[Somewhere In The Cosmos]
[Nameless Realm – The Grand Castle of the Crown]
A castle built upon eternity itself. Its pillars reached into the cosmos, made from crystallized stardust.
The air shimmered with celestial energy. Time flowed differently here—both infinite and still.
A throne room bathed in scarlet moonlight. At its heart stood a man and a woman—gods among gods.
The King, tall and proud, wore a black and gold crown upon his head. His royal robes danced with fragments of starlight.
His eyes, like twin galaxies, shimmered with love.
The Queen, radiant and divine, stood draped in a flowing red gown that kissed the marble floor.
A crown of crimson adorned her head, echoing both beauty and absolute power.
They stood face to face, inches apart. In this moment, they were not Absolutes. Not rulers. Just lovers in a silent universe.
King: "You've always looked most beautiful under the red moons..."
Queen (smiling softly): "you... always said that to me, even when there were no moons at all."
He chuckled lightly, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. She leaned into his touch, her hand resting on his chest.
King: "I would tear down stars for you... give you my heart... my everything."
Queen (whispering): "I know."
They embraced—divine beings entwined in eternal affection. His arms wrapped around her like the cosmos itself. But hers… hers trembled.
Her hand brushed over something hidden beneath her gown—a decision she'd already made, yet now... her fingers trembled.
A flicker of hesitation danced across her crimson eyes. But love twisted by fear is a dangerous thing.
Suddenly—
[STABB!!!]
The dagger plunged deep into his side. Celestial blood burst in slow motion—liquid light painting the air.
His body stiffened. Shock widened his eyes. He stumbled back, gripping the blade now embedded in him.
King (breathless): "W-Why…?"
The Queen stepped back, her crimson eyes glowing with cold madness. Her lips curled into a cruel smile.
Queen: "Now… both the Crown and the Throne are mine."
She laughed—a meticulous, chilling sound. Not of joy. Of calculation. Of betrayal crafted over eternities.
King (angry at first, eyes burning with betrayal): "You..."
Then... he paused. His divine senses flared—his body still failing to heal.
He touched the wound.
No regeneration.
King (a whisper): "...He's supporting you, isn't he?"
Her smile widened.
Queen: "So you've figured it out. Of course he is. He understands what you failed to accept..."
Queen (coldly): "There can only be one Absolute of Reality."
Queen (coldly): "He showed me the truths you kept hidden. The layers of reality you feared to touch."
His knees weakened, but he stood tall. His expression softened.
King (quietly): "I've always loved you."
She flinched.
King (with peace in his eyes): "And I don't regret loving you—not for a single moment. If you had asked, I would've given you my life. My Throne. Freely."
He coughed, purple blood seeping from his lips.
King (smiling faintly): "But… my only regret…"
King (tear falls): "Is that I won't get to spend more time… with you… after this."
The Queen stared, stunned.
That wasn't what she expected. Her dagger trembled in her hand now.
The King collapsed to his knees—his divine form flickering like a dying star. But even in the face of death... he smiled.
The Queen stood frozen. That dagger—still warm with his essence—slipped from her hand and clattered against the floor.
Queen (shaking, voice cracking):
"Why…?"
"Why are you smiling…?"
"Why aren't you angry…?"
"Why aren't you fighting back?!"
Her voice echoed through the hall like a wounded lullaby, haunted by something even she couldn't name.
He didn't answer with words—not at first.
Instead… he reached out—arms trembling—and pulled her close, one last time.
She didn't resist.
Their bodies touched. His blood stained her red gown. His breath was shallow… but his heart? It still beat for her.
King (softly, lovingly):
"Because even now… holding you like this…"
"I feel like I'm home."
Her body shook. Her hands clutched his back as if to stop time from moving forward.
He whispered into her ear, barely audible:
King:
"I know I can't be saved..."
"But promise me one thing."
He looked into her trembling eyes.
King (smiling gently):
"Keep my corpse with you."
"Don't ever let his hands touch it."
She gasped. Her lips parted to speak… but no words came.
He rested his forehead against hers. His strength fading like the final breath of a dying world.
King (thinking, as the warmth left him):
"My dumb wife… you're too pure to see it."
"Even now… you don't understand the weight of your choice."
His arms loosened.
His body went still.
His eyes—two galaxies once full of love—dimmed.
And the Queen…
She stood there.
Holding a god she had murdered.
The moment the King's divine essence cooled, the very fabric of the cosmos trembled.
In that instant, half of existence crumbled—a chaotic cascade of lost stars and vanishing energies.
Amid the cosmic collapse, a lifeless form—of a man long consumed by chaotic power—drifted, suspended in the void.
In this shattered slice of the universe, chaos mingled with desperation.
A nameless body, harboring the residue of chaotic energies, reached out as if calling on fate itself.
And so it did, its ephemeral essence brushed against the King's divine sense—a final, desperate connection in the echo of betrayal.
The King's fading vision caught sight of this lost consciousness.
His consciousness, even in ruin, pulsed with an overwhelming desire to save the one he still loved—the pure soul of his queen, now condemned by the mysterious supporter.
With a resolve born of eternal love, he made a final, fateful decision.
King (whispering through the void):
"I cannot let her be enslaved by this merciless fate… I will sacrifice all to protect her."
As the King's divine essence entwined with the chaotic remnant, a violent surge of power erupted—a cosmic vortex where the consciousness of the man was obliterated, devoured by the fire of the King's ultimate sacrifice.
In that very moment, their essences fused as one, a sorrowful union of despair and defiance.
In that tumult, both the King and the remnants of the chaotic soul were overwhelmed.
Their divine voices, once sovereign and eternal, faded into silence.
[SILENCE!!!...]
The cosmos recoiled as if mourning; reality itself shuddered, knowing that something monumental was being rewritten.
As the vortex closed, the shattered energies were reborn, expelled from the collapsing Absolute Realm—a birth reborn elsewhere.
Far below, in the uncharted expanse of Chaia, the swirling remnants converged into one form, destined to rise again.
King's Final Thought (echoing in the void):
"For my wife, I now live as one... and so I am reborn."
A voice echoed in King's head.
"SEAL-OF-AMNESIA! SEAL-OF-MORTALITY! SEAL-OF-DIVINITY! SEAL-OF-IDENTITY!"
[SILENCE!!!]
"SEAL-OF-INSTINCT! SEAL-OF-PERCEPTION! SEAL-OF-FATE!"
[SILENCE!!!]
"BIRTH-OF-GOD! FALL-OF-THRONE! RISE-OF-UNKNOWN!"
[SILENCE!!!]
"INSTALL : FRAGMENT-OF-DIVINITY! INJECT : MEMORY-PATHWAY! SYNC : THRONE-PROTOCOL!"
And thus, beneath veils of memory and fate, a god was reborn—forgotten by all but the stars.
[21 Years Later]
[PLANET CHAIA, KINGDOM-OF-SHANGTONG]
[Year 8921 — The 268th War : Shangtong & Mora vs. The Bongenian Empire]
Smoke strangled the skies. The once-golden fields of the Outer Mistral Valley were nothing more than scorched ash, littered with broken spears and dying screams.
The ground quaked under marching steel, as tens of thousands clashed in a battlefield soaked in chaos.
At the vanguard, a silver-clad platoon tore through enemy lines like a meteor shower—one man stood at its very heart.
Xhao Jin Wei.
Silver Black hair, bound in a warrior's knot. Eyes like dormant stars threatening to erupt.
The glow of his Qi was unstable, volatile—cultivated beyond mortal comprehension, yet still unawakened to its true origin.
"Hold the right flank! Push the spear wall forward!" Jin Wei barked, voice like thunder across the chaos.
"Spear Regiment! L-Formation! Protect the archers!" his second-in-command, Ryun, echoed. His twin sabers danced like fangs of a silver dragon.
Boom!
An explosion of demonic fire erupted near the center ridge. Jin Wei barely turned his gaze.
"Zian, now! Clean that ridge!"
From behind the spear lines, a crimson-robed youth leapt forward—Zian Wu, Flame Cultivator.
"Inferno Art – Scorching Phoenix!!!" he roared, and a massive flame-bird burst from his palms, screeching through the air.
It collided with the demonflame caster on the ridge, incinerating him and a dozen Bongenian grunts.
Screams tore the wind. The ridge was cleared.
"Nice shot, Zian! Fan out, cover left!" Jin Wei shouted, then spun on his heel as a Bongenian Juggernaut charged at him.
Nine feet tall. Steel-bone body. Axe the size of a horse cart.
Jin Wei's hand clenched around his sword, Heavenpiercer, and his Qi surged.
"Breath of the War God – Second Form: Crescent Reap!"
He twisted into a half-turn, blade slicing upward with divine speed.
SHHHKKT!
The Juggernaut's head separated mid-charge, body skidding with momentum before collapsing like a crumbling pillar.
All around him, the Shangtong-Moran forces responded to his presence like it was gravity.
Jin Wei moved like a phantom—giving orders, killing monsters, saving soldiers. He was a leader born of chaos.
[Command Post – Inner Field, Behind the Lines]
"He's stabilizing the front better than a whole battalion, General. That kid—he's a damn storm." a scout reported to Commander Yurei.
"Xhao Jin Wei… the boy's touched by something beyond this war." Yurei muttered, eyes sharp beneath a furrowed brow.
[Back to Frontlines – 3rd Hour of Battle]
"Shield unit, compress and rotate! Mora cavalry incoming—flank to the left!" Jin Wei roared, his perception blazing through the fog of war.
From the far side of the valley, a contingent of mounted Moran spear-riders burst forward—reinforcements. Their hooves thundered like divine drums.
"Fifth Formation, break open a lane! Get those riders through!"
"AYE, COMMANDER!" came the collective shout.
The soldiers moved like clockwork. Formations pivoted, front-line cultivators unleashed barrier-breaking techniques to open a corridor.
"Glacial Surge!"
"Storm Pulse!"
"Earthquake Palm!"
The Bongenian defense cracked under the pressure.
The cavalry surged through—lances piercing flesh, thunderous hooves crushing bones.
[Mid-Battle]
A new threat emerged—Captain Grannox, a Bongenian beastmaster with corrupted spirit Qi and a twisted chimera mount.
"I've heard of you, Shangtong dog! Jin Wei, they call you! But I see only a child hiding behind steel!"
Jin Wei's blade spun into a reverse grip.
"Then come, monster. Let's see who bleeds first."
The chimera lunged—wolf-head, snake-tail, claws of a dragon. It breathed shadowfire.
Jin Wei blurred—"Flash Step!"
He reappeared above them, slashing downward—"Heavenpiercer – Starfall Fang!"
CRAAACK!!!
He cleaved through the chimera's spine. The beast howled as half its body disintegrated mid-air.
Grannox leapt free and spun his glaive—but Jin Wei caught it with his bare hand, eyes glowing.
"You don't get to breathe after harming my men."
Jin Wei's palm lit with radiant Qi.
"Void Pulse Palm."
He struck Grannox in the chest—internal organs vaporized instantly. Grannox collapsed, coughing blackened blood, already a corpse.
[Backlines – Ryun, Zian, and Akira]
"Akira! Now's the time—disperse the mist! We need visuals across the center field!"
Akira Tanaka, an air-affinity cultivator, stepped forward. Her hands formed ancient runes in the air.
"Heaven's Art – Gale Mandala!"
Winds surged from her body, scattering enemy fog magic like dead leaves. Visibility returned. Jin Wei gave a quick nod of approval.
"Perfect. Zian, take left hills. Ryun, reinforce the eastern slope—sensors indicate a hidden squad there. I'll head north."
"On it, Commander!"
"Aye, brother! Kill with glory!"
They split, taking dozens with them.
[Northfield Skirmish]
In the north, a hidden enemy cell launched a surprise barrage of Soul-Piercer Arrows.
But Jin Wei's instincts were sharper than ever. His body blurred into zigzag movement. Arrows missed by inches.
He reached them—twelve assassins cloaked in spirit-nullification robes.
Jin Wei dropped low, sweeping his sword in a reverse arc—"Breath of War God – Fifth Form: Moonlight Guillotine!"
Eight fell in an instant. The rest fled, but a glare from Jin Wei turned their souls cold.
He didn't pursue. He returned to the main front—calm, eyes gleaming with something darker than war.
[Final Push – 8th Hour of Battle]
Commander Yurei's signal flare burst in the air.
"All forces—breakthrough sequence! Eliminate the Bongenian core!"
"FOR SHANGTONG!!!"
Jin Wei raised his sword, then slammed it into the ground.
"Heavenpiercer—Divine Art: War God's Awakening!!!"
A seismic ripple erupted outward. The enemy center collapsed. Earth split. Qi storms burst from his body.
His comrades moved with him. No hesitation.
Zian: "Burn them down!!!"
Ryun: "Leave none standing!"
Akira: "By the winds of our ancestors—fall!!!"
They tore through the enemy core like avenging gods.
Blood. Screams. Steel.
By dusk, the valley was still.
The war was far from over...
Soldiers still lay scattered across the fields—some wounded, some dead, some barely catching their breath.
Victory chants began to rise among the Shangtong-Moran lines...
But then the wind stopped.
The temperature dropped by ten degrees in an instant.
Then—
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The sky cracked open.
Dark clouds spiraled above the battlefield, forming an immense circular vortex that looked like the eye of a slumbering god awakening.
The battlefield fell silent.
Tens of thousands—warriors, mages, commanders, and even beasts—froze mid-breath, staring upwards with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Even the Bongenian Empire's forces, who moments ago bled for dominance, paused their weapons and turned skyward.
Living Thunder.
Not a myth.
Not a tale whispered by drunk veterans around campfires.
But Reality. For the first time in 4500 years, it had returned.
Jin Wei, standing with Heavenpiercer sheathed across his back, looked up slowly.
A strange chill crawled down his spine—not fear, not awe... something older. Something familiar.
"W-What the hell is that?!" Zian gasped, his fiery Qi flaring instinctively.
Ryun raised both blades, not in aggression, but in reverence. "By the Three Primordial Laws... is that... is that really it?"
"Living Thunder..." Akira whispered, her lips quivering, "The omen of fate... it's said to choose the next starborn soul."
Jin Wei didn't blink. His body, still coated in enemy blood, stood unnaturally still.
The thunder roared again.
But this was no ordinary sound. It was layered—like a voice inside a voice. A cosmic drumbeat that struck the soul.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Then—lightning.
But it didn't strike downward.
No—it hovered.
Tendrils of blue-gold divine electricity weaved into a massive arc in the sky, circling like a halo of wrath. Lightning that lived—conscious, watching.
A streak broke off, hissing through the clouds like a serpent of judgment.
It spiraled above the battlefield, low enough for all to feel its power... but not to touch.
And then—it formed a thunder bird.
It stopped.
Above one man.
Above Xhao Jin Wei.
The silence broke like glass.
"Impossible..." a Bongenian war priest muttered, dropping to his knees.
"That thunder… it's choosing him! HIM!"
"A Child of Fate… is appearing?! Here?! NOW?!"
Moran and Shangtong soldiers stared at Jin Wei, stunned. Some fell to one knee. Others wept.
A few tried to run—as if fearing the divine would smite them for merely watching.
Jin Wei didn't react.
He simply stood there... eyes locked onto the swirling eye of stormclouds.
Flash.
He saw visions—not from the present, not from the future.
From before.
A red moon.
A dying star.
A woman crying in crimson.
A throne lost in time.
And then—
A voice, not of this world:
"SEAL VALIDATED."
"CHILD OF FATE :– RESONANCE CONFIRMED."
The Living Thunder cracked again.
This time, the strike descended.
But it didn't destroy. It merged.
Lightning wrapped around Jin Wei like a cocoon—searing into his veins, rewriting his body at a molecular level.
He screamed—not in pain, but in remembrance.
Ryun stepped back. "He's... glowing."
Zian gasped. "His skin—it's... it's absorbing the lightning!"
Commander Yurei, watching from afar, fell to his knees.
"...The thunder chose him."
The storm lasted nine breaths.
Then, like a curtain falling after a god's opera, the clouds dissipated.
Jin Wei disappeared.
The lightning had vanished.
TO BE CONTINUED.-----