The room smelled of expensive incense and sterile magic. Li Miaomiao, the daughter of the most powerful man in the New York Safe Zone, was no longer a pale corpse-in-waiting. Her breath had stabilized, and a faint, healthy rose color returned to her cheeks.
But for Su Chen, the "healing" was merely a byproduct of his true objective.
He stood by the window, his back to the unconscious girl. He felt... heavy. The 0.1% of Ares' power in his soul was reacting to the [Void Essence] he had just devoured through his dagger. It was like pouring cold water into a furnace; the clash of divine war-intent and void-corruption was forging his soul into something denser, harder, and far more dangerous.
[Level 4.]
His physical senses had reached a point where he could hear the humming of the mana-circuits buried deep within the walls of the terminal. He could smell the gunpowder on the guards' uniforms three doors down. And most importantly, his [God's Eye] was evolving.
The red timers above people's heads weren't just numbers anymore. He began to see "strings"—faint, ethereal threads connecting people to their inevitable ends.
The Awakening
"You..."
A weak, melodic voice cracked the silence.
Su Chen instantly shifted his posture. The predatory stillness vanished, replaced by the slumped shoulders of an exhausted, over-taxed healer. He turned around, wiping fake sweat from his forehead with a trembling hand.
Li Miaomiao was awake. Her large, dark eyes were fixed on Su Chen, filled with a mixture of confusion and an instinctive, primal fear she couldn't quite name.
"Who are you?" she whispered, trying to sit up.
"Just a survivor, Miss Li," Su Chen said, his voice soft and subservient. "The Guild brought me here to... stabilize you. I'm a Priest."
"A Priest?" She looked at her own hands. For months, she had felt like her soul was being shredded by invisible teeth. The "Void Parasite" had been a death sentence that even the highest-ranked Apostles couldn't cure. "The cold... it's gone. You did this?"
She reached out, her fingers brushing Su Chen's sleeve. The moment she touched him, a spark of golden light—the residue of the War God's aura—flashed briefly.
Li Miaomiao gasped. To her, it felt like being touched by a sun. After months of darkness, Su Chen's presence felt like the only solid thing in a crumbling world. She didn't realize that she wasn't feeling "holiness"; she was feeling the overwhelming gravity of a predator that had swallowed a God.
"I've never felt mana like yours," she murmured, her eyes glazed with a sudden, intense fascination. "It's... heavy. It's terrifying, but it's warm."
"It's all I have," Su Chen replied, bowing his head to hide the cold smirk playing on his lips. He had her. The daughter of the Guild Leader was now his greatest shield.
The King's Visit
The heavy steel doors of the suite were suddenly thrown open.
A man stepped in, flanked by four Level 40 Paladins. This was Li Zhengtian, the Master of the Iron Blood Guild and the "Apostle of Zeus." His presence alone caused the air in the room to vibrate with static electricity. He was one of the ten strongest humans on the planet.
He ignored the guards and the luxury, rushing straight to his daughter's side. When he saw her sitting up, his eyes, which usually held the fury of a storm, softened for a fraction of a second.
"Miaomiao! You're... the curse is receding?"
"Father," she smiled, pointing at Su Chen. "He saved me. None of the High Priests could do it, but he did."
Li Zhengtian turned his gaze to Su Chen. It felt like a mountain was collapsing onto the boy's shoulders. The "Apostle of Zeus" was searching for any sign of deceit, any flicker of darkness.
Su Chen didn't fight the pressure. He let himself be pushed down, dropping to one knee as if overwhelmed by the Leader's aura. Underneath that facade, he was analyzing Li Zhengtian's timer.
[Target: Li Zhengtian]
[Time Until Death: 184 Days, 12:44:21]
Six months, Su Chen thought. The strongest man in New York has half a year to live. Interesting.
"A Level 4 Priest?" Li Zhengtian's voice boomed like thunder. "How did a fledgling like you extract a Void Parasite that even Level 50 Arch-Bishops couldn't touch?"
"I don't know, My Lord," Su Chen stammered, his face pressed toward the floor. "My class is... [Soul Retriever]. The System said it was a variant of a Soul-Healer. I just... I saw the darkness inside her and I asked my soul to take it away. It hurt, but I wanted to help."
"Soul Retriever?" Li Zhengtian muttered. The class sounded obscure, perhaps one of the thousands of unique variants that appeared after the Apocalypse. "Show me your skill."
Su Chen held out his hand. He channeled the [Divine Resonance] he had stolen from Lin Xia. A sphere of pure, white light formed in his palm. It was beautiful, serene, and completely fake.
Li Zhengtian watched the light for a long time. Finally, the lightning crackling around his armor subsided.
"Luck," the Guild Leader concluded. "You must have a high affinity for Soul-cleansing. A rare talent, but a fragile one." He looked at his daughter, then back at Su Chen. "From today, you are no longer a refugee. You are the personal attendant of my daughter. You will live in Sector 7. You will receive the best food, the best protection, and 5,000 Mana Crystals a week."
"Thank you, My Lord! You are too kind!" Su Chen cried out, his voice trembling with "gratitude."
"But," Li Zhengtian's voice turned ice-cold. "If her condition worsens, or if I find out you are a spy from the 'Shadow Sect', I will personally burn your soul into ash. Do you understand?"
"Yes, My Lord."
The Thirst of the Blade
Later that night, Su Chen sat alone in his new, private quarters. It was a room fit for royalty, but he didn't care about the silk or the view of the glowing blue dome.
He reached into his bag and pulled out the dagger.
It was no longer a dagger. The blade had lengthened, curving slightly like a fang. The "bone" hilt was now wrapped in what looked like dried veins. It was vibrating, a low hum that echoed the heartbeat of a dying God.
[Item: Ares' Fang (Growth Artifact)]
[Rank: Divine - Damaged / Sealed]
[Current Form: Living Dagger]
[Ability: Soul Siphon - Can absorb the 'Expiry Date' of a target to strengthen the wielder.]
[Requirement: Needs to feast on 10 High-Quality Souls to reach the next stage.]
Su Chen looked at his own reflection in the obsidian-black blade. He wasn't Level 4 anymore; the residual energy from the Void Parasite had pushed him to the brink of Level 5.
"High-quality souls," Su Chen whispered.
He stood up and walked to the balcony, looking down at the Safe Zone. Below him, thousands of people were huddled in the terminal. Some were soldiers, some were merchants, but many were "Apostles"—men who had gained power by serving the very Gods Su Chen intended to slaughter.
His [God's Eye] scanned the crowd. To a normal person, it was a sea of people. To Su Chen, it was a forest of ticking clocks.
He spotted one. A man in the courtyard below, a guard captain known for his cruelty to refugees.
[Time Until Death: 00:45:10]
"He's going to die in forty-five minutes anyway," Su Chen smiled. "It would be a waste to let that soul dissipate into the atmosphere."
Su Chen didn't use the door. He stepped off the balcony, his body turning into a blur of gray shadow—a movement technique he had subconsciously mimicked from the War God's instincts. He hit the ground silently, a ghost in the darkness.
The "Angel of Death" was hungry. And the sanctuary was full of meat.