Machia was quivering, as was the whole of Orb. Gaius could feel the words he had spoken earlier turn into a prototypical form of natural law itself, the guiding principles of his new world.

A virtual utopia that could take in everyone on Orb. It would be a world for people who were content with small dreams, a world for those who wanted a peaceful life. No one would ever find themselves lacking in food or land. Nor will there be oppressors that boast of incredible personal might. Memories of Orb would not be carried over, erasing the past hundred thousand years of grievances.

As such, there would be no reason for conflict, which meant that he could outlaw conflict in all forms. It would be a new law of his world, meant to protect those who had no intention of fighting.

Cybral spun madly, absorbing both his divinity and the nebulous power of the Crying Abyss. Oculus, through his sacrifice, had turned Gaius into a channel that linked the Abyss to this incredible undertaking.

“Goodbye, Oculus,” Gaius murmured, gazing at the two formations whirling around him madly. “Our time together was short, but you had been a friend to me. A true spiritual guide.”

“He was created for this purpose,” said Nexus. “He has lived up to it. Magnificently.”

Gaius nodded.

The rumbling abruptly intensified, as the ground Gaius was standing on shot upwards. Rock and earth writhed and rippled, and in his mind’s eye, Gaius could sense that the entirety of Machia was undergoing drastic changes. The cavern leading into the centre of Orb was filling back up at a visible pace, and before he knew it, he was at the surface of the Central Circle.

It didn’t stop there, however. The ground beneath his feet continued to rise, creating an enormous mountain that pierced through the skies. The mountain rippled like liquid metal a second later, turning into a tower that was simultaneously slick and angular.

Orb continued to shake, as giant walls appeared around the landmass. From up high, Gaius could vaguely feel a connection between him and those walls, but it didn’t end there. Defences of all kinds — the weapons of modern wars today — rippled into view, a display of true creation.

A fortress was being constructed with the power of the Crying Abyss alone. Such a phenomenon was only made possible by the Crying Abyss, which was an incredible amalgamation of the old gods’ power. While most of it was pouring out into Cybral, some parts had split out to protect this miracle in its infancy, forming defences that were more alive than anything Orb had ever seen before.

“This is unbelievable,” Nexus, who was sitting on his shoulder, muttered.

Gaius nodded.

The rippling Central Circle began to still, which was the cue for shadowy beings to pour out from the tower Gaius was standing on. Each of them looked vaguely like armoured knights, save for the fact there were eyeballs on their armour and hands.

Spectres.

Gaius could feel a connection to those spectres, which continued to pour out of the heaven-piercing tower he was standing on. These shadows were the gathered emotions of Orb’s inhabitants, the last gift the old gods of Orb had given to Gaius. They would be his cannon fodder for the final war, to defend against the elites of Orb, who had undoubtedly noticed this impossible phenomenon.

“Behold,” Gaius murmured. “An immortal army that transcends even the demons.”

“Impressive, yes, but you sound very pretentious when you say that.”

“If this isn’t the time to be pretentious,” said Gaius, “then there’ll never be a time to be pretentious.”

Black lightning tore the blue skies into two as the last of the Crying Abyss’ power forced itself into the small orb that was Cybral. The orb itself turned into a second sun a moment later, before embedding itself into the very top of the tower. Hundreds of thousands of barriers appeared in mid-air a moment later, compressing themselves into small hexagons that protected the little seed.

An incredible, incorporeal force blasted out from the globe a moment later, arcing outwards onto the opposite side of Orb, and Gaius understood immediately. If Orb were to be laid out into a map, with the Central Circle at the middle, that power that had shot out would be a huge circular area that would shrink inwards.

In his mind’s eye, he could see a thin film of translucent darkness, much like the Great Divide before it fell, expanding outwards from Machia’s geographical counterpart in the Wildlands. Fortunately, despite its threatening exterior, the only thing this film did was to simply link any and all lives it touched to Gaius’ new world and nothing else.

“Whew. It looks scary, but it really is innocent,” Gaius observed.

“What is?” Nexus asked, tilting its head.

“The creation of this new world,” said Gaius, “has also created an ominous wall of advancing doom. This wall actually just links all lives it touches into this growing world, and nothing else.”

“Sounds good on theory, but when you say ‘lives’, what exactly do you mean?” Nexus asked. “Trees too?”

“Humans, beastfolk, demons, familiar spirits and gods,” Gaius replied. “I didn’t include anything else outside of these categories, because they’ll take up a computational load that isn’t needed.”

“Just checking, but entering this new world of yours is entirely optional, right?” Nexus asked. “However, if you were to take in all life, optionality won’t be an issue anymore.”

“Yes, it wouldn’t be,” Gaius acknowledged. “But I want to give everyone the choice. Some people want to live small lives, peaceful ones. Others look up and seek the peak of power. And…once this undertaking is complete, I will truly have done my best. How they view my best is not something I’m obligated to think about.”

“A choice…”

“Yes,” Gaius replied. “Funny, isn’t it? Simply by creating a second choice for the common people, I will be the target of the elite. It’s as if they never wanted people to escape from the structures they built up.”

“I think that’s very close to the truth, Master Gaius.”

“Who knows?” Gaius turned around to look at the tower he was at. “Nexus, you’ll handle the general defence here. I don’t think anyone’s going to come knocking this early, but who knows.”

“What about you?”

“Me?” Gaius asked. “I’m just going to bring the others over.”