The Crimson Descent
The Abyss grew silent after the fall of the Chained King.
The ground still steamed with the blood of thousands.
Broken corpses shifted like carcasses in a restless sea.
Li Sheng, wounded and exhausted, limped through the mist.
His every breath was a dagger.
His wounds had not closed.
Even with Abyssal Blood Regeneration, the last battle had driven him to the edge — torn muscles, shattered ribs, fragments of bone grinding beneath his skin.
He was dying.
But ahead, through the mists of blood, he saw it —
a small figure kneeling in a circle of withered flowers, untouched by the corruption around.
A girl — no, not human.
Something ancient.
Her robes were the color of dried blood.
Long white hair cascaded to her knees.
Her skin was too pale, almost translucent.
But it was her eyes that caught him:
Two wells of black fire, smoldering without light.
She did not move as he approached.
Only her voice, brittle as dead leaves, broke the silence.
> "Another Sovereign corpse come to rot?"
Li Sheng coughed blood, forcing himself upright.
"I'm no corpse yet."
The girl smiled without warmth.
The Conversation
Li Sheng:
"Who... are you?"
The Girl:
"I was once called Yue Ling.
Before this world was swallowed by the Abyss."
Li Sheng narrowed his eyes. He sensed no killing intent — but deep, ancient power coiled beneath her flesh like sleeping vipers.
Yue Ling:
"I am the last Remnant of the Forgotten Court.
Bound by oath to serve whoever slays the Chained King."
She stood slowly, every motion unnatural, as if gravity barely touched her.
"You slew the King.
You wear the Abyssal Crown."
She knelt before him, voice hollow.
> "I am yours, Sovereign."
Li Sheng felt something stir in the air —
an ancient pact, forged before his time.
But trust was a currency the Abyss did not accept.
He said nothing for a long moment.
Li Sheng:
"Are you a curse?"
Yue Ling smiled thinly.
"Perhaps.
But a curse may yet slay greater curses."
She rose, unfastening a chain from her throat —
a black iron sigil, engraved with a screaming face.
> [New Companion Acquired: Yue Ling - Abyssal Remnant]
System Notification
> Yue Ling Status:
Level: ???
Class: Abyssal Remnant - Forbidden Court
Skills: Veil of the Forgotten | Bloodletting Curse | Shadow Entropy | Abyssal Summoning
Warning: Subject's true loyalty unknown. Potential threat level: Catastrophic.
---
Li Sheng ignored the system's warning.
For now, he needed her strength.
They traveled deeper.
Through forests made of bones.
Across rivers that flowed with molten despair.
Yue Ling spoke little.
When she did, her voice was as brittle as ever.
She told him of the Deep Sovereigns — entities so ancient and powerful even the Abyss itself bowed to them.
Li Sheng listened.
Learning.
Preparing.
But something darker stalked the horizon.
Something hungry.
The world shook.
A black sun rose over the shattered wastelands.
From its heart came a figure —
tall, wrapped in rags of bleeding cloth, its face hidden by a cracked iron mask.
Chains as thick as towers dragged behind it, each link screaming.
It was not alive.
It was not dead.
It was The Abyss Warden.
And it had come for them.
---
> [System Warning: Critical Threat Detected!]
[Enemy Class: Warden of Eternal Chains]
[Level: 120+]
[Special Ability: Unbreakable Chains, Soul Forger, Forbidden Seals]
---
The Battle Erupts
The Warden's first attack shattered the world around them.
Chains screamed from the void, lashing across reality —
tearing through mountains, dragging the air into blood vortexes.
Li Sheng moved, barely.
The Warden was faster than the Chained King.
Stronger.
Crueler.
His Shadow Sovereign Domain barely slowed it.
Every hit shattered bone, crushed muscle, rent flesh.
Li Sheng countered, cleaving through chains, turning them into ash with his halberd.
But for every chain he severed, three more erupted.
Endless.
The Warden's cleaver split the sky —
a blow that shattered kilometers of the abyss.
Li Sheng took the hit.
The world turned red.
Bones cracked.
Blood filled his lungs.
The system screamed warnings —
he was losing 70% HP every second.
Still he fought,
still he clawed forward,
driven by rage, by hatred, by sheer will.
A final strike sent Li Sheng spiraling into a crater hundreds of meters deep.
Everything broke.
His vision dimmed.
The Abyss laughed.
It wanted him to fail.
It wanted him to die.
But something moved.
Yue Ling.
She stepped between him and the Warden.
Her hands glowed black, inscribed with ancient runes.
"You are mine, Sovereign," she whispered.
"And no one steals from me."
Yue Ling fought like a star collapsing into darkness.Blood magic twisted reality around her corpses of the fallen rose, fusing into grotesque monsters at her command.She flung them at the Warden, buying seconds, buying space.But even she could not match it.Each chain shattered her constructs.Each blow tore pieces of her apart.
But she endured.She seized Li Sheng's mangled body and through magic that bled her dry, she teleported them into the shadows.
Li Sheng drifted between life and death.
In the dark, he heard Yue Ling's broken voice.
"Sleep, Sovereign.
Heal.
When you rise…
We will kill gods."