There were no dazzling special effects, no overwhelming aura, just a flash of white light. In the area previously covered by countless magical formations, everything—people, objects, space, and time—was reduced to utter nothingness, leaving no trace of matter behind.
"Nahida... What just happened?" March 7th asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Moments later, the cage that had confined Nahida and March 7th, perhaps due to the sudden loss of energy sustaining it, rapidly weakened until it reached a critical point. Nahida shattered it with a single burst of her power.
As soon as the cage was broken, the group's eyes immediately fell upon the expanse of nothingness.
For answers about this phenomenon, they turned to the knowledgeable Nahida.
Nahida stared intently at the void, silent for a long moment before finally explaining, "Forbidden Finale: Return to the Void is a type of Forbidden magic."
"This spell draws its inspiration from the Self-Annihilators and is fundamentally a manifestation of the Path of Nihility."
"Once unleashed, this magic completely obliterates an area into nothingness, and the effect is irreversible. As a result, Sumeru has strictly forbidden its use."
Nahida gazed at the void-stricken area before her, her temples throbbing.
Between the Nihility and the Abyss, the latter seems almost friendly by comparison, she thought.
Noticing Nahida's pained expression and surveying the now-voided zone, March 7th scanned her surroundings, but her heart's figure remained unseen.
Yet judging by Nahida's demeanor, Sister Lumina likely wasn't in any immediate danger.
After a moment's hesitation, March 7th couldn't help but ask, "Um... Nahida, Sister Lumina, she..."
"I'm perfectly fine, you know."
Before March 7th could finish her question, a clear, melodic voice rang out nearby.
All eyes turned to see the "Great Terror" Lumina standing calmly before them, completely unharmed, without a scratch on her.
"Sister Lumina?"
Seeing the familiar expression on Lumina's face—the "Great Terror" herself—March 7th asked softly, "Sister Lumina?"
"Mm, it's me," Lumina nodded briefly.
"Sister Lumina..."
"Lumina, what are you up to?!"
Hearing this, March 7th was about to say something, but she obediently shut her mouth when she saw Nahida slowly approaching.
March 7th understood the importance of prioritizing official matters over personal ones.
Nahida walked up to Lumina and, looking at the figure who stood only slightly taller than herself, spoke slowly, her tone exasperated, "Alright, now that the Abyss is dealt with, what about the Nihility?"
Abyssal Lumina was gone, but a Nihility had emerged in its place—wasn't that even worse?
"You're mistaken," Lumina said, shaking her head with a serious expression. "Not only has a Nihility emerged, but the Abyss hasn't been completely resolved either."
The others stared in stunned silence.
"So," Lumina continued, "let's first tackle the Abyss problem, then consider the Nihility."
"If it's just this small area, we can leave it alone. After all, no one ever comes to the Irminsul Space under normal circumstances."
Lumina glanced at the Nihility area, roughly the size of two people, and didn't pay it much mind.
Even though Nihility would devour everything around it, all she had to do was ensure there was nothing nearby.
"It's not dead?" Nahida's expression immediately turned grave upon hearing this.
"As long as the Abyss endures, she won't die. That attack just reduced her painstakingly gathered body to Nihility."
"But this one... she's no different from a three-year-old—no, a child, really." Lumina's lips curled into a mocking smile, as if ridiculing Abyssal Lumina's naivety.
"Daring to get so close to me without knowing my plans."
"How foolish~"
Lumina chuckled softly, as if she didn't even consider Abyssal Lumina a threat.
"Um, Sister Lumina, are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?" March 7th asked anxiously as soon as Lumina finished speaking with Nahida.
Though the attack had lacked flashy special effects and overwhelming force, March 7th sensed that if it had struck the Astral Express, the entire train would have been instantly annihilated...
"I'm fine, just died once, no big deal~" Lumina replied with a faint smile, feeling slightly awkward looking at March 7th, who was nearly as tall as her.
Ugh... Let's wrap this up quickly, Lumina thought. This feeling of being outdone by March 7th and Stelle is a bit uncomfortable.
With a gentle wave of her hand, the Forest Book materialized in her palm. She handed it to Nahida and strode deeper into the cavern. "Its heart is still inside. Let's finish it off while it's recovering."
"What a massive heart..."
The group didn't walk far before reaching the Abyss's Main Body's heart.
Gazing at the colossal, crimson heart, as tall as a hundred-meter skyscraper, March 7th couldn't help but swallow hard. Simultaneously, a negative emotion she had never experienced before began to stir within her—a feeling of "blasphemy." The object of this blasphemy... well, that didn't matter.
Stelle and Little Swarm felt similarly, their hearts surging with wild, dark emotions as they gazed upon the colossal heart.
"Don't look directly at it," Nahida warned, swiftly grasping the girls' hands and dispelling the encroaching negativity.
"Stay cautious," Lumina cautioned. Her ornate staff materialized in her hand as she aimed it at the massive heart. She tentatively channeled a blast of Abyssal Power and launched it at the heart.
The attack struck the heart, triggering a massive explosion that erupted in billowing mists. The force contained within was enough to obliterate half a city.
"So it won't be defeated so easily, after all..." Lumina muttered, her expression turning grave as if she had sensed something amiss.
"Lumina, when did you become so devious?"
As the mist dissipated, a crimson-black figure materialized before them, glaring at the petite, Lumina-shaped figure below with clenched teeth.
Clearly, the earlier magic had left a profound impression on Abyssal Lumina's mind.
"What are you talking about? I don't understand~" Lumina tilted her head, her face an innocent mask.
Turning to her companions, she said, "This is just an Avatar. Its combined power is about equal to five Nahidas. It's weak. Let's attack together!"
"Defeat it!"
Nahida: ?
Nahida itched to punch Lumina, but the sight of Abyssal Lumina forced her to abandon the thought for now. Gripping the Forest Book, she entered combat stance.
Seeing this, March 7th and the others didn't hesitate either. Glaring at Abyssal Lumina with hostility, they adopted battle-ready postures.
The scene froze there, shattering like glass before plunging them into the fray.
They were immediately thrown into the Third Phase, bypassing the first two entirely.
Even the Abyssal Domain, which had been present earlier, had been significantly weakened.
[Abyssal Domain]
Under the influence of the Abyssal Domain, all allied characters have their HP recovery reduced by 10%, Energy Regeneration Efficiency reduced by 10%, and damage dealt reduced by 10%.
What had once been an absurdly powerful buff had been nerfed into a standard debuff... The Players nearly wept at this outcome.
"Good, good, this is much more reasonable now," Small Bear said with a satisfied nod.
[A 50% reduction to all stats and instant death after five actions? What was that? I didn't see it.]
[All I see is this.]
"Though this HP is still a freaking ten million..."
Little Bear activated the buff and controlled Imbibitor Lunae - Dan Heng to attack. A 500,000 damage number flashed in the upper right corner, successfully reducing Abyssal Lumina's 100% HP bar to 94%. Little Bear's lips twitched involuntarily.
[Good, good. No wonder the first two phases were so easy—all the real difficulty was packed into the third phase!]
Fortunately, Weekly Bosses don't appear in the Forgotten Hall. Otherwise, Little Bear wouldn't have known how to tackle this.
[Holy moly, a boss with tens of millions of HP and no weaknesses? Mihoyo, did you even think about what you were creating?]
[Actually, it's not that bad. Aside from that broken Domain Skill, the excessive HP, and the absurdly high attack damage, there's nothing particularly special about it.]
[To put it plainly, it's just a numerically inflated monster. No real substance, it'll fade away sooner or later.]
In the live stream, a small group of viewers argued that the Abyssal Lumina's Third Phase was merely numerically inflated, lacking any complex mechanics. They believed that while it might be tough now, future Main DPS characters would effortlessly obliterate it.
But they were quickly proven wrong.
In the game, the Abyssal Lumina summoned four cube-shaped objects with no health bars, accompanied by a notification:
[Calamity Cubes]
[The eternally unrelenting, undying, and unretreating natural disaster—Abyssal Lumina—will summon four Abyssal Cubes. These cubes move at a fixed speed of 500. Each time Lumina acts, she will absorb one Abyssal Cube. After four actions, if she has absorbed three or more cubes, she will unleash [Calamity], dealing devastating damage to all allied characters.]
After being attacked three times, the Abyssal Cube will explode, dealing 5% damage to the [Relentless, Unfading, Undying Calamity - Abyssal Lumina] and restoring 10% of our party's Energy Value.
[???]
[???]
Upon reading this description, the live stream chat immediately flooded with question marks.
[Five hundred speed and a ten million HP Boss?! Is this even possible in Version 1.x? Did they forget a zero?]
[Mihoyo, I'm gonna explode you!]
"Five hundred speed isn't actually that bad," Little Bear quickly explained, noticing the rising uproar in the chat. "Just bring a character with AoE attacks or high speed, break two Cubes, and you'll be fine."
While five hundred speed seemed intimidating, it still took the Boss considerable time to act four times. As long as you could break two Cubes within those four actions, the challenge wasn't too severe.
Hmm... Unless your entire team consists of slow DPS characters. Then you'd be in trouble...
Since Little Bear was using an Omega Whale account (a "48-Gold Bullion Truck"), even with the Boss's million-HP health pool, it was quickly whittled down to zero.
"Final strike! Hidden Moon in the Cave Heaven! Azure Dragon Cleansing the World!"
Seeing the boss's health drop to just 3%, Little Bear immediately unleashed Azure Dragon Cleansing the World, preparing to end the battle.
As the boss's health bar hit zero, Little Bear expected a cutscene to trigger. Instead, the boss's health bar suddenly refilled to 100%, and the fight continued—no black screen, no cutscene.
Stunned, Little Bear stared at the screen. After a moment, he slowly muttered:
"Holy shit, this boss is hacking!"
[???! Who the hell programs a Weekly Boss's Third Phase to include an auto-revive?!]
[Seriously! If this boss is this tough for a 48k Gold Bullion Truck account, how are my two-Gold team supposed to beat it? Will we just get stuck on the plot?]
[You guys are lucky—at least you have proper team compositions. I'm a hoarder who only pulled a single Lumina at E6S5.
How am I supposed to clear this?!/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~]
[? If you don't want to play, give me your account.]
The boss's ability to revive once after being defeated, despite having ten million health points, immediately sparked outrage among viewers in the live stream.
[Overpowered mechanics, insane health pool, above-average damage, and now it can revive? How the hell are we supposed to beat this?!]
"Hahaha! What good is exhausting yourself to destroy my materialized form?"
"As long as the Abyss endures, I cannot die! What can you possibly do to me?"
After Little Bear reduced Abyssal Lumina's second life bar to 50%, the dialogue cutscene finally triggered.
"What are we supposed to do now? This ability is completely broken!" Even the usually mild-tempered March 7th couldn't help but feel frustrated.
As long as the Abyss endures, she cannot die? Doesn't this power seem a bit like the Abundance? March 7th muttered inwardly, wondering if the Abyss might be some creation of the Abundance itself.
But then she remembered Phantylia's distorted appearance when wielding Abundance Power and dismissed the idea.
Phantylia's Abundance Power was far weaker than this.
Phantylia: ?
Abyssal Power must be far more domineering and utterly unreasonable than Abundance Power...
After March 7th finished speaking, the battle resumed without transitioning into a cutscene.
"How long is this going to take?" Little Bear sighed helplessly and continued controlling his character to attack.
The fight lasted barely another round before the screen went black and a cutscene began.