Lord of the void realm

The void dragon's wings folded behind Raizen, silent and still. It didn't speak. It didn't growl. Its eyes no longer held pride or hatred—only quiet obedience.

Raizen stepped out of the valley and into the wild hills that rolled beyond it. These lands were unclaimed by sects, untouched by order. The perfect place to test what he had just become.

He raised a hand.

The dragon vanished into the void.

It wasn't dismissed.

It was shelved—tucked away in a space he now controlled.

Raizen moved forward.

---

Elsewhere…

One of the five elite hunters—Zhen, the Gravity Fist—moved across the treetops like a boulder thrown by heaven. He wore no armor, just thick robes bound in spiritual chains. Each step crushed branches beneath him.

He had tracked Raizen's general path, using the leftover warp residue from the Sky Messenger's fall. The readings were faint, but he'd followed the ripples of warped air and broken pressure points.

Finally, he dropped into a clearing.

Still. Empty.

But something was wrong.

There were no beasts here. No birds. No rot. No scent of decay or life.

Just pressure.

And silence.

Zhen narrowed his eyes.

Then Raizen appeared.

He didn't fall from the sky.

He didn't teleport in.

He simply was—as if he'd always been there, and Zhen had just noticed.

The hunter braced himself, pressure wrapping his fists.

"You're the one they're all running from?" he muttered. "The silent one?"

Raizen said nothing.

"You don't look like much."

Still no answer.

Zhen's eyes flickered with growing irritation.

"You know what I think?" he growled. "I think you're just a boy with a rare trick—one that'll snap the moment someone puts real force behind a strike."

He launched forward.

Raizen didn't flinch.

Zhen's fist came down, wrapped in a black core of gravitational weight strong enough to crush steel into dust.

The blow landed.

Or it should have.

Instead, it passed through empty space.

Zhen blinked.

Raizen was behind him.

Then Zhen looked down.

His chest was gone.

Just… erased. A clean hole where his core had been.

He gasped once.

Then the void swallowed him.

Not his body.

His everything.

No scream. No spiritual backlash. Not even a ripple of death Qi.

Just silence.

Raizen looked down at the mark left behind.

He didn't feel joy.

He didn't feel fear.

Only a flicker of something deep within the void—another soul added.

Another servant, ready to rise when called.

He didn't summon him yet.

He simply moved on.

One of five… gone.

No alarm. No warning.

Just one step closer to balance tipping in his favor.

---

Far above, the remaining four hunters paused.

One of them shivered.

The wind one whispered, "Zhen's gone."

The leader didn't move.

He just muttered, "It's begun."