Chapter 1666: The Universe Will Truly End Aildris nodded slowly. "What do you need us to do?" Angy looked at all of them. "I need you to trust me." They exchanged hesitant and hopeful glances. After a long moment, Endric stepped forward first. "I trust you," he said. Falco followed. "Same." E.E placed a hand over his chest. "You’re family." Aildris nodded. "We’re with you." Sersi, Ria, Elevora, Xanatus—all stepped closer. Angy inhaled deeply. "Then get ready," she whispered. "Because if we succeed... Gustav will return." And silently, secretly, her hand drifted once more to her stomach. "But if we fail..." She closed her eyes. "...the universe will truly end." ... ... The preparations took long, grueling and nerve-wracking days. Inside the concealed pocket-star, the air vibrated with restless energy. People whispered in corners, sharpened weapons that would do little against deities, inspected equipment whose usefulness was now reduced to mere hope. No amount of planning could erase their fear, but no one dared show cowardice openly. The universe was crumbling, and this insane mission was all they had left. In the largest chamber of the hidden star, a half-circular table floated weightlessly. Around it sat Endric, Aildris, E.E, Falco, Elevora, Ria, Sersi, Gradier Xanatus, and a few other surviving MBO elites and alien refugees who had proven reliable. Their faces were drawn, thin from stress and the months of grief. And at the center of the room, lying upon a reinforced platform, was a technological bottle. It was a device forged from alien hyper-matter, shaped into a crystalline cylinder that gleamed with pocket-space layers. It resembled a prism containing a swirling void and its inner chambers were designed to store the intangible essence fragments of the Outworldly. It was the lifeline they needed to pull the universe back from its doom. The alien engineers who were three tentacled physicists from the shattered Moonaris System, stood nearby, explaining the bottle’s limitations for the hundredth time. "You must understand," one of them with a glowing skin stated. "essences are not physical. They drift between reality and the Liminal Veil. You will only be able to hold them for a limited time before the bottle reaches instability." "How long?" Endric asked. "Seventy-two hours," another replied. "After you collect an essence fragment, the timer starts." "And if the bottle becomes unstable?" Aildris questioned, although he already knew what the answer was going to be. "It ruptures," the alien answered. "Everything inside is lost permanently." A long silence followed. This was a gamble with no margin of error. One misstep meant losing Gustav forever. While the group strategized, Angy stood slightly apart from them with fingers loosely gripping the edge of the platform. She wore a thick jacket to hide the faint swell beneath her abdomen. Every breath she took felt heavier these days. Every heartbeat resonated with a reminder: You’re carrying something precious. Something connected to him. She had told no one. Not Endric. Not Elevora. Not E.E. Not Falco. No one. The others only knew the fragments of the truth... the visions she’d been receiving, the revelation that her Universal Enlightenment Bloodline could guide them to a method of resurrection. But they did not know that the process whispered to her in dreams was partly tied to her unborn child, a child conceived shortly before Gustav’s demise. The child was not the key, not directly. But he or she, was a bridge, a subtle anchor linking Gustav’s scattered essence to reality. Without the presence growing inside her, the bloodline’s enlightenment wouldn’t be complete. But Angy intended to use this advantage without exposing her pregnancy. The others already carried enough burdens. She wouldn’t add another, especially one that would change their judgment or cause hesitation in risking her life. She wouldn’t let her unborn child become another target for deities. So she kept her hand clasped protectively around her belly only when alone. Now, as the group finalized their plan, she drew a quiet breath and stepped closer. Endric pressed his fingers together, letting out a deep exhale. "We all know the situation. Gustav’s essence fragments is dispersed across several sectors—some near dead worlds, some drifting through unstable space, some embedded inside remnants of the ritual site, others deeper... possibly inside places affected by deity energy." Falco crossed his arms with a look of exhaustion. "We’ll have to avoid being sensed. If even one deity detects us..." "We die," Sersi finished softly. "No," E.E corrected with hollow laughter. "We die and the bottle destroys itself. And then the universe dies with us." "Fantastic odds," Elevora muttered under her breath. Xanatus stepped toward the floating hologram displaying a star chart. "We split into four teams. One essence fragment per team. The tenth fragment is at the ritual site—we retrieve that one last." "Because the ritual site is crawling with deity remnants," Aildris said. "Even just stepping foot there could trigger a divine echo." "And we only get 72 hours after the first retrieval," Endric added. "Meaning every second counts." Angy spoke up. "I will remain at the ritual site. It must be prepared before the essence fragments are returned." E.E whipped his head around. "What? Angy, that’s suicide." "No deity can detect this star," she replied calmly. "If we move it to the ritual site which is layered in dimensional folds, I’ll be safe enough." "’Safe enough’ is not exactly reassuring," Falco muttered. Angy gave a faint smile. "I’ll manage." They distributed roles, gear, and escape pathways. Every team received a subset of cloaking tech, artificial wormhole openers, and sigil disruptors calibrated to deity perception frequencies. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 Everyone carried emergency void-rift stones which was a last resort to tear themselves out of space and teleport somewhere unpredictable. It wasn’t safe. Nothing was safe. But their world had burned five months ago. Fear had long become a familiar companion. Ria finally asked the question everyone avoided: "If a deity finds any of us... do we run? Or... do we draw them away from the others?" Silence reigned briefly before Endric finally replied, "If a deity finds us... we do whatever increases the chance of completing the mission. If that means one of us must die..." He swallowed thickly. "Then so be it." Nods followed.