The valley was no longer silent.The ruins breathed with a low, heavy rhythm, as if something ancient had awakened beneath the cracked stone. Dust swirled around Kael’s boots as he stood before the altar, staring at the faintly glowing mark on his palm.The burn was shaped like a wing, its light pulsing softly in sync with his heartbeat. Every throb sent whispers through his mind—faint, fragmented, and impossibly familiar.Return… Remember…Kael clenched his fist. “No,” he muttered. “Not again.”Lira approached carefully. “Kael. What did you see?”He didn’t answer. His eyes, still faintly glowing crimson, were fixed on the ruins as if seeing something beyond them. The others had fallen silent, tending their wounds and keeping their distance. They had learned by now that when Kael was quiet, the world itself seemed to hold its breath.After a long pause, he spoke. “We move at dawn.”Lira frowned. “You’re in no condition to—”“I said we move.” His tone left no room for argument. The sha

Light flooded the void. Then came the sound of wind — sharp, cutting, alive.Kael gasped as his body slammed back into reality. His boots struck solid ground, and he fell to one knee, breath ragged. The air around him shimmered like fractured glass, reality trying to stitch itself together.He was no longer in the Citadel.Instead, he stood in the middle of a wasteland — the sky cracked open, bleeding light and shadow at once. Mountains floated in the distance, torn from their roots, suspended like shattered fragments of a broken world.The Core’s explosion had rewritten everything.Lira’s voice broke through the haze. “Kael!”He turned sharply. She was running toward him, bruised but alive, her blade drawn. The ground behind her was scorched, the remnants of divine architecture dissolving into ash.She stopped before him, eyes wide. “You disappeared. The Citadel— it collapsed into nothing! I thought—”“I know,” Kael said, his voice hoarse. “The Core… pulled me inside. It showed me ev

The Devil’s Domain had grown beyond imagination.What began as a shattered realm of black stone and molten rivers had evolved into a sprawling world — a living ecosystem of power, freedom, and danger.Dark spires touched the clouds, linked by bridges of obsidian and light. Crimson energy veins pulsed beneath the ground like the heartbeat of some colossal creature. Every inch of the land was alive — responsive to thought, to will, to emotion.Kael stood atop the highest tower — his tower — gazing out at the endless horizon. His eyes reflected the energy storms raging beyond the border of his domain. The winds screamed with the voices of fallen worlds, carrying whispers of fear and reverence alike.Lira stood beside him, her armor scorched and blade at her hip. “They’re calling it the Kingdom of Chaos now,” she said.Kael’s lips curved slightly. “A fitting name.”“Fitting,” Lira replied dryly, “but not flattering. The Council of Light says your world will collapse under its own weight.

The night bled into the horizon like spilled ink.From the highest balcony of the ruined citadel, Kael watched his kingdom shift beneath the dark clouds. The fires that once danced proudly now burned lower, as if even flame feared what it served.The world was listening. He could feel it.Every gust of wind, every crack of thunder, carried whispers not born of mortal tongues. They weren’t words, more like emotions carved into sound. Fear. Awe. Doubt.He closed his eyes, and the System hummed faintly inside him.[Stability report: 47% and declining.][Kingdom resonance disrupted by host imbalance.][Recommendation: recalibrate emotional core.]Kael smirked. “And how do you suggest I do that?”[Purge unnecessary attachments.]The words hung there, heavy and cold.Kael’s gaze drifted to the city below — where the faint lights of villages flickered, where mortals and demons worked side by side to build something new. Freedom, he’d called it. A place without gods.And yet, he was becoming

The morning after Kael’s ascension, the world felt wrong.Too quiet. Too still.The air trembled with leftover power — divine, pure, and dangerous. Every stone in the citadel carried his presence. His new “followers” had begun carving his sigil into walls and banners.Kael sat alone in the grand hall, hands clasped tightly, as if holding himself together. His reflection shimmered in the black marble floor — the faint gold in his eyes burning like an ember refusing to die.Lira entered quietly. “You haven’t slept,” she said.He didn’t answer.“You can’t keep blaming yourself for what they’ve done,” she continued. “They worship you because they need something to believe in.”Kael’s jaw tightened. “They’re worshipping a lie.”“Then show them the truth,” she said.His gaze lifted to meet hers. “The truth? That I’m becoming the very thing I destroyed? The System feeds on their faith, Lira. The more they pray, the stronger it gets—and the less of me remains.”Lira took a step closer. “Then