DEMON SOVEREIGN'S REIGN

The cold winds of the Abyss howled through the shattered altar chamber, sweeping through the Hollow Empire's capital like a whisper of death. Liu Shen stood at the heart of the chaos, his gaze locked with Zhao Ying's. Her imperial robes fluttered in the storm of dark energy erupting from the gate below, and her crimson pupils glowed—awakened not by fear, but by memory.

"I see it now," she murmured, voice brittle. "You are him... the one we sealed away."

Liu Shen stepped forward. The seal had been broken—no, unraveled by his own hand. He could feel the remnants of celestial bindings dissolve in his blood. The aura of the Demon Sovereign pulsed faintly beneath his skin, restrained but ever present.

Zhao Ying dropped to one knee, not in submission, but to brace herself against the crushing weight emanating from the abyssal rift. "What did you do, Liu Shen?"

"I merely revealed what the heavens tried to bury," Liu Shen replied, his voice low. "And I haven't finished yet."

A scream tore through the fabric of space as a tendril of void surged upward from the gate. The writhing energy lashed against the chamber walls, carving ancient runes into stone. One touched Zhao Ying's sleeve, and her skin blistered before she could recoil.

Yu Meixing arrived with Lei Qing, both gasping at the sight. "The seal... it's been corrupted," Lei Qing muttered. "No, not corrupted—liberated."

Liu Shen nodded. "This is the true Abyss. Not the prison of legends, but the wellspring of forgotten truths."

Behind them, the rift shimmered. Within the darkness, an outline emerged—an eye of immeasurable size and depth, gazing back with recognition. It did not roar or rage. It simply watched.

Zhao Ying stood again, steadying herself. "So it's true. You weren't just a tyrant... you were a gatekeeper."

"You helped chain me. You, Wenxiu, Huang Ze," Liu Shen said. "You believed the heavens' lies. That I sought to consume this world. But it was never about domination. It was about keeping what lay below from rising."

Meixing placed a hand on Liu Shen's shoulder. "Then what now?"

He turned to her, his expression unreadable. "Now, we find the ones who finished what she started. The rest of the Pact."

Suddenly, from the edge of the rift, a figure emerged—cloaked in silver flames, its face obscured. The air distorted around it, each step echoing like thunder. Liu Shen's body tensed.

"A Flame Envoy..." Lei Qing whispered.

But the figure didn't attack. Instead, it spoke in a voice that was neither male nor female, neither human nor divine.

"The Abyss has chosen. The pact is broken. The reckoning begins."

In a flash, it vanished—its message lingering in the void. Silence fell upon the chamber.

Zhao Ying looked away. "I once believed in the heavens," she said quietly. "But now... I only want to know the truth."

Liu Shen approached her. "Then help us. Not as Empress, not as betrayer—but as someone who dares to defy fate."

She nodded once. "I owe you that much."

Above them, the Abyss rift pulsed—no longer a threat, but a promise. Of war, of revelation, and of vengeance.

And Liu Shen smiled, not with malice, but with certainty.

The heavens would burn.