Noah emptied his mind of everything but the universe's nucleus and the events occurring around this one. He was about to witness the end of a super universe, an Epoch Explosion.
Normally, an Epoch Explosion would mean an absolute end for an Extreme Rank 9 life form, much less a Rank 7 life form like Noah. No particles of their souls would be left behind, but the young Neo-Demon was confident that no harm would come to him since his father was by his side.
Noah could not move his consciousness beyond the sphere, so he could only rely on his Samsara Eye and perception to explore and study the universal forces about to be released.
"CRACK!"
The sound of glass shattering echoed across the entire universe. Then the Law Matrix that remained hidden at all times shone across the whole universe, manifesting like an endless spider web with an infinite array of colors.
Noah was in the midst of appreciating that magnificent sight when he felt his father's hand over his shoulder, and his eyes widened.
A sense of shock and awe appeared on Noah's face as he saw how the Law Matrix that covered every corner of the universe and forged reality began to collapse.
It was beyond magnificent to see how the spider web shattered, beginning from the edge of the universe and slowly making its way into the nucleus.
The order that was in place thanks to the power of the Law Matrix collapsed, and everything that remained after the break of the spiderweb was ravaged under the might of absolute chaos.
Heavenly bodies rupture, spiritual energy dissipates, and the various planes that make up the universe start disintegrating. Planets crumble, stars implode, and the boundaries between dimensions blur, leading to catastrophic upheaval.
Now that there was no order for time and space, reality began to shatter, leaving massive ruptures that generated channels into the Emptiness.
Those ruptures worked as a siphon for the shattering universe to gather wild energy that before would have led to total destruction.
Noah was not able to perceive anything from that level of destruction since it manifested in his mind like a mere image, but its might was nearly impossible to describe with words.
Imagine witnessing the unraveling of existence itself, how space-time no longer mattered since they did existed, and how all collapsed into a mass of chaotic energy blended with the infinite forces of the Endlessness.
The destruction moved faster and faster, covering galaxies in a fraction of a second, and it would only be a matter of time before it reached the nucleus.
Zatiel took his hand out of Noah's shoulder once the unraveling of the Law Matrix came so close that this one could see it with his own eyes.
Noah's eyes showed a little confusion once the image of the entire universe left his mind, and then pure shock appeared in them when he saw the wave of absolute destruction coming at them due to the destruction of the Law Matrix.
The young Neo-Demon instinctively raised his arms, as that was a power he had never seen before in his life.
Those waves of destruction were able to bring Principal Worlds to dust, but they could not harm Noah or Zatiel.
The sphere around them acted like a membrane, making all the destructive forces move around them, protecting them from any damage. It was not a feat of raw power but one born of a high cultivation stage that could circumvent the shattering of the Law Matrix.
Noah looked around him, and nothing but chaos and wild energies were left behind. Nothing guided them, so time-space, yin-yang, and the five elements could not exist.
The only life forms that could live, and not just survive, in a place like this were Thearchs. Only those at the Fourth Realm could prevail in places like this as they were able to influence the world around them, acting as the origin of a Law Matrix if they so desired.
There was only one cosmic structure left in place in the entire universe: its nucleus, which began to revolve the next second, absorbing the chaotic and wild energy around it.
However, as the young Neo-Demon analyzed all of that, he could not help but be confused. The Epoch Explosion was supposed to be the one that ended all, that would obliterate everything and give birth to a new beginning, but things did not carry on like that.
Zatiel could perceive the confusion in Noah's mind, and he gave the boy an answer.
"Our understanding of Epoch Explosions was flawed because the ones we study were born through external factors, not the normal evolutive process of a universe itself.
We are now in the presence of the natural rebirth of the universe, and you just witnessed the first part of the preparations for the Epoch Explosion."
Noah's eyes glowed with enlightenment as he understood the changes between the Epoch Explosions recorded in archives of the Daybreak Universe and the ones he was watching right now.
Zatiel carried on once he saw that Noah's eyes regained their focus.
"Now the nucleus would devour as much as those wild energies and forces of the Emptiness it can. These preparations are fundamental in the growth of the universe.
If an Epoch Explosion were to happen without them, like in the case of catastrophic damage done to the universe due to the fight of Rank 10 life forms, that would only work as a reboot. It would not make the new universe more vital than the last one and could lead to flaws like the birth of aberrations, similar to the Eldritch Universe."
Noah nodded before turning toward the nucleus. The Epoch Explosion would occur at any moment, and he knew that the answer to his path would come within that blast of absolute destruction and creation.
As the universe's nucleus absorbed more and more energy, a gravitational field formed around it, distorting the already chaotic state of reality.
It did not take long before an event horizon formed around the nucleus, making it seem as if this one was a gigantic black hole at the center of the universe.
Noah's Samsara Eye did not move away from the nucleus and was trying to understand what was happening before him. Those forces were in a realm that his soul could not comprehend, but Noah could feel his Samsara Eye and bloodline reacting to them. Adopting an analytic approach would be useless; his only path forward would be relying on his instincts.
Zatiel saw how Noah stopped trying to comprehend what was happening before him, and showed a small smile but not saying anything. He would not break his word, and it would be up to Noah to find the right path.
"RUMBLE!"
The universe's nucleus began to tremble as it was reaching its limit. The energy inside rose to its zenith, and it was ready to be released in the form of an explosion that would bring the end of all things.
Zatiel focused, and the energy incarnation began to fuse with the shield. Even for him, an Epoch Explosion was not something he could ignore; to resist it, he would need to use all his power.
If his true body were present, then Zatiel would simply wield it so that the Epoch Explosion could not harm them, and that would be enough since his willpower was mightier than the blast.
"CRACK!"
Cracks began to form in the nucleus, and the destruction would mark the start of the Epoch Explosion, the end of the current Epoch, and the beginning of the new one.
Suddenly a power that embodied total stillness covered the universe as if things could not move beyond this point, and then the nucleus shattered.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
It was an explosion like nothing the young Neo-Demon had ever seen in his life.
Torrents of multicolored light, like a celestial kaleidoscope, illuminate the new cosmo, and waves of primal energy surge outward, permeating the nascent universe and imbuing it with the essence of creation.
Astral, nether, and essence forces spread like a cosmic wind, carrying the potential for cultivation and the seeds of life to the farthest reaches of the newly formed realms.
Noah's eyes had lost focus, but it was not due to a lack of concentration. What the Samsara Eye showed him and his bloodline perceived were things his mind lacked the power to comprehend, so he allowed those majestic powers to wash over him.
Time vanished from his mind, and even the battle that would mark the zenith of his challenges also ceased to exist.
As the hours went by, and the might of the explosion began to reduce, Noah's eyes slowly regained their focus, and along with it, there was a sense of enlightenment.
"Following someone else's path is a mistake, but opting for a route that has its origin in a already developed Truth is also a mistake. My path must belong to me and no one else."
