The Trial Ground quaked as though the heavens themselves had turned their gaze upon the battle. Cracks spiderwebbed across the black stone floor, rivers of molten light and shadow bleeding into the air. The labyrinth's walls—once eternal—groaned, bending inward like the ribs of a dying beast.
Three paths had converged. Three destinies stood ready to clash.
At the center of it all was Li Shen.
His robes were shredded, his body trembling from countless wounds, yet his back refused to bow. His eyes burned brighter than any star—sharper than steel, steadier than mountains. Around him whirled twin storms: blinding Light, devouring Darkness. They raged against each other, snarling like beasts, yet both were tethered to him.
Beside him stood Mei Lin. Her pale face glistened with sweat, her chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. Her sword, once a simple weapon, now radiated purest Light. The radiance pushed back the mist of shadows, soothing even the chaos within Li Shen. Though her body was near its limit, her resolve was steel. She no longer fought for her sect, nor for survival—she fought because she had chosen to stand beside him.
Across from them loomed Zhao Wei.
But Zhao Wei was no longer human. His body cracked and bled fire, as if it could no longer contain the monstrous power within. Crimson-black flames coiled around him, devouring his flesh and bones only to rebuild them with greater malice. His eyes glowed crimson, veins like black lightning spreading across his skin.
"Hahaha!" Zhao Wei's laughter was hollow, jagged, echoing with madness. "Do you see, Li Shen? I've abandoned everything—my humanity, my soul, my future! And what did it give me? Power! Enough to tear you apart, to erase your very existence!"
The air warped as he raised his hand. Behind him, flames surged, shaping themselves into a colossal dragon born of Destruction itself. Its scales burned crimson and black, each one etched with runes that pulsed like bleeding wounds. Its wings stretched wide, tearing rifts in the sky.
Its roar split the heavens. The labyrinth walls collapsed inward, fragments falling into an endless abyss below. The Trial Ground trembled as if reality itself bent beneath the beast's presence.
Mei Lin staggered back, her lips trembling. "If he releases that attack… the entire Trial Ground will be annihilated."
Li Shen stepped forward, his fists clenched. His voice, though hoarse, cut through the chaos with the weight of an oath.
"Then we stop him. Together."
For a heartbeat, Mei Lin froze. She looked at him—at the blood dripping from his chin, at the aura of Light and Darkness tearing at his body—and something stirred in her chest. He was breaking apart, yet his spirit was unyielding. He was not afraid of his power, nor of the abyss before them. He was choosing his path.
Her heart steadied. "Together," she whispered.
Zhao Wei's laughter grew harsher, twisted with hatred. "Pathetic! You think two broken candles can resist a storm? Then let me show you true ruin!"
The dragon reared back, gathering a sphere of destruction within its maw. It was not fire, not shadow, not lightning—it was unmaking itself, a force meant to erase all that lived, all that breathed, all that dared exist. The void collapsed inward as the sphere grew denser, heavier, its light too terrible to behold.
Li Shen gritted his teeth, raising both hands. From his left surged Light, from his right erupted Darkness. The two forces clawed at one another, tearing his skin, cracking his bones. They screamed to be free, to consume one another.
His body shook violently, blood bursting from his lips. Yet he roared, voice carrying through the collapsing sky.
"I am not your slave! Not Light's! Not Darkness's! I am Li Shen! And both of you… belong to me!"
BOOOOM!
The two forces twisted, tangled, then fused. From the storm emerged a blade vast and terrible, forged of dusk and dawn entwined. A sword that shimmered with radiant Light yet pulsed with bottomless Darkness. The Eternal Twilight Sword.
Its mere presence silenced the chaos for an instant.
Mei Lin's sword dissolved into streams of Light, flowing into the blade. Her aura intertwined with Li Shen's, weaving harmony into the chaos. The sword steadied, its unstable edges softening, its radiance deepening.
Zhao Wei's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Then he screamed. "Even so! Even if you wield both! You cannot surpass me!"
The dragon lunged, releasing its annihilation breath—a torrent of crimson-black ruin that split the air, devouring everything in its path.
Li Shen roared. He and Mei Lin leapt together, the Eternal Twilight Sword blazing with both shadow and radiance.
The clash was apocalyptic.
The breath of Destruction met the blade of Dusk and Dawn.
The sky shattered. The earth split open. Waves of power exploded outward, obliterating what remained of the labyrinth. Mist screamed as if alive, walls crumbled into ash, and the abyss beyond widened until it seemed the world itself was breaking apart.
The dragon howled as the Twilight Sword cleaved into its core. Its colossal form writhed, shattering scale by scale, fragments scattering like burning meteors.
Li Shen's arms trembled violently, bones cracking beneath the strain. His vision blurred, darkness tugging at the edges of his sight. But Mei Lin's Light steadied him. She stood beside him, her hands on the hilt as well, her aura flowing into his, giving strength where his body faltered.
The dragon shrieked one final time—then split in two, dissolving into rivers of crimson-black flame that were devoured by the void.
"NOOOO!" Zhao Wei's scream tore from his throat. His body cracked further, flames consuming him as his power unraveled. He staggered forward, his face contorted with madness and grief.
Even as his form dissolved, he laughed through the blood.
"Even if you win, Li Shen… you cannot escape me. Destruction clings to you. It will haunt you. And one day… it will devour you from within."
His body shattered completely, scattering into dust and sparks of crimson fire.
Silence followed.
The battlefield was nothing but ruin. The labyrinth was gone, its walls erased. The ground cracked endlessly, the abyss yawning wide. The once-thick mist now thinned, drifting away like smoke at dawn.
Li Shen collapsed to his knees. The Twilight Sword dissolved into motes of Light and Darkness, which returned to his body. For the first time, they did not resist each other. They flowed side by side, not in harmony yet—but no longer enemies.
Mei Lin rushed to his side, catching him before he fell. Her arms trembled, but she held firm. Her eyes shone with relief, with awe, and something deeper.
"It's over… we survived."
Li Shen's chest heaved with ragged breaths. His gaze lifted to the fractured sky above, where scars of battle lingered even as the heavens mended. "No… this is only the beginning."
Then, a voice older than eternity rumbled through the void.
"Three paths converged—Light, Darkness, and Destruction. One has fallen. Two remain. The choice made here shall echo through the heavens. This world stands on the brink—rebirth, or ruin. The burden rests upon those who endure."
A column of divine light descended, bathing Li Shen and Mei Lin. Their wounds closed, their strength returned, but the weight on their hearts grew heavier.
Li Shen looked at his trembling hands, where Light and Darkness swirled together. His voice was a whisper, yet filled with steel.
"I will walk my own path. No god, no destiny will dictate it."
Mei Lin's gaze lingered on him. She remembered the visions shown in the labyrinth—the woman of Light, the man of Darkness, and the children born of both. Perhaps it was fate that bound them, or perhaps it was choice. Whichever it was, she knew this: she would not turn away.
The Trial Ground dissolved into motes of starlight, fading into nothingness.
The arc had ended.
But for Li Shen, heir to Light and Darkness… his true journey had only just begun.