The four of them just looked at the world.

They had never witnessed anything even remotely like this.

Even when they were in a dead place like the old pit of death, there had still been some movement or life. But now, there was just nothing.

Literally nothing.

Just mere minutes ago, there had been humongous trees, powerful beasts, ancient Mages, vast meadows, powerful dragons, and monumental sea monsters in the world.

The world had been teeming with life and movement.

Now, there was just nothing.

The end of existence had arrived.

Such a situation was unprecedented, even for the Archivist.

The Archivist had gone through many apocalypses in his world, but none of them had even come close to something this absolute.

It was alien.

It was tragic.

Gregorio and the Archivist felt like a heavy weight was suppressing their minds.

They shouldn't be here.

This was not a place where they could or should live or stay in.

Their souls were telling them that they should leave as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Kali, Abaddon, and Shang felt different.

They felt at peace.

Yes, this was what the world should be like.

A dead world with infinite untapped potential.

All of the unnecessary life had been transformed into usable and pure Neutral Mana.

The density of the Mana in the world had reached untold levels.

This meant that they could use all the Mana however they wanted.

However, Shang felt something a bit different.

Right now, Shang felt like he hadn't gone far enough.

He felt like he should also get rid of all the matter.

The last five living things in the world remained silent as they watched the world.

Time passed.

Nobody knew how much time had passed.

Time had become irrelevant.

When there was no life and no movement, time stopped mattering.

'I see,' Shang thought suddenly.

'It is actually as I've thought.'

'The Death Affinity gets closer and closer to Entropy the more powerful it gets.'

'And eventually, the two meet up.'

At this moment, Shang understood everything.

'The level six Concept of Death, Terminus.'

'The end of all life.'

Shang isolated himself so that he wouldn't disturb the other three and summoned a black ball.

The black ball was a bit bigger than Shang's human fist, and it didn't seem to move at all.

When Shang saw the black ball, he smirked.

This black ball looked exactly like the black balls of Entropy Shang had experimented with many thousand years ago.

Yet, this wasn't Entropy.

It was Death Mana that looked and acted like Entropy.

With the Concept of Terminus, the Death Mana had gained the ability to consume itself for an explosive increase in power.

It was extremely powerful, but it still couldn't compare to Entropy.

After all, Entropy consumed itself and Mana to produce something dangerous, which was far stronger.

Additionally, this new kind of Death Mana also couldn't erase Mana from existence like Entropy.

In the end, this Death Mana could only produce around 5% of the power of Entropy.

However, 5% of Entropy was already terrifyingly powerful.

'Death Mana strives to imitate Entropy, but it can never truly become Entropy.'

'After all, Death Mana is still Mana.'

'But I wonder. Is there actually a way to turn Mana into Entropy?'

Silence.

'I don't know, but if there actually is such a way, it would be far too advanced and powerful for something as weak and pathetic as Aterium.'

'If there is a way, I can probably find it in the world of the Abominations.'

Shang grew a bit excited when he thought about another possibility of becoming more powerful.

'In the end, I have still been proven correct,' Shang thought

'The Concept of Terminus is, without a doubt, the most powerful Concept in Aterium.'

'And yet, it can only mimic a fraction of Entropy's power.'

'Comprehending Aterium's Concepts is a waste of time.'

The next moment, Shang got rid of the Isolation Barrier around him and simply sat in the air.

He waited.

In the past, Shang couldn't deal with sitting still for even a minute, but now, he had no issues with it.

Time was no longer relevant, and even more, Shang's strength couldn't really improve anymore inside Aterium.

He had reached the end of his Path in Aterium.

To continue, he would need to leave Aterium behind.

Shang just waited in silence for an unknown period of time.

Eventually, Abaddon opened his eyes.

A small glint of recognition and enlightenment could be seen in them.

Abaddon quickly noticed that Shang had already finished watching the world.

The emotions in Abaddon's eyes had changed.

Whenever Abaddon had looked at Shang in the past, he had viewed Shang as an extremely terrifying monster.

But now, things were different.

This time, Abaddon looked at Shang like he was looking at someone vastly more powerful than himself.

Just like Shang, Abaddon had realized that the next logical step of the Death Affinity was the force called Entropy he had heard about from Gregorio.

When looking at Shang, Abaddon felt like he was looking at what he might be able to become.

As long as he continued, Abaddon might also reach such incredible heights of power.

Abaddon didn't say anything and also waited.

After all, only Kali was left.

Gregorio hadn't paid a lot of attention to the world since he didn't have a Death Affinity anyway.

Additionally, he felt uncomfortable whenever he looked at the dead world.

After an unknown period of time, Kali also finished.

Just like Abaddon, Kali looked at Shang with interest.

Now, she realized that Shang essentially represented perfection in Death Mana.

Kali knew that she and her son were merely imitating Shang's power.

Shang actually had the real thing.

"Everyone done?" Shang asked a moment later.

The three people behind Shang nodded.

The next moment, Shang looked at an island far to the south.

The Archivist became nervous when he felt Shang directly looking at him.

In the end, the Archivist alsojust nodded.

"Good," Shang said.

Then, Shang flew far up into the air and created an invisible Isolation Barrier.

"I am not interested in the Concepts of Life," he said.

"You may start, Abaddon."

Abaddon's smile widened.

"I want to help," Gregorio said from behind of Abaddon. "I know a bit about life, but not a lot."

"Sure," Abaddon said with a friendly laugh.

"I want to help as well."

Abaddon, Kali, and Gregorio looked with raised eyebrows at the Archivist, who had just appeared behind them.

Abaddon threw a glance at Shang, who was still visible.

"Sure," Abaddon said the next moment with a friendly smile.