Polar Day And Polar Night

The frigid fissures of the void stretched like unhealing wounds towards their respective desperate abysses. The sundered trio, under the covetous gaze of the Void-Erosion Stalkers, slid down divergent yet equally terrifying paths of aberration.

*The Stagnation Core: Cage of Crystalline Geometry*

The silent expanse frozen by Tang Xiao's will was no longer a natural realm. It had transformed into a self-replicating, icy, and perfectly geometrical *cage*.

The Stagnation Core at its heart, that profound azure crystal, its inward-collapsing pull no longer confined itself to matter. It began to "freeze" more abstract existences: the structure of space, the flow of time, even the frequency of law fluctuations. Radiating from the crystal, complex geometric structures composed of absolutely motionless star dust and cryo-crystallized nebular gases were generating. These structures weren't chaotic; they followed an icy, supremely efficient "covering" pattern derived from the Stagnation Law itself—the *Cryo-Geometric Array*.

The array formed perfect polyhedral structures, sharp-angled, surfaces smooth as mirrors, refracting the inner azure cold light. Each layer of the array rotated slowly (relative to the nearly halted external time), nested and interlocked, like a colossal, intricate, inwardly growing crystalline puzzle box. Newly frozen matter was forcibly incorporated into this array, becoming part of it, reinforcing this eternal cage.

The Void-Erosion Stalker's pure white silhouette, like condensation on a cold windowpane, drifted along the icy barrier at the array's outermost edge. It had attempted intrusion several times. A beam of deathly still white light lanced towards a perceived weak point at a geometric facet junction.

*Humm—*

The targeted geometric facet instantly flared with blinding azure runes! The entire array's force field reconfigured and reinforced itself at an unimaginable speed! The Void-Erosion beam struck the now-denser Stagnation field and was forcibly "frozen" mid-air! Like a white insect embedded in ice, its erasing power was arrested by absolute stillness, unable to advance, dissipate, or retreat—simply hanging there, a new, cold ornament on the array's outer layer.

The Stalker's smooth outline registered a minute fluctuation akin to "hesitation" for the first time. It withdrew slowly, melting into the void's shadow. But it did not depart. Like the most patient mathematician, it began orbiting the ever-growing crystalline array, its cold "gaze" scanning every facet, edge, and runic node. It was calculating, computing the operating logic of this ultimate orderly defense system, seeking the theoretically inevitable "point of informational entropy stasis"—a "singularity" at the law level that even perfect Stagnation couldn't flawlessly cover, born from its own absolute stillness.

Deep within the Stagnation Core, the spark of Tang Xiao's protective will, now reduced to pinprick size, was encased in thick azure ice. The object of its guardianship had long faded; the "catastrophe" it sought to seal seemed to have become all change itself. A pure, absolute directive—Stagnation for Stagnation's sake—like an icy program, drove the Cryo-Geometric Array's infinite expansion. It was forging itself, along with the captured expanse, into an eternal *Stagnation Singularity*, rejecting all variables and possibilities.

**The Scorch-Corpse Chrysalis: Will of the Carcinized Star-Corpse*

The blazing chrysalis formed by Lu Chen's will had undergone a more horrifying metamorphosis after ravenously devouring a dense asteroid belt. It was no longer an energetic cocoon but a wriggling, living planetoid composed of molten star wreckage and raging energy!

The "planetoid's" surface was no longer smooth and incandescent white but riddled with massive, dark crimson, tumor-like magma pustules. Fissures cracked open on these pustules, spewing plumes of destructive breath—incandescent white shot through with streaks of deathly white (the Void-Erosion taint). Where this breath swept, matter was instantly incinerated and consumed, becoming sustenance for the "planetoid." Its gravitational field warped violently, like countless intangible tentacles, brutally snatching distant star wreckage, dust clouds, even passing micro-stellar fragments, dragging them towards the churning "tumor forges" on its surface.

"Ugh... Pain... Hunger... More... Destroy!"

Deep within the planetoid's core, Lu Chen's will howled in endless pain and hunger. The stimulus of the Void-Erosion force acted like a toxic stimulant, rendering his devouring instinct utterly uncontrollable, his destructive desires spiraling into self-immolating extremes. He was no longer satisfied with consuming external matter; he began "digesting" the very star-corpse matter constituting his own body! The massive tumorous pustules were products of internal energy collisions gone wild, matter repeatedly melted and forcibly reconstituted! Each act of devouring was accompanied by the disintegration and reformation of parts of his corpus; each energy outburst deepened the erosion of the Void-Erosion taint at his core.

The Void-Leeches lurking at the storm's edge, like piranhas drawn to blood, finally seized their opportunity. When a blast of incandescent breath faltered momentarily due to internal conflict, failing to fully cover an area, the boldest Void-Leeches lunged towards a recently erupted, relatively energy-weak tumor fissure!

*Hsss-crackle!*

Like water hitting boiling oil, the Void-Leeches' filthy shadow-flesh sizzled and vaporized upon contact with the blazing energy! But their inherent corruption, designed to taint energy sources, clung like necrotic parasites, crawling *up* the energy flow against the current, biting deep into the tumor's interior!

*"ROAR!!!"*

A bellow of fury erupted from the planetoid's core! The invaded tumor swelled grotesquely and burst! Raging incandescent energy, mixed with filthy shadow shards and streaks of Void-Erosion white, erupted like volcanic magma! Nearby Void-Leeches were instantly vaporized! But more surged from the shadows like flies to carrion, swarming towards the new, chaotically energetic wound left by the explosion!

A brutal war of devouring and counter-devouring erupted on the surface of the living planetoid! The Void-Leeches used their filth to corrupt Lu Chen's "flesh," slowing his consumption and destruction, attempting to gnaw at his core essence from within. Lu Chen's furious energy incinerated and assimilated these invaders, forcibly integrating their corrupt power into his own chaotic energy cycle, further exacerbating his body's aberration and agony. Each conflict rendered the planetoid's surface more grotesque, its form more twisted, the Void-Erosion scar at its core flashing ever more frequently.

It was no longer a simple devourer. It was descending, amidst pain, hunger, corruption, and self-destruction, into something forged from star wreckage, filth, Void-Erosion, and a will to incinerate—a *Carcinized Star-Corpse Will*.

*The Lawless Flow Stratum: The Scepter and Shadow's Descent*

The Emberglow Scepter, trailing its chaotic luminous wake, finally plunged into the depths of the Lawless Flow Stratum—the *Substratum Void*. Here, concepts grew thin and distorted; space resembled shattered soap bubbles, time a dry riverbed. Even the chaotic flows here manifested as a viscous, gelatinous inertness, their colors an indescribably nauseating melange of sickly grays.

The micro-singularity at the scepter's tip glowed as faintly as a candle in the wind. Inside, the ash-gray (Stagnation) and sickly pale (Devour) energies still tore at each other like dying vipers, each conflict widening the fine cracks on the singularity's surface. The electrostatic spark scar flickered stubbornly, an unhealing wound, the nucleus of the chaos.

The trailing Void-Erosion Stalker seemed right at home in this Substratum Void. Its smooth, pure white silhouette grew more defined, its "erasure" aura purer, more corrosive. It waited no longer, deciding to harvest this chaotic scepter.

*Humm!*

A beam of deathly still white light, denser and colder than before, ignored the Substratum Void's viscous law-jelly, streaking unerringly towards the scepter's tip—aiming directly for the flickering scar!

Just as the beam was about to strike—

The warped shadow, the chaotic law-projection birthed from the scepter's singularity, which had followed like a specter, suddenly moved!

Devoid of consciousness, driven only by chaotic law's instinct, faced with this lethal attack threatening its very origin, the shadow—flickering between an ash-gray humanoid and sickly pale flame—collapsed and condensed violently! Instantly, it formed a *chaotic prism* cobbled together from countless fragments of ash and pale sparks, riddled with cracks, interposing itself between the beam and the singularity!

*Shhhiiink!—!!!*

The Void-Erosion beam slammed into the chaotic prism!

There was no cataclysmic explosion. The prism's surface rippled violently; its ash-gray substance frantically tried to "stagnate" the beam, while the pale sparks greedily "devoured" its energy! But this hastily formed defense was fragile against pure, high-order erasure!

The prism's surface was instantly pierced! Countless cracks spiderwebbed outwards! The law fragments composing it were mercilessly erased, annihilated by the white light!

However, this minuscule obstruction deflected the beam by a hair's breadth and weakened it by the tiniest fraction!

*Thud!*

The weakened, deflected beam did not strike the singularity's core scar head-on but instead grazed its edge and plunged through!

*Crack!*

A sharp sound of shattering! A fingernail-sized shard of the micro-Emberglow Singularity, tinged with ash-gray and sickly pale light, was forcibly "excavated" by the Void-Erosion beam!

The singularity itself convulsed violently, its light dimming almost to extinction! The internal energy conflict within it seemed to falter momentarily under this grievous wound!

The pierced, near-dissipated chaotic prism (the shadow) shuddered! It seemed to sense the excised shard imbued with chaotic law! A surge of chaotic, primal "greed," born of shared origin, erupted! The shadow's remaining form twisted into a distorted stream of light and, heedless of its own impending dissolution, lunged desperately towards the shard—even as the Void-Erosion beam sought to erase it utterly!

The Void-Erosion Stalker seemed mildly surprised by the shadow's "death throes," its cold "will" flickering minutely. It did not intervene, watching with detached interest.

The shadow's remnants collided with the shard! In the instant before the Void-Erosion beam could annihilate them utterly, the shadow's chaotic law-streams forcibly enveloped and fused with the shard!

*Pfft.*

A soft sound of annihilation.

The shadow, the shard, and the Void-Erosion beam vanished together.

But at the point of annihilation, an infinitesimally faint *chaotic spark*—intermingling ash-gray Stagnation, sickly pale Devour, and a sliver of Void-Erosion's icy nature—flickered like the universe's first glimmer of light. It persisted for a single, stubborn pulse, then vanished, swallowed by the Substratum Void's viscous law-jelly.

The singularity at the scepter's tip, grievously wounded, now held the ash-gray and sickly pale energies within it in a brief, eerie "calm," born perhaps of shared loss. The energies no longer clashed violently but mingled weakly, like stagnant water. The scar flickered faintly but steadily. The scepter itself, bearing this wounded, unnatural "truce," continued its descent into the Substratum Void's deeper abysses—towards the ultimate nothingness where even "existence" became questionable.

The Void-Erosion Stalker hovered in place, its pure white silhouette silently "observing" both the direction of the scepter's descent and the void where the chaotic spark had vanished. Its smooth surface rippled faintly, as if performing some cold calculation. Ultimately, it did not pursue the scepter further. Instead, like melting wax, it seeped silently into the viscous void, orienting itself towards the vanished spark's location, commencing a new, more covert hunt.

Three divergent paths, deepening in aberration. Stagnation marched towards an eternal cage. Incineration degenerated into a cancerous star. The Scepter sank into the abyss of laws. And that nascent chaotic spark, pregnant with multiple destructive natures, like an unknown seed cast into stagnant waters, silently planted an unforeseeable variable within this icy endscape. The shadow of the Void-Erosion still loomed over every hopeless path.