Southern Ashen Sea – Depths Below the Molten Core
There was no sun here.
No moon.
No stars.
Only the pulse of rage echoing through volcanic stone and rivers of lava.
Deep within the Chained Hollow, beneath a dormant volcano that had not erupted in centuries, a beast waited.
A thing so ancient and foul that the gods had not destroyed it—they had sealed it.
Because to destroy it would wake something worse.
Its name was not spoken.But among the old scripts, it was known as:
Zhar'gul, the World-Eater.
And now…It stirred.
The Desert Gate, Two Days Later
Yun Jian and his allies had left the tundra. The cold had been replaced with blistering heat, and the sky above them shimmered as if watching.
They had followed an ancient map encoded into the fourth fragment. It pulsed whenever they neared a leyline—a crack in the world's spiritual layer.
"Why would the next fragment be in a desert volcano?" Aran grumbled, wiping sweat from his brow.
Feng Yu was quiet. "Because something is trapped there. And it's probably guarding—or is—the next trial."
Yun Jian didn't respond. His mind was elsewhere.
The power inside him now—the combination of shadow and sunfire—was unstable.
He could feel it growing every day. But not in balance. More like two beasts chained together inside his chest.
And something else…
A third presence.
A whisper, ancient and venomous.
It had first come to him in a dream last night.
"You walk in our wake, little Sovereign…"
"I remember when you were dust."
"Come, and I shall give you your name…"
They reached the crater by dusk.
The volcano was massive—its mouth sealed by a black stone door twice the size of a castle gate. Ancient glyphs pulsed across its surface.
The moment Yun Jian stepped forward, the ground rumbled.
A voice erupted from the crater.
"I smell shadow… I smell fire…"
"I SMELL BLOOD."
The glyphs burst into flame.
The gate began to open.
And the heat that poured out was alive.
Inside the Chained Hollow
As the team descended, the walls turned from basalt to obsidian to something else… bone fused with ash.
Skulls the size of wagons.
Claws larger than spears.
"Whatever lived down here…" Mei Lin said softly, "...it wasn't mortal."
Yun Jian walked ahead, his footsteps echoing.
Then the chamber opened up—a vast, circular cavern, miles wide.
And in its center was Zhar'gul.
Even sealed in chains, the beast was terrifying.
Its body was serpentine, the color of scorched glass, covered in burning runes. It had three heads—each with a different expression: Wrath, Madness, and Hunger.
And on its massive chest, embedded in bone, was the fifth fragment—a black scale the size of a man.
Zhar'gul opened one eye.
"So you've come… little Sovereign…"
"Shall I swallow your world too?"
The Battle Begins – Chains of the First Flame
Without warning, the chains holding Zhar'gul snapped—not all, but enough.
One clawed hand broke free and slammed into the cavern wall, sending a shockwave of molten stone.
Ghostfang leapt to intercept, eyes glowing.
Yun Jian raised both hands.
"Fall back!" he shouted. "This isn't a beast—it's a god-eater!"
The shadow beneath him surged.
Zhar'gul unleashed a wave of burning miasma—black flame that devoured light itself.
But Yun Jian had faced worse.
"Shadow Technique: Ebon Maw."
A vortex of darkness erupted beneath Zhar'gul, pulling its claw into a shadow dimension. For a second, the beast roared.
But then it bit the spell.
And tore free.
"You will need more than tricks," it snarled.
Then it breathed in.
Not fire.
Not poison.
But gravity.
The world twisted. Rocks shattered. The entire cavern bent inward.
Mei Lin collapsed, blood dripping from her ears.
Even Yun Jian fell to one knee.
Aran's sword cracked from the pressure.
And just when it seemed they'd all be crushed—
Yun Jian roared.
"Fifth Gate: Sovereign's Binding!"
From his body erupted five rings of blazing sigils, wrapping around the air itself.
Gravity paused.
And the shadows surged.
He teleported—not behind the beast, but inside its shadow.
He reappeared directly beneath its heart.
And struck.
Dimensional Slash—Cross Fang.
A glowing black "X" tore across Zhar'gul's chest, right where the fifth fragment sat.
The beast screamed, flames pouring from its wounds.
Zhar'gul's Final Form
The wound pulsed.
And then, split.
The fifth fragment floated free—but the beast caught it in its jaws and swallowed it whole.
It laughed.
"You brought me my soul, Sovereign…"
"And now I am complete."
Zhar'gul began to shift.
The other heads awoke.
Its size tripled.
The walls cracked. The chains shattered.
The air melted.
The team was thrown back as a god awakened.
The Sovereign Ascends
Yun Jian coughed blood.
He couldn't beat this thing.
Not in this form.
Not as he was.
Not as a man.
But maybe…
Maybe as more.
He opened his palm—and let the fourth fragment ignite.
Sunfire and shadow danced.
The chaos inside him boiled over.
He let it consume him.
And from the darkness came a voice.
"You are no longer child nor vessel…"
"You are Sovereign."
"Ascend."
The blast blinded the team.
When they looked again—
Yun Jian floated above the battlefield.
His body was wrapped in a cloak of shadow-fire.
Two wings—one made of black feathers, the other of crimson light—spread behind him.
His eyes were galaxies.
His blade… had become a halberd made of starlight.
And his voice echoed like thunder:
"Zhar'gul. By the Sovereign's Right…"
"You will kneel."
The Final Strike
Zhar'gul lunged.
Yun Jian raised the halberd.
And for a moment…
The cavern paused.
Everything stopped.
Even sound.
And then—
SLAASHHHH.
One clean cut.
Zhar'gul's heads fell.
Its body crumbled.
The fifth fragment rolled to Yun Jian's feet.
He picked it up.
And the power within it—raw, ancient, infinite—did not resist.
It sank into him like a whisper into silence.
Aftermath
The team stumbled toward him.
Mei Lin fell to her knees.
"You… you became something else."
Feng Yu nodded. "We watched a man become legend."
Yun Jian said nothing.
He only stared at the fragment in his palm.
The shadows within him were calm now.
But something else stirred in the depths of his mind.
"Six remain…"
"And then the Eye opens."
Far East – Temple of the Ascended
A hooded figure stood before a mirror that reflected not a face, but realms.
He watched Yun Jian's battle.
And turned to the golden-robed elders behind him.
"Prepare the Seventh Choir."
"The Shadow Sovereign draws too close to the truth."