The crystal heart cracked.
Not like stone breaking—
But like a prison door unlocking.
Thin fissures spread across its prismatic surface, spiderwebbing outward. Seven-colored blood surged faster through transparent veins, brightening until the entire chamber became a cathedral of living light.
THUM… THUM… THUM…
Each beat grew louder.
Heavier.
More aware.
Xueya's breath hitched.
"That heartbeat… it's changing."
Drakonix snarled, claws digging into the floor.
"It's no longer a heart.It's a mouth."
Jin Wei's voice trembled through his core.
"ENTITY STATUS:AWAKENING THRESHOLD…BREACHING."
Shan Wei stepped forward, prismatic flame flickering across his skin.
"Then we seal it. Now."
The heart answered him.
Not in words.
In laughter—rhythmic, patient, ancient.
THUUUM… THUUUM… THUUUM…
And then—
The heart split open.
1. The Will-Entity Emerges
A stream of seven-colored mist poured out, coiling through the void like a serpent made of light and hunger. It didn't have a body—yet.
It formed a shape: a humanoid silhouette.
A crown appeared first.
A crown of seven fractured lights.
Then a face—smooth, expressionless, impossibly beautiful.
Eyes like polished void.
It looked at Shan Wei…
…and smiled.
Not warmly.
Possessively.
"Finally…"the entity whispered directly into their souls."A successor."
Xueya's Lunar Frost aura flared instinctively.
"Don't come closer."
The entity's gaze slid toward her, amused.
"You will freeze and break."
Drakonix roared, wings blazing.
"You will not touch him!"
The entity looked at Drakonix as if seeing a familiar tool.
"Bloodline child…""Kneel."
2. Drakonix's Bloodline Submission Trial
The chamber's runes ignited.
ANCESTRY TRIAL: DOMINION
A pressure slammed into Drakonix like a mountain of law.
His wings snapped inward.
His body trembled violently.
He fought it—teeth clenched, eyes blazing—
But ancestral command was absolute.
Drakonix sank to one knee.
Then another.
A growl strangled from his throat.
"N-no… I kneel… to no one…"
The entity's smile widened.
"You always did."
Drakonix's pupils shook.
Memories flashed in his eyes—
A throne of stars.
A crown of fate.
A master's hand.
The Red Emperor.
And then—
A different crown.
A different master.
This hunger.
Drakonix screamed, flames exploding outward as he resisted.
Shan Wei stepped forward instantly.
"DRAGONIX!"
The entity's eyes narrowed.
"Do not interfere.""This beast belongs to my origin."
Shan Wei's aura surged.
"No. He belongs to me."
The entity paused—surprised.
Then laughed softly.
"Then prove it."
The trial intensified.
Drakonix's scales cracked with pressure, blood sizzling into prismatic smoke.
Xueya's eyes widened.
"He'll break!"
Shan Wei clenched his fist.
"Not while I stand."
3. Xueya's Lunar Frost Domain — FULL ACTIVATION
Xueya stepped forward, sword raised.
Her breath slowed.
Her eyes—calm, lethal, unshaking—lifted to the entity.
"I will not allow you to take him."
Behind her, the moon manifested fully.
Not an illusion.
A lunar frost moon—glowing, vast, cold beyond time—appeared like a second sky inside the chamber.
The temperature plunged so violently even the seven-colored blood slowed.
The entity's smile faded.
"So you awaken…"
Xueya's voice was quiet, deadly.
"Lunar Frost Domain."
The domain expanded.
Ice began freezing concepts:
• pressure• gravity• killing intent• even the faint flow of time
Drakonix gasped as the submission force weakened slightly.
He roared and pushed himself back upright.
Shan Wei stared at Xueya.
"…You—"
Xueya didn't look back.
"Don't thank me.Just stay alive."
The entity stared at the moon.
"You will be interesting to devour later."
Xueya's blade flashed.
"Try."
4. Shan Wei Uses Fate Severance
Shan Wei's eyes sharpened.
His Overdrive flickered—controlled now, not eruptive.
He raised his hand.
A thin line of light formed at his fingertips.
Not flame.
Not lightning.
A thread.
A destiny thread.
Shan Wei whispered:
"Fate Severance."
The line snapped through the air, aimed directly at the entity's link to Drakonix.
The entity reacted instantly, recoiling like a serpent struck.
"You… cut fate?"
Shan Wei's voice was calm.
"I cut what I choose."
The thread of dominion binding Drakonix shattered.
Drakonix inhaled sharply, collapsing forward but free.
The entity's expression darkened.
"Then you truly are…"
The heavens rumbled faintly.
As if listening.
The entity's voice became colder.
"…dangerous."
5. Jin Wei's Sacrifice — Core Fragment Seal
Jin Wei stepped forward.
Golden light erupted from his chest core.
"MASTER…THIS ENTITY CANNOT BE KILLED HERE.ONLY SEALED."
Shan Wei's eyes widened.
"How?"
Jin Wei's voice lowered.
"MY CORE CONTAINS AN ANCIENT EMPEROR-SEAL SHARD.I WILL SACRIFICE ITTO TEMPORARILY REBIND THE HEART."
Xueya shouted:
"Jin Wei—if you do that, you'll lose your stability!"
Jin Wei turned his mask-like face toward Shan Wei.
"LOYALTY: ABSOLUTE.MASTER SURVIVAL: PRIORITY."
He raised his hand.
A golden shard—like a sun fragment—tore out of his chest.
Jin Wei's body shuddered.
His light dimmed.
But the shard floated toward the entity—
forming a seal pattern.
The entity hissed.
"A puppet dares seal me?"
Jin Wei spoke one final command.
"SEAL: EMPEROR'S LOCK."
The shard exploded into runes, wrapping around the entity like chains of golden law.
The entity screamed—not in pain—in rage.
"YOU DELAY NOTHING!"
Xueya's moon froze the chains in place.
Shan Wei's Fate Severance reinforced them.
Drakonix unleashed prismatic flame around the seal, burning away its escape routes.
Together—
they forced the entity back toward the heart.
The heart beat violently, resisting.
THUUUM—THUUUM—THUUUM—
But the seal pushed it closed.
The entity's crown flickered.
It stared directly at Shan Wei with hatred so deep it could rot worlds.
And then it whispered a name.
A name the heavens tried to erase.
A name that made the vault shake.
"祁…玄…赤…"
The sound fractured mid-syllable, censored by cosmic law.
But Shan Wei heard enough.
His eyes widened.
His soul trembled.
Because that was not "Qi Shan Wei."
That was a name from another life.
The entity smiled.
"I remember you, Red Emperor…""And I will eat your second rise."
With one final roar—
the heart slammed shut, sealing the entity inside.
Silence.
Jin Wei collapsed to one knee, core dim and cracked.
Drakonix staggered, exhausted.
Xueya's moon faded slowly, frost melting into mist.
Shan Wei stood trembling, staring at the sealed heart.
"…It knows my true name."
Xueya stepped beside him, voice tight.
"Then we make sure it never gets to speak it again."
The chamber's runes pulsed weakly.
A warning.
Not of victory.
But of delay.
Because outside—
the Abyssal Court would not stop.
And now…
something older than the Abyss had recognized him.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.