The gods had fallen, but the world did not rejoice.
Smoke drifted across the sky, and the stars above flickered faintly, uncertain whether to return or disappear forever. The Divine Palace lay in ruin, seven thrones cracked and scattered across a sea of floating marble islands. Time itself bled in reverse in places—clouds moving backward, sounds arriving before their echoes.
Lin Feng stood among the wreckage, silent.
Not in triumph.
In thought.
Ruoxi sat on a half-sunken column, absently sharpening her blade with a broken tooth from Zhen Wu's fallen spear.
Yue Lian hovered above the ground in meditation, her hair still humming with celestial aftershocks.
None of them spoke. Not yet.
For they could all feel it.
A soft crunch broke the silence.
Lin Feng turned.
A man stood barefoot on broken godstone. Young, maybe twenty. Pale skin, silver hair that shimmered like moonlight. No aura. No killing intent. But the moment Lin Feng saw him—he felt cold.
Like the kind of cold that existed before time.
"Congratulations," the man said simply. "You've killed the kings."
Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. "And you are?"
The man smiled. "A king without a throne. Just like you."
Ruoxi stood, sword drawn. "You have five seconds to speak clearly."
The man didn't flinch. "I am Caelir. Once a god. Now… a collector."
Lin Feng's voice was ice. "Collector of what?"
"Of fallen crowns."
In the next instant, five halos appeared behind Caelir's back. Not made of light—made of memories. Crown-shaped remnants of gods long erased. Each one pulsed with impossible pressure.
Yue Lian gasped. "He's wearing the souls of defeated thrones."
Caelir nodded. "And I'd like yours, Lin Feng."
Caelir moved like silence sharpened. No energy, no sound—just sudden presence. His attacks didn't cut flesh; they severed meaning.
Lin Feng barely blocked the first blow, stumbling back as his sword forgot its own edge.
"What kind of Dao is this?!" Lin Feng muttered.
"Memory Dominion," Caelir replied. "Every time I strike, I take what makes you... you."
Lin Feng gritted his teeth. "Then you picked the wrong damn opponent."
He activated three keys at once—Void Collapse, Chrono Rift, and the Second Principle of Unraveling.
Reality bent around him.
But Caelir didn't even blink. He raised one crown and consumed the void energy like wine.
Ruoxi jumped in from the side, blades whirling. "He's absorbing the Void!"
Caelir caught both her weapons with two fingers and smiled.
"Of course. I've worn gods greater than him."
With a flick, he sent her crashing into Yue Lian, who barely deflected the impact with a temporal shield.
Caelir was different. Not stronger in the raw sense—but his mechanics dismantled Lin Feng's power.
Every time they clashed, Lin Feng lost fragments:
One moment he couldn't remember the formula for a key fusion.
Another time, his body faltered as a technique refused to activate.
Even his confidence trembled. What if… he wasn't strong enough this time?
Caelir smiled wider. "You've become addicted to triumph. Let's see how you taste defeat."
Lin Feng fell to one knee.
He couldn't speak the incantation.
Because he couldn't remember it.
Ruoxi, bruised and bleeding, dragged herself to his side.
"Get up, dumbass."
He blinked. "I—"
"You always think you have to fight alone." She coughed blood. "But if you go down now… we all die."
Yue Lian joined them, eyes glowing. "Together, Void Lord. Or not at all."
Caelir scowled. "Sentiment is fragile."
Lin Feng smirked through blood. "Maybe. But it's also… loud."
He activated the Fifth Key.
And let his memories flood back in.
Lin Feng's aura exploded.
But it wasn't clean. It was raw. Bloody. Human.
"Void Law: Echo of What Was Lost."
All the fragments Caelir stole surged back—multiplied.
"I'm not just me," Lin Feng said. "I'm every version of me you tried to erase."
Caelir lunged—but for the first time—he hesitated.
Lin Feng's strike came down.
Not to kill.
But to shatter the crown.
With a scream, Caelir fell.
Not dead. But broken. One crown vanished. The others cracked.
He vanished into a portal of dust.
But not before whispering:
"You've made enemies beyond this world now."
Ruoxi collapsed beside Lin Feng. "So. That sucked."
He laughed hoarsely. "Yeah. No more easy fights."
Yue Lian sat beside them. "Then we train harder."
Lin Feng looked up at the fractured sky.
And saw a new threat forming.
A ring of stars, blackened and spinning like a jaw.
Above it, a name etched in starlight:
The Realm of Null Kings.
To be continue...