Chapter 5 — The Night of Truth
Mercury Haven's night never truly got dark—
soft blue skylights shimmered across the artificial atmosphere, reflecting off the floating ocean domes and neon walkways.
Inside one of the island's premium restaurants, the group occupied a long obsidian-glass table. Floating lanterns drifted above them, and a holographic aquarium rippled across the walls.
A robot waiter slid by, placing glowing drinks and sizzling dishes with mechanical precision.
Vaibhav and Alicia were still red from the movie earlier.
Daichi was eating three plates at once.
Theo's seat, however…
was empty.
Until—
FWOOOOOM—THUD!
Something crashed against the restaurant window from the outside.
Everyone turned.
A burnt, smoking figure slid down the glass dramatically before falling through the automatic door and collapsing face-first on the marble floor.
Theo.
Clothes scorched. Hair frazzled. Smoke drifting from his eyebrows.
He crawled to the table like a dying soldier reaching for water.
"B… Big Brother…" he croaked, lifting a trembling hand.
Lin Xuan didn't even blink.
"…Now what happened?" he asked flatly. "What did you do?"
Theo pointed a shaking finger at Daichi—
who was still chewing loudly, completely unbothered.
"That… that MONSTER threw me…"
Theo's lower lip trembled,
"…into SPACE…"
Vaibhav blinked.
Alicia blinked.
Theo cried out,
"NEAR THE SUUUUN!!"
Vaibhav and Alicia shouted at the same time:
"NEAR THE SUN!?"
Daichi swallowed his food and shrugged.
"He was screaming too much. I fixed it."
Theo sobbed harder.
Lin Xuan pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Stop crying. You look pathetic."
He gestured lazily.
"Heal yourself."
Theo puffed his cheeks and pouted, but obeyed.
A soft silver glow wrapped around him.
His burns vanished.
Clothes repaired.
Hair re-styled.
He sat down next to Daichi, still glaring at him.
"Next time I'm throwing you," Theo muttered.
Daichi offered him a snack.
Theo smacked it away.
"DON'T FEED ME RIGHT NOW!"
The robot waiter glided in again, placing steaming plates across the table—
silver noodles glowing with energy threads, flame-roasted beast meat, gravity-flipped soups, and starfruit desserts.
Everything smelled divine.
But before anyone could start eating—
Lin Xuan placed his chopsticks down.
The shift in atmosphere was instant.
A ripple of silence moved across the table.
Vaibhav straightened instinctively.
Alicia's fingers tightened around her cup.
Yan'er, Anika, Arjun, Theo, Daichi, Vivan, Prabhat—
All remained calm.
Because they already knew.
Lin Xuan's voice cut through the room, low and steady.
"Alicia. Vaibhav."
He looked directly at them.
"I have to tell you the truth."
Vaibhav's heart kicked against his ribs.
"The… the truth…?"
Alicia's breath trembled.
Lin Xuan's gaze softened—not with emotion, but with clarity.
"Alicia," he said,
"you are not human."
The words hit the table harder than any explosion.
Alicia froze.
Vaibhav's eyes widened, shock flooding him.
"S–she's? Not… human?"
Alicia whispered, almost inaudible,
"Big Brother… w-what does that mean…?"
Lin Xuan continued calmly.
"You are a beast.
A special one."
Alicia's chest tightened.
Her hands trembled.
He didn't stop.
"And not only you.
Anika, Arjun, Theo, Daichi, Vivan—
they are all beasts too."
Vaibhav's jaw dropped.
He looked around at his family—
none surprised.
Anika smiled apologetically.
Theo waved.
Daichi continued chewing.
Vivan gave a small nod.
Arjun raised his glass.
Lin Xuan continued.
"You share special bloodlines.
Unique abilities.
But you are not blood-related. But, I cannot reveal everything yet.
Alicia swallowed, heart pounding.
Vaibhav whispered,
"So… what about us? What do we do now?"
Lin Xuan folded his arms.
"In time, I will give you both a cultivation art—
one that suits anyone."
Alicia's eyes glistened slightly.
"...But beasts can't leave their realm, right? Isn't that the rule?"
Lin Xuan leaned back.
"That is true…"
He paused.
"for beasts of the Nexus."
Alicia blinked.
Lin Xuan finished simply:
"You do not belong to Nexus.
You belong to something else.
I will explain it when you're strong enough."
A soft tension filled the room.
Alicia looked dizzy.
Vaibhav clenched his fists, trying to process everything.
Then—
Lin Xuan raised two fingers.
"Stand."
Everyone stood immediately.
Vaibhav and Alicia moved on instinct.
The restaurant lights flickered.
The air warped.
Space bent.
Light folded inward.
Stars dimmed for a moment — as if afraid.
Lin Xuan had teleported everyone far from Mercury Haven, into a quiet region of open space where cosmic dust drifted like silver fog and nebula currents shimmered in the distance.
Alicia grabbed Vaibhav's sleeve, eyes wide.
Vaibhav felt his heartbeat hammering against his ribs.
"What… what is this place?" Alicia whispered.
Lin Xuan floated slightly above the invisible platform beneath them — hands behind his back, aura quiet but absolute.
"This is far enough," he said.
Everyone else stood calmly.
Only Vaibhav and Alicia struggled to breathe in the overwhelming silence of the cosmos.
Lin Xuan's voice cut through the vast emptiness.
"Anika. Arjun. Theo. Daichi. Vivan."
He raised a hand slightly.
"Show them."
The shift was instant.
Anika — Nether Flame Phoenix
The temperature dropped
then rose violently.
Black feathers burst from Anika's back — each one igniting with raven-coloured netherflame, dark fire that burned hotter than stars but glowed colder than death.
FWOOOM—
Her body elongated, wings unfurling with shimmering black-plume halos.
Around her, the void rippled as if terrified of touching her flames.
Alicia gasped softly.
"A phoenix…!"
Not just a phoenix.
A Nether Flame Phoenix — a divine beast of rebirth and soul-consuming fire.
Her flames curled like living shadows, devouring light itself.
Vaibhav muttered:
"She's… beautiful… but scary…"
Arjun — Eclipse Sky Dragon
Space cracked like glass.
Red-black lightning spiraled around Arjun, arcs slashing across the vacuum in jagged waves.
His human form stretched, bones lengthening, scales forming across his skin like glowing onyx.
BA-DOOM—!
A colossal dragon emerged, horns curving backward, eyes flashing with celestial stormlight.
His wings unfurled, leaving trails of lightning that cut through starlight itself.
Alicia stepped back involuntarily.
"A-A dragon…! A real one—!"
Vaibhav nodded weakly. "Yep. We're dead."
The Eclipse Sky Dragon roared softly, but even that gentle rumble warped the space around them.
Theo — Starvoid Kirin
A soft chime echoed.
Then—
Space inverted around Theo.
Stars bent toward him like gravity was rearranging itself.
Theo stepped forward, hooves touching the void as if walking across a cosmic lake.
His body shimmered — astral markings forming across sleek, celestial fur.
A majestic Starvoid Kirin emerged, surrounded by drifting fragments of broken constellations.
His eyes…
Starlit voids.
Depthless.
Ancient.
Alicia whispered,
"He… he's glowing like a galaxy…"
Vaibhav corrected,
"He is a galaxy."
Theo's mane flowed like nebulous mist, each strand rewriting gravity as it moved.
Reality bent around him.
Daichi — Abyssal Titan Ape
Everything fell silent.
Then gravity increased.
Hard.
The cosmic dust compressed under an invisible pressure as Daichi's muscles expanded, doubling, tripling, veins glowing molten red like magma under dark skin.
BOOOM—!
A titanic ape rose — massive, hulking, radiating planet-crushing gravity, his fists trailing dark gravitational wells.
Alicia nearly fell back.
Vaibhav clung to her shoulder.
"That's not Daichi.
That's a final boss."
Daichi beat his chest once — the shockwave shattered a small asteroid in the distance.
Vivan — Oblivion Fang Chimera
Vivan stepped forward.
Calmly.
Quietly.
And reality hesitated.
His form shifted — subtly at first, then violently.
Dark mist wrapped around him, tendrils spiraling upward.
His eyes turned black sclera with white pupils, identical to Lin Xuan's.
His hair bled into shades of red and black.
When the mist cleared, Vivan stood there—
No wings.
No scales.
No flames.
Just a calm, terrifyingly familiar figure—
A second Lin Xuan.
Alicia felt her heart stop.
"W–What…? He looks even more like—!"
Vaibhav completed:
"—Master…"
Theo, in kirin form, flicked his tail once, amused.
Lin Xuan didn't react.
The Oblivion Fang Chimera didn't need dramatic effects.
Its existence alone was unnatural.
A beast who devoured traits, copied powers—
A living extinction event.
A beast designed to survive anything.
Alicia covered her mouth, trembling.
"They're… all… beasts…"
Vaibhav's legs wobbled.
"How… how are they standing so calmly?
How is Master not worried one of them will sneeze and destroy the solar system?!"
Arjun's dragon form rumbled in amusement.
Theo's kirin eyes glowed.
Daichi waved a massive hand.
Anika preened her flame-feathers proudly.
Vivan continued standing like a silent shadow.
And through all of it—
Lin Xuan was unmoved.
As if he'd seen — and killed — far greater creatures than these.
The cosmic silence stretched for a moment.
Then Lin Xuan spoke calmly.
"That's enough. Return."
One by one, the transformations reversed—
Anika's raven-black phoenix flames folded inward, feathers dissolving into gentle wisps until she stood there again, brushing her long hair back.
Arjun's colossal dragon form shrank with crackling lightning spirals, returning him to his usual stoic posture.
Theo's cosmic kirin body folded through several mirrored dimensions before snapping back into his refined human form.
Daichi's titanic frame compressed with rumbling force, leaving behind the same food-obsessed giant — still cracking his knuckles like nothing happened.
Vivan was the last.
Dark mist curled around him, shrinking and tightening until he returned to his calm, soft-spoken human shape.
Alicia's eyes never moved from him.
"Big Brother Vivan…" she hesitated, voice small, "…why don't you stay in that form more often? You already look like Brother Lin even without transforming… but when you do, you look almost exactly like him."
Vivan lowered his gaze, expression gentle but firm.
"It would be disrespectful to Big Brother," he said softly.
"How could I imitate him so openly? I cannot look exactly like him. That would be… unacceptable."
Lin Xuan turned his head slightly, voice flat but not unkind.
"Vivan. I never had any problem with that," he said.
"Don't think like that."
Vivan bowed his head immediately.
"…Understood, Big Brother. But still — it's my principle."
Lin Xuan didn't push further.
He simply raised a hand.
Space folded.
Light twisted.
And—
FWIP—
They were all back in the restaurant.
Same chairs.
Same table.
Same plates.
As if nothing had happened.
Alicia still looked dazed.
Vaibhav clutched the table, white-knuckled.
Lin Xuan turned to him, eyes calm and unreadable.
"Now you, Vaibhav."