The moment they exited the chamber of Kael's broken oath, the very air changed.
It grew heavy—soaked with the weight of ancient commands, lost wars, and boundless fury.
The corridor behind them closed like a mouth sealing shut, and before them unfolded a vast stone bridge suspended over nothingness. No sky. No earth. Just a sea of flickering void beneath, shimmering like glass beneath dark water. Spectral banners floated above the bridge, their designs faded, but Liu Shen recognized each one.
His old war banners.
"Is this… part of the Abyss?" Lei Qing asked, voice uncertain.
"No," Liu Shen said. "This is a memory given form. A memory of command."
With each step onto the bridge, visions rose—flickering phantoms locked in eternal battle. Demonic generals, shadowy legions, divine armies descending in radiant fire. It was a mirage, yet so vividly carved into the stone that even the cold of the weapons and the roar of war rang in their ears.
Yu Meixing paused at the edge of the battlefield. "This was the day the Abyssal Army fell."
"No," Liu Shen said, narrowing his gaze. "This was the day I shattered the command that bound them."
In the center of the bridge stood a throne—torn in half, scorched by divine fire, its arms broken and its seat cracked. Upon it lay a tattered robe—the same he once wore as the Demon Sovereign.
And kneeling before it…
A figure cloaked in fragmented armor. His face masked, aura sealed, but Liu Shen felt it.
Another general.
"Who is he?" Lei Qing asked, wary.
Liu Shen approached, hand extended. "Arthis. The Silent Blade."
At the name, the figure stirred, ever so slightly.
"The one I ordered to vanish… to protect the last command."
Liu Shen knelt before him, pressing his hand against the figure's shoulder. Black mist swirled violently before being sucked into his palm—an oath fragment buried deep within the soul of the kneeling man.
In that instant, visions flooded his mind.
Arthis, fleeing through collapsing void realms with a single scroll held tight. Celestials hunting him across a hundred dimensions. The last command of the Demon Sovereign encoded into his bones, buried in silence for eternity.
The command that could awaken the Abyssal Army.
As the vision faded, Liu Shen looked into the masked eyes of his general and whispered, "I revoke the silence."
The mask cracked.
The seals shattered.
And Arthis rose.
A wave of dark command surged outward, shaking the bridge and sweeping across the void beneath. From the swirling shadows, monstrous shapes stirred—beasts, soldiers, weapons—long-lost remnants of the army once commanded by Liu Shen.
But they did not rise.
Not yet.
Meixing's eyes widened. "They're… waiting for the full order."
Liu Shen turned toward the shattered throne. The tattered robe drifted into the air and wrapped itself around his shoulders. A weight returned—not just power, but authority.
"The Abyss remembers," he said. "And now, the army begins to awaken."
Arthis knelt again, fist against his chest. "My lord. The last beacon lies in the Forsaken Vault, beyond the Severed Spiral."
Liu Shen nodded. "Then that is where we go. But the heavens will move against us soon."
He turned to Meixing and Lei Qing. "From this point forward, we do not move as rebels. We move as commanders. Every choice is war."
As the bridge crumbled behind them, the visions vanished—but the weight of what had returned did not.
The Sovereign was no longer reclaiming fragments.
He was preparing to march.