The Observer remained still as the ice around him continued to crack—not from temperature, but from tension.The fate-lines he'd revealed were still glowing faintly in the air, wrapped around Qi Shan Wei like seven spiraling serpents.
Xueya stepped forward, frost swirling wildly around her.
"Your visions are false," she snapped."Shan Wei does not destroy worlds."
The Observer tilted his head slightly.
"Child of Ice… do you truly believe fate is gentle?"
Her galaxy-sword aura flared.
"No.But I believe he will defy it."
Shan Wei's expression remained calm, but his heart beat with a steady, rising heaviness.He could feel each of the prismatic threads… tightening.
Drakonix pressed against him, scales bristling, flames flickering blue-white in agitation.
"Fwee… fwrrr…!"A trembling, distressed sound—one Shan Wei had never heard before.
The Observer lifted his hand.
"Do not fear, divine beast. I did not come to harm your master."
Drakonix snapped—a burst of prismatic flame erupting reflexively.
Not aimed at the Observer.
Aimed upward.
A roar of pure instinct:
RRRRRRAAAAAA—!!
Shan Wei tightened his hold around him.He could feel it—deep in Drakonix's blood.
The beast wasn't afraid of the Observer.
No.
He was afraid of something else.
Something in the vision.
Something in Shan Wei's potential future.
Xueya noticed too."Drakonix is reacting to the future… not the messenger."
The Observer slowly lowered his hand.
"A divine beast born from prismatic origin can sense fate far better than most humans. His reaction validates the danger."
Shan Wei's eyes sharpened.
"Then speak plainly. Enough riddles."
The Observer nodded.
And the chasm froze—not physically, but atmospherically—as sixteen ringing tones echoed behind his mask.
DONG… DONG… DONG…
Each tone shook the soul.
Even Jin Wei's broken core flickered, responding to the resonance.
The Observer's voice deepened.
"Qi Shan Wei… the Prismatic Emperor who should not exist…"
He looked directly into Shan Wei's golden eyes.
"…you are being hunted."
The ice trembled violently.
Yue Lian's face drained of color.
Xueya lifted her sword instantly.
By who?" Shan Wei demanded.
The Observer answered:
"By something older than the heavens.By something that the Silent Bell Monastery cannot predict.By a being that devours fate itself."
A ringing silence.
Then—
1. The Name of the Ultimate Enemy Appears
The Observer whispered:
"The Era Devourer."
Every light dimmed.
Frost cracked.Flames weakened.Even Drakonix's wings drooped.
Xueya's breath hitched."…That name… it feels like it should not be spoken."
The Observer nodded.
"Correct. Only seven beings in the entire realm system even know it exists."
He stepped closer.
"Qi Shan Wei… your birth awakened it."
Shan Wei's pulse jolted.
"My birth?"
"Yes."
The Observer extended a finger—and a flicker of prismatic light formed an infant silhouette.
Xueya inhaled sharply.
"That's… you?"
Shan Wei said nothing.
The Observer continued:
"The moment you were born, seven prismatic forces resonated together.A phenomenon impossible for mortals.Impossible even for most divine spirits."
His tone darkened.
"That resonance echoed beyond the realms—and something ancient heard you."
The air chilled.
"And it began moving toward your world."
Yue Lian stammered:
"W-What exactly does this 'Devourer' do…?"
The Observer slowly raised his hand—and the ice showed another vision.
A world being erased.
Not attacked.Not burned.Not frozen.
Erased.
Like someone erasing ink from a scroll.
Cities vanished.Mountains dissolved.People disappeared mid-step.
The vision zoomed out.
Dozens of worlds—gone.
Hundreds.
The Observer spoke calmly:
"It consumes the unused possibilities of a realm.It devours alternate fates.It feasts on futures."
Xueya's knuckles went white around her sword.
"That's… monstrous."
"It is beyond monstrous," the Observer replied."It is a cosmic correction."
Shan Wei's gaze hardened.
"What does that mean?"
The Observer turned slowly toward him.
"Qi Shan Wei… you did not appear in this world according to its blueprint.You are an anomaly."
His next words were ice.
"And the Era Devourer… removes anomalies."
2. Drakonix Undergoes Guardian Rage
Drakonix suddenly writhed—
Shan Wei barely managed to hold him.
Flames exploded from his wings, carving burning lines into the ice.
His pupils slit.His scales glowed.His breath steamed like a dragon confronting a god.
"FWEEE—RRRARRRRR—!!"
The roar carried something new:
Hatred.
Fear.
Rage.
Shan Wei's heart lurched.
"Drakonix—what is happening to you?"
The Observer didn't move.
"He is awakening a dormant instinct.Guardian Rage."
Xueya glanced between them."What does that mean?"
"Divine Beast law," the Observer explained softly.
"When a being tries to erase their master from existence, a divine beast's soul rejects that future.It fights it.It claws against it."
Drakonix roared again.
Xueya's frost galaxy bloomed, shielding Shan Wei and the others from the heat.
Drakonix's markings were shifting—changing—mutating.
Shan Wei felt a stab of fear.
"Drakonix… calm down—!"
But the beast wasn't looking at the Observer.
He was looking at the vision.
At the version of Shan Wei who stood alone atop a burning sky-palace.
And Drakonix cried out in despair.
Shan Wei gripped his trembling form and whispered:
"I'm right here. I'm not gone. You're with me."
Drakonix pressed his head into Shan Wei's chest.
The rage softened.
But did not fade.
3. Xueya Rejects the Fate Binding
The Observer turned to Xueya.
"You… are interesting."
She leveled her sword instantly.
"I don't care."
"You should," he replied."Because you, child of frost… are not bound by fate."
Shan Wei and Xueya both froze.
"What?" they said at the same time.
The Observer gestured to the residual fate-lines.
All seven threads around Shan Wei were visible.
None touched Xueya.
None even came near her.
The Observer chuckled lightly.
"How fascinating."
Xueya stepped closer to Shan Wei one step.
Fate threads recoiled.
Literally.
"Impossible…" the Empress whispered."That should not be possible—fate naturally tries to adjust those closest to an anomaly!"
The Observer nodded.
"Unless she is immune."
Xueya's heartbeat thundered in her ears.
"What does that mean?"
The Observer turned his masked face toward her.
"You carry a power not yet awakened.Something that stands opposite to predestination."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed.
"What power?"
The Observer answered:
"Lunar Fate-Defiance."
Xueya's breath hitched.
Shan Wei instinctively grabbed her hand.
The Observer continued:
"With this ability, she will be the one who can stand at your side… even when fate twists around you.She is exempt from your anomaly."
He paused.
"And she may be the only one capable of saving you."
Xueya swallowed hard.
Shan Wei's grip tightened around her hand.
Neither said anything—but the world shifted around them.
4. The Observer Reveals the Final Message
The Observer finally straightened.
"The Silent Bell Monastery has watched thousands of fates.We have intervened only a handful of times across history."
He took one step forward.
"And this is one of them."
Shan Wei's eyes sharpened.
"Why me?"
"Because your existence threatens the cosmic order," the Observer replied softly."And because you may be the only one who can stand against the Era Devourer when it arrives."
Xueya's voice was shaking now.
"When… when does it come?"
The Observer's answer was quiet.
"It is already devouring the outer realms."
Silence.
Shattering, suffocating silence.
Shan Wei raised his chin.
"And what is your message?"
The Observer lifted his mask slightly—just enough for his voice to shift, for his aura to intensify.
"To warn you."
He leaned closer.
"To prepare you."
Then, in a whisper that made the entire chasm's fate-lines tremble:
"And to tell you the truth…"
He lifted his mask fully—
revealing a face of white moonlight, eyes filled with galaxies—
"…you were not the first Prismatic Emperor."
Everything broke.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025All rights reserved.