Mental space.
Adam raised his head. With a thought, a light screen unfolded silently beside him. Playing on the screen was the spectacular sight of the entity trembling under the relentless bombardment in the physical universe. Countless attacks poured down like torrential rain, erupting in clusters of dazzling light and fire upon the entity's mangled form.
The corners of Adam's mouth curved upward. Given his personality, he wouldn't have dared to enter the Noosphere without preparation. Before completing his cognitive descent, he had left the degraded Cawl—the AI persona of the Great Sage—beside his physical body in the real world as protection.
Simultaneously, using his reality-warping abilities, Adam had released a large number of sensory probes. Now, through the connection between these probes and the degraded Cawl, Adam could easily witness the earth-shattering scenes in the physical universe.
"Truly breathtaking," Adam marveled.
Even with his deep knowledge of the Foundation, he couldn't identify every single type of attack filling the screen; he could only barely distinguish which faction fired which shot. Seeing the entire human race united in such a grand spectacle made his heart swell.
"Well then, I need to work harder too."
Adam let out a long, steady breath, suppressing the ripples in his heart as he turned his gaze toward the distance. There were no roads or reference points in the mental space, but with his reality-warping power, he could cross any distance with ease. Now that the entity in the physical universe had been severely weakened, Adam finally had the chance to deliver the fatal blow.
He spread his arms slightly. A large number of pale blue light orbs drifted toward him like sentient fish in the deep sea. They draped over his body in a layer of white mist, forming a shape similar to a robe that unfolded in the void, making him look like a phantom immortal. These were the human consciousnesses remaining within the torture.
Adam had done something simple: when he realized the entity lacked the spare energy to search for him, he decided to consume reality strength while simultaneously allotting a portion of his newly acquired power to these human consciousnesses, temporarily creating Rank 2 reality benders.
The human consciousnesses that broke free from the agony had not all completely collapsed. Some—those who had died recently or hadn't been trapped for long—still possessed structures that, while broken and lacking thought, burned with a single emotion like an unquenchable fire: rage against the culprit behind everything.
The gift of reality-warping power immediately turned that rage into tangible strength. It was a terrifyingly extreme power, pure enough to make even Adam take notice. To better control his own power and avoid the worst outcomes, he had always advocated for rationality, suppressing his maximum output for the sake of stability.
But this extreme desire for destruction, this fearlessness toward consequences, this longing to drag the source of all pain down to hell—it birthed a power that was horrifying. It possessed a certain "numerical beauty."
"Then, let us begin," Adam whispered to himself.
He took a step. In a split second, he crossed an unimaginable distance to the deepest part—the cabin at the end of the universe. Simultaneously, the entity's consciousness looked up at him. It appeared as a pitch-black sphere of fluctuating size, with countless tentacles extending from its body like parasites within this mental space. It had no human emotion, no anger, and naturally no fear. Even after being heavily wounded, its "gaze" held only a cold, indescribable... confusion?
No. Adam saw it clearly now. It was a greed so pure it was almost primal. Even now, it was still trying to devour all surrounding emotions. But this mental space already had a new predator.
"Go. Complete your revenge," Adam called out softly.
Following his command, countless illusory spirits that could no longer restrain themselves flew out like raindrops. They clung to the entity's consciousness, biting at the tentacles and gnawing at its body. Reality-warping power turned into poisoned daggers in their hands, tearing at the entity like a school of piranhas. Even as the entity instinctively struggled, its black tentacles shredding the spirits of the dead, they never stopped, never gave up, and died gladly.
An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! Blood for blood! Such vengeance was not even a ten-thousandth of the pain it had inflicted upon them.
Adam did not stay idle; he raised his hand. Under the influence of invisible force, the rage of those figures amplified nearly a hundredfold. With the support of his reality-warping power, countless arms surged from the void behind him, forming a second wave of assault that poured down upon the entity's consciousness. The violent warping energy converged, its intensity momentarily threatening the stability of the mental space itself.
Then—a crisp shattering sound rang out.
Accompanied by a wail, everyone in the physical universe who perceived the moment widened their eyes. They felt something. A shackle. An invisible shackle that had been placed upon the human race since ancient times was, at this moment, completely broken.
"Look!" a researcher shouted, his face filled with wild joy, eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
No reminder was needed. Everyone saw the sight: the entity that had stood tall against the full might of all human anomalous organizations, that had crawled forward despite being heavily mangled, was now disappearing. That twisted, slender body melted into the air like ice, while a phantom sound of shattering echoed silently in everyone's ears.
The O5 Councilor looked around thoughtfully. Just moments ago, he could clearly feel the consciousnesses of his compatriots lingering in every corner of the air. Having been injected with the "Hard-Heart" memetic agent, he could perceive their pain and despair. But now, all those wills had vanished.
He confirmed the truth in his heart. The Councilor slowly raised his head and turned around. Everyone in the Command Center was staring at him; the representatives on the screen were staring at him. He wanted to smile, to say something, to deliver a stirring speech—but he forgot everything.
He simply stood there with tears streaming down his face and shouted:
"We have won!" "We have won!"
In the next moment, frantic cheers thundered through the Command Center and echoed in every corner of the planet.