam of light he had torn open, his body being stretched, compressed, and reshaped during the jump. The Chaos Crown burned behind him in four out-of-control ring-shaped trajectories. His existence was being forcibly pushed into the structure of the "Seventh Level of Ether" to compete for that passage that belonged only to the great spiritual.

Above Charon, only the black light that pierced the heavens and the world that had been torn apart remained.

Inside the cockpit of the Gospel Machine, time seemed to be artificially stretched out.

The shockwaves from the tearing apart of the outer etheric layer still lingered, but Xia Xiu did not issue any new combat orders. He simply stood quietly in front of the light sphere control interface, letting the crystalline armor on the back of the machine slowly glow and dim under high-load heat dissipation, because he knew very well that Condragi had embarked on an upgrade from which there was no turning back.

And he himself is standing on the other side of the same cliff.

Amund's data ghost hovered in the center of the cockpit, but at this moment it appeared extremely unstable. His outline was like a projection that was being constantly disassembled and reassembled. Symbols, codes, and ancient marks of authority traveled back and forth within his body. This was a manifestation of the Ophiuchus Protocol being forcibly split, rewritten, and infused. Half of the Ophiuchus Protocol was being written into Xia Xiu's information integration body through the Ether interface.

Xia Xiu could clearly sense that it was not an injection of power, but a kind of structural integration.

Armand's voice became intermittent during this process, yet it was exceptionally clear, as if he was deliberately slowing down his speech to ensure that every concept could be understood, not just received.

"Many people have always believed that the so-called upgrade is a leap in power, a qualitative change from the mundane to the extraordinary."

Amund whispered:
"But that's just the surface. The real upgrade is a leap in information level, and whether your existence can carry information with higher density and higher order."

He raised his hand, and the light screen in the cockpit unfolded, displaying a constantly calculating structural diagram of the Ophiuchus Protocol.

"In fact, life and information are closely related. One of the major characteristics of life is local entropy reduction. Of course, this process will actually increase the entropy of the entire system, but local entropy reduction is allowed for non-closed systems."

"So what is information?"

"There is no information in a completely chaotic system, and its entropy is at its maximum. In other words, information and entropy are directly related."

"What I want to say is that life itself is a carrier of information. The difference between it and a USB flash drive is that life itself has the characteristics of increasing information, causing negative entropy and polarization. For example, a virus carries 1 unit of information. It uses the materials in the cell to replicate itself, which increases the amount of information to N units. This is a characteristic of life."

"Another way is growth. A person grows from a fertilized egg into an adult. This process is the massive replication and expression of DNA that constitutes a person. From an information perspective, it is the continuous increase of information in DNA. Each DNA molecule takes out a portion of information to express and control the composition of proteins, eventually becoming a person."

"Life is essentially a negative entropy structure."

Amund continued to explain:

"In a universe that is generally chaotic, the appearance of something highly ordered in a localized area is itself an anomaly, and life is the ultimate manifestation of this anomaly. It constantly extracts energy from the environment and transforms disorder into replicable and scalable information structures."

His tone became meaningful.

“You grow, you think, you remember, you choose. These are not abstract behaviors, but rather the expansion and polarization of information within you. You are not a ‘body with consciousness’; you are an ever-expanding collection of information.”

"And in the world we live in, there exists an entity that we can access—the Ocean of Ether, which contains all information."

"Within the Ether Ocean—like begets like, parts influence the whole, and observation alters reality."

Xia Xiu didn't interrupt, but the computing frequency of his planet module quietly increased.

As if sensing this, Amund nodded slightly and continued:
"When the density of information is below a certain threshold, it can only be attached to a carrier such as the body, machine, or soul. But once you try to touch the miracle, you are no longer facing power, but the question of whether the structure will collapse."

"Miracles don't happen out of thin air."

His voice suddenly deepened:

"It is a rewriting of the underlying rules of the Ether Ocean, and rewriting the rules relies not on willpower, but on a sufficiently high-level and stable information framework."

The symbol of the Ophiuchus Protocol lit up behind him, like a chain that pierced through multiple layers of reality.

"A protocol is a framework."

Armand said, word by word, "It has always been a command procedure, a passport, a narrative framework that allows your information structure to remain consistent, unbroken, and unassimilated across the seven layers of the Ether."

"Without an agreement, there are only two possible outcomes for a forced upgrade—either it will be crushed by information from a higher level, or it will be swallowed up by chaos and become its extension."

He paused for a moment, his tone cold to the point of cruelty:
"Kondrati chose the latter; he used chaos to build himself a temporary ascension scaffold, but that is not a steady state."

Amund's projection blurred a little more. The other half of the Ophiuchus Protocol split into countless logical nodes in the light screen, slowly embedding into Xia Xiu's information integration body. At that moment, Xia Xiu clearly felt a change—not an increase in power, but that the world in his eyes became easier to understand, arrange, and write.

Amund concluded by saying:
“The information upgrade of a miracle is not a true upgrade, because you will still maintain the anchor information of humanity rather than become a supreme god; a miracle is not a divine sign, but that you finally have the authority to make reality accept your modification.”

A brief silence returned to the cockpit.

Xia Xiu slowly raised his head, and the azure halo rotated steadily deep in his pupils. His synchronization rate was still firmly suppressed below the danger threshold, but he could clearly see that the path to the seventh level of the ether was being laid out again in front of him by lines of protocols and logic.

After Armand finished speaking, a very brief but unusually heavy silence fell over the cockpit of the Evangelistic Machine.

The figure of the data ghost continued to distort and disintegrate in the light screen. The originally clear outline of authority was stretched into broken light and shadow traces, like the marks of an old era blown away by the wind. Amond took one last look at Xia Xiu. There was no longer any calculation or authority in his eyes, only a kind of weariness that was almost human.

“Go,” his voice became very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something, “catch up with Kondratiev…and end all this in the seventh level.”

Xia Xiu glanced at the old demon king in silence, and then said nothing more.

He reached out and gently pressed a button on the control panel. [Loading Begins: Ether Level 7—]

The next moment, the core of the Evangelion Machine's chest cavity suddenly lit up, and a pure, almost sharp silver beam of light burst out from the gaps in the armor, like the light of order compressed to its limit. It directly pierced through the still unclosed etheric rift above Charon, and the seven-layer structure appeared—no longer an abstract concept, but a real cross-section unfolding layer by layer like huge colored ribbons.

Without hesitation, the Gospel Machine accelerated forcefully along the silver light trail. The entire machine was stretched into a thin beam of light during the jump, before disappearing completely into the rift.

The moment the machine passed through the ruby ​​layer, Xia Xiu's senses were brutally reset.

The blinding crimson was no longer a color, but a state of being with a radiating burning sensation. Every outline in the field of vision was vibrating at a high frequency, as if the world itself was in a continuous gamma burst. The light became heavy, as if it were pressing down on the retina with mass, and every sensory feedback was accompanied by a subtle but undeniable pain.

Time no longer flows linearly, but jumps in a broken manner. Before the afterimage of the previous moment has dissipated, the reality of the next frame has already forcibly covered it. The outer armor of the Evangelion Machine keeps flashing under the rule of the ruby ​​layer, and the crystalline patterns are reflected as if they are molten star shells.

In this extreme environment, Xia Xiu clearly realized one thing.

There was no sound around, not a suppressed silence, nor the emptiness after a battlefield, but a more thorough silence that refused to communicate, as if this level itself did not need to be "understood" and had no intention of responding to any gaze.

At that moment, a fourth kind of loneliness emerged, like a shadow, and silence was even more profound than loneliness itself.

He encountered—the loneliness of truth.

Truth is never unanswered, but rather it is because truth itself refuses to be spoken. Those hidden and unspoken structures float on the edge of perception. As soon as you see, understand, or touch them, they begin to backfire, turning cognition itself into a slowly seeping poison.

Xia Xiu stood at the control core of the Gospel Machine, a blue halo rotating steadily deep within his pupils. This loneliness did not come from the isolation between others and the world, but from the weight of truth itself—to understand the world, one must stay away from the noise and avoid the norm, and when you really get close to it, you are destined to be separated from the crowd by it.

Truth itself brings isolation.

The Holy Machine of the Gospel did not stop. It continued to move forward along the law rift of the ruby ​​level. The silver light trail was constantly stretched and dragged in the ether, like a scar forcibly carved into the cross-section of reality. The crimson world behind it slowly closed, and silence covered everything again, leaving only a scorching and indifferent afterglow.

Xia Xiu's figure hovered in the core of the cockpit. The light and shadow of the triple crown appeared particularly restrained under the reflection of the crystalline armor. He did not continue to entangle with this layer, because the moment he stepped into the Ruby layer, he clearly realized that the Real World Layer was not a place that could be passed by force. What was tested here was not destructive power, but the form and purity of information.

At this level, the world doesn't actively attack you; it simply keeps revealing the "truth."

Truth itself is the most dangerous source of pollution.

Under the influence of the rules at the Ruby level, Xia Xiu's information integration body quickly showed abnormal fluctuations. It was a kind of prying from the underlying logic, attempting to deconstruct, disassemble, and understand everything he carried. Thus, the "Lone of Truth" descended.

Xia Xiu quickly grasped what was going on.

"Because truth itself refuses to be spoken, the method at this level is self-evident."

"Information encryption is the only way to pass through; to get through the first level, encryption must be completed; and this layer of encryption does not rely on passwords or algorithms, but on... a miracle wedge."

The moment this understanding took shape, several response signals lit up deep within Xia Xiu's information integration body, as if a resonance that transcended time and distance was forcibly pulled into the same logical chain—the machine soul of [Prometheus] responded first, its core structure began to rearrange, and the patterns under the crystalline armor transformed into a stable and closed sequence.

Immediately afterwards, the [Lever of Heaven] resonated slightly in the void, and the concept that had once leveraged the supreme authority was translated into a set of erroneous variables that could not be analyzed by the mortal realm.

The information projection of the Sword of Abelio reveals a sharp yet restrained outline, injecting the meaning of severance into the encrypted structure.

Its own [Intrinsic Prototype - End of the Blazing Sun] releases the high-dimensional heat death model in an extremely restrained manner, directly evaporating the overloaded truth into an irreversible blank.

Even on a more distant level, the [Sun Ship Messock], still in heaven, cast a faint but steady response through an untraceable causal path. It did not transmit power, but only provided direction, becoming the last anchor point in the encryption system.

In addition to these five, being unhappy and being clueless also contributed.

The [Broken Flame] from the God of Myriad Machines was burning fiercely within him, revealing an unusually excited state.

The two great rulers of the Desire Flesh lineage—[Second Ruler Sabaos] and [Fourth Ruler Eleos]—began to inscribe the authority of the Fifth Saint of Desire Flesh, connecting it to the [Seat of the Witch King] above the 'City of Countless and Unspeakable Sins'.

Multiple [miracle wedges] interlocked and nested, and with the relationship between the two supreme divinities, Xia Xiu's information integration body completed a high-intensity self-encapsulation in a short period of time, folding all comprehensible structures into a deeper shadow of meaning. The truth still exists, but it can no longer be fully read by this level.

As a result, the Ruby level lost interest in him.

The silver light trail suddenly converged, and the Gospel Machine seemed to be propelled forward by an invisible rule, completing its traversal of the first level with almost no hindrance.

As the crimson fades, the world's color turns into a warm and somber orange-yellow. The spatial structure begins to show clear zigzag lines and hierarchical distribution. The flow of information becomes visible and viscous, like a stretched filament of light—the topaz layer, the second level.

Within this orange-yellow ethereal realm, Xia Xiu immediately spotted the uneven black trajectory ahead.

The figure of the Holy Judgment mech hovered at the edge of the topaz layer, with chaotic black flames surging on its armor surface. However, it was clearly slowed down and torn, indicating that it had barely managed to reach this point after a long period of forced breakthrough.

The world of topaz is much more logical than that of ruby, but precisely because it is logical, its encryption process becomes exceptionally tricky.

This is no longer simply about concealing the truth; it requires time travelers to produce sufficiently complex, self-consistent, and reasonable proof of their existence. Otherwise, every piece of information will relentlessly question you like a tax auditor: "Who are you? Where did you come from? What gives you the right to be here?"

Clearly, Kondrati's preparations in this regard were quite minimal.

He has only one key—the Holy Judgment Mech.

This divinely inspired colossus is a miracle wedge-level existence, which is theoretically sufficient. However, the problem is that the encryption logic of the topaz layer does not like isolated evidence. It prefers cross-validation, redundant proofs, and multi-signatures, while Kondratiev is the opposite.

One machine, one obsession, one life—gone.

So he had no choice but to continue calling for outside help.

But chaos is never stingy.

The four chaotic crowns behind the Holy Judgment Mech lit up simultaneously in the topaz layer. The crimson, azure, rotten green, and eerie purple halos seemed to have been directly inserted into the world's underlying protocol, and began to very considerately help Kondrati make encryption patches.

As for whether the patch content is compliant, clean, or whether some personal stuff might be slipped in, no one dares to look into it closely. Anyway, Chaos' consistent service principle is—it has to work first, then we'll talk about other things.

As a result, Kondratiev's information structure was forcibly wrapped, stitched together, patched, and overwritten in the second layer, like an old system that was being scanned by four different versions of antivirus software at the same time and fighting each other for permissions. It could run, but it looked unhealthy no matter how you looked at it.

Just as he was frantically calling the police and making his way forward, another silver light streak calmly cut in from the edge of the topaz layer.

Xia Xiu reached an altitude near Kondratiev.

Without any violent fluctuations or the tearing sensation of a forced breakthrough, the Holy Gospel Machine was practically allowed to enter by the topaz layer. The five miracle wedges and two supreme divine auras naturally unfolded around his information integration body, forming a stable and elegant multi-layered encryption structure, as if all the necessary permits, visas, passports, and invitations had been obtained in advance, and even stamped with the official red seal.

Kondrati watched as Xia Xiu calmly and effortlessly reached the second floor, while he himself was rushing and scrambling.

This disparity caused him to lose his composure for a time.

We all came here for great spirituality, so why is it that the other person is like they're using a VIP channel, while I'm like a thief climbing over a fence and being chased by security guards?

Xia Xiu clearly had no intention of taking his feelings into consideration.

He glanced at the encryption marks on the Holy Judgment Mech that had been forcibly stitched together by Chaos, and immediately concluded that the Ophiuchus Protocol had been half-drawn out, just one step away.

Then we can't wait any longer.

The next moment, the right arm of the Holy Machine of the Gospel was raised, and the [Lever of Heaven] was released by Xia Xiu without hesitation. The double lever structure resonated in the ether at the same time, and the golden logic light patterns unfolded slowly from the depths of the topaz layer, like a sky curtain being pried open.

【Miracle Prologue: Form Liberation——】

【The Roar of Falling Stars - The Bull of Heaven!】

The golden gate has been opened.

When Unit 1 stepped out, the Earth-scale ether structure sank on the spot, as if the world could not bear its weight.
The second machine appeared, and the information flow in the topaz layer began to show a phenomenon of power reduction, with divine labels being stripped away in large pieces.

When Unit 3 arrived, the luster of the topaz layer dimmed noticeably, as if something had directly bitten off a piece of it.
The moment Unit 4 stepped out of the Golden Gate, the entire second-layer encryption logic simultaneously issued a sharp error warning.

Unlike before, Xia Xiu is now infinitely close to the first stage of [Miracle], so he can now briefly summon the real [Bull of Heaven].

Four [Heavenly Bulls] converged in the air, their reverse projections of faith interlocking, overlapping, and compressing, finally merging within the topaz layer to form an even larger and more violent superdimensional being.

It raised its head, its golden pupils locking onto the Holy Judgment Mech.

Then—charge.

It's not an attack on the machine itself, but a direct trampling on the encryption structure itself.

【The Bull of Heaven - Divine Trampling】

The power of the bull crushed the Chaos patch, pried open the Crown Empowerment, and the information encapsulation around the Holy Judgment Mech began to leak on a large scale. The rationale forcibly added by Chaos was torn apart piece by piece, and the underlying outline of the Ophiuchus Protocol was forcibly smashed out.

The topaz layer oscillated.

Kondratiev's encryption was missing.

The etheric storm in the topaz layer has not yet subsided, and the broken encrypted fragments, like torn scriptures, slowly rotate and fall in the void.

Condra Station, located within the core of the Holy Judgment Mech's consciousness, finally realized something was amiss.

He was able to engage in a head-on, head-on battle with Xia Xiu in the real world because the Holy Judgment mechs were strong enough, Chaos was generous enough, and he himself was insane enough; but once he entered the ether level, this single-point advantage was completely diluted by the infinitely amplified world rules.

wedge.

The number of miracles in Hugh Abraham's life is almost abnormal.

When the Ether layer demands proof of existence to proceed, Xia Xiu can readily pull out wedge after wedge as proof, like flipping through files, while he himself can only repeatedly submit the same document, hoping that the system will not invalidate it on the spot.

Here, he couldn't be as at ease as he was on a real battlefield.

The moment he realized this, Kondrati made an exceptionally decisive judgment—there was no time to hesitate.

He completely abandoned control over the stability of the encryption, abandoned the assessment of the side effects of chaos, and even abandoned concerns about whether he could still maintain his own identity. Instead, he completely opened his spiritual will outward, uttering an almost tearing cry towards the depths of the topaz layer:
"—Chaos, help me!!!"

The next instant, the second layer of the etheric structure suddenly sank, and four familiar yet instinctively unsettling auras descended simultaneously.

It is not a complete descent into the world, but a projection, an echo, a "shadow" that authority briefly projects into this realm.

Crimson rage is like the burning remnants of a star, azure shifts flow through logic, decaying green carries a lukewarm yet deadly stickiness, while ecstasy in crimson ecstasy laughs softly in every crack.

The projections of the four Chaos Lords took shape at the edge of the topaz layer. Their gazes first fell on Kondraki, with an interest that seemed to suggest that "the prey has finally learned to jump." Then, they all turned their gazes in unison for a moment, towards the direction where Xia Xiu was.

That gaze, though not hostile, sent chills down one's spine.

At the same time, Xia Xiu, who was controlling the real [Bull of Heaven] to complete the next impact, paused for a very brief moment.

It wasn't because of Kondratiev's plea for help, nor because of the appearance of the Chaos Projection, but rather—the [Black Mark].

The mark left on him when [Xin Liezhi] transformed into the Black Horse Knight reappeared without warning, flickering gently at the edge of his information integration body, like a patient hand trying to put its hand on his shoulder again.

It did not cause any interference.

There was no backlash, no erosion, and not even any forced intervention.

On the contrary—it was a proactively provided power interface, almost identical to the Chaos Blessing that Kondrati was currently receiving, and even more gentle and reasonable.

As long as he nods.

As long as he accepts.

Xia Xiu almost instinctively cut off the link.

Without hesitation, he shut out that force, as if casually closing a window that wasn't important.

To accept the power of chaos?
What a joke! He has plenty of his own digs; he doesn't need the help of these four troublemakers.

But it was at this moment that he finally understood something completely.

His gaze passed over the surging light streams of the ether layer and landed on the four chaotic projections, his expression calm to the point of indifference.

"……I see."

These four guys planned everything from the very beginning.

What they gave him was nothing more than a carefully calculated path to ascension—a path that would inevitably lead to being refined, devoured, and digested.

These four BYD products are playing a clever game.

If Kondratiev succeeds, Chaos will gain another Ascended Demon, a Demon Prince; if Kondratiev fails, they will directly use him as a sacrifice to refine him, creating another Chaos Demon for Chaos.

Moreover, they can also collect the Holy Judicator mechs as collectibles.

Black, damn black!
They don't do business without risk; no matter how you calculate it, Chaos's business is a sure thing.