Lu Chen stepped toward the throne of nothingness. The grey static of the Silent Abyss began to crawl up his legs like frozen smoke.
"Xiao," he said, his voice already starting to sound distant, as if he were speaking from another room. "If I wake up and I don't know who you are... if I look at this sword and see only a tool... promise me you won't leave. Be my memory. Be the reason I finish the strike."
Yue Xiao's eyes overflowed with crystalline tears. She reached out to touch his face one last time, but her hand passed through his cheek as if he were becoming a ghost. "I promise, Chen. Even if you are a stranger to yourself, you will never be a stranger to me."
Lu Chen touched the tablet of the Tenth Law.
A blinding, soundless explosion of white light consumed his mind. In an instant, the thousands of years of the previous life—the battles, the betrayals, the image of Fang Yuan's obsidian throne—were erased. Then, his memories of this life began to dissolve. His training in the Pavilion, his first meeting with Yue Xiao, the forging of the blade... everything turned into a blank, white void.
When the light faded, Lu Chen stood in the center of the ruins. His eyes were no longer gold or filled with the fire of revenge. They were a terrifying, neutral grey. He held Aether-Zero, but the sword no longer hummed with sorrow; it was as silent as a grave.
He looked at Yue Xiao. There was no recognition in his gaze. No love. No warmth.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice devoid of emotion. "And why am I holding a weapon directed at the sky?"
Yue Xiao choked back a sob, standing tall despite her heart breaking. "You are the end of a nightmare, Lu Chen. And you are here to kill a God."