Eldritch Horror Theatre

The lack of a response was expected, but it still left a trace of regret. The next moment, Fu Qian appeared in the Warehouse.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but this time, the Warehouse’s evaluation seemed to arrive a fraction of a second slower than usual.

”You’re welcome.”

Feeling the power returning to his body, Fu Qian leaned back in the high-backed chair and spoke casually.

[Mission Evaluation: Brutal and Lightless]

As if responding to his remark, the mission evaluation finally appeared, and the Warehouse began its detailed recount.

[As one of the world’s pillars, The Abyss—brimming with curses—actually maintained a relatively intact state due to its inherent chaos and frenzy.

And though its power was nearly impossible to harness, a Higher Existence had never given up trying.

This time, His chosen method was to forcibly forge an orderly world—one completely under His own control—right in the midst of that absolute chaos.

Colors guarded this place, and colors imprisoned it.Every individual within was created as an independent concept, all combining to form a world that felt incomparably real.

To The Abyss, this was undoubtedly a form of erosion.

Yet under a confinement that even He had to obey, The Abyss could only corrupt this world by manifesting as concepts it could accommodate, such as biological pollution.

Of course, this was only the beginning. Any form of order in The Abyss was doomed to be twisted and annihilated—unless it could avoid recognition entirely.

As the Sovereign of all light, His plan was to preemptively distort it in His own way.

He used different colors to reflect differently unfolding futures.

Amid the shifting colors, the world’s divergent futures intertwined and cycled endlessly like a delicate gear.

Yet that was only the surface. In truth, within the exact same future, the corresponding colors were constantly undergoing microscopic changes.

Under His manipulation, the future itself couldn’t even recognize this shift. Thus, it was fundamentally twisted and jumbled, becoming an alternative form of disorder.

Without outside interference, once enough cycles had passed, the degree of Dislocation would have allowed this world to stably resist the erosion of The Abyss. In turn, He would have gained control over The Abyss itself.

To ensure this, He even released five departed souls that should not have existed, using them as guards in a special manner. However, all these efforts were ultimately ruined by the deformed Tyrant.

The Blazing Rainbow’s attempt failed, and The Abyss returned to chaos.]

[Killed: Stella’s Shadow of the Past]

[Reward: SAN Value +22, Resplendent Tyrant]

[Special Reward: Miniature Universe Aberrant Color]

[Current SAN Value: 99, Current inspiration: 99]

[Play event recap?]

”Brutal, deformed... laying on the praise a bit thick, aren’t we!”

After quietly listening to the mission summary, Fu Qian voiced his thoughts, sounding as if he genuinely couldn’t tell an insult from a compliment.

He was in no rush to check his rewards. His biggest harvest this time—and the very thing he cared about most—was actually hidden right there in the mission summary.

Thanks to his babysitter-level assistance, the Warehouse had finally pulled its weight for once, revealing a considerable amount of valuable information.

First, he had finally gotten a name: the Blazing Rainbow.

Such an imposing title. Was He an ancient Deity?

Regardless, it sounded like this entity was no stranger to doing evil.

His ambition was equally massive; this guy had actually plotted to swallow The Abyss.

Second was the true nature of the mission.

Cycling colors to trigger Dislocation—truly a method worthy of a Deity. It genuinely tested the limits of one’s imagination.

So back then, he had essentially reverse-engineered the issue with the colors and the world’s Dislocation?

From Oliver’s two divergent fates, he had deduced that despite the matching hues under the two crimson radiances, they were fundamentally two different worlds. That was how he had sensed the crisis.

Looking back on it now, that was clearly the Blazing Rainbow’s deliberate setup. Different worlds cloaked in the exact same colors—it was simply too deceptive.

It had smoothly tricked him into misjudging the situation, maximizing the amount of time he wasted.

And he had every reason to believe that if he had kept stumbling around in circles until He truly seized control of The Abyss, the entity’s very first act would have been a Descent right in front of him to instantly wipe his SAN Value to zero.

So unless he killed himself halfway through to restart, or used Transcendence, he essentially only had that single opportunity to complete the mission.

Brilliant tactics. This ”Blazing Rainbow” had to be at least a Deity Level existence.

Working for the Warehouse really made a guy cross paths with a lot of heavy hitters!

Especially since this particular heavy hitter appeared to be in perfectly good shape.

Not only had He orchestrated a massive scheme involving The Abyss, but He also seemed to be an absolute grim reaper for Warehouse Managers.

That was by no means a baseless assumption. The Warehouse had explicitly stated that He released five ”departed” souls. Fu Qian wouldn’t buy for a second that this entity wasn’t the one who had killed them.

Even so, Fu Qian felt absolutely no regret.

Blazing Rainbow, Void Erosion Scepter, Blazing Entity, 1-005...

Then there was the highly visual ability Mask had unleashed after being infused.

Fu Qian absolutely refused to believe that this entity had no connection to the very item that had previously screwed him over and dragged him into the Furnace.

Factoring in Red Dragon’s five-man team and Edral, who had been trapped to death behind the Furnace door, there were six predecessors he personally knew of who had met their end by His hand. The deep ”friendship” between the Blazing Rainbow and the Warehouse was plainly obvious.

Under these circumstances, simply trying to play nice was completely useless.

With a sigh, Fu Qian stood up and walked into the endless rows of shelves.

”It’s actually here this time...”

Not long after, he mumbled to himself as he opened the silver-white square box in front of him.

Unlike 1-005, which had been nowhere to be found last time, he had actually located this Grade 1 Item known as the Color Wheel.

Naturally, compared to the other boxes, this one’s volume was incredibly small, as pocket-sized as Cinderella’s jewelry box.

The next moment, Fu Qian finally saw the item’s true appearance.

It was called the Color Wheel, yet it was actually a sphere.

It completely lacked any sense of physical substance, as if it were a pure convergence of colors. Every single point on its surface seemed to embody the concept of flowing radiance, trapped in a state of perpetual transformation.

In just a few seconds, Fu Qian realized that his perception of color was beginning to warp.

By the time he finally looked away, the best description he could muster was simply, ”an apple-sized, multicolored sphere.”

”Though I suppose it looks more like a Poison Apple.”

Muttering to himself, Fu Qian placed the item back and finally turned his attention to his new rewards.

[Name: Resplendent Tyrant]

[Adds a new form to your Commandment Residue]

[Description: I am the will of heaven. Upon activation, your body will automatically enlarge, descending upon the world in the guise of a Tyrant to become a nexus of chaotic rules. All forms of existence in the surroundings will gradually distort and collapse over time. Unstable entities such as evil spirits, departed souls, and consciousness bodies will suffer double the effect.]

[Note: Fearless and merciless]

This...

Staring at the first reward, Fu Qian couldn’t help but marvel for a moment.

Leaving aside the name for now, it actually enlarged his body automatically upon activation?

He had just been making a joke earlier, but was he actually turning into a T-233?