# Chapter 1: The Supreme Sovereign's Fall
The Celestial Court trembled as if the heavens themselves feared what was about to come. Marble pillars of gold cracked and fell, each collapse echoing like the death knell of an age. Above, the sky split apart, its divine light flickering like dying stars.
At the center of it all stood Riven Aurelius, the Supreme Sovereign who had ruled for a billion years. His silver hair whipped wildly in the storm of energy surrounding him, his figure shining like a sun on the verge of burning out. Blood ran from the corner of his lips, staining the ancient floor beneath his boots, he had suffered a backlash in his breakthrough.
His sword—the Celestial Slaying Sword—rested in his hands. Forged from the heart of a dead star, tempered in the fires of collapsed worlds, it was a blade said to sever fate itself. Its hum cut through the air, sharp enough to split oceans, heavy enough to silence gods.
Yet even this weapon was not enough.
"You still dream of breaking through?"
The mocking voice slithered through the collapsing hall. From the shadows of the falling debris, the Void Emperor emerged. His form was a living abyss—cloaked in writhing darkness, his eyes like black suns that swallowed light.
"Face the truth, Riven," he said, his words carrying the weight of finality. "You've reached your limit."
Riven's grip tightened on the sword until his knuckles bled. Flames of divine power roared around him, shaking heaven and earth. He lifted his gaze, his expression unreadable, yet his aura screamed defiance.
"My limit?" His laugh was hoarse, sharp as broken glass. "You speak as though you've surpassed me. Yet here you stand, still bound by the same walls that bind me. You and I—both prisoners at the threshold of the Chaos God Realm."
The Void Emperor's expression darkened. He stepped forward, shadows coiling around him like vipers eager to strike. "Perhaps. But unlike you, I am not crumbling under the weight of my own greed. Can you feel it, Sovereign? The cracks splitting through your divine soul? The Heaven Devouring Divine Technique has betrayed its master."
Riven's body trembled. Every heartbeat was agony. His veins burned like rivers of molten metal, his meridians threatened to burst, and each breath shattered another fragment of his soul. The very power that had elevated him above gods—the technique he had stumbled upon in his youth—was now devouring him.
But Riven Aurelius had not become the Supreme Sovereign by bowing to fate.
"You came to watch my destruction," he said coldly, raising his sword. The tip pointed not at the Void Emperor but at his own chest. His eyes glimmered with a resolve sharper than steel. "But you'll witness something else instead."
The Void Emperor's composure finally cracked. "You're mad! Destroy yourself now and your soul scatters into nothingness. No reincarnation. No second chance. You will cease to exist!"
"Will I?" Riven's smile cut like a blade. "That is where you've always misunderstood me."
With no hesitation, he drove the Celestial Slaying Sword into his own heart.
A thunderous crack split the heavens. Instead of shattering, the sword fractured into seven glowing pieces. Lines of cosmic power ran along its length like veins of lightning, and then the blade broke apart—seven fragments blazing brighter than suns.
"Seven…" Riven whispered, blood soaking his robes, yet his voice carried across eternity. "Seven keys to what I could not complete in this life."
The fragments shot outward like meteors, streaking across realms—some toward the mortal world, others toward immortal planes, and a few vanishing into the vast great divine worlds.
The Void Emperor lunged, his hand stretching through the storm, but he grasped nothing but light. "No! Riven!"
Riven's body ignited, burning not with fire but with his very essence. Flesh dissolved, bones turned to dust, his soul blazing into pure energy. His form was no longer a man but a star collapsing into itself.
And in the final moment, his voice thundered through dimensions:
"When I return, I will not repeat my mistakes. You will remember why the heavens themselves called me the Supreme Sovereign!"
The explosion that followed split existence. The Celestial Court was annihilated. The great divine realm shattered into more than seventeen different worlds, scattering fragments across the cosmic void. The shockwave hurled the Void Emperor backward, his abyssal form torn, shadows bleeding into nothing.
When the storm finally ended, only silence remained.
Riven Aurelius was gone.
Yet far away, seven points of starlight streaked across the void, carrying his will toward distant realms.
The Void Emperor rose from the wreckage, his face pale, his breath ragged. His gaze lingered on the empty space where his rival had once stood.
"Fool," he whispered, but his voice carried no triumph—only unease. Even in death, Riven had found a way to spite him.
The Void Emperor clenched his fist, and a rainbow-colored pearl floated into his palm. It pulsed with dark light, beating like a second heart.
"The Netherworld Emperor…" he murmured, studying the pearl that held the other half of Riven's existence—born from his darkest thoughts, his shadow given form. His jaw tightened. "It took you nearly a million years to reach this stage. Now, after your suicide, who knows how long I must wait for another worthy candidate."
Frustration boiled in his eyes as he pocketed the pearl and stepped into a swirling rift of space. His presence vanished, leaving only ruins behind.
And in the Mortal Realm, far removed from the divine battlefield, cosmic forces stirred. The fragments of the Celestial Slaying Sword began their journey through space and time, drawn by invisible threads of destiny toward their destined encounters.
The game was far from over.
Riven Aurelius had fallen.
But the seeds of his return had already been sown.