At the Dreamveil Estate, the afternoon sun spilled softly through the dense canopy surrounding the mansion. The air carried the faint scent of ether and flora, alive with spiritual resonance. Inside, Lucien's clone sat cross-legged on the veranda, Aelira perched at his side with Umbra—now in its humanoid female form—standing gracefully beside them. Her eyes glimmered with the same otherworldly aura as her master's, yet tempered by loyalty and curiosity.
Guru and Vaelion were seated at a worn, ancient Go board nearby, chuckling and trading moves with uncanny strategy. The clash of black and white stones echoed softly like the rumble of distant storms, but Lucien's clone only smiled, his crimson Abyssal eyes reflecting the thoughts racing in his mind.
Twilight of the Gods… He mused silently. He understood now what it meant—the warning in Paraxis, the threads of causality being rewritten, the Children of Twilight, and the sheer scale of the forces that had yet to awaken. But for now, there was a mission that demanded his attention: the Heavenly Dao and the beasts of Heaven.
"Umbra, Aelira," he said, his voice calm, yet carrying the weight of authority, "I'm sending you to the Azure Celestial Sect. I'll be returning to Heaven. It's time I claim what is rightfully mine—and I mean to do it properly this time."
Aelira's eyes sparkled with admiration, her tiny hands gripping his arm. "Papa, be careful," she said, the word rolling off her tongue effortlessly, as it always did.
Lucien's clone smirked. "I know, don't worry. Umbra, make sure she's safe."
Umbra bowed elegantly. "It will be done, Master." Her humanoid form shimmered faintly, resonating with the power of the End, tempered just enough to remain stable in the mortal plane.
Guru leaned back, smiling lazily. "Boring anyway. But send Buddha my regards."
Vaelion laughed, swirling tea in his cup with casual amusement. "Yeah, it's not like I'm missing anything here. Go on, have fun up there."
Lucien's clone merely smiled, the faintest curve of his lips betraying amusement. "Sure thing." In an instant, the air around him seemed to collapse, and he vanished as if he had never been there. The breeze shifted where he had been, leaving only the faint hum of power lingering in the estate.
The heavens trembled as Lucien's clone appeared, suspended midair before the towering gates of Heaven. Celestial light cascaded down, reflecting off the golden spires, yet it all seemed dim and fragile compared to the aura he radiated. He spread his arms, letting the universe feel the weight of his presence.
"Heavens," he said, his voice carrying like a tide of inevitability, "I came to take what I claimed. And be certain—your next move matters, for I am serious this time."
With that, he released his full power. Not the 2.1 percent he had borrowed from the real Lucien, but his own as the Heaven-Void Paradox, a force that twisted space and reality in ways even the Elder Celestials could feel in their bones. The pillars of Heaven quaked. Celestial light warped and refracted violently. The lower realms beneath him trembled in synchronized terror, cliffs fracturing and oceans heaving as if acknowledging the arrival of true dominion.
Buddha and the entirety of Heaven gathered, their presence overwhelming yet still insufficient. One million celestial guardians, nine High Sons, twenty Elder Celestials including Buddha and Calystria, and countless lower deities all braced themselves, but Lucien's clone stood alone, serene, radiating unquestionable authority.
"We'll give you the beasts: Leviathan, Cthulhu, the Serpent of the Apocalypse," Buddha spoke, his voice deep and resonant, "but the Heavenly Dao is not yours!"
Lucien's clone's crimson eyes glimmered. "I guess I'll have to slaughter Heaven and take it then," he said lightly. Then, in the blink of an eye, he vanished from sight, the air where he stood cracking with raw metaphysical energy.
"Heaven-Void Tian Quan—Heaven's Judgement," he murmured.
He raised his foot and kicked downward. The impact obliterated a quarter of Heaven, erasing entire lower realms in the way of his strike. The celestial architecture fractured, the golden towers reduced to cosmic dust, and the earth below the gates of Heaven was gone, leaving only the echo of what had been.
"I guess my aim was a little off," he said with a smirk, surveying the destruction.
The remaining High Sons, Elder Celestials, and celestial guardians surged forward, trying to engage him simultaneously. But Lucien's clone moved with the fluidity of storms and the inevitability of falling stars. Each strike, each motion, shattered shields, dispelled regeneration, and ignored all conventional defense. Even the combined might of a million celestial guards could not land a single decisive blow.
Buddha, Calystria, and the High Sons realized that raw force would not suffice. Their only choice was to release the beasts of Heaven and transform into their final states. The ground trembled as Cthulhu's shadow tore across Heaven, Leviathan's colossal body coiled, and the Serpent of the Apocalypse hissed with metaphysical venom. At the same time, the Elder Celestials' forms expanded, transcending physical constraints. Light and darkness warped, energy spiraled into fractals beyond comprehension, and the celestial guardians roared in unified fury.
Lucien's clone remained calm, his eyes scanning all threats at once. He drew a deep breath, his aura warping space around him. In a sudden, blinding motion, he unleashed Ethereal Slash.
The attack was unlike any conventional strike. From random points in space, dozens of slashes converged simultaneously on multiple targets. Each strike bypassed defenses, ignored regeneration, and delivered absolute erasure. Celestial shields shattered, bodies dissipated, and even the lower deities closest to him were reduced to nothingness.
The sound of reality itself screaming echoed across the heavens as Ethereal Slash cut through armor, essence, and metaphysical constructs alike. Every heavenly guard fell, their numbers annihilated with surgical precision, leaving chaos in the void where Heaven had once stood intact.
Buddha, Calystria, and the remaining High Sons—ten in total now—shifted into their final forms, each radiating a power capable of annihilating worlds, yet even their combined might could barely slow the relentless force of Lucien's clone. He moved like the embodiment of inevitability, each strike of Tian Quan creating shockwaves that twisted space and corrupted the foundations of Heaven itself.
"Heaven-Void Tian Quan… Heavens Judgement…" he whispered again, preparing for another assault. The Lower Realms trembled, the beasts of Heaven roared in restrained fury, and even the Elder Celestials could feel the edge of extinction brushing against their existence.
From the heavens to the distant lower realms, the cosmos bore witness to the massacre unfolding. A million celestial guards, nine High Sons of Heaven, twenty Elder Celestials, and innumerable deities converged against him—and yet, the Heaven-Void Paradox remained untouchable, unstoppable, and perfectly composed, like a storm that had always been meant to exist.
The battlefield erupted in a chorus of cosmic energy, light, and destruction. Entire realms quaked. The lower heavens shattered and reformed. Even the beasts, immense and ancient beyond imagination, were forced to coordinate to restrain a single entity. Lucien's clone smiled faintly as he twirled through the chaos, the creation of Ethereal Slash marking the beginning of the next phase of his campaign—a demonstration not of cruelty, but of inevitable dominion.
And so, Heaven itself trembled before the Heaven-Void Paradox, the very foundations of divinity bending under his might. Yet even as all seemed annihilated, Lucien's clone's expression remained calm—focused, calculating, already anticipating the next move, the next form, the next strike that would solidify his claim over the Heavenly Dao and every beast that Heaven had sought to hide.
The celestial forces had unleashed their full potential, yet the Heaven-Void Paradox was already beyond their reach, preparing to carve a path through the final defenses with Tian Quan and Ethereal Slash, reshaping Heaven in his image.