Earth began ascending into the True Universe.
At first, some people were excited. The army remained tense, while the monarchs and Silas were nervous. However, when a crack appeared in the space above Earth, people’s expressions changed to horror. It looked as though a monster were about to swallow the entire planet.
This was a normal part of the process. Silas and the others who knew what happened during planetary evolution did not look at it with fear.
Then Earth began moving. At first, everything went smoothly. Era was helping by using her power to keep Earth stable. Normally, such a process would cause tsunamis and earthquakes, but Era controlled the entire process, reducing the damage to almost zero.
Just as Era and Silas were about to celebrate, they noticed the Moon following Earth as well.
Suddenly, their forgotten memories came flooding back. Their expressions turned to horror.
"That’s the Moon! It’s evolving with us!" Silas shouted in panic.
This was the first time Silas had felt genuine danger.
"It’s that Zerak guy you told me about. Why didn’t we check the Moon back then?" Era asked in a trembling voice.
"We were about to after discovering the coffin, but we forgot," Silas replied quickly.
"I think we should find a solution immediately. Otherwise, we’ll become a target of Zerak as soon as we enter the True Universe."
"No, there’s no solution to this. Just destroy the Moon. We won’t leave behind any trace of his existence!" Silas ordered Era in a panic.
"Silas, calm down! We cannot destroy the Moon. I can feel my connection with it growing stronger. Destroying it would cause me tremendous harm, and all your plans would be ruined!" Era shouted back.
"Just fucking destroy it! We can make new plans, but if we get caught in Zerak’s web, we won’t have any chance of winning!" Silas shouted.
"Silas, you’re not thinking straight. Use your Will to regain control of your emotions, then ask me the same question again. I’ll destroy the Moon myself, even if the connection between us causes me harm," Era said seriously.
Silas used his Will to regain control of his emotions. His heartbeat slowed, and he gradually calmed down.
"No. Destroying it could cause too many problems. We should first investigate what’s on the Moon," Silas said after thinking it through with a clear mind.
Era nodded and used her connection with the Moon to show him its current state.
When they looked at the footage, they discovered an army of Zerak’s clones. As Era and Silas watched them, every clone turned its head toward Silas and burst into loud laughter.
After seeing so many clones, Silas understood why they had forgotten about the Moon even after destroying the coffin.
The coffin had merely been a diversion, intended to distract him if he began investigating Zerak’s plan. If Silas had gone directly to the Moon, he would have discovered Zerak’s scheme and might have found a way to deal with him.
Zerak continued laughing.
So much calculation had gone into dealing with Silas. Zerak knew that Silas was special enough to control a planet’s power just like its spirit. He didn’t want to take even the slightest risk with his plan.
He had invested an enormous amount of time in preparing everything. He had developed humanity on Earth from scratch so that its technology could advance to a level possible only in the False Universe.
He had even helped humans develop rockets so that he could transport his clones and materials to the Moon. His clones were only at the Awakened Rank and couldn’t fly there on their own.
Using exotic resources and materials and even Earth itself, he had transformed the Moon into a clone of Earth.
Zerak feared Silas more than Silas feared him. He knew almost nothing about Silas, yet Silas seemed to know far too much about him. His precautions had saved him when Silas saw through his curse and destroyed the coffin.
But this time, Zerak wanted to mock Silas.
Only a minute or so remained before Earth ascended into the True Universe. Silas had control over Earth, but Zerak was standing on the Moon. There was no way Silas could kill all the clones within a single minute.
However, there was one thing even Zerak hadn’t accounted for.
Everything had gone according to his plan, but he had never imagined that Earth’s Planet Spirit had already awakened. Such a development was impossible to predict.
Era looked at the laughing Zerak and then at his other clones.
For the first time since encountering Zerak, Silas smiled.
Seeing Silas smile like a creep, Zerak sensed that something was wrong.
"Kill all the clones, Era. The Moon is your clone, isn’t it? Although I cannot use the same power over the Moon that I can use over Earth, you’re different," Silas said.
Era nodded and began killing Zerak’s clones one after another.
For the first time, Zerak’s confidence cracked. He had spent years preparing for this moment, eliminating uncertainties one by one, yet a single unforeseen variable had dismantled everything. He watched his remaining plans collapse with the destruction of his clones, realizing that even perfect calculations could fail when the information is not enough. Even now he didn’t know what method Silas used to kill his clones.
Zerak’s expression turned to horror as he watched his last remaining clones burst from within. He didn’t fear his own death, but he couldn’t bear the thought of losing the plan he had spent so much time and effort developing.
One mark after another flew toward Silas, but Era crushed them before they could reach him.
However, the fate attached to the clones did not disappear. Instead, it began gathering around Silas.
His freedom became even more restricted.
Based on his calculations, even if Zerak entered his empire, he would still be able to find Silas. But there was no way Silas would leave his empire.
All the clones on the Moon were eventually wiped out.
Earth entered the crack in space, and the Moon followed shortly afterward. Once both had passed through, the crack closed.
Everything inside the Cradle began disintegrating, its remains forming another Cradle for a new Barren Planet.