The gate of the divine bone groaned open.
Dark mist spilled forth like bleeding memory, crawling across the stone and through Liu Shen's robes. The pressure that escaped was not spiritual—it was loyalty unfulfilled, bound and broken, echoing across time.
Liu Shen stepped into the abyss.
Each footfall ignited runes beneath him—seals meant to bind what even the heavens feared.
The Prison of the Fallen Vow was not just a cage for traitors.
It was a tomb for those who refused to forget.
---
Dim lights floated within, illuminating statues lining the hall—each one carved in the likeness of a kneeling general. Their weapons laid beside them, hands pressed in oath.
But these were no mere statues.
Each one held a soul… frozen in divine stasis.
The First General's crest pulsed in Liu Shen's hand.
Kael had said: "Find the others."
And now, as Liu Shen approached the first statue, the crest trembled.
He placed it upon the heart of the first stone figure.
Crack.
A fissure spread. Then another. The stone shell shattered, revealing a figure kneeling in black armor, eyes closed—lips silently repeating the vow:
> "Until the last star fades… we follow the Sovereign."
He opened his eyes.
"Commander Lian," Liu Shen said. "You remember."
"I never forgot," the man replied, tears streaking down cheeks of war-hardened stone. "I died repeating your name."
---
One by one, Liu Shen moved through the prison.
With every crest fragment he retrieved, another general awakened.
The Silent Bladeswoman, whose soul had once cleaved through heavenly command.
The Twin Fang Brothers, cursed to forget each other, now reunited by Liu Shen's presence.
The Masked Strategist, who had sealed his mind away to preserve forbidden tactics.
Six generals awakened.
Three still missing.
But as the last cell opened, and Liu Shen placed the final crest fragment upon a shattered pedestal, a voice unlike the others echoed from the shadows.
"You should not have returned."
From the deepest chamber, a figure emerged—draped in chains of golden fate, eyes seared shut by heavenly fire.
"Yin Hua," Liu Shen said, tone unreadable. "Tenth General… Betrayer."
Yin Hua laughed bitterly. "I chose to surrender. I preserved what little remained of us."
"You bowed," Liu Shen replied.
"I survived."
A long silence passed.
Then Liu Shen turned, gaze sharp.
"Then kneel. Or be broken."
The air split.
Yin Hua lunged.
---
Their clash shook the very prison, sending cracks through divine bone and shattering celestial locks.
Blades met. Blood—black as the Abyss—flew.
In the end, Yin Hua lay at Liu Shen's feet, chains shattered, the divine fire in his eyes extinguished.
He coughed blood, then laughed again.
"You're still the same… Sovereign."
"I've only just begun to remember who I was."
Liu Shen turned to the nine generals now kneeling behind him.
"The Abyss has awakened."
He raised a hand.
"And the heavens will soon learn what they buried."
---
Far above, in the highest realm, an ancient watcher opened their eyes.
A message burned across the stars:
> The Fallen Army has risen.
And with it… the Sovereign's war would begin anew.