The arrival of the Great Northern Emperor, Zhao Feng, was not a quiet event. He descended upon the Royal Library like a falling star, his Law of Sovereignty crushing the surrounding buildings into fine dust.
"Xuan Ye!" the Emperor's voice was a physical shockwave that shattered the remaining jade windows of the library. "Give me the Key, and I will grant you the mercy of a quick death! Refuse, and I will burn your soul in the Solar Essence for a thousand years!"
The Elemental Heroes appeared behind him, their combined Domains creating a wall of fire, lightning, and ice that blocked all escape. The Hero of Thunder, Raiden, looked down with narrowed eyes, his azure lightning crackling.
"The driftwood has grown thorns," Raiden muttered.
Inside the library, Xuan Ye walked toward the broken window. He wasn't running. He was stepping onto the air as if it were a solid marble staircase.
Xuan Ye stepped out into the night sky, facing the Emperor and the 32 Heroes.
"You speak of mercy, Zhao Feng?" Xuan Ye asked. His voice was not loud, yet it effortlessly canceled out the Emperor's sovereign roar. "You speak of killing me? You, who are nothing but an atom in the footstool of a realm you can't even name?"
The Emperor froze. The sheer Ontological Weight of Xuan Ye's Unwritten Core was pressing against his Soul Formation engine, causing the gears of his cultivation to grind and spark.
"What... what are you?" the Emperor gasped, his golden aura flickering.
"I'm just a mortal with the powers to erase gods," Xuan Ye said.
He raised his hand and made a simple gesture the motion of a writer crossing out a line of text.
[Ability:Absolute Redaction — Active]
[Target:The Law of Sovereignty]
The Emperor's golden light didn't shatter. It ceased to have ever been golden.
The Law of Sovereignty the very foundation of the Northern Imperial family's power was getting absorbed from reality. Zhao Feng felt his connection to the Heavens severed. His cultivation plummeted from Soul Formation to Golden Core, then to Foundation Establishment, all in the span of a single breath.
The 32 Elemental Heroes screamed as their own Domains began to dissolve into black ink. Raiden's lightning turned into harmless water. The Hero of Fire's inferno turned into a gentle breeze.
"This... this is impossible!" Raiden shrieked, falling from the sky. "The laws of the universe... they're broken!"
"They're not broken," Xuan Ye said, walking toward the Emperor. "They're just being revised."
He stood before the man who had ruled the North for a hundred thousand years. Zhao Feng was now a withered, terrified old man, his Royal robes hanging loosely on his frame.
"You... you are a monster," the Emperor whispered.
"No," Xuan Ye said, looking at the black spire of the Absolute Infinity Pillar in the distance. "I am the truth you were trying to hide with your ladder."
Xuan Ye looked back at Zhao Ling. She was watching her father's fall with a complex expression pain, relief, and a terrifying sense of freedom.
"The Northern Empire is over," Xuan Ye declared to the silent city. "The Consensus has changed."
He looked toward the sky, toward the hidden mountain and the child with the marbles.
"I might need to hold back abit," Xuan Ye mused. "I could have crushed the entire finite world with that pressure."