The vault trembled beneath the fury of clashing wills.
Liu Shen and Huang Ze blurred between strikes, flame and starlight slicing the darkness. Stone walls melted. Preservation seals shattered. The air itself warped under the pressure.
> "You always believed power justified you," Huang Ze growled, voice laced with rage and regret.
"But power without purpose is just destruction."
Liu Shen didn't answer. He didn't need to.
He simply moved—faster, colder, sharper.
> "I had a purpose," he finally said, eyes glowing with the sovereign flame.
"But you helped the heavens snatch it from me."
---
A Blade Between Brothers
Their weapons locked—Huang Ze's starlight blade pressed to Liu Shen's throat. Liu Shen's flame claw burned inches from his former brother's heart.
For a moment, they paused.
Memories danced between them:
—Drinking stolen wine after sect missions.
—Burying their first kill.
—Laughing under the moon, dreaming of immortality.
And then, the memory of betrayal.
> "I warned you they would never accept you," Huang Ze said.
"But you kept pushing. You brought your own ruin."
Liu Shen's grip tightened.
> "No. I brought change. You just lacked the spine to follow it through."
---
A Sovereign's Mercy
With a roar, Liu Shen flared with power, knocking Huang Ze back into the corpse vault wall.
He strode forward, sovereign fire swirling around his hand.
One strike could end it.
But Liu Shen… hesitated.
Yu Meixing and Lei Qing watched, tense.
> "You spared no one at the palace," Meixing whispered.
"Why stop now?"
> "Because he's the last piece of my weakness," Liu Shen replied.
Then, to Huang Ze—
> "You'll live with your failure."
> "You'll watch me rise again."
> "And when the heavens burn, you'll remember that you stood with them."
He turned, flame extinguished.
> "That is your punishment."
---
The Witness Awakens
As they stepped deeper into the fortress, they reached a sealed chamber—cold and humming with divine chains.
Inside, floating in stasis, was an old man bound in gold threads, his eyes sealed with ash, his tongue removed.
> "Heaven's Witness," Lei Qing whispered.
"They erased his body—but left his memory intact."
Liu Shen touched the chains.
A wave of memories struck him like a tidal wave:
—The Celestial Council casting the Demon Sovereign's fate.
—Flamekeeper Linya forging the killing decree.
—Jian Xu… smiling as Liu Shen burned.
The past was no longer hearsay.
It was evidence.
> "With this," Liu Shen said softly, "we start the war."
---
End of Arc I: Rebirth of the Demon
Liu Shen turned to his allies.
His flame no longer wavered. His path no longer blurred.
> "The heavens declared me a demon."
> "Let them see what a real demon looks like."
He stepped from the vault—into the dawning light.