A Realm at Era's End

Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! The five permanent sky gates suddenly radiated divine splendor. Under everyone's stunned gazes, the final corner of the hexagram once again let fall a curtain of the starry river. A sizzling sound resembling torn space echoed once more, and the Star Bridge Hall was again cloaked in a theatrical, oil-painted filter. An elegant, regal woman with a tall, mature figure emerged from behind the galaxy curtain, draped in a blue-and-white robe, her deep-blue bangs veiling half her face, a staff in hand. She glanced at Sword Law's head and casually beckoned. Under the interlacing starlight, Sword Law's head and soul body reassembled at once. "Our sovereign's foresight is far beyond what we could ever fathom," she said calmly. "Had we descended at all costs from the very start, you wouldn't have been reduced to such a state. It is a pity that only after your defeat was detected did we comprehend our sovereign's brilliance." "I am ashamed," Sword Law said. "There is no need for shame. You earned our sovereign's favor to stand alongside us; I have never doubted your ability. To lose to the Vice Sovereign of Heaven, whom our sovereign values so highly, brings you no disgrace." Only then did she finally look toward Yaxiu and the others, introducing herself: "Under the Star Supreme, I am Star Law Tianshu. As for why I have come, Mr. Yaxiu, you should know full well." She stepped aside, clearing the passage through the glowing galactic curtain, and extended a hand. "Please." Yaxiu's breath was shallow and rapid, his heart thumping like a war drum. He knew Felix and Daidalos were watching him, and he knew Sword Princess and the others were trying desperately to recover. But the current situation was utterly hopeless... His source energy was exhausted, while on the opposing side stood Star Law at her absolute peak and Sword Law, capable of regaining combat strength at any moment. Even if the girls could recover, how long could their drained, battered bodies hold out? Even if he were willing to drown in shadows and become an unscrupulous demon, he still could not prevail against the glory of an angel. So his only options were to surrender, or... Transform into an even more ferocious, vicious demon. Yaxiu opened *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*—"Operator Recruitment." The indefinite recruitment banner, "Anniversary Event Recruitment: Descent of the Demon King," was still posted there, its glittering text seemingly tempting a foolish player to pull without delay. Surrender was, by all reason, the wisest choice; the position of Vice Sovereign of Heaven was beckoning to him. But Sword Law had no reason to harbor inexplicable hostility toward Sword Princess and the others. There was one and only one explanation—the one who truly harbored hostility was the Star Supreme. Though Fanxing's words sounded pleasant—allowing him to keep the girls, sharing the entire world with him—she was a Supreme of Sorcery standing at the pinnacle of the Void Realm. She could bestow nourishing rain just as easily as she could strike down with thunder. Who could ever hold a tyrant to her promises? He would never gamble his own and the girls' fates on Fanxing's goodwill. Even if an abyss of ten thousand fathoms lay ahead, he would walk forward on his own two feet! Though Yaxiu was already a candle flickering in the wind, he still firmly believed the demons could help him turn the tide. Twenty-five percent of Nether Demon had enabled him to slaughter his way through the second layer of Hell; surely fifty percent of a demon could slay a few angels, couldn't it? And all he had to pay was a few memories and that luxurious softness in his heart. Yet looking at the recruitment button, Yaxiu still hesitated. Last time he had lost his memories of Vichy. Whose memories would he lose this time? Who would he become this time? Yaxiu had come to realize that soul transactions were not one-off deals. Twenty-five percent of Nether Demon had already sunk deep into his consciousness; twenty-five percent of him no longer belonged to himself. That was how he could share Vichy's power and transform into a demon, fighting to the death until now... And yet he'd had the nerve to worry about Sword Princess and the others suffering a "personality drift," when he was the one closest to becoming a monster. Twenty-five percent had already emboldened him to trample every rule and law; what about fifty percent? How many more moral baselines would he have to break before he saw any returns? *But do you really want to experience that feeling again? When even your heart refuses to beat, when a sensation hanging between exhaustion and pain crushes your body, when your head is so heavy it feels like it will drop off, and you want nothing more than to crouch in a corner or lie down and grieve in silence... Aren't you all too familiar with that feeling? The despair known as powerlessness.* The demon crept across Yaxiu's face once more, turning his resolve ferocious and twisting his deep love. He stared straight at the Star Law Angel, his Dark Veil Armor boiling up again... His finger hovered, ready to press the recruitment button... Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Four of the permanent sky gates suddenly burst into flames, like heavy, vibrant splashes of color tearing through the theatrical filter in the Star Bridge Hall. Yaxiu thought another angel had descended to court death, only to see that both Star Law and Sword Law looked equally astonished. The permanent sky gates, deliberately quarantined outside the Sword Rain Pool by Sword Law, now forcefully tore through the Sword Rain Pool's Realm of Suffering, revealing five openings leading toward the gates. Four of them were ablaze, a chaotic spatial storm preventing anyone from drawing near, while only the dark-green permanent sky gate remained operating normally! Yaxiu and the others immediately realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Gathering Sword Princess and the rest into their arms, they flew swiftly toward the sky gate. Though Star Law and Sword Law acted immediately to stop them, the hall was still trapped under the "theatrical" filter—any and all damage or consequences caused by the angels would be footed by the Starry Kingdom of Heaven! Furthermore, the four burning sky gates deliberately locked the space surrounding the two angels. They could only watch helplessly as this battered remnant of evil sorcerers fled into the dark-green sky gate. Then, accompanied by a clear, melodious ring of a sword, the entire dark-green sky gate was sliced cleanly in two, ruined beyond repair! The moment Yaxiu and the others escaped, the four sky gates ceased burning. Though damaged, they remained usable. But Yaxiu and his companions had not only escaped—they had also destroyed the corresponding sky gate on their way out... The angels could no longer give chase. The two angels gazed at those four sky gates. Star Law sighed. "I knew those four God-Leaders wouldn't let this rest... They are all great beings capable of competing on the same stage as our sovereign. How could they willingly sit by and watch her monopolize the supreme path?" "We must hurry. If Yaxiu is seized by them, the consequences will be unimaginable." Sword Law nodded. Looking at the severed sky gate, his thoughts turned toward his descendant. Though the Vosloda bloodline bore the curse of "yearning for what can never be attained," and Felix had clearly fallen for someone she shouldn't have—bound to spiral into a fate of self-torment sooner or later—she was not merely a Vosloda. She was a girl favored by the stars. If she could take their sovereign's place and find happiness with the Vice Sovereign... If she could be like the rain, a bridge connecting heaven and earth... "Dramatic Poet," he murmured softly. "It's been a thousand years. Isn't it time to bring this to an end?" * Felix supported Yaxiu with one hand and Vichy with the other. The moment she stepped through the sky gate, she collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. Expending the last shred of his source energy, Yaxiu thoroughly obliterated the sky gate behind them, then crumpled onto the girls like a shattered automaton, gasping for breath. Propping herself up, Felix realized that violent, swirling sand and grit were lashing against her face. She quickly deployed her Sanctuary to protect everyone. Only then did she have the composure to examine what kind of world they had arrived in. Dense, heavy darkness choked every inch of space, and an incessant dust storm swept across every stretch of land. The entire world held nothing but the piercing shriek of gale-force winds, with not a trace of civilization's glory remaining. Yet when Felix gazed into the far distance, she saw a thin, radiant silver pillar of light piercing heaven and earth on the horizon. Though faint, though distant, it was the sole beam of light in this pitch-black world. This was a realm at the end of an era.