feeling both heavy and weightless at once. The courtyard swam in his vision as though the world had been dipped in molten gold and left to cool improperly. The sun hanging above the Luofu's artificial sky was far too bright, its light stabbing into his pupils with merciless precision. For a brief moment, he considered lying back down and letting the world tilt without him. Instead, he steadied his breathing and forced his spine straight, rolling his shoulders as if he had merely finished a strenuous workout rather than endured a Lord Ravager rummaging through his soul.
March was already in front of him, hands hovering uncertainly near his arms as if unsure whether to shake him or hug him. Her eyes were wide with lingering panic, pink irises darting across his face in search of fractures only she could see.
"Sunny, are you— are you okay? You were— you looked like you were—"
He reached out and patted her back twice, firm and reassuring. His palm lingered just long enough to anchor her.
He responded lightly, though his voice was a shade quieter than usual.
"I'm basically the same as always. A little fried. Medium rare. Nothing new."
She stared at him for another heartbeat, suspicion warring with relief, before exhaling in a long, shaky breath.
"You're impossible."
He gave her a faint smile, an unusual gesture, then turned his attention to the one person who had not moved an inch since Phantylia's manifestation.
Fu Xuan stood with her hands folded neatly before her, eyes closed as always, expression composed. If not for the faint tension in the line of her jaw, one might have thought she had simply been observing a minor bureaucratic inconvenience rather than a Supreme Titan attempting possession before her eyes.
Sunny tilted his head, studying her.
"You already saw this outcome earlier, didn't you?"
Fu Xuan inclined her head slightly.
"I saw fragments. Possibilities. The trajectory in which Phantylia would attempt to infiltrate your body was among them. However, the mind attack she directed at me earlier disrupted my divinations and prevented that branch from progressing in the manner I had calculated."
Her tone remained calm, but there was a thread of apology woven through it.
"I was not aware that she resided within Tingyun. Only that her presence lingered on the Luofu and that you would become a target."
She paused, then lifted her chin a fraction, as if examining him without opening her eyes. The faintest grimace crossed her features before she composed herself again.
Sunny shrugged.
"It's fine. If you want to apologize, though, you can let me keep Tingyun's corpse."
March blinked.
"Already back to being a loan shark… wait, what? Miss Tingyun's…?"
Her voice trailed off as she sent him a dubious look.
Fu Xuan frowned, fingers tightening imperceptibly.
"While it is technically within my authority to decide the disposition of her remains — especially given that she has no living family — I cannot, in good conscience, leave the body of one of my people in your hands without understanding your intentions."
Her face turned slightly toward him in expectation.
Sunny scratched the back of his head, genuinely contemplative.
"I'm not too sure yet."
"…Repeat that."
Sunny clarified, unbothered. This was something he refused to back down on.
"I have no idea what I could do with it. But my intuition is telling me to make that decision."
Silence lingered in the courtyard. March opened her mouth to object, then hesitated, recalling the way Sunny's so-called intuition had saved them more than once. Fu Xuan remained motionless for several seconds, as though peering deeper into a tapestry only she could perceive. Finally, she exhaled softly.
"Very well."
Sunny blinked.
"That worked?"
Fu Xuan did not dignify the comment.
"Your intuition, however erratic, has repeatedly aligned with success. I will extend trust once."
'…Was our sample size really that large?'
"Thanks."
He did not waste time. Summoning the Covetous Coffer from his Soul Sea, he allowed the ornate chest to manifest beside him with a subtle shimmer. Kneeling carefully, he lifted Tingyun's body with surprising gentleness. Whatever else he was, he did not treat the dead carelessly.
Much less a fellow unwilling slave.
He laid her within the Coffer's expansive interior, where space bent unnaturally upon itself. The moment her form settled inside, time seemed to fracture around her. Decay halted. The faintest hint of warmth lingered, preserved like a photograph sealed against entropy.
With a quiet thought, he dismissed the Coffer back into his Soul Sea.
Fu Xuan inclined her head once more.
"We must proceed to Scalegorge Waterscape. Jing Yuan awaits us there, along with one other."
March perked up immediately.
"We should bring Welt along too. I know he acts like a lazy old geezer half the time, but if things go wrong, he'll be really helpful."
Fu Xuan's expression shifted almost imperceptibly. Though her eyes remained closed, her brow creased in faint confusion.
"The man is a void in the tapestry of Fate."
March grinned.
"See? That's basically a compliment."
Fu Xuan replied dryly.
"It is not. It is an anomaly. And anomalies complicate calculations. But fine. The more the merrier."
Sunny, however, frowned.
"I don't know if you know this, but that bitch — I mean, Phantylia — is a Supreme Titan. And she's an Emanator. On top of that, I'm somewhat aware she's planning to incarnate into something worse."
Fu Xuan did not dismiss the concern.
"Your assessment is logical. If we equate ranks using Nightmare Creatures as a metric, the average Saint is roughly comparable to a Corrupted Devil. A Corrupted Titan demands multiple Saints acting in coordination. A being within the Great Rank — equivalent to Supreme — renders such confrontations suicidal unless one is exceptional even among Saints."
Sunny crossed his arms.
"So we're walking into suicide."
"Not precisely."
She hesitated, then seemed to arrive at a decision.
"Sunless, have you ever heard of Sovereigns?"
His eyes widened slightly.
"A little. Not much. I was hoping someone would eventually give me a real explanation."
He paused, then added casually:
"Also, you can just call me Sunny. Practically everybody does."
"I am not everybody. And I will not."
March snorted as Sunny's brow twitched.
Fu Xuan continued without acknowledging it.
"Sovereigns are beings who have gone beyond the Transcendent Rank. Supreme humans. The populace believes no one has passed the Fourth Nightmare. That belief is… convenient."
Sunny's mind raced, listening deeply as she unraveled the world right before his eyes.
"In reality, there are at minimum several hundred Sovereigns scattered across the universe. That is only the number commonly known to the average Saint. Many more exist in secrecy. Numerous political figures, corporate magnates, and shadowed authorities are Sovereigns in disguise."
Sunny felt a flicker of vindication. His theory after meeting Constance had not been paranoia. It had been correct.
"Then why hide it? If they're that powerful, why pretend they don't exist?"
Fu Xuan answered smoothly.
"Because the nature of Supremacy is dominion. Sovereigns possess not only a Supreme Ability — said to embody aspects of all prior Abilities, and don't ask me what that means — but also a Domain. The Domain is the true symbol of their power."
She folded her hands behind her back as they began walking.
"Sovereigns are not dramatically stronger than Saints in raw physicality. Perhaps ten times, at most. What distinguishes them is their Domain. It represents what they hold authority over. Domains are quantifiable. The larger the Domain, the stronger the Sovereign."
Sunny listened intently.
"Many Sovereigns expand their Domains through humans, fulfilling conditions to strengthen their metaphorical — and sometimes literal — kingdoms. Others hold dominion over concepts, environments, or systems. A rare few possess Aspects that preclude Domains entirely. The permutations are endless."
She continued, voice measured.
"Due to the variability of a Domain's strength, some Sovereigns stagnate, barely capable of contesting Great Ones. Others wield Domains vast enough to contend with Great Titans. Conflict between Sovereigns is inevitable. Domains compete. Resources are finite. Wars occur under mundane pretenses, but their true cause is growth."
Sunny remembered Sparkle mentioning Domains offhandedly, her tone playful but eyes knowing. That troublesome woman really did know everything.
His heart thudded once.
"The Xianzhou has a Sovereign?"
Fu Xuan smiled faintly.
"The Marshal who oversees the seven Arbiter-Generals is indeed a Sovereign."
Hope flared instantly.
"So they'll come, right?"
"No."
The word landed with quiet finality, his face drooping in endless disappointment. She explained:
"This is a Luofu emergency. Not one implicating the entirety of the Alliance. If Zephyro or Asat had appeared, the response would differ. Phantylia, however, prefers infiltration. She stirs Destruction from within."
Sunny deflated slightly. Fu Xuan continued:
"She is a Supreme Titan, but she is a Heliobus, not a human. She does not possess a Domain. She relies entirely on existing Abilities. Without the Nightmare Spell, she cannot accumulate Memories or Echoes."
Sunny rubbed his temples.
"Still sounds bad."
"It is."
He glanced sideways at her.
"Does the Luofu have some kind of superweapon or something?"
Fu Xuan's composure cracked just enough to widen her eyes.
"How did you know?"
His jaw dropped.
"That was a joke!"
She shook her head faintly.
"Follow me."
As they made their way toward the Divination Commission, past the recuperating Cloud Knights, Sunny fell into thoughtful silence. His earlier terror had faded, replaced by a cold, familiar hunger.
His desire for power remained unchanged. He wanted to stand at the pinnacle so that nothing could hurt him again. He wanted to exist beyond the reach of Fate's invisible fingers. He wanted absolute autonomy over every choice, every consequence.
And yet, beneath that ambition, something new had taken root.
He wanted to see his sunset.
The thought surfaced unbidden. The golden ocean. The quiet horizon. The warmth that had not burned him.
He wanted to protect it.
He wanted to be powerful enough that, when faced with its light, he could choose — without fear — whether to step into it or turn away. He wanted the option. The freedom.
Sunny grimaced slightly.
"Getting poetic now…"
March glanced at him.
"What?"
"Nothing that makes any sense. By the way, were you even listening back there? I don't want to repeat everything to you later."
"Hey! Of course I was."
As they walked deeper into the Luofu's winding pathways, toward a weapon capable of challenging a Supreme Titan, the image of a sunset lingered stubbornly in the back of his mind — steady, patient, waiting.