The world was gone.
The throne hall, the black lotus, even the sound of existence—gone.
All that remained was a blinding storm of light and darkness, spiraling endlessly.
Wang Lin's body floated in the center of it, torn between creation and destruction. His bones were dissolving into pure energy, his soul fracturing into thousands of reflections—each showing a moment from his journey: his mother's smile, the first beast he defeated, the faces of those he vowed to protect.
They all flickered, then vanished.
> "Who… am I?"
The words echoed through eternity.
From deep within that chaos, a faint heartbeat sounded. Not from his chest—but from everywhere.
Thump.
Each beat rippled through the void, pulling light and shadow toward him.
Then came a voice—ancient, calm, and filled with both pride and sorrow.
> "You have devoured the end itself… now create your beginning."
The storm folded inward. The power he had stolen—the essence of Mo Xie's flames, the cries of souls, the weight of the heavens—all compressed into a single point within his core. His dantian burst open, revealing a new realm of stars.
And there, floating in the center, was a white lotus—the mirror of Mo Xie's black one.
It pulsed gently, radiating calm divinity instead of devouring malice.
Wang Lin's consciousness began to reform. His eyes opened slowly, revealing irises of swirling silver and gold.
The Abduction Path symbol on his chest had changed—half black, half white, encircled by runes that resembled both chains and wings.
He had transcended.
> "Fifth Revelation complete…" he whispered. "No… this isn't Abduction anymore. This is—Devourer's Rebirth."
A distant roar broke the silence.
Through the shattered void, Mo Xie's voice thundered, filled with disbelief and fury.
> "You stole my Origin Flame?! You dare—steal from the creator himself!?"
Wang Lin stood slowly, his robes shredded, his aura vast yet silent. He raised a single finger.
> "I told you before," he said softly. "I am Heaven's Thief. Even the gods will have nothing left when I'm done."
Mo Xie emerged from the collapsing void, half his body dissolved into golden cracks, eyes blazing. "Then let's see if you can steal the end of eternity!"
He lunged, and the two collided once more—
—but this time, the clash didn't destroy reality. It rewrote it.
Stars reformed around them, but not the old ones. These were new heavens, forged from the balance of destruction and mercy, creation and chaos. The Abduction Path was no longer a curse—it had become a cycle of stealing to restore.
Mo Xie's form flickered violently. His power was unraveling, his essence being refined by the same technique he created to rule all.
> "You're no longer my fragment…" Mo Xie whispered as his body disintegrated into starlight. "You're the first being beyond the heavens."
He smiled faintly—almost proudly—before fading completely.
Wang Lin closed his eyes. His body fell slowly through the new sky, his aura dimming. The world around him was reborn, reshaped by his struggle. Rivers of qi flowed freely, untainted, carrying whispers of peace.
> "So this… is what it means to steal from heaven," he murmured.
As he drifted downward, a white lotus bloomed beneath him, catching his body gently.
The era of Heaven's Thief had ended.
And the era of the Devourer Sovereign had just begun.
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