The wind carried the stench of rot and burned stone.
Soul Ming walked through the ruins, each step stirring ash that once belonged to a city blessed by the gods. Broken towers leaned against each other like dying giants. Statues of radiant deities—symbols once worshipped by millions—were now cracked and headless. The silence wasn't peace. It was the kind that came after screams.
Above him, the crimson sky pulsed faintly, like an open wound in heaven.
> [System Integration: Stable.]
[Host Vitality: Restored.]
[Soul Adaptation: 42%.]
The voice in his head was cold and precise. It didn't sound divine; it sounded ancient.
Soul Ming's fingers brushed against a piece of marble that bore the sigil of a sun wrapped in chains. "The Seal of Radiance," he muttered. He remembered it clearly. The symbol of the Celestial Order, the gods' faction that had ruled humanity for centuries through the System Hierarchies — invisible laws that dictated who lived, who rose, and who fell.
Humans prayed for blessings, but every "blessing" came with chains.
And he had been one of their pawns.
He stopped beside the blackened remains of a cathedral. The once-golden glass windows were now melted and fused to the walls. In the center of the rubble lay a body encased in white armor, corroded and splattered with blood that no longer smelled human.
A knight.
The emblem carved into his chestplate was familiar — The Hand of Lumis, a divine enforcer's order. They were the gods' hunters. The same type that had slaughtered his family.
Soul Ming crouched beside the corpse, staring at the armor that still faintly glowed with holy runes. The air around it vibrated like the body itself resisted death.
Then—
> [Warning: Residual Divine Energy detected.]
[Classification: Corrupted Holy Entity.]
[Threat Level: C-Class.]
The knight's arm twitched. Metal scraped stone.
The corpse began to move.
It rose in slow, grinding motions, joints creaking as light spilled from the cracks in its armor. The voice that followed was warped, both human and divine.
"...Unworthy… creature of sin…"
Soul Ming stood still. His expression didn't change.
The knight lifted its sword—rusted, but still glowing faintly gold—and pointed it at him. "By decree of the Radiant Order, thou shalt not tread upon sacred ground."
He looked around the ruins. "Sacred?" he said softly. "All I see are graves."
The knight charged.
The ground cracked beneath its steps.
Soul Ming sidestepped the swing and caught the sword's edge with his bare hand. The blade screeched against his skin, sparks flying—yet there was no blood. He twisted his wrist, forcing the knight off balance, and drove his knee into its chestplate. The armor buckled with a metallic scream.
> [System Sync: 73%]
[Activating Skill Core – Soul Resonance Initiation.]
Black veins of energy snaked up his arm, pulsing with a rhythm that didn't belong to any human. His eyes turned darker, the whites swallowed by shadows.
The knight raised its sword again, muttering something in divine tongue. A blinding flash erupted from the blade, light slashing through the street like fire. Soul Ming vanished from sight—appearing behind the knight in a flicker. His hand pierced through its armor and crushed what was left of the corrupted heart.
The body fell forward with a hollow clang.
Light seeped out of the cracks and turned to dust.
Soul Ming stood over the remains. "One," he whispered. His voice carried no joy. Only the tone of someone beginning a long, inevitable task.
The system's voice broke the silence.
> [Soul Extraction: Complete.]
[Data Transferred: Corrupted Holy Knight (Divine-Class Residual)]
[Unlocked: Fragment—Luminous Decay.]
A faint glow pulsed on his palm. The energy from the knight's soul seeped into his own system. It didn't burn. It merged, like two opposing forces learning to coexist.
For a brief second, he felt the echo of the knight's memories — devotion, blind faith, then terror as divine light twisted its flesh into something monstrous.
He exhaled slowly. "Even the gods' own soldiers weren't spared their corruption…"
The system responded, its tone lower now, almost human:
> [The gods sustain their hierarchy through souls. When a system collapses, its fragments seek new hosts. You are now one of those hosts — but you stand outside their order.]
"Outside?"
> [The Divine Hierarchy consists of four levels: Celestial, Dominion, Arcane, and Mortal. You belong to none. Your system was not forged by them. It is forbidden.]
Soul Ming's eyes narrowed. "Then that means… even they can't control me."
> [Correction: They will try.]
He smirked faintly, though it never reached his eyes.
The wind howled through the broken cathedral, carrying whispers of prayer long abandoned.
He turned away from the knight's remains and continued deeper into the city. The once-bustling streets were now a graveyard of collapsed temples and burned effigies. Every few steps, faint traces of divine code shimmered in the air—residual fragments of systems that once governed human lives. He could feel them like invisible chains brushing his skin.
> [Analyzing Residual Systems...]
[Sub-Systems Identified: Fate Protocols, Blessing Chains, Sanctum Grid.]
[All corrupted beyond restoration.]
"So even the gods' own world isn't perfect," he muttered. "Good."
A tremor rolled through the city, deep and slow. The ground beneath him cracked, and light poured from it like molten gold. From the fissure, a massive hand crawled upward — the skeletal remains of another corrupted knight, twice the size of the first, dragging its body from the ruins.
Its armor bore a halo engraved in silver — the mark of a Dominion Class being.
> [Warning: Threat Level – B-Class.]
[Combat Evaluation Recommended.]
Soul Ming raised his head, unshaken. "Another?"
The beast's voice echoed through the air, distorted and divine.
"Your existence… is not written. The gods demand your erasure."
He cracked his neck, his hands tightening into fists.
"Then they'll have to write me in blood."
The creature lunged, its blade coming down like divine judgment itself. Soul Ming moved—not fast, but with precision. His system guided each step, overlaying faint symbols and pathways only he could see. When the sword hit the ground, the shockwave tore through the city, shattering glass and stone.
> [Activating: Soul Core Resonance – Phase 1.]
Black light erupted from him, forming a wave that tore through the knight's armor. He moved in close, his hand striking through divine metal like paper, ripping out the glowing crystal that powered it.
The knight convulsed, its holy core cracking.
> [Skill Assimilation: "Radiant Break" acquired.]
The light imploded, swallowing the street in silence.
When it faded, only Soul Ming remained, standing amidst the drifting ashes. His shadow stretched long beneath the blood-red sky.
He looked up. The clouds shimmered faintly, and for a second, he saw eyes watching him — countless divine gazes from above, cold and distant.
> [Observation Detected.]
[Divine Surveillance Activated.]
[Countermeasure Available: Cloak Protocol.]
"Do it," he said quietly.
The world shimmered. The gazes vanished. The divine presence retreated.
He stood alone once more.
For the first time since his rebirth, he felt it — the faint hum of purpose beneath his rage. The gods thought him dead, forgotten. The systems they built still ruled the world below, enslaving mortals to divine whims.
But he was the flaw in their design.
> [New Directive: Establish Soul Domain.]
[Requirement: Absorb three Corrupted Cores.]
[Progress: 2/3.]
He stared at the notification, then at the horizon where the city faded into a wasteland of red mist.
Somewhere beyond that mist, the gods still watched.
And he would burn their heaven to the ground.
He turned his back to the ruins. The ash rose behind him like smoke trailing a demon's path.
Each step he took was slow, deliberate — the walk of a man who had already died once and found something worse than death to live for.
The wind whispered through the broken streets, carrying the faint echo of his system's words — a quiet reminder that his vengeance had only just begun.
> [Soul Level: 3 → 5]
[Title Unlocked: The Forsaken Reborn.]
The silence swallowed everything again.
And in that silence, Soul Ming smiled for the first time since the night he died — not from joy, but from certainty.
The gods had made a mistake letting him live.
And soon, they would realize it.