Chapter 2081: The Ambush (2) From the knowledge in the blood of their father, the Ancient Primordials knew that he was older than the present Existence, and so they knew of previous Existences. However, knowing how long the lifespan of an Existence was, the Ancient Primordials believed that perhaps only ever been a few dozen Existences, and if they could stretch the boundary of their imagination, they could say a hundred at most. This was not a wrong assumption, because technically, the lifespan of an Existence is equal to that of a Primordial, and that was nearing true infinity, and only Primordials could comprehend time at such a scale. And so, while Death had revealed it was consuming the Origin of previous Deaths, they had been amazed but not panicked. Even though Origin Force could be deemed equal, that was technically not the case, as a lot went into the individual behind it and the understanding of their Origin. With that in mind, even if nothing changed, there were some certain Origin Force that stood above the others in terms of usability and application, and the Origin Force of Death was one of the most powerful, equaling that of Soul, Time, and Chaos. The Beast claims to be devouring Deaths were met with healthy apprehension; however, knowing that there could not be that many Existences in the past, the Ancient Primordials had not seen the Beast as too much of a threat, but only a temporary hindrance. Sure, it had been lucky and had been in the right position to kill Asteroath, but that would only happen a single time, and Death would soon reach its limits, while the Primordials would just keep getting stronger the more Origin Force they devoured. They had ignored Death before because its endless armies of the dead would aid them against the Origin Realms of Eos; however, since the Ancient Primordials began to fuse all the scattered Origin Forces in their bodies and they began to grow stronger, the need for Death began to reduce. With the monsters they could create, there was no need for another endless horde, and with their growing power forged from observing the Beast, the Ancient Primordials saw no need for any high-level fighter beside them in the final battles. Besides, if they seized the Origin of Death, all of its domains and armies would be theirs to command. In that sense, there was really no need for this entity to exist, and its presence only added an unneeded factor into the mix. Death had overgrown its purpose, and it was time to prune him, a collective decision by all, and yet, seeing the present state of Death, they could only stand shocked. How many Deaths had it consumed, they could not tell, but they knew that this was not just hundreds, but thousands. How could there be so many Deaths in the history of Existences... Just how old was the first life to be born, and how many mysteries remained in the dark? They knew if Primordial Chaos had not mentioned attacking Death, they would have committed a grave error, because they would be focusing on Eos, disregarding the calamity brewing behind them, and they had not even begun to place the Calamity and Enoch into the picture. "The beast grows fat," Nyxara whispered to her stunned siblings, "But that only means more to go around. We end it now and devour all of its harvest." After the apprehension had passed, there was only greed remaining in the eyes of the Ancient Primordials. They had always believed that a bounty of this size could only come from the Primordial Record, but the Beast of Final Rest had devoured enough Origin that it would greatly strengthen them. Nyxara did not hold back; her shroud thickened until there could be no threat of their presence leaking, and then they hovered over the gigantic form of the Beast, whose consciousness was buried in the veil beyond Existence, and it was consuming other Deaths. The Ancient Primordials began to charge up their attacks, and as they did, they waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. This opportunity came fifty-three thousand years later. The Beast had just devoured a powerful Death and was on the verge of fusing it in its core. At the beginning, when the Beast began this process, it would retract its Will from the veil beyond Existence and focus on assimilating this Force, but due to familiarity and growing power, also while being in haste, the Beast was already seeking a new Death in the past, while it left its body to naturally assimilate the power it had just collected. There was usually light resistance in the past, but with Death’s growing power, it did not need to struggle to assimilate this new power; its body was already doing it automatically. And so, while it was busy searching through the past, its massive core open, spherical like a star but bigger than a cluster of Realities, the massive core of death began to assimilate its new catch. The Core of a Primordial Being was the depths of their existence, and it was the most important part about them, like the brain and the heart of a mortal combined. Usually, to reach a Primordial’s core, they would have to be exhausted and all their defenses shattered, and yet, the Primordials did not even need to fight Death when its core was openly displayed for them. It was almost like a joke, as if everything they needed was just falling perfectly into place. The Primordials were shocked at what they were seeing, and despite this being the perfect moment for them to strike, they did not. You see, while they were struggling to assimilate the scattered Origin Force in their bodies, Death had already perfected the process, and as they stood watching, their understanding of this process deepened, and if possible, they would not want to attack for a while, and just learn how the body of Death was assimilating its Origin Force into a single whole. This was of great benefit to them, but something inside Nyxara’s eyes flickered, and she did not wait for the rest to continue learning in silence; she was the first to attack, leaving the others stunned. Her body exploded forward, as her hybrid wing unfurled like a scythe of dawn-laced void. She slammed into the Beast’s core and drove her soul-threads deep, like hooks into raw nerve. The Beast’s trance shattered with a scream that wasn’t sound, but a wave of retroactive unmaking, and nearby Regions flickered out of existence, souls unraveling backward through their deaths, as Nyxara reached deep into its core with the connection Death had with souls and she ripped that branch of its power out. Nyxara drank greedily, her black veins swelling with stolen finality, causing the screams of the Beast to grow louder as it ripped its Will from the veil and came back to its form, and when it saw what was happening, the Beast recoiled, its tendrils whipping out like flails of oblivion. The other Primordials upon Nyxara’s unexpected attack could only grit their teeth and attack as well, but the moment had already passed, and Death was aware. Xylos, who was diving down ahead of the rest of his siblings, was struck by one of the tendrils of Death mid-fall.