The night sky burned with twin lights — one golden, one black.
They rose from the Valley of Echoes, swallowing stars and space alike, two suns locked in an endless collision.
At the heart of that storm, Li Shen and Yan Rui moved faster than sight could follow.
Every strike split the world, every clash rewrote it.
When their swords met, mountains turned to dust.
When they parted, time itself bled.
Li Shen's sword hummed like a living thing. The runes of the Codex spiraled up his arm, weaving into shapes that shifted between flame and shadow.
Rui's blade glowed with pure light — no edge, only radiance. His voice echoed like the heartbeat of creation.
"You still fight the inevitable," Rui said. "Why resist what we are? The Codex made us to heal what the gods broke."
Li Shen struck, sparks bursting between them. "You call this healing? You turned Heaven into a graveyard of faith!"
Rui parried effortlessly, his golden aura flowing like water. "Faith was the disease. I cured it. The new Heaven will have no worshippers, no war — only memory. Every soul will live forever within the Codex's light."
Li Shen's eyes darkened. "You mean they'll be trapped in it."
Rui smiled faintly. "Freedom and eternity cannot coexist, brother. One must kneel."
Their swords collided again —
And the valley screamed.
A rift opened beneath them, swallowing entire temples. Through it, Li Shen glimpsed glimpses of other realms — rivers of starlight, cities of ash, faces that weren't his but remembered him.
He saw the first Codex bearer, a nameless woman who wrote the world into existence with her dying breath.
He saw the gods of the First Era, tearing her creation apart out of fear.
He saw himself and Rui, reborn from her last memory.
"The Codex remembers its authors."
Li Shen staggered back, clutching his chest. "We were never meant to wield it. We were born from it."
Rui's expression softened, almost sorrowful. "Now you understand. The Codex has no master because it is us. We are the Thirteenth Verse."
Li Shen raised his sword again, trembling. "Then let me rewrite it."
Rui's aura flared. "So be it."
Their blades crossed again, and the world folded in upon itself.
They fought in the space between heartbeats — across oceans of memory, through cities long turned to dust.
At one moment, they were children sparring under the old cherry tree.
The next, gods trading blows in a storm of galaxies.
The Codex pulsed brighter with every strike, its pages turning faster and faster until even the air was filled with verses — symbols of light and shadow fluttering like feathers.
Each verse carried a voice:
"One remembers…"
"…one forgets."
"…and the world begins again."
Li Shen's blade cracked. His body trembled under the strain. Rui's power was too perfect, too balanced.
Every wound Li Shen dealt healed instantly.
"You can't destroy balance," Rui said quietly. "You can only become part of it."
Li Shen spat blood and smiled faintly. "Then I'll be the imperfection it can't erase."
He plunged his sword into the ground. The Codex symbols surged outwards, wrapping around both of them.
"Void Art: Reversal of Memory."
The world inverted.
Suddenly, Rui stood alone —
and saw his own hand covered in Li Shen's blood.
Li Shen knelt before him, half-conscious, but smiling. "Now the Codex… remembers you instead."
Rui's eyes widened as the runes on his body began to shift, crawling like living ink. His memories — his victories, his ideals, even his faith — started to fade.
"No…" he whispered. "You can't—"
Li Shen pressed his palm against his brother's chest. "You taught me the truth, Rui. The Codex writes those who forget. I just made sure it writes me last."
The Codex flared between them, forming a halo of burning text.
Then everything went white.
When the light faded, the valley was gone.
Only a single black feather drifted through the air.
Li Shen stood alone beneath a hollow sky. The temple had vanished. Rui was gone.
He fell to his knees. "Brother…"
The Codex floated before him, its pages closed.
No light. No voice. Only silence.
Then, faintly, words appeared on its cover:
"The Thirteenth Verse is not an ending."
"It is a beginning forgotten."
Li Shen looked to the horizon. The stars were gone, but a faint glow remained — two suns rising where none had been before, one white, one black.
He whispered softly:
"Twin suns… twin souls…"
And walked toward the light.