The forest air was still cold, biting at the skin even after the sun had climbed high, but Elara no longer shivered. She walked ahead of Ravian, her steps occasionally kicking through the damp leaves carpeting the ground. The unfamiliar calls of birds filled the quiet spaces between towering, untouched trees, their branches weaving a green canopy overhead. A month had passed since they left the burned ruins of their clan, and each day carried them farther from the shadows of the past."Look at this, big brother!" Elara called, her voice bright with delight. She pointed at a patch of emerald moss growing between the roots of an ancient banyan tree, adorned with droplets of dew that sparkled like diamonds. A small smile curved her lips, a smile that had once vanished, now slowly returning, though still as fragile as a new sprout.Ravian offered a faint smile, forcing himself to share in her warmth. He suppressed the urge to scan their surroundings, to sense every possible threat lurking

"Brother, they’re getting closer!" Elara cried, her voice thinning. She could feel the cold aura of those creatures, as if they were draining warmth and life from the air itself.Ravian saw the fear in Elara’s eyes when he glanced back. There was no choice.He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he allowed his Void Meridian to open. Not just a little, not just a channel. He opened his soul to the Void. That ancient, boundless darkness flowed in, no longer as controlled energy, but as part of him, resonating with the obsidian artifact nearby.Ravian’s body began to be enveloped in a denser black aura, no longer a faint haze but swirling streaks of shadow. His eyes glowed with a terrifying violet light, like two bottomless pits. The energy around him grew heavy, the air thick and oppressive."Brother?" Elara’s voice came out as a restrained whisper. She felt that power, and it was far more frightening than anything she had ever witnessed. This was no longer her bro

That night, while Elara slept soundly beneath the shelter of a great tree, Ravian meditated. He tried to descend deeper into his own consciousness, searching for a point where he could sever his connection to the System if necessary. Yet all he found was a bottomless black abyss. At its depths, he saw a pair of eyes, the same ones he had witnessed in the vision within the ruins. The eyes of the Forsaken God.You are mine, a whisper echoed, not from the System, but from the depths of his own soul.Ravian jolted awake, his breath ragged. He looked toward Elara. His sister was still asleep, yet her face was tense, as if she too were trapped in a nightmare. Ravian moved closer and draped his thicker cloak over her. He felt like a monster guarding an angel.“I won’t let them take you, Elara,” Ravian whispered into the darkness of the night. “Even if I have to destroy a god.”On the third day, the scenery began to change. The dense forest gave way to carefully arranged highlands. In the dis

Not all power is meant to be saved. Some is born only to test whether its wielder is strong enough to remain human… or destined to shatter into a monster.“You’ve drawn unwanted attention, young man,” Master Han continued. His tone was calm, yet carried a weight that was hard to define, as if he had witnessed the end of too many stories that began like this. “The cultivators in this city are not fools. They can sense something unnatural. And the major factions… they will do anything to obtain the secret of your power.”“I can face them,” Ravian said firmly. But deep inside him, something pulsed, as if mocking his own conviction.“With what? With the void that will devour your soul as payment?” Master Han shook his head slowly, his gaze piercing far beyond the surface. “You must prove that you are the master of your power, not merely a slave who happens to hold the whip.”The words hung in the air, heavy, pressing down.“How?”Master Han smiled mysteriously, a smile that brought no com

The world seemed to end as the sky above Sky City, once a radiant expanse of crystal blue, suddenly looked like a mirror struck by a sledgehammer. Crack. Black fractures spread wildly, devouring the blue and leaving behind a void that pulsed with agony into the nerves of everyone who beheld it. From within that tear in reality, a colossal hand covered in black scales emerged, clutching the edge of the dimension with razor-sharp claws that dug into the frozen air.“Everyone run! Clear the arena!” Master Han roared, his voice booming above the chaos that shattered all reason. His wooden staff now blazed with blinding white light, trying to erect a spiritual barrier around the collapsing spectator stands.At the center of the trembling arena, Ravian stood frozen. His heart pounded, not from fear, but from the terrifying resonance of the Void Meridian within his body. He could feel the gaze of the giant eye behind the rift, an eye that did not see with light, but with pure hunger.“What a