The silence that followed Kael's oath was not peace—it was anticipation.
As Liu Shen and Kael stood atop the floating island of memories, the Abyss stirred. Across its depths, ancient fragments shifted, echoes long buried rising like ghosts from a sealed tomb. The pact had been restored—and the Abyss remembered.
A distant pulse surged beneath their feet. Not of power—but of recognition.
Kael looked toward the east, where the void shimmered like cracked glass. "The Beacons stir. You've awakened the Second."
Liu Shen nodded. "And soon, the Third shall rise."
"Then… the Abyss will no longer sleep," Kael said gravely. "Are you ready, Sovereign? Once they all awaken, the path cannot be turned."
"I never planned to turn," Liu Shen replied.
The moment was broken as dark lightning split the skyless realm, and in its wake came a voice—twisted, distorted, yet unmistakably alive.
"Sovereign... your return is unwelcome."
The void ahead rippled, and a figure emerged—a being of pure obsidian flame, without face or form, but shaped like a towering giant. Chains wrapped around its arms, trailing into the abyss below.
Kael tensed. "That's no guardian. That's a seal warden."
Liu Shen narrowed his gaze. "So they left a piece of the Heavens here to contain what remains of me."
The Warden of Chains lifted its arms, and with a guttural roar, struck the island with its chained fists. The stone cracked beneath Liu Shen and Kael as shockwaves rippled out, splintering the realm's floating islets.
Kael stepped forward, swords drawn. "Allow me."
"No," Liu Shen said, stepping past him. "This is mine."
The Sovereign raised his hand. The air rippled as demonic runes spun into place, forming a sigil of binding and flame—a forgotten technique sealed after the First Rebellion.
The Warden roared again and lunged, its chains lashing forward like serpents.
Liu Shen didn't dodge.
He caught the chains.
The impact would've shattered any mortal, but Liu Shen stood unmoved. Flames erupted from his body—black and violet—consuming the chains as he inverted the binding.
"You chained my legacy. Now wear your own."
The sigil exploded outward, wrapping around the Warden's body. The being writhed, struggling, but the Abyss responded to Liu Shen's will.
The chains reformed—not as bindings, but as a crown, forced onto the creature's head.
With a final cry, the Warden fell to its knees and disintegrated, reduced to a flicker of corrupted light.
In its place floated a single fragment of crystal—pulsing with divine essence.
Kael walked to it and stared. "You just bound the heavens' seal into an oathstone."
Liu Shen took it and embedded it into his palm. "Let them feel what was taken from them."
The Abyss trembled again, deeper this time.
And from below, a thousand lights flickered—some cold, some bright, some burning with memories of battles long past.
Kael watched in awe. "They're waking."
"Not all," Liu Shen said. "But enough."
He turned toward the abyssal winds and spoke—not to Kael, but to the realm itself.
"Rise, those forgotten. I am not dead. I did not surrender. And I will not stop until every chain forged by the heavens is broken."
Behind him, the Abyss answered—not with words, but with flame.
The Sovereign had reclaimed more than a general.
He had reclaimed the will of the Abyss itself.