Piero knew that he was no match for the Seven Rulers of the World.
But what he wielded was the 'Abyss Power'. This power had caused half of the Seven Gods who destroyed Khaenri'ah to die on the spot. To put it bluntly, the 'power of the abyss' was the nemesis of the Seven Gods.
Even if the Ice Queen was ordered by heaven to erase him from the gods' presence, she still had to be wary of the Abyss Power within him.
Although he didn't understand why he had been unable to extract the power of the abyss in recent days, and why his power had weakened to the point of nearly falling below the level of the gods, he still had the ring made from the bones of the 'Second Descendant'. With it, he could still release the power of the abyss.
He knew the Ice Queen well. In order to prevent Snezhnaya from being polluted by the abyss and to protect her people, she would compromise.
Barnabas looked calmly at the man who had been her fool's 'general commander' just two days ago.
"The power of the abyss? How dare you release this kind of power on the continent of Teyvat..."
The new Lord of the Eternal Throne had already controlled the 'Second Throne', and now the Abyss was under the control of Lord Celestia. It was clearly forbidden in the order of the 'Teyvat Pantheon' for the power of the abyss to appear on the ground, as it would violate the commands of that master.
Piero smiled. "The Queen doesn't want to cause Snezhnaya to fall into disaster just to erase me."
There was a hint of arrogance in his voice as he said this.
"So, let's each take a step back. You give up chasing me, and I won't take another step into the land of Winter."
Barnabas sighed. It seemed like a compromise, but in reality, she was lamenting Piero's ignorance and arrogance. Did he really think that he was a chess player on the board? Everything had changed the moment the new Lord Celestia looked down at the world of Teyvat. The chessboard had already been shattered by that Lord.
As long as one remained in Teyvat, whether god or human, whether part of the earth or the abyss, they were only the possessions of that master.
He was just a human who had mastered the power of the abyss, yet he was arrogant enough to think he could threaten a god?
Piero watched Barnabas sigh and felt triumphant, thinking that she had compromised. Before his smile could fully spread across his face, the crack in the space behind him that was leaking the power of the abyss suddenly closed.
The abyssal monsters that had been roaring and trying to escape were also decomposed and dissipated by an incomprehensible force. The sky, which had become distorted due to the aura of the abyss, returned to normal.
Piero panicked for a moment and turned around with a look of fear on his face. "What's going on?!"
He quickly looked down, only to see that the ring on his finger had broken into pieces, turning into powder and dissipating in the air.
"My ring of the abyss!"
Piero's voice was hysterical as he kept grabbing at the rapidly disappearing powder. What was happening? Why was the power of the abyss not responding to his summons? Why was the abyss even...
The power of the abyss within him was vanishing at an incredibly fast rate, as if the abyss itself was reclaiming it. Not only that, but the power that belonged to the abyss was also slowly disappearing.
Piero felt that his 'power,' his 'authority,' and the 'knowledge' within his body were all gradually disappearing. He was going completely mad.
"Why is this happening?! What is going on?!"
"My power, that's my power!"
"You can't take the abyss back! It's mine!"
Piero raged like a madman, swinging his hands at the void. Barnabas looked at Piero, who was losing his mind as his power was being withdrawn by the will of Celestia, unable to withstand the blow, and raised her hand coldly.
Ice-blue light glowed at her fingertips.
"Khaenri'ah... Though I still believe the ordinary citizens of Khaenri'ah are not guilty..."
"But you, who caused the tide of dark beasts, you who embraced the power of the abyss, you are guilty."
The blue light instantly shone on Piero. With the sound of crackling ice spreading, Piero was frozen in place, turned into a statue, as if time itself had stopped at that moment.
Barnabas regretted her plan to shelter the sinners of Khaenri'ah. Unfortunately, there was no medicine to cure regret.
She only hoped that Lord Celestia might change his opinion of her in future plans to conquer the world.
The moment Barnabas turned around and disappeared into the icy blue light, the ice block encasing Piero shattered into powder, dispersing into the air.
Piero, the court mage of Khaenri'ah who had possessed the knowledge of the Second Descendant, the 'Traveler from Another World', was erased.
The scene shifted to the rainforest of Sumeru.
The land of Sumeru was not only the largest among the seven nations, but also had the most secrets hidden beneath the surface. It could be said that no mountain in Sumeru was truly solid.
After the Fools' executives had cleared out all the 'sinners' among them, they gathered to hunt down the most elusive target of all—Dotore, the second-in-command of the Fools.
Although Dotore had many clones, they were not unlimited. Killing seven or eight clones per executive would almost deplete all of his copies, except for his original self. Once all the clones were eradicated, the original would naturally be exposed.
The large-scale operations by the Fools' executives and Snezhnaya could not escape the attention of other nations. It had already become common knowledge since the 'Punishment Nail' appeared in the sky.
In Dotore's main experimental base—the largest research base where many of his clones were produced—five of his clones were currently quarreling among themselves.
"Obviously, those bastards have the power to lock me in. I can't escape no matter what I do! After all, it's an order from Celestia, and even the Ice Queen wouldn't dare disobey."
"Celestia wants to get rid of me, and no matter how hard I try to escape, it's useless."
"Even if I had the power of the Seven Gods, I would still be no match, not to mention that the power of Celestia has awakened."
"It was all my fault back then. The best thing I could have done was not to try to explore the secrets of the 'Eye of God' so that Celestia wouldn't have noticed me!"
"And it's my fault for wanting to explore the end of technology, for wanting to understand the secret of Sky Island."
"Hahaha, 'you' made me laugh to death, hypocrites. I am Dotore, you are all Dotore. Sooner or later, none of us will be able to resist exploring the unknown."
"What's the use of talking now? The executives who have been granted divine power by the Ice Queen have already entered the base."
"Yes, 'we' are no match for six demon-god-level opponents. We will be dead in half an hour at most."
"The foolish 'me' from that time won't have to wait for half an hour—it will be over now!"
Rumbling explosions responded to Dotore's words as the base shook violently, as if experiencing a magnitude-nine earthquake.
The overwhelming divine power shattered the mountain's structure and blasted directly towards the underground base within the mountain's cavity.