Chapter 1971: The Grand Game (1) Enoch vanished from Existence, but Lumen knew that it was not over. This fallen Luminous was End’s best weapon, and it would still find a way, not just because Enoch was the strongest being in all Existence, but because only Enoch would be able to reverse the expansion of Existence. The very essence of Enoch was tied to Existence’s expansion, and only by forcefully taking back all that he had lost would this process be halted. Now, without the presence of Enoch, Lumen could begin to show itself and gather resources. Observing the operation of End at the sidelines, it had been able to discern certain clues about its functions, and believed it may have found End’s only weakness. And it was Enoch who had revealed those weaknesses by his daring actions. With the expansion of Existence, more new Realities would be born, and creation would expand. It did not matter how powerful End turned out to be; once Creation crossed a certain threshold, even End’s power would not be able to lead to its destruction. Lumen knew that End was also at this threshold, and it needed one, maybe two more extinctions before it could cross the final barrier, and at that time, Lumen was sure that even if Existence continued its expansion, it would no longer matter for End, as it would have become truly omnipotent. Knowing that it had to preserve Creation by all means, Lumen began quietly spreading knowledge of cultivation among different races and species across the expanding Existence. For a while, everything was going according to plan. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 Then it sensed the first stirrings of End, and not just that, these stirrings had a flavor of familiarity... Enoch’s. Using the ambition of this fallen Luminious, End began to exert its influence upon Existence in order to bring about its destruction. War and destruction were part of nature, and Lumen recognized the change necessary for the growth of lower life forms. However, this sort of destruction had a limit, and that limit was not tolerated by End. The first major war that happened, which led to multiple Realities battling each other, was the trigger. Lumen sensed that End was beginning to grow, and Enoch was not gone forever. He may not be aware of it, but Enoch’s actions had tied him firmly with End, and his actions would be slowly stained by the influence of this power. Lumen watched this battle and saw the effects it had, and then he began bringing up countermeasures. Still, Lumen had plans that it could use against End, but it was in the same position as Enoch and could not reveal itself to creation without coming into the attention of End. It was not until the creation of the Primordials by Enoch that Lumen saw the path forward. Used to the fierce individuality of the Luminious, the wings had unconsciously discarded the notion of acquiring helpers. With the Creation of the Primordials, Lumen created the Architects, and in order to further disguise its intention, it called them the Architects of End, while building this temple, called the Temple of End. The task of the Architects was simple: prevent the extinction of life. It was not hard for Lumen to gather the sort of geniuses it would need for this mission. For Lumen, the complete extinction of life across Existence was something it had witnessed through the memories of the Luminous countless times at this point, and the scale of such massive destruction was nothing to it. However, for the Architects who were witnessing the wars between Realities for the first time, this minor scale of conflict was incredibly shocking to them. A single Reality held nearly an infinite number of universes and dimensions, and so war across multiple Realities would lead to the deaths of quadrillions in every passing moment, and the scale of destruction was so vast that no mortal or immortal mind would be able to comprehend such a thing before it happened. Lumen warned them that this was just the tip of the iceberg and the most minor scale of the conflicts that were rapidly approaching was all it needed to create a fierce number of zealots who were willing to give up everything, all so as to prevent the end of all life and the rise of an unknown power so terrible that even understanding it was impossible. With the aid of the Architect, the influence of Lumen subtly grew, and it was able to influence a lot of the lifeforms inside Reality, delaying the progress of End’s goal. However, it did not take long for Lumen to discover that its effort was almost useless. Somehow, the power of End was able to align its goal with that of Enoch, or it may have twisted his mind in such a manner that Enoch, who once craved the endless domination of change across Existence, now wanted it to be reversed. The first war across multiple Realities gave Enoch a portion of the Essence he had spent in the expansion of Existence. This amount of Essence was a drop in the bucket for what Enoch would need for his resurrection, but it was enough to create seven helpers who would carry his Will across Existence. Lumen had watched the actions of the Primordials and saw how they devoured multiple Realities, but unlike before, these Realities were not destroyed; they were transformed. It was not hard for Lumen to understand that this was the influence of Enoch at work. He must be striving to regain back his essence spent in expanding Reality, and End had given him the tools needed for this task. However, Lumen also knew that Enoch regaining his essence was not the plan of End, and it would not want a loose cannon like Enoch becoming strong again. With all of this in mind, Lumen knew that Enoch’s plan would have flaws, and these flaws would be orchestrated by End itself, and if that was the case, then it should be able to take advantage of it. And as it turned out, Lumen was correct. End was plotting against Enoch in subtle ways due to his limited understanding of the present state of Existence. Enoch had selected seven special mortals to carry his Will, but unknown to Enoch, End had tampered with the hearts of these mortals, and they were not going to be Enoch’s loyal servants. Its touch was incredibly subtle, and if not for Lumen having spent so much time with the severed form of End it had inside this temple, it would not have been able to notice how End had changed the hearts of the Primordials. This was the endgame; everything from this point forward was extremely important, and Lumen knew that this was the opportunity it needed to destroy End, and so it took the risk and, using its Architects, contacted the Primordials. End as a force had never revealed itself to lesser lifeforms, and even to the Luminious, it presented itself as more of an ominous force of nature, and so its plans had to be subtle... so subtle that those under its manipulation did not know they were no longer following their own thoughts but something else. The Primordials held the flaws of End, but they did not know they were its servants. Enoch, their father wanted to destroy all of creation, but the Primordials wanted to rule creation, and Lumen created a further divide between these two parties when it showed them that at the end of their task, the only thing that would be left to them would be death as Enoch would consume them alongside all of Existence.