The chill of the black feather still lingered on Liu Shen's fingertips. As he turned it in his hand, dark flames flickered faintly along its edge—flames not born of the Abyss or any earthly source, but twisted remnants of celestial fire.
Yu Meixing stared at it. "That feather… it rejects the natural order. It shouldn't exist."
"It doesn't," Liu Shen murmured. "Not anymore."
The air around them quivered as phoenixes circled higher in the skies. Their flames flared uneasily—responding to the dark omen. Even the proud Huoyan Xue took a cautious step back.
"The Betrayer," she said solemnly, "he bears the mark of the First Flame corrupted. This presence… it echoes ancient heresy."
Liu Shen's eyes narrowed. "He was Ravahn the Crimson Talon—my third general. A phoenix who once chose to follow me when the heavens branded him an aberration. But when the final war began… he vanished."
Lei Qing clenched his fists. "And now he's back? Serving the heavens?"
"Or worse," Liu Shen said coldly. "He may have become something in between. A traitor to both sides."
At his words, the Third Abyssal Beacon pulsed once more—this time with a strained throb, as if something were pressing against it from the depths. A corrupted echo reverberated from below.
"He's waking up more than just memories," Meixing whispered. "He's disturbing the Abyss itself."
Before they could react, a searing roar split the heavens. One of the phoenix scouts—an adolescent of the Cindersong lineage—plummeted from the sky, his flames extinguished mid-flight. His body crashed into the mountainside, his eyes wide in shock.
Liu Shen vanished in a flash of crimson and caught the scout just before impact. The boy coughed blood, eyes darting toward the horizon. "Master… the northern sky…"
They looked up.
And saw it.
A line of crimson-black flame had split the clouds in two—a divine scar across the heavens. From its edge, molten wings spread, not of pure fire, but a blend of abyssal cold and sacred flame. A figure hovered at the scar's center, distant but terrifyingly familiar.
A phoenix with ten wings. Each one tarnished by chaos.
Ravahn had returned.
But he didn't descend.
He merely raised a hand.
And from behind him, an army of corrupted phoenixes emerged—those long thought lost in ancient wars, now twisted beyond recognition. Their once-majestic flames burned with despair and silence.
Yu Meixing stepped forward, fury rising in her gaze. "He's turned the sacred into sacrilege."
Huoyan Xue's expression was grim. "This is no longer rebellion. This is desecration."
Liu Shen held up the dark feather, now pulsing like a heart. "Then we'll show him something worse than betrayal."
He drove the feather into the ground.
A burst of black flame spiraled outward, igniting ancient phoenix runes buried beneath the mountain. One by one, relics began to awaken—spires, seals, and talismans forged in the last war.
The Ashen Oath.
A forgotten rite created by the phoenixes who chose to follow Liu Shen in his first life. With the feather as catalyst, it began to reactivate.
"I called you here to awaken your legacy," Liu Shen said, his voice carrying across the mountain. "But now I ask for something greater."
The phoenixes landed in ranks behind him.
"Will you fight not just as flames of pride—but as warriors of judgment?"
Huoyan Xue bowed deeply. "Then we rekindle the Ashen Oath."
One by one, the phoenix clans echoed her, renewing the ancient covenant.
Liu Shen turned toward the scarred sky.
"Ravahn… you fell once. Let me show you what rises after betrayal."