The crimson moon hung heavy, bleeding its light upon the ruins of Heaven's Gate.
Each droplet that touched the earth hissed, forming ghostly shapes that whispered Xiao Wang's name.
He stood alone amid the devastation, the air thick with burnt divinity.Behind him, the corpses of gods still glowed faintly, their halos broken, their wings torn.Even the Radiant Sage dared not move.
[System Alert: Anomaly Detected — Abyssal Energy Signature: S-Class.]
[Warning: Host Exposure May Trigger Regression or Fusion Event.]
The wind shifted.
And from the horizon, a figure walked forth — barefoot upon the sea of divine blood.
Each step birthed petals of darkness, each breath, a tremor that shattered the starlight.
Her beauty was not mortal.It was absolute.
Raven-black hair danced in the void wind.Her eyes were two galaxies swirling between desire and death.
And her voice — soft, ancient, sorrowful — could make even gods tremble.
"So… you still remember how to bleed, Devourer."
The Queen Descends
Xiao Wang turned slowly, the Devouring Sword humming in his grasp.
"You're late."
She smiled faintly, the kind of smile that broke oaths. "Late? Or right on time to see what you've become?"
Every shadow bowed to her presence. The crimson moon dimmed, as though fearing to outshine her.
Around them, reality bent into a circle of frozen time — her domain, the Abyssal Field.
[Environmental Shift: Abyssal Domain detected.]
[Warning: System interference — 67%. Attempting to adapt.]
"Your power… it's still the same." Xiao Wang's tone was calm, but his heartbeat thundered in his chest.
"My power?" She tilted her head. "You gave it to me, remember?"
The words struck like thunder.
Images flashed in his mind — a hand reaching through darkness, a kiss under collapsing stars, a promise made before time itself ended.
The memories weren't his.
And yet they were.
Fragments of the Past Life
[System Accessing: Forbidden Memory Path — 'Origin Cycle #001.']
[Playback initiated.]
He saw it: himself — not as Xiao Wang, but as the Original Devourer, the one who once ruled beyond the stars.
And beside him, the Abyssal Queen knelt — his empress, his weapon, his first love.
"When the heavens betrayed you," she whispered, "I burned the world for you."
"When you vanished, I buried my heart beneath the Abyss."
The memory shattered.
Xiao Wang's breath grew uneven.
"You… were with me," he murmured. "Before all this?"
She stepped closer. "You were my god. My ruin. My everything."
The Temptation
Her hand rose, brushing the side of his face.
Her touch was cool, yet it burned through him like forbidden fire.
[Emotional Interference Detected.]
[Warning: Soul Synchronization Level — 72%.]
"Join me again," she whispered.
"Forget Heaven. Forget mortals. Come back to the Abyss, where you belong. Rule with me… as we once did."
Her aura wrapped around him, darkness intertwining with starlight.
For a moment, the world felt still — as if the choice he made here would decide all of creation.
The other half of Xiao Wang — his mischievous, chaotic persona — stirred within him.
"Oh, this is bad," the alter voice drawled, amused. "She's your type — deadly, divine, and definitely not wearing enough armor."
"Shut up," Xiao Wang muttered under his breath.
"Make me. Or better yet, let her make me."
He almost smiled despite himself.
Clash of Light and Shadow
He took a step back, his aura igniting in silver flame. "I can't join you."
Her smile didn't fade. "Can't? Or won't?"
"The world still burns. My mother, my sister — they wait for peace I promised. And there are debts Heaven hasn't yet paid."
The air quaked as two realms collided — his Celestial Domain of Devouring against her Abyssal Field.
The sea of blood erupted upward, forming screaming pillars of souls.
[System Overload — Host merging with Abyssal energy.]
[New Form Detected: Dual-Origin Manifestation.]
Half his body glowed like a god's; the other half shimmered with the abyss.
For a brief instant, he was both Heaven and Hell.
The Queen's eyes widened in awe and… longing.
"Even now, you defy the laws I was born from. That's why I loved you."
Then she raised her hand—and the moon fell.
The Moonfall Duel
It wasn't a metaphor.
The crimson moon itself plummeted toward the earth, trailing oceans of flame.
She moved like a dream of annihilation, and he met her like a storm of rebirth.
Their blades collided—light against darkness, creation against unmaking.
Each strike shattered mountains, each clash spawned new stars that burned for mere seconds before dying.
[Assimilating Abyssal Fragments: 17%. 29%. 46%.]
[Warning: Host stability dropping below safe threshold.]
The Sword Spirit roared inside his mind, "You'll burn yourself apart!"
"I don't care!" Xiao Wang shouted, slamming his palm into her chest, channeling pure Devourer Qi.
The Queen gasped—not from pain, but surprise. "Still so reckless… still so you."
Her body dissolved into mist and reformed behind him. Her voice, now both tender and terrible, brushed against his ear.
"If you won't come willingly, then I'll drag you back in pieces."
When Darkness Kneels Before Light
The System flared.
[Emergency Protocol: Light Over Abyss — Initiated.]
[System Synchronization: 100%. Host Evolution Complete.]
Xiao Wang's aura exploded.
Golden chains of divine code burst from his body, wrapping the abyssal mists and tearing through her domain.
The blood-sea evaporated; the moon cracked open.
The Queen screamed, her shadowed wings burning away—revealing her true form: a woman of pure light, bound in chains of her own darkness.
He reached out, hand trembling.
"Why… why would you hide this?"
Tears streamed down her luminous face. "Because the Abyss was all that was left of me after you died."
For the first time, she knelt—her forehead touching the ground before him.
"Then let me kneel before you once more, my Devourer… not as your enemy, but as your sin."
[New Path Unlocked: The Queen's Redemption — Abyssal Bloodline Fusion Available.]
[Warning: Fusing will permanently alter host soul.]
Xiao Wang looked down at her, torn between wrath and memory.
His sword pulsed in one hand, his heart in the other.
Behind him, the sky split open—revealing an army descending from the remnants of Heaven, their leader cloaked in white fire.
"Heaven's Executor…" Xiao Wang whispered. "So, they finally sent him."
The Queen rose, eyes still glistening. "Then our dance isn't over."
The world darkened once more.