Chapter 919: The Void

Suddenly, the god seated upon the sacred throne opened their eyes. Golden vertical pupils radiated an awe-inspiring presence.

The Dragon Priests standing guard nearby immediately dropped to their knees, paying homage to the deity they served. Even Helagor, the highest-ranking Dragon Priest and the one closest to the throne, was no exception.

After a brief moment, the god’s voice echoed down from above, tinged with a faint sigh: “Only He could do such a thing…”

“My lord?” Helagor cautiously lifted his gaze toward the Dragon God above. “What has happened?”

“You need not concern yourselves,” Enya, the Dragon God, said coldly, casting a detached glance over the silent priests in the temple. Her tone was flat, devoid of emotion. “It has nothing to do with dragons.”

…

A piercing howl erupted without warning.

Along with the inexplicable shriek, every device in the hall began to malfunction. The arcane network terminals projected bizarre, incomprehensible lines and patterns that no human could decipher. Calls from across the empire flooded the system, jamming into a chaotic tangle. The power supply faltered, and the lights flickered violently—like an invisible storm had suddenly swept through the entire arcane network, stirring up turbulent waves within the vast system.

The staff inside the hall predictably fell into a brief panic.

But the chaos lasted less than two seconds. After a moment of stunned surprise, High Lord Gawain sprang to his feet. A calming aura radiated from him, and the Knight’s legendary domain skill spread across the room, forcibly restoring everyone to a state of calm. At the same time, Rebecca’s voice rang out from the front of the hall: “Stay calm—initiate system self-checks immediately!”

Nearby, Kamail’s voice followed: “Check the status of the building’s power spine—any issues with energy?”

The shrill howling continued unabated, but shielded by the Knight’s aura, the technicians blocked out the maddening noise and began a tense, rapid inspection of all systems according to protocol and their experience. Reports soon came in from all corners of the hall:

“The power spine is still operational; main systems remain online…”

“A few buffer units and safety barriers have been breached, but the rear equipment is stable.”

“Reestablishing contact with the Imperial Hub…”

The Imperial Hub was the arcane network’s central tower in Cecil City, the highest-level node among all the “main hubs.” When the howling began, a powerful energy surge disrupted its operation, and it had gone temporarily offline.

“Are internal channels still functional?” Gawain left his seat and strode over to Rebecca, gently patting her shoulder. “Check the outside situation.”

Rebecca was clearly a bit flustered, but Gawain’s touch steadied her instantly.

“The internal channels are isolated from the main network. Let me see…” she said quickly, expertly manipulating the rune “palette” before her. After a few swift adjustments, she exhaled. “They’re working. I’m bringing up the feed—”

A moment later, a holographic projection appeared above the crystal array at the front of the hall. The image, marred by static, showed a massive white tower standing on a high ground near the Arcane Research Institute. The tower itself appeared undamaged, but the mechanical devices and crystal arrays atop it had ceased functioning. The crystals, which should have been glowing with energy, were now dim.

Gawain frowned at the sight, but then he noticed the crystals gradually brightening again.

The power spine inside the tower had successfully rebooted. A surge of energy flowed back into the various units. The enormous crystal array came back to life within seconds. The emergency locks on the mechanical devices disengaged on their own, and the machines began to slowly rotate and recalibrate. A technician in the hall shouted, “We’ve reestablished contact with the Imperial Hub!”

Gawain allowed himself a slight breath of relief, though his expression remained tense. Rebecca immediately called out, “What about the other main hubs?”

“No contact yet… all channels are down. But if we can reboot here, they should be able to as well. We’re trying single-line calls…”

“Keep trying. No matter what, we need to reach all the main hubs and confirm their safety,” Rebecca said rapidly. “Master Kamail, please contact the Computing Center and check on the neural network. Cohen, take your team to the third basement level—the energy group down there needs assistance. Marlin, open the public window at the Imperial Hub. Other main hubs might try to reach us through it…”

She had completely regained her composure, methodically assigning tasks and stabilizing the situation.

Gawain looked at this version of Rebecca—so different from her usual self—with some surprise. After a long moment, he felt quietly reassured. His “Iron Mind Aura” was indeed remarkably effective.

…

The chaotic howling wasn’t confined to the control center in Cecil City. It erupted simultaneously at every main hub and every arcane network terminal connected to them.

In that instant, and for several minutes afterward, every arcane network main hub across the empire suffered the same fate: a terrifying howl, a powerful energy surge that severed newly established connections, widespread equipment shutdowns, and utter chaos in the control rooms. An invisible storm raged through the empire-wide arcane network—from Tenlin City to Changfeng Fortress, from Saint Suniel to Winterhold, all regional leaders scrambled in confusion.

Suddenly, a cold, resolute will descended like a sudden frost, “freezing” the minds of everyone in the hall. Then, as the chill faded, the technicians quickly regained their composure. The first to recover looked toward the nearby dais, where Duchess Victoria Wilde stood silently, surrounded by shimmering ice crystals. Her frosty visage was expressionless.

“Stay calm. Begin fault diagnosis,” Victoria’s clear, cold voice echoed through the hall. “First, confirm the power status, then attempt to reboot our hub tower.”

“My lady,” the senior mage advisor Victor flew up to the platform beside Victoria. “Communications with the capital have been severed—all main hubs in other regions are unreachable.”

“The recent power outage affected all systems; communication loss is expected,” Victoria said without emotion. “First, try calling the nearest Saint Suniel to confirm if they’re experiencing the same issue.”

“Yes, my lady.” Victor bowed and withdrew.

After the old mage left, Victoria calmly scanned the hall.

Thanks to the “Cold Mind” effect, the panicked technicians had all settled down. Though the situation remained unclear, everyone had returned to work, busily diagnosing faults and searching for the cause of this anomaly.

Perhaps, she thought, every important department should be equipped with a device capable of casting “Cold Mind” or a similar spell—like a water bucket for firefighting, an emergency disaster-prevention tool. When an event threatens to throw an entire department into chaos, activating such a device could forcibly calm the staff. Even if it only lasted half an hour, it could save many situations… A practical idea to discuss with His Majesty later.

Briefly, unrelated thoughts flickered through Victoria’s mind, but she quickly suppressed them and refocused on the current crisis.

What on earth was causing this sudden anomaly?

Though well-versed in traditional magic, Victoria felt her knowledge of modern arcane technology was lacking. She shook her head in confusion and whispered a prayer: “Goddess of Magic… where has the fault occurred…”

No response came.

Not only was there no reply, but the usual faint sense of divine presence or the transcendent connection that normally followed such prayers was entirely absent. Victoria felt as if her supplication had led only to a vast emptiness. In her keen mind, she sensed something like a “void.”

There should have been a god there—but now there was nothing.

Realizing this, the duchess’s eyes snapped wide open.

…

Within the arcane network’s neural web, a similar storm raged—and for the world inside the network, this storm was a tangible force.

Across the boundless expanse, countless gray-white chaotic lines twisted and danced violently through the air, mingling with howling winds that swept the entire realm. The once-clear sky flickered between light and dark, cracks and shimmering, distorted reflections appearing and vanishing in every corner, quickly repaired by some unseen force. The world’s only “city” was protected beneath a translucent silver-white “light cocoon,” shielding it from the harsh “weather” outside. Inside, stability remained.

In the city’s center, inside a massive pyramid-shaped building, Yuri anxiously monitored the fluctuating runes and data, his voice urgent: “A massive abnormal data stream is flowing through our network—enormous in scale!”

“Can we capture it?” Wendy asked from nearby.

“I can’t. It’s too strange, impossible to analyze, and it’s moving rapidly along the network’s outermost ‘unconscious zone’…” Yuri’s face was full of confusion. “What is this thing…?”

“Whatever it is, it’s clearly here to cause destruction!” Magnus suddenly shouted. “If needed, I can launch a few psychic storms at the unconscious zone’s boundary—see if that helps…”

“Shut up, quiet! Your psychic storms won’t affect this strange data at all!” Yuri shot Magnus a glare, then his expression grew even more puzzled. “Wait… this strange intruder… it’s retreating? Moving away from the boundary faster and faster…”

“What?!” Magnus’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me it’s just ‘passing through’!”

“I don’t know if it’s passing through, but it’s almost out of our sight,” Yuri said quickly. “Semler, can you contact Nariel and Duvalet outside the city? See if they have any ideas.”

“I’ll try—load’s lighter now, should be fine.”

Outside the city, atop a hill, a massive white spider crouched silently. The storm raging in the network world couldn’t shake her form; the chaotic data and information calmed rapidly around her.

The city’s safety was secured, and the network’s overall load was improving. The sudden storm seemed to be passing. Yet Nariel remained vigilant. Invisible threads extended from her into the void, spreading like a vast web covering the sky, earth, rivers, and every mind behind it all. Everything in the neural network was becoming the ends of her silken strands. Her perception expanded unprecedentedly—

At that moment, the “neural network” reached a state of near perfection. It began to reorganize itself exactly as it was designed to, coming alive just as its name promised.

Duvalet stood on a high ridge near the hill, watching Narithil’s work from afar. He could see the way those silken threads spread out, and he himself was tapping into his own power to help Narithil expand her perception, searching for the “intruder” who sought to sow chaos.

Then, in an instant, one of the countless “threads” in the vast web was suddenly disturbed—pulled in an abnormal way.

It might have been a careless brush, a curious probe, or a bold provocation. Whatever the cause, the thread had been touched.

The spider weaving the web vanished from the ridge in a flash—she had already followed that disturbed thread. In this world built from pure mind, her speed surpassed even the fastest, most fleeting human thought.

Duvalet only caught the words she left behind: “I’m going hunting! You stay here and keep watch!”

The old man in the black suit standing on the ridge paused, then shook his head with a wry smile, muttering to himself, “…Ever since splitting into two, I feel more and more like a babysitter…”

At that moment, a cluster of glowing golden runes appeared out of thin air beside him, trembling as they spoke: “Duvalet, this is Semler—how are things on your end?”

“Looks like Narithil has found traces of the intruder. She’s gone hunting,” Duvalet replied casually. “Things here are gradually stabilizing, but I don’t recommend shutting down the city’s shield until we get a clear update from Narithil.”

“Understood. We’ll stand by.”

(End of chapter)