The psychic explosion imploded, neutralized by a law so absolute it defied reality. Lin Feng's kamikaze attack, his final ace, was judged, found wanting, and summarily dismissed from existence.
He collapsed against his chains, his body going limp. The backlash of having his soul-trap triggered and then instantly nullified had left him spiritually shattered. He was conscious, but barely. His eyes were unfocused, drool trickling from the corner of his mouth.
But the true damage was invisible.
[JUDGEMENT: The Protagonist's 'System' is hereby temporarily sealed.]
I stared at the amethyst text, a slow, cold, utterly ecstatic smile spreading across my face.
It was beautiful. The Shadow Lord, in his arrogance, had tried to protect his asset with a forbidden booby trap. That trap had then been judged by his own boss, the Judicator, as a breach of the wager she herself had sanctioned. In trying to protect his pawn, the demon lord had inadvertently handed me the keys to his cage.
The irony was so delicious it was a physical taste in the back of my throat.
I reached out again, my fingers glowing with the dark light of [Soul-Peel]. This time, there was no resistance. His spiritual defenses were gone. His system was offline. His soul was an open book.
I didn't need to peel. I just read.
Everything. I saw his entire transmigration. The deal he struck. The crude, combat-focused system he was given. Its core function was a skill called 'Heaven's Wrath', which allowed him to enter a berserk state, temporarily boosting his power to insane levels in exchange for burning his own life force. That was the source of his 'overclocked' state. It wasn't a feature of his halo; it was a desperate, self-destructive skill.
I saw his quests. They were all brutal and direct: "Defeat X," "Humiliate Y," "Conquer Z." His system was not a tool for growth; it was a leash, a cattle prod forcing him down a path of endless conflict to make him stronger.
Most importantly, I saw his weaknesses. His reliance on his system was absolute. Without its guidance, its quests, its berserk mode, he was just a talented, arrogant sixteen-year-old with a good cultivation base. He was a puppet whose strings had just been cut.
I withdrew my hand, the [Soul-Peel] skill receding. The interrogation was over. I had everything I needed.
Lin Feng groaned, his consciousness slowly returning. He blinked, trying to focus on me. The first thing he did, out of pure instinct, was try to call up his own system.
"Status," he muttered, his voice a hoarse whisper.
Nothing happened.
A flicker of confusion crossed his face. "System? Status!" he said, his voice a little louder.
Still nothing. The blood-red screen he had relied on his entire life failed to appear.
Panic began to dawn in his eyes. He started struggling against his chains, a frantic, desperate energy returning to him. "System! SYSTEM! What's wrong?! Respond!"
I watched him, a silent observer to his breakdown. It was like watching a man who had just realized his own lungs had stopped working.
"It's gone," I said calmly.
He froze, his wild eyes snapping to mine. "What? What did you do?!"
"Me? I didn't do anything," I said, my voice a purr of pure, sadistic pleasure. "Your master, the demon you sold your soul to, tried to cheat. He broke the rules of our little game. And the referee, a being far above your master, punished him. She took away your toy."
"Toy…?" he stammered, his mind unable to process the scale of what I was saying.
"That little voice in your head that tells you what to do? The magic screen that makes you strong?" I leaned in close, my smile a razor's edge. "It's been turned off. You're on your own now, little brother. Just you, your pathetic talent, and these four walls."
The comprehension hit him like a physical blow. The last vestiges of his arrogance, his heroic certainty, his entire worldview—crumbled to dust. He was left with nothing but the raw, screaming terror of a god who had just been rendered mortal.
He lunged at me, roaring like a mindless beast, but the chains held him fast. He thrashed and screamed, his voice echoing in the stone cell, a symphony of shattered pride.
I watched for a moment, savoring it. This was better than killing him. This was the true beginning of his destruction.
I left the cell, the heavy door booming shut, cutting off his screams. The guards outside looked at me, their faces pale but impassive. They had heard everything.
"He is to be given food and water," I commanded. "But nothing else. No light, no conversation. Let him fester in the dark with his own powerlessness."
"Yes, Your Highness," the guard captain said, his voice filled with a new level of fear and respect.
As I walked away, my mind was already processing the next phase of my plan. Lin Feng was broken, but he was still a valuable asset. His body, his cultivation, was a resource. And his sealed system was a bargaining chip of cosmic proportions.
But who to bargain with? The Shadow Lord? The Judicator?
And what of Seraphina? My partner, the Judicator's hidden agent. The echo of the Judicator's power that had saved me had come from the mark she had placed on me. Had she saved me deliberately? Was it a conscious act? Or was it an automatic defense mechanism of the Judicator's trace, an act of a cosmic being protecting its own interests in the wager?
Her game was still a mystery. For now, I would maintain our alliance. I would use her to deal with Lyra.
I returned to my chambers to find a sealed message waiting on my desk. It was from Seraphina.
I broke the seal. The message was short, her handwriting a perfect, elegant script.
Kaelen,
Your sister is making a move. She has used her personal authority to request a private audience with the 'guest' in your cells, citing family concerns. The request is currently on the Crown Prince's desk. Valerius is a stickler for rules, but her influence is not insignificant.
She is trying to get to your prisoner.
Handle it.
-S
My lips curled into a smile. So, the little viper was already trying to circumvent me. Predictable. But Seraphina's intelligence network was faster. Our alliance was already paying dividends.
I had just broken the protagonist. Now, it was time to deal with his number one fan. My dear, homicidal sister.
I had the perfect plan. A way to not only deny her, but to humiliate her and tighten my own control over the situation.
But as I began to formulate the details, a new system notification appeared. It wasn't a quest or a reward. It was a warning, triggered by the cosmic shift of the protagonist's system being sealed.
[TIMELINE INSTABILITY DETECTED]
[The Protagonist's fate-script has been critically derailed. The world's 'Corrective Force' is attempting to compensate.]
[A new 'Hero' candidate is being empowered to fill the void.]
[Scanning for candidate...]
[CANDIDATE IDENTIFIED.]
[New Protagonist Designate: Your Second Brother, Prince Valerius.]