Heaven trembled in silence.
The battlefield below was quiet now — not the quiet of victory, but the quiet of realization. Celestial soldiers knelt among falling snow, their faith fractured, their divine cores unstable. The laws they had trusted no longer felt absolute.
Feixue stood at the center of it all, her Origin Domain slowly receding, not collapsing, but folding inward, as if the world itself was memorizing her presence.
She lifted her gaze upward.
Not toward Heaven's armies.
Not toward the Celestial Palace.
But beyond.
---
Seraphis sensed it immediately.
Her wings shivered as her instincts screamed. "Feixue… that direction—"
> "Is where Heaven stops," Feixue said calmly.
She raised her hand. The sky peeled apart like thin silk, revealing something no immortal should ever witness.
There was no light.
No darkness.
Only a colorless boundary, trembling like a breath held since the dawn of time.
The Veil of Heaven.
Every Immortal Emperor since the First had sworn it did not exist.
Every Heavenly Law was built to ensure no one ever reached it.
---
Seraphis's knees weakened. "That's… the edge of reality."
Feixue nodded.
> "No. It's the edge of Heaven's memory."
She stepped forward.
The world screamed.
---
The moment Feixue crossed the Veil, the Immortal Realm lost its sky.
Clouds vanished. Stars dimmed. The laws governing qi faltered as if suddenly uncertain what to do next.
Across the Celestial Palace, alarms rang — ancient bells that had never been struck before.
The Immortal Emperor stood abruptly, blood staining his sleeve once more.
> "She's crossing it…" he whispered.
"The Primordial Threshold."
A minister shouted in panic. "My Emperor! That realm predates Heaven itself! Even you—"
> "Silence."
But fear had already taken root.
---
Beyond the Veil, Feixue and Seraphis stepped into stillness.
There was no ground, yet they stood.
No sky, yet depth stretched infinitely.
Before them floated a vast structure — not built, not created, but acknowledged by existence itself.
A throne.
Colorless. Formless. Endless.
The True Throne.
Seraphis gasped, clutching her chest. Her divine core reacted violently, shedding layers of golden law like brittle shells.
> "This throne… it's not Heaven's."
Feixue's voice was soft.
> "No. Heaven merely copied its shape."
As they approached, ancient symbols ignited around them — not threatening, not hostile, but questioning.
> WHO REMEMBERS?
WHO FORGOT?
WHO SEEKS DOMINION?
Feixue answered without speaking.
She simply existed.
The symbols dimmed.
---
Then—
The throne responded.
A ripple passed through the Primordial Threshold, and memories flooded Seraphis's mind — visions she had never lived, yet somehow remembered.
She saw Feixue standing beside another figure — Solure, the First Flame — shaping existence together.
She saw Heaven's birth not as rebellion… but as fear.
Fear of freedom.
Fear of stillness.
Fear of Origin.
Seraphis fell to her knees, shaking.
> "Then Heaven was never meant to rule…"
"It was meant to preserve."
Feixue turned to her.
> "And when preservation turned into control, Heaven forgot why it existed."
---
The throne pulsed.
A voice emerged — not loud, not commanding, but impossibly ancient.
> "ORIGIN RETURNS."
"BALANCE REMAINS BROKEN."
Seraphis looked up in shock. "It recognizes you… but it's not obeying."
Feixue's eyes narrowed slightly.
> "Because I am not meant to sit upon it."
The Primordial Threshold trembled.
> "THEN WHO SHALL?"
Feixue looked at Seraphis.
And smiled.
---
Seraphis froze. "Me…?"
Feixue nodded.
> "You were born from Heaven's thought — but shaped by Origin's echo. You stand between obedience and remembrance."
Seraphis's heart pounded. "I'm not worthy—"
> "Worth was a lie Heaven invented," Feixue said gently.
"Balance chooses, not authority."
The throne radiated softly.
Seraphis felt something unlock within her — not power, but clarity.
Yet before she could answer—
Reality tore open.
---
A blade of absolute light cut through the Primordial Threshold.
The Immortal Emperor stepped through.
Not as a ruler.
Not as a god.
But as something older.
His golden robes were gone, replaced by armor etched with forbidden runes. His eyes burned not with authority, but obsession.
> "So this is where you've been hiding," he said coldly.
"The forgotten cradle of existence."
He looked at the throne.
Then at Seraphis.
His smile was thin.
> "And here I thought Heaven was the final prize."
Feixue stepped forward instantly, frost blooming.
> "You were never meant to come here."
The Emperor laughed softly.
> "I was never meant to rule either. Yet here we are."
The Primordial Threshold shook violently.
The throne dimmed.
And the voice spoke again — slower now.
> "CLAIMANTS DETECTED."
> "TRIAL OF ORIGIN INITIATED."
The space fractured into countless paths.
Time shattered.
The war had escalated beyond Heaven.
---
Feixue's expression hardened — the calm finally edged with danger.
> "This trial will decide more than a throne," she whispered.
"It will decide whether existence remembers freedom… or repeats its first mistake."
Seraphis rose slowly, frostfire wings spreading wide.
> "Then I choose remembrance."
The Immortal Emperor raised his blade.
> "Then I choose dominion."
The throne pulsed.
The trial began.