Although this old man seems to have become a bit more realistic, in truth he’s simply seeing things clearly.

If he’d realized earlier that dazzling talent isn’t worth as much as hugging a single "thigh," how would he have ended up in such a miserable state, with an Ancient God occupying his nest?

Especially after the [Clock Tower] was fully manifested, the importance of talent and potential had already been bumped down to second place, far inferior to having a solid backer.

Besides...

Graham looked toward the center of this dusky yellow world, his old yet still bright eyes narrowing slightly.

The "Chaos Worm" had apparently been stimulated by something in its slumber; its awakening time was advancing far, far faster than originally estimated, and the Time rules belonging to this Era on its body were also rapidly strengthening.

It was about to reach the brink of awakening.

At this point, even a peerless genius, without external assistance, would find it nearly impossible to bypass this tiger blocking the road and take back the [Clock Tower] that was already more than half-corroded.

Fortunately.

Those two brats, whom he’d only met once, might be slippery, but they were reliable enough; the [Clock Tower], the first "Mysterious Source" in the world to be manifested, hadn’t been entrusted to the wrong people.

Feeling the increasingly violent tremors under his feet, Graham dared not delay any longer. He mobilized his last and most fundamental authority and waved his hand hard.

Crash—

The layers of bones and tombs beneath his feet immediately rolled away toward the sides, revealing a huge circular hole. Silver-white Extraordinary Spiritual Light shone up into the eyes of the three.

Looking down, the pit contained a boundless, vast starry sky.

Each point of starlight within it was a sundial, hourglass, clepsydra, armillary sphere, striking clock, mechanical pendulum clock, pocket watch... all the timekeeping instruments from various eras.

They also represented the accumulated knowledge of every [Clock Tower] School Wizard.

Graham indicated for Milan to enter and continue the ritual he himself had left unfinished countless years ago. Milan lifted a foot, then glanced at the Kongyu beside him.

"Hmph, go on, bitches just love to be dramatic. This lady admits defeat when she loses a bet. It has absolutely nothing to do with that guy outside who’s grinding two Evil Gods into the ground!"

The Kongyu was still that same tsundere white swan from the beginning, lifting its head with a light snort.

Smiling at her, Milan leaped into that starry sky, his whole body turning into a streak of Flowing Light and merging within.

Immediately after.

Rumble—

A silver beam of light shot up from the pit into the sky, washing over Graham and the Kongyu like water ripples and expanding outward at high speed.

The entire [Clock Tower] slowly began to roar.

With Milan, a new force walking the same path as the "Mysterious Source," joining in, their powers fused together and began, bit by bit, to shake the Chaos Worm’s control over the [Clock Tower] that had lasted tens of millions of years.

To seize back those countless small worlds like stars in the sky!

And the whole [Clock Tower] was also slowly surfacing toward the Material World. Since reinforcements were already in place, not using them would be idiotic.

However.

Just as Graham had predicted at the very start, such an enormous commotion was absolutely impossible to hide from Shude Mel, the "Chaos Worm" that was already close to the brink of awakening.

The promotion ritual had been running for less than a minute; the silver Flowing Light hadn’t even filled seven layers yet. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Crack!

A small stone suddenly broke off from the sheer, slender cliff stretching up into the depths of the sky, whose summit was almost invisible, and fell to the ground, shattering into dust.

And from behind the huge face-shaped relief carved at the center of the cliff’s base—seven parts insect, three parts human—came the sharp sounds of chains snapping one after another.

The faint joy that had just surfaced on Graham’s face vanished in an instant, his expression turning dark at high speed as the muscles at the corner of his eye twitched.

"The ’Sealing’ that cost the sacrifice of an entire School... has completely failed."

As if responding to his judgment.

Screee—!

Along with two insect cries that pierced straight into the soul.

Huge patches of dark clouds rapidly gathered in the sepia sky. Countless long black tentacles stretched and groped along the yellow lightning-flecked underside of the clouds, some even dangling all the way down to the ground.

Profound shadows and sallow light were cast down from the clouds at the same time. From the void, slowly squeezing its way out, was a heap of horrifically twisted things that defied description.

"Heap" was the only word that fit.

A heap of endlessly writhing long tentacles, growing from two ugly, gray-black sack-like bodies entrenched within the dark clouds.

Gloomy, decayed, chaotic... eerie light and shadow that seemed intent on dragging the entire world into an eternal twilight of silence spread outward from them.

An ordinary human might die on the spot from total organ failure just by glancing at them once.

They were actually two more prematurely awakened Ancient God’s Descendants.

Even though, for the "Chaos Worm," reputed to be the strongest Ancient God, there was no second [Divine Descendant] beyond the "Eight Million,"

these two, as Ancient God’s children who also possessed "Chaos" power, were still brutally ferocious.

Brandishing their endless tentacles, they rushed toward the silver beam of light like two masses of dark clouds pressing down.

They might not be adept at the rules of invasion and counter-invasion, but "physically cutting the power" was their specialty.

"I knew it couldn’t possibly be that simple."

Taking a deep breath, Kongyu’s pride would not allow her to go back on her word.

Stzzzz——!

A streak of black light shot out from the top of her head.

In midair it turned into a paintbrush as if casually doodled by a child, and also like an abstract longsword, hacking down viciously toward the two Ancient God’s Descendants.

[Abstraction Principle: Void Demon Sword]

Abstraction is the primal ecology of the universe, born before humanity.

Within the worldview constructed by the [Abstraction Principle].

The entire universe is an abstract world composed of structure (interstellar relations), color (the cosmos’ native hue), point (planets), line (planetary orbits, meteors and light), plane (cosmic space), and texture (surfaces of galaxies or planets).

To doodle and paint is to revise this universe itself.

And the [Void Demon Sword] is a two-dimensional creation, the external manifestation of a void rift.

Crackle crackle...

A heap of twisted black tentacles were easily sliced apart by the dimension-sundering demon sword, falling to the ground like rain.

Just as the two Ancient God’s Descendants let out agonized wails from within those inexplicable sack-like bodies.

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

Melodious chimes resounded as the [Clock Tower], drawn jointly by the powers of Graham and Milan, reappeared in the Material World, high above the North Pole.

Although it was midsummer and thus polar day in the Arctic, the howling cold wind still poured through that massive hole piercing the entire [Clock Tower], letting them truly feel the power of the polar regions.

And not just the [Clock Tower].

Aiven, the [Deep Dark Living Flame], and the [Dark Ruler]—the three Tier 5s tangled in battle—burst out from the rift in Time at the same moment.

Someone had already been waiting for Them here for quite a while.

"[Hephaestus Square], materialization start!"

A deep metallic voice suddenly rang out beside the three of them.

Shhh——!

Snow‑white steam erupted.

Watt’s body split open with a thunderous crack like a Mechanical Body, blazing orange-red firelight gradually shining from within, and the back-and-forth roar of Steam Furnace and power pistons grew ever louder.

With crisp "kala... kala..." clicks, he transformed into a gigantic brass cube floating in the air.

[Mythical Form: Hephaestus Square]

The brass cube began to transform in sync.

Precision gears, springs, cylinders, pistons, crank connecting rods, Gemstones, intricate tiny Spells... all revealed countless mechanical and Alchemy structures beyond outsiders’ Understanding.

One super‑cannon after another, each not much smaller than a smokestack, was lifted up from armories hidden deep underground, pointing at the sky like spears.

The [Hephaestus Square], now transformed into a fortress city, became a ferocious metal hedgehog, and without the slightest hesitation it opened fire upon the [Deep Dark Living Flame], which had already reverted to its gigantic sun form.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...

The scorching muzzle storm raised a level‑eighteen hurricane over the Arctic, as if it would shatter and melt the entire polar ice cap.

On the other side.

Whoo——!

"Big‑sister‑of‑the-streets," the Victory Angel Adraste, lightly blew out a smoke ring.

She did not use Her signature [Six-Barreled Cannon: Godslayer] again, but instead drew the golden divine sword at Her waist and solemnly intoned:

"I proclaim victory!"

Within the golden divine light surging into the heavens.

She instantly manifested Her true Angel form, and at the same time, one female Angel after another identical to Her appeared in succession behind Her.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!...

White wings, golden armor, crimson cloaks, wielding lances, halberds, greatbows, and heavy swords, the mighty Angel Legion merged into a golden torrent about to directly drown the miserable [Dark Ruler].

Just as Aiven was freed and was about to charge into the [Clock Tower] to suppress the not‑yet‑fully‑awakened "Chaos Worm" once more.

Rumble——!!!

Accompanied by a roar like the splitting of heaven and earth.

The slender, sky‑piercing mountain wall at the center of the seventh layer suddenly exploded.

Within unprecedentedly intense, dusky divine radiance, a bizarre figure that seemed both infinitely large and infinitely small abruptly appeared before everyone’s eyes.

It was none other than the returning strongest Ancient God—"Chaos Worm," "Star Driller," "Master of the Underworld," Shude Mel.

This being, already proven by Aiven and Angie through its Genetic Code to not be a native lifeform of Herag Star, had an exterior even harder to describe than that of any Ancient God.

If one had to give it a definition, it could only be crowned—"The Unnamable One"!