Polar Day And Polar Night

Beneath the pale sky, twelve contorted black ice sculptures lay scattered across the obsidian plain like discarded dolls. Sanctifier Antoine's frozen effigy hung suspended, his petrified horror and despair serving as the most prominent epitaph for this silent necropolis. The all-shrouding membrane of pale flame gently smoothed over the tear in the heavens, the polluted leaden grey replaced once more by an even, deathly stillness, glowing with crystalline light.

Chenxiao hovered above the ice, the Terminus Blade hanging low. Within him, the power devoured from the purifying beam, the twelve high-ranking Paladins, and the Sanctifier roared and surged like magma within his obsidian cryosteel form. The blazing white veins across his armor flickered erratically, brighter than ever, like countless rivers of frozen lava raging beneath the ice. The contours of his armor grew deeper, heavier; his mere presence caused the shrouded space around him to emit faint groans of strain, the air thickening like congealed resin.

His "face," covered by the featureless ice mask, turned slightly. The gaze formed by twin points of pale flame pierced the shrouded sky, pierced physical boundaries, locking unerringly onto the direction of the Light Domain. There, several vast, ancient wills, radiating shock and scrutiny, like intangible probes, crossed the infinite void, piercing coldly into this pale-shrouded waste.

These wills were deeper than Antoine's, closer to the fundamental source of the Light Domain's power. They carried the detachment of examining a flawed creation, and a sliver of offended majesty.

"Aberrant... Stasis... Devourer... Sacrilege..." A will that sounded like the friction of billions of light particles swept coldly over Chenxiao and the dead world beneath him, finally focusing on the violently surging, forcibly assimilated Sacred Essence within him. "...Source of Corruption... Requires... Purification..."

The response was the silent ignition of a point of "Permafrost Aurora" in Chenxiao's palm. Pale. Steady. Cold. Radiating the will to Shroud and Terminate. No words. Only the most direct declaration of law.

*Hmmmm——!*

The vast wills from the depths of the Light Domain abruptly coalesced! They ceased mere scrutiny, transforming into tangible pressure of law, crashing down!

The icy plain space around Chenxiao violently imploded! Not physical destruction, but space itself being forcibly compressed and reshaped by a purity of "Light's Order"! The obsidian ice covering the plain shrieked with a sharp "CRACK-KAK-KAK!", instantly spider-webbed with golden fissures! From the cracks, Holy Light of blinding purity erupted, bearing a scorching will to purify all, furiously burning and eroding the Terminus power composing the ice!

Chenxiao's cryosteel-armored form buckled violently! The ice beneath his feet exploded! He was thrust into an invisible, colossal furnace forged of pure Light Law. Terrific heat radiated not from flame, but from space itself being forcibly superheated and refined by the "order" of Light! The obsidian cryosteel composing his form groaned under the extreme pressure and scorching of Light's order, emitting faint, metallic shrieks as if nearing melting point! The blazing white veins across his armor flickered violently, threatening to shatter under the pure light-pressure!

More deadly was the internal assault! The vast, forcibly devoured, incompletely assimilated Sacred Essence, resonating strongly with the summons of the Light Domain's supreme will outside, detonated like a powder keg! Golden Holy Fire erupted violently within his frigid form, seeking to break the shackles of Terminus power, coordinating an internal-external assault!

"Ugh—!" A violent tremor shook Chenxiao's consciousness for the first time! Fragments of Lu Chen's agony from Holy Fire scorching were instantly triggered, intertwining with Tang Xiao's torment of ice-bound etching, assailing the nascent, icy will! The pale Terminus Flame sheathing his form rippled violently; the **Stasis** field enveloping him showed visible ripples and distortions!

Deep within the Light Domain, the ancient wills seemed to seize upon this momentary fluctuation of pain.

"Struggle... Futile... Order... Tolerates... No... Defilement..." Another, even more monumental will, sounding like countless overlapping sacred litanies, resonated. Accompanying this will, the descending pressure doubled! At the center of the imploding space, a point of light pure beyond description began to coalesce! Minuscule as a grain of sand, the pressure it radiated made the entire shrouded Permafrost Wastes tremble! It was the embodiment of the Light Domain's Law, the ultimate projection of the concept of "Purification"! Should it detonate, it would erase Chenxiao and this "tainted" land from the level of law itself!

Chenxiao's armored legs sank deep into the shattered ice under the doubled pressure. The internal Holy Fire rebellion and the external Light-furnace compression subjected his newborn form to its most severe trial since birth. Beneath the ice mask, the twin pale flames flickered wildly.

*Cannot retreat! Cannot shatter! Shroud... must... complete...*

In this dire moment of internal conflict and external siege, pushed to the brink, Chenxiao's consciousness plunged into his core! That deep-blue crystalline core pulsing with blazing white veins—the origin fused with Tang Xiao's will for glacial order and Lu Chen's devouring power!

"Ice... bone... Abyss... sinew... Terminus... soul!"

An icy will, like a titan's hammer forging iron, slammed down upon the core!

*Hmmmm——!!!*

The deep-blue crystalline core erupted with unprecedented, profound cold light! Within it, Tang Xiao's protective obsession, etching agony, and body-as-prison resolve surged like an awakened glacier! A "Stasis" force far purer, far deader than before exploded from Chenxiao, an absolute-zero frost surge instantly expanding!

*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*

The imploding space instantly froze solid! The golden fissures spewing Holy Light were forcibly covered, frozen over by a rapidly spreading layer of darker, deeper obsidian ice! The scorching Holy Light within the cracks plunged into liquid nitrogen, instantly snuffed, solidified, becoming frozen golden veins within the ice! The scorching heat of the external Light-furnace was forcibly suppressed; the sense of spatial compression momentarily stalled!

Simultaneously, the Terminus Blade clenched in Chenxiao's right hand emitted a deafening hum! The blazing white veins along its blade instantly transformed into viscous, pale-lava-like Terminus Flame! No longer passive, he drove the blade deep into the golden-fissured ice beneath his feet!

"Shroud! Abyss! Devour!"

*KRAKOOM——!!!*

Channeled through the Terminus Blade, the ravenous Devour power, mixed with the newborn, ultimate Stasis born from Tang Xiao's will, surged madly along the temporarily frozen golden fissures, invading the descending Law of the Light Domain!

This was reverse erosion at the level of law! Like the greediest parasite, it crawled back along the "tendrils" the Light Domain's will had extended, devouring its power and order essence!

"Outrageous!" The will that sounded like grinding light particles carried distinct shock and fury for the first time! It felt its projected Law-force being forcibly frozen, decomposed, absorbed by a cold, still power bearing an assimilative will! The coalescence of that imminent point of golden light, representing the concept of Purification, was forcibly interrupted, stalled, its surface even beginning to frost over with an ominous pallor!

The Holy Fire rebellion within Chenxiao, suppressed by the sudden reduction of external pressure and the internal explosion of "Stasis" force, faltered like fire doused with ice water! Terminus Shroud power seized the chance, counterattacking wildly. Like countless icy tendrils, it wrapped, shrouded, assimilated every strand of rebellious Sacred Essence, forcibly converting it into frigid energy sustaining his form! The blazing white veins on his obsidian armor, after a momentary dimming, reignited with denser, more stable brilliance, even faintly exuding a cold luminescence born of devoured light and heat!

*Stalemate!*

The descending Law-pressure from the Light Domain's depths and Chenxiao's erupted Terminus Stasis-Devour power formed a brief, terrifying balance above the shrouded waste. Space twisted and groaned under the conflict of two supreme laws, flaring gold one moment, shrouded pale the next. The icy plain beneath Chenxiao shattered repeatedly, only to be covered anew by darker, deeper ice. He stood like a black reef rooted in the storm's eye, enduring the crashing waves. Hairline fractures appeared on his armor, only to be swiftly sealed by the flowing Terminus power.

"Mere... Exile... Construct... Dares... Steal... Order..." The monumental will of layered litanies radiated profaned fury. They could not comprehend how the power representing the chaotic exile zone could evolve into something so cold, so possessing the negating character of "order"! It defied their understanding!

Chenxiao's twin pale flames, through the distorted space, met those furious wills with icy calm. He offered no words, merely channeling more power into the Terminus Blade, making the viscous, pale Terminus Flame burn more savagely, devouring the Light Domain's Law more voraciously. Each devouring deepened his understanding of "Light," condensing his internal power further.

This trans-spatial contest of law was terrifyingly costly. Chenxiao's newborn form shuddered violently, each clash a step on a razor's edge. The fluctuations from the ancient wills deep within the Light Domain also intensified, a sign this remote projection taxed even them.

Just as this perilous balance seemed poised to continue indefinitely—

*Hmmmm... ...!*

A faint, yet primordial hum, seeming to originate from the very birth of the world, resonated unexpectedly from the heart of the Light Domain.

This hum was not will, but pure law-pulse! Ancient. Sacred. Carrying the initial warmth of creation, yet imbued with indisputable, absolute authority!

Merely the echo of that hum washed over—

*CRACK!*

The devouring channel Chenxiao had forged with the Terminus Blade and his own will instantly spider-webbed with fractures, as if struck by an invisible hammer! The Light Domain Law-force he was devouring and stalling, infused with boundless vitality, blazed a hundred times brighter!

*Pfft!*

From the "mouth" position beneath Chenxiao's ice mask, a spray of fine, pale-flame-licked ice crystals erupted—the first sign of damage to his internal structure under the sudden law-impact! The Terminus Blade embedded in the ice scraped backward with a shriek of tortured cryosteel, gouging a deep furrow!

The shock and fury from the ancient wills deep within the Light Domain instantly transformed into awe and fervor.

"Primordial... Radiance... Aw... akens..." The grinding-light-particle voice trembled.

The descending pressure receded like a tide; the golden point covered in pale frost vanished instantly. The probes of the Light Domain's will retracted rapidly, leaving only one final, icy, ultimatum-like thought, seared into the sky above the shrouded waste:

"Foul... Construct... Primordial... Radiance... Gazes... Your... End... Is... Sealed..."

With the complete withdrawal of the Light Domain's will, the twisted space instantly smoothed. Only the shattered plain, the suspended black ice sculptures, and the figure at the center remained: half-kneeling, blade braced against the ground, armor etched with hairline fractures, twin pale flames flickering wildly within his eye sockets.

Chenxiao slowly raised his head, his ice-masked visage turned towards the Light Domain. The twin pale flames pierced the void, as if seeing deep within the Light Domain's core, the unimaginable supreme existence that had just emitted that ancient hum.

The Terminus Blade hummed lowly in his grasp. The pale flame leaping upon its edge was denser, colder than before.

The Sacred Essence within him, struck by the echo of the "Primordial Radiance's" hum, had been utterly shrouded, assimilated, and suppressed by the Terminus power. Not a ripple remained.

The shroud of ice spread silently, smoothing over the battle's scars.

Stillness once more became the necropolis's anthem.

Yet, deep within that deathly quiet, lingered an echo—an ancient, warm resonance from the distant heart of the Light Domain. That echo, like the tolling of a bell declaring doom, spread soundlessly within Chenxiao's icy consciousness.