A thousand screams echoed across the obsidian stones of the imperial plaza.
Crimson banners fluttered like bleeding wounds beneath the twin moons, casting warped shadows over the silent, watching crowd. At the very center—bound in chains forged of celestial silver—stood a man, kneeling, bloodied but unbowed.
Raen Nightveil, last Prince of the Demon Realm. Crowned by lightning. Feared across ten thousand sects. And today, marked for execution.
The sky was heavy with divine power. Above him, the High Oracle's platform glowed with golden light. Priests in flowing white and gold chanted in Old Celestian, drawing runes in the air that seared the eyes of mortals.
But Raen's attention wasn't on the priests. Not on the celestial blade poised above his head.
It was on her.
The woman descending the marble stairs in a white robe of divine silk. Her hair silver as moonlight. Her expression unreadable.
Lyra Snowveil.
The Saintess of Heaven's Domain.
His beloved.
His betrayer.
His executioner.
Raen's lips curled. Not with rage. Not with hate.
With something worse.
Amusement.
"You look beautiful, Lyra," he murmured, voice cracked with blood. "A shame your heart is uglier than ever."
She paused before him. Her icy blue eyes met his violet ones.
"I warned you," she whispered, too low for the crowd to hear. "If you didn't yield... this is where it would end."
"You didn't warn me," Raen replied. "You lied. Over and over. You said you loved me."
"I did."
She raised her hand.
The heavens opened.
The celestial blade fell.
A flash of white.
A scream.
A blinding pain.
And darkness.
[SYSTEM REBOOTING...]
[Loading Host Memory... Complete.]
[Integrating Heaven-Sunder Protocol... Syncing: 45%... 87%... 100%.]
[Rebirth Complete.]
Raen gasped and sat up—choking on breath that shouldn't exist.
He was in a cold, stone chamber. Smaller than a jail cell. Moonlight leaked through a slit of a window above.
He looked at his hands.
Calloused. Weak. Human.
No demon power. No bloodline seal. No stormfire coursing through his veins.
But he remembered everything.
The betrayal.
The sword.
Her.
Then the voice returned.
[Welcome, Host.]
[Your revenge shall now begin.]
Raen's eyes narrowed as a flicker of violet light pulsed in his left eye.
And this time, he would smile first.