Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World

Chapter 281: Everything Traced To One Thing! Queen Of Death?

"Axiom..." An ancient voice rang out in the void.

"It is the king of the world, the ruler of reality."

"Who’s there?" Caelus frowned immediately upon hearing this.

However, to his question, only silence followed.

Then, after ignoring him, the voice continued speaking.

"Axiom is the ultimate principle that governs the boundless expanse."

As the words left his mouth, visions began flickering across Caelus and Sylvia.

Images began appearing that showed galaxies spiraling into existence, and within them, several millions and millions of planets and stars formed, and within them, life and nature sprouted one by one.

And from them, countless civilizations rose and fell in rapid succession.

"Saints, demons, gods... light, darkness, space, time... even Enders traced themselves back to a single Origin."

"The Axiom."

As the words fell, more and more visions appeared around them, showing an even greater scope of things. Beings battled across long, stretched out battlefields and vast wars that shed blood to the point that the world itself was dyed red.

"Those who reached the peak believed themselves to be the supreme and the most powerful under the Axiom," the voice explained with something resembling regret. "Yet, even the Supreme Being that gave birth to the Enders merely borrowed the power of Axiom. No one truly owned it."

"Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Space, Time, and Origin," it listed carefully. "They are merely different faces of the same truth."

"The Axiom."

The pressure around them grew heavier right after he spoke those words.

Caelus swiftly snapped out of his confusion and spoke up once again.

"I won’t say it twice. You need to stop fooling around and show yourself."

However, the voice still ignored Caelus, treating him as if he were air.

"The First War after the Supreme Being’s miscalculations..."

"I still remember it clearly."

Ancient battlefields began appearing around them with clarity.

Mountains collapsed under the weight of impossibly powerful attacks, and spears of judgment fell from the sky, taking millions of lives.

The entire world was burning.

Sylvia and Caelus both widened their eyes in disbelief seeing this.

"Powerless," the voice continued while showing the brutal war.

"That was how we felt before the Enders."

Illusions materialized before them once more as beings wearing extremely bright armor and endless armies behind them appeared.

The endless army marched across the void, the world itself falling apart under their advance.

"Their skills, their authorities," the voice explained. "None belonged to the mystic code. They were powers that ignored reason itself."

Caelus slowly narrowed his eyes hearing this.

By now it was clear that this voice was speaking about the Axiom Origin and the war that made Axiom Origin seal away the Enders into the abyss.

Sylvia also noticed it.

For now, the best course of action here was to continue to listen to this voice and maybe obtain more information.

Whether this was real or fake was still to be seen.

"The world and the Supreme Being both mourned the death of many as the Enders, who understood what greediness was, began fighting amongst themselves."

"When higher beings fight, trillions suffer."

The voice paused for a long time before continuing with his speech.

"When all hope was lost, the world’s sky broke like glass."

"It was a dragon. A dragon with endless power cut through the sky and descended onto the world."

A vision appeared before them.

It was a huge crack in the sky, and a familiar dragon came out of it.

Time itself paused at its arrival.

"It was the Irregular. The Ender of Origin," the voice declared. "Born directly from the powers of the Axiom Power."

Caelus slowly clenched his fists seeing this.

It was his predecessor.

The First Origin.

Flames then suddenly erupted throughout the void they were in, and the visions that surrounded them began to vanish one by one.

Then, a man slowly walked out from the inferno that surrounded them with measured steps.

The man was tall; he had long red hair, a red mustache and beard, and a Red Volcanic crown floated above his head.

Long white robes flowed around him despite no wind being present in the space.

It only took Caelus and Sylvia one glance to understand that this was one of the early beings of the Origin Ascension Domain.

"Who are you?" Caelus asked with a confused look on his face.

The man stared deeply at Caelus before speaking.

"I once walked the world with the title Volcano," he said with a calm look. "I was one of the many that briefly touched the state beyond Divine, yet perished before reaching it."

"Before my death, I left my inheritance behind," the Volcano King continued. "Here in the Origin Ascension Domain."

He smiled faintly.

"I hoped someone worthy would inherit my path," he explained. "That was one of the wishes of my old masters; only then could I return to the cycle of reincarnation."

"And fortunately, I did find a successor, and he is also known as Volcano King. He was the record holder of my secret trial in the volcano land before you both took it. I’m sure you both know about him."

Both Caelus and Sylvia immediately nodded.

They indeed knew the Volcano King.

"Unfortunately," the Volcano King seemed to be calculating, "even after passing down my path to a successor, I still continued lingering as a spirit here."

"It seems like my creator had much grander plans than I initially thought."

"Creator?" Caelus repeated the words of the Volcano King after him.

"Who is your Creator, Senior?" Caelus addressed him as a senior since this was someone who had lived for countless eras.

It was basic respect.

"My creator?" the Volcano King rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "The one who created me was once known as the First Ender of Death."

"???" Both Caelus and Sylvia immediately had a change in expression.

Sylvia stiffened beside Caelus, her entire body tensing up for no reason.

Just then, the Volcano King, who had just finished speaking, froze.

"You..." He stared at Sylvia, his eyes widening with each passing moment.

For the first time since he started talking, his composure completely broke.

"Impossible... You." He hurriedly walked forward and observed Sylvia closely in disbelief.

"That face... that gentle presence... and is it the aura of the Crimson Sovereign...? It cannot be."

Sylvia took a step backward out of discomfort.

Seeing this, Caelus immediately came forward and stepped in between her and the Volcano King.

Then, the Volcano King spoke up once more, which made Caelus, who was about to speak up, freeze in his tracks.

"You are still alive, My Queen, Ender Of Death?" the Volcano King asked in a slightly emotional tone. "It’s me, your humble servant that you created."

"What?" It was Caelus’s turn to appear shocked.

He turned towards Sylvia with a completely dumbfounded look on his face.

Seeing this, Sylvia shook her head like her life depended on it.

She had no idea what this lunatic was talking about!

What Ender? She was just Caelus’s cute and mischievous vampire wife.

Then, the Volcano King spoke up again.

"Strange." He frowned. "Where is your authority, Queen? Why can I not sense the Death Authority of yours as an Ender from you?"

"Are you not the Ender of Death?" he asked directly.

Caelus immediately answered before Sylvia could.

"No," he stated firmly. "She’s Sylvia, nothing more than that."

"You must be confusing her with your Queen, Senior."

The Volcano King became silent hearing this. He continued staring at Sylvia, which made her even more uncomfortable, so she hid behind Caelus.

Caelus patted her head upon seeing this.

It was rare for Sylvia to get uncomfortable and hide behind him like this; there must definitely be something going on here.

"No." He spoke up once more. "That cannot be."

"The Crimson Sovereign would never acknowledge another Ender. She loved our Queen dearly and was her loyal servant," he reasoned to himself. "Unless..."

"Is this reincarnation...?"

"Or is this history repeating itself...? Did Origin reverse time?"

However, he slowly shook his head.

"No, there are too many unknowns," he concluded. "Only time will reveal the answer."

As he spoke to himself, he finally settled his eyes onto Caelus.

"What are you, kid?" the Volcano King asked. "I sense the presence of Axiom Origin from you. Yet, I sense no Ender resonance or authority from you."

He appeared thoughtful.

"Are you a descendant of Origin? Hm?"

Caelus remained quiet hearing this.

"I don’t know," he replied while shaking his head. "I might just be his descendant. I don’t know what exactly I am."

Now that this man had said that, Caelus’s heart skipped a beat.

As it was right now, there were three Enders of Origin: him, Caelus Kross; Frieza, the previous Ender that granted him his current power; and their predecessor, the one that was the true Origin, which according to Frieza was still alive.

Am I truly an Ender?

For the first time, Caelus himself couldn’t answer that question.

He did not know.

He just knew the predecessor, the First Origin, favored him and granted him this power with the help of Frieza.

The Volcano King smiled faintly seeing his confusion.

"It matters little," he declared while waving his hand. "The affairs of the Boundless Expanse are no longer mine; I am merely a spirit, a remnant carrying out one final command."

He closed his eyes briefly.

"And I think I finally understand why you were brought here," he added.

As he said that, he snapped his fingers casually. Reality immediately changed around them, and the endless darkness shattered like broken glass.

"Pass my trial," the Volcano King commanded, "obtain my inheritance, and..."

He looked directly at Caelus.

"I shall also grant you the thing you seek most," he finished.

Caelus narrowed his eyes hearing this.

"The thing I seek most?" he repeated questioningly.

The Volcano King simply smiled; he didn’t answer the question.

"Get stronger there. If you don’t, death awaits you."

"Now go, witness the power of absolute monsters of the Old Era."

[Ding! Special Trial Discovered.]

[Trial of the Volcano King]

[Death is permanent inside this trial.]