The world was not ready.
For five years, the factions of the Ravencrest Empire had been locked in a cold war. Valerius, the "Protector," and his fiancée Seraphina ruled from the returned palace, their authority challenged daily by the loyalist faction of the old Emperor and the Crown Prince. They were all so focused on their petty game of thrones, they never once thought to look up.
They never imagined the monster they had created would return from the sea, not as a fugitive, but as a walking apocalypse.
My first target was the Crimsonwood Forest.
I did not go alone. Lyra, her eyes now gleaming with a cold, clear purpose, acted as my guide. Her regressor's knowledge, once a tool for political scheming, was now a perfect map to the world's hidden weaknesses. Seraphina, a beautiful, giggling storm of chaotic energy, was my vanguard.
We arrived at the heart of the forest, at the base of the petrified heartwood tree where the Ancestor slumbered.
"He will sense us," Lyra warned, her voice a low whisper.
"That's the point," I replied. I looked at Seraphina. "Break it."
Seraphina clapped her hands with childlike glee. Her corrupted Gacha of Fate flared to life. "Wheel of fortune, spin spin spin!" she sang, a nursery rhyme of pure destruction. "Let's see what prize we win!"
The air shimmered, and a 'Fated Event'—a localized, miniature earthquake—ripped through the forest floor. The ground buckled, and the ancient heartwood tree groaned, a deep, soul-shaking sound of agony as a massive crack appeared in its trunk.
The Crimsonwood Ancestor awoke. And it was furious.
The colossal behemoth rose from the earth, its green eyes burning with a rage that dwarfed its previous anger. But before it could even fully form, I was already there.
I used [Imp's Shadow-Step], teleporting directly onto its newly-formed shoulder. It was like standing on a moving mountain.
"Hello again," I said, and slammed the Void-Eater's Hand onto its wooden hide. "[Devour]."
The god-beast roared, a sound of pure, agonized disbelief as its life-essence, its very connection to the world, was siphoned away at a catastrophic rate. It tried to swat me, but I was a flea on a leviathan, shadow-stepping from its shoulder to its back, my gauntlet a relentless, parasitic conduit.
Its vast power, the accumulated energy of millennia, poured into me. My Nascent Soul, a shadowy infant, grew and solidified, its features becoming a perfect, miniature copy of my own. My cultivation base, already at its peak, began to crack its own limits, preparing for the next great leap.
The battle lasted less than ten minutes. The Crimsonwood Ancestor, the terror of the continent, did not fall. It withered, its colossal form crumbling into dust and dead leaves, its divine energy consumed to the last drop.
The forest itself died, the vibrant red leaves turning a uniform, ashen gray.
We left the silent, dead wood behind us, a monument to the first act of my Great Devouring.
[MAIN QUEST OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: Devour the Heart of the Crimsonwood Ancestor.]
[Your cultivation is now at the threshold of the Soul Ascension Realm.]
This was the pattern of our crusade. We were a three-person apocalypse. Lyra would guide us to a hidden source of power—a sleeping beast, a secret sect's energy well, a forgotten ruin. Seraphina would act as the agent of chaos, using her corrupted fate-magic to shatter its defenses and create an opening. And I would be the finisher, the sovereign who consumed the prize.
We were unstoppable. The 'Great Hunt' for the Fallen Prince became a series of terrified reports of sacred mountains turning barren overnight, of ancient guardians found withered to dust. They were hunting a ghost, while a god was devouring their world from the inside out.
My name became a curse whispered in the halls of power. They were no longer hunting a traitor. They were facing a natural disaster.
Our final target in the Mortal Realm was the most audacious of all.
[Objective: Consume the Imperial Dragon Veins beneath the Ravencrest Empire.]
The Dragon Veins were the source of the empire's prosperity, a confluence of ley lines that nourished the land and bolstered the luck of the royal bloodline. They were located in a secret chamber deep beneath the Imperial Palace itself. To strike there was to strike at the very heart of my old life, at the core of my enemies' power.
We arrived at the capital, a city still scarred by the political infighting. Getting inside was trivial. My face was unknown, my aura masked. I was just another nameless cultivator in a city full of them.
We infiltrated the palace, a place I could now navigate with my eyes closed. We reached the hidden entrance to the Dragon Veins chamber, a place only the Emperor was supposed to know.
The chamber was a vast cavern, the air humming with a palpable, golden energy. The ley lines converged here, forming a pulsating, golden orb of light that was the very soul of the empire.
"This will be the final feast," I murmured, my voice filled with anticipation. Consuming this would undoubtedly give me the final push I needed to Sunder the veil.
"It is beautiful," Lyra whispered, her eyes wide with awe.
"All things are beautiful," Seraphina giggled, "right before they break."
As I stepped forward, ready to begin the final act of my Great Devouring, a new presence entered the chamber.
"I knew you would come here eventually, Usurper."
I turned. Standing at the entrance, his face a mask of grim resolve, was my father, the Emperor. And beside him, her expression a cold, perfect mask of duty, was Seraphina's mother, the Duchess Vane, her hand resting on the hilt of a sword that radiated an ancient, chilling power. They had been waiting for us.
"So the old dragon still has some fire in him," I said, my tone mocking.
"This is as far as you go, monster," the Emperor snarled, his own power flaring. He was a master at the peak of the Soul Ascension realm, a formidable opponent.
But this was not the twist. The twist was the woman beside him. The Duchess Vane. Seraphina's mother.
I looked at my own Seraphina, who was staring at her mother with a strange, unreadable expression, a flicker of something ancient and resentful in her eyes.
And then I looked at the Duchess again, and my [Eye of Scrutiny], bolstered by my immense new power, saw something it had never been able to see before. It pierced through her mortal facade, through her cultivation, and saw the true nature of her soul.
And my blood ran cold.
[Name: Elara Vane]
[Cultivation: Heaven's Mandate Realm (Suppressed)]
[Hidden Status: Reincarnator. Soul Age: 34,271 years.]
[SYSTEM DETECTED. CLASS: 'SCRIBE OF CORRECTION'.]
Seraphina was not the only one. Her mother was also a reincarnator. Also a System user. And she had been hiding her true power all along.
But it was the final line of the analysis that shattered my understanding of the game completely, revealing the true, terrifying nature of Seraphina's "corruption."
[ANALYSIS: The 'Chaos Virus' that has infected User 'Seraphina Vane' is not a random glitch.]
[It is a 'Sovereignty Protocol' from User 'Elara Vane's' System.]
[Objective of Protocol: When the primary agent (Seraphina) is compromised or grows too independent, this virus activates to fracture her personality, making her unstable and forcing her to seek out her 'handler' for stability.]
[Conclusion: Seraphina is not The Architect's primary agent.]
[She is a pawn. Her mother, the Duchess, is the true, hidden agent of The Architect in this world.]