I. Into the Maw of the Fifth Realm
By now, Zaxton's name had become gospel in all four realms. His power, a star, his children, his legacy, and his wrath—legend.
But the Realm Master was not content with the defensive.
He understood something the others did not:
The enemy grows. The fifth realm evolves.
The fourth realm may stand united, but to face what lay beyond, their resistance must be forged in endless fire.
Thus, Zaxton vanished.
He cloaked himself in a layer of untraceable starlight, visible only to his adopted children and select disciples through a celestial brand burned into their soulcore. Not even the Golden Gas Giant could track him—though Icarus knew enough not to worry. This was Zaxton's way.
With him, he took seven cultivators, each one plucked from the pinnacle of potential:
Arvion the Bone-Wind, once a prince of fallen Moonlands, now wielding gravity like silk.
Vereya the Tempest Bell, a deaf cultivator whose body vibrated with thunder.
Sarn of the Twelve Eyes, a beast-blood tactician who could see seconds into the future.
Kailin the Iron Dust, born of the Third Realm's mountains, able to shatter space with a stomp.
Oura, Flame-Born, Zaxton's adopted daughter whose flame sang in languages lost to even stars.
Dren of the Last Vein, whose bloodline was extinct—he survived, meaning he was stronger than destiny.
Luhra the Sky Mirror, a still-void cultivator whose presence warped desire and memory.
All seven had ascended to False Star level—not yet true stars, but more than planets. They were bright, dangerous, raw. Perfect for what came next.
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II. The Mission: Hell's Harvest
Their goal was not conquest.
It was curation.
The group would move across rifts and shattered constellations, infiltrating unmonitored regions of the Fifth Realm where Stella Demons bred, trained, and mutated. Each one a biome of cosmic horror—pulsating with entropy, ruled by instincts of the void.
> "We take samples," Zaxton instructed, his voice sharp and calm like a sword suspended over silence.
"We do not bring war. We bring firewood. One day the realms will burn brighter than the stars themselves. But first, we build the pyre."
They were to capture:
Low-tier Stella fiends to release into wild zones of the First and Second Realms.
Mid-tier Demonic Sentinels to use in combat arenas, training grounds, and domain evolutions.
Rare mutation breeds, especially those with psionic, elemental, or time-warping abilities, to study and—if possible—breed for resistance training.
Every sample brought back would serve as a living whetstone for future cultivators. This was Zaxton's brutal genius: making the impossible commonplace, one realm at a time.
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III. Among the Shadows of Stars
The Fifth Realm was not a place. It was a hunger given form.
Gravity bent sideways. Stars bled. Time looped and forgot itself.
But Zaxton walked as if it were his domain.
His team moved with discipline, masking themselves with planetary cloaks and false rhythms. They hunted in shatterfields, dead constellations, and abandoned star-fortresses where Stella Demons gathered like roaches in bone.
They avoided the attention of the true stars—those mad with power and ancient hunger.
Still… they left traces.
Even now, somewhere deep within, a watcher noticed.
A being older than the Golden Gas Giant.
A being that once consumed realms whole.
A Fifth Realm Warden Star, awakening to the scent of trespass.
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IV. Return in Silence
When they finally emerged through the Vein Gate, cloaked by Zaxton's will and the careful manipulation of dimensional tears, they returned with one hundred and thirteen captured demons of varying classes.
The beasts were categorized, broken, studied.
New combat domains were opened in the third and fourth realms—realms that had once known only sect warfare, now fighting Stella abominations as part of their very growth.
Resistance was no longer theory.
It became nature.
Across the Four Realms, cultivators began to refer to the phenomenon as The Trial of Starfall—the new rite of ascension for planetary cultivators. Only those who could survive a Stella Hunt would be considered worthy to pursue starhood.
And yet…
Zaxton had not spoken a word since returning.
Some say he saw something in the Fifth Realm.
Others whisper he marked a path even beyond.
But for now, he watched his flames grow.
The Age of Starfall
> "The beasts of the stars shall teach our children to climb higher. To fear nothing. Even extinction." —Zaxton, Realm Master of the Fourth
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I. The Scatter Protocol
Following their silent return from the Fifth Realm, Zaxton and his elite team initiated Phase Two of his grand plan. Known to only his most trusted moons and lieutenants, this was called the Scatter Protocol.
Across all four realms, hidden gates and dimensional hollows—prepared in advance by starforged geomancers—opened quietly in remote wild zones, forgotten mountains, subterranean root networks, deep-sea trenches, and forbidden sky altitudes.
From these gates, Stella Demons spilled forth.
But these were not continent-breaking monstrosities. These were low and mid-tier fiends, captured and shackled with Zaxton's personalized seals—each one crafted from his minor solar essence, preventing them from growing too powerful or escaping certain bounds.
Each one, however, was still vastly superior to the usual beasts of cultivation the realms were used to.
They were nightmares made flesh.
Shardbeasts, creatures of crystalline skin that fractured light into blades—released into the glass forests of the Second Realm.
Cicadons, burrowing fiends whose screams bent the bones of weaker cultivators—sent into the ruined fields of the First Realm.
Tesseral Vexwings, flying creatures that shimmered in and out of time—set loose in the sky jungles of the Third Realm.
The Hollow Hounds, packs of near-invisible demonic predators that could smell ambition—now hunting the outer lands of the Fourth.
These were just the beginning.
Each realm was now seeded with trial zones, often called Starfall Wilds by the local sects.
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II. Immediate Fallout
First Realm – Fire Beneath Ashes
The weakest realm felt the brutal bite of change.
Thousands of small sects fell in the first year. Ancient orders collapsed under the sudden exposure to enemies beyond comprehension.
But amidst the ashes, new heroes rose.
Children born of nothing, street orphans, wandering beast-tamers—those with raw willpower—began to awaken in the presence of these demons. Their souls naturally adapted. Some even bonded with weakened Stella Demons, forming Soul Cords—a new form of cultivation that fused demonic essence with mortal will.
The First Realm—once the weakest—began to breed prodigies faster than any realm.
Second Realm – The Forge Realm
Known for its artisans and alchemists, the Second Realm did not fight the Stella Demons—they experimented.
Using captured beasts, they forged Stellar-grade weapons, armor made of spectral bone, and even constructs powered by demon cores. The technological and mystical boom rippled across all realms, sparking a new Arms Revolution.
Zaxton allowed it. Encouraged it.
They would need these creations soon.
Third Realm – Civil War of the Sky
With the previous rebellion crushed by Zaxton's brutal return, the Third Realm had only recently begun to rebuild.
Now, with the arrival of these beasts, the power vacuum fractured once more.
Some sects tried to hide and shield their disciples. Others—bolder, hungrier—used the Starfall zones to prove their worth, sending cultivators into the worst zones and publicizing their victories.
This led to the Skyfire Schism, a bloody competition that killed many—but also produced the first known Starborn Sect, a force whose entire cultivation base revolved around Stella Demon blood and arenas.
They did not worship Zaxton.
They became his weapons.
Fourth Realm – Cultivation Through Crisis
The Fourth Realm had the largest population of Ringed Planets, Gas Giants, and False Stars. The invasion by demons did not overwhelm them, but it unified them even further.
Zaxton's Stellar Bastions—already spread across the realm—became training halls and fortresses. Within five years, nearly every major planetary power had adapted new Stella resistance techniques, and for the first time in history:
Gas Giants sparred regularly with Demons.
Ringed Planets bred Combat Moons—artificial satellites designed to lure, trap, and battle stronger demons.
A new generation of False Stars emerged—younger, faster, forged in real war.
Zaxton himself watched from afar, silent.
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III. Cultural Shift – The Era of Demon Trials
This era would later be known as the Demon Trial Epoch.
Books were rewritten.
Sect entry exams changed.
Even children, barely five years old, were now taught how to recognize Stella Demon blood trails.
In the First Realm, cultivators needed to slay at least one Shardbeast to become inner disciples.
In the Third Realm, sects began to import demons from the Fourth Realm to simulate ascension trials.
In the Second Realm, high-level forgers competed to design armor sets that could suppress specific Stella traits.
And in the Fourth Realm, a prophecy began to circulate:
> "From the trial ashes shall rise Ten Starborn Kings. One will sit beside the Lone Star. One… may surpass him."