The final barrier shattered like frost under a dragon's breath.
Glass-rain of runes fell over the core hall.
Inside:
A colossus of divine carrion—the God Corpse Fragment, chained to a throne of petrified heavens.
Skin like cracked porcelain moonlight.
Veins of starlight pulsing beneath.
Its eyes—two dying galaxies—opened.
"Child of Calamity… you are late."
The voice was not sound.
It was memory.
Every ancestor who ever knelt here felt it in their marrow.
Chu Yao landed barefoot on the cracked marble.
Dragon wings folded into tattoos of blood.
The third eye on his forehead bled slow crimson tears.
If I devour a god…
The thought slithered through his mind like a blade.
…do I become one? Or just the void that swallowed it?
Liu Ruyan stepped beside him, sword dripping with the blood of the last elder.
Her reflection in the blade was fractured—half phoenix, half demon.
"I was born to betray you," she whispered.
The Devour Mark on her chest pulsed like a second heart.
"Why does saving you feel like damnation?"
Chu Yao didn't answer.
He was staring at the God Corpse's chains—each link a bound heavenly law.
[Target: God Corpse Fragment – Rank: ???]
[Devour Difficulty: BEYOND EXTREME]
[Warning: Soul Assimilation Risk – 99.9% Possession]
The system's text glitched, letters bleeding into static.
The God Corpse smiled.
Cracked lips split to reveal a mouth of black holes.
"Come. Complete me."
THE OFFER
The chains melted.
Not broken—welcomed.
The God Corpse rose.
300 meters.
500.
The hall's roof peeled away like paper.
It extended one hand—fingers of crystallized starlight.
"Devour me, and ascend. Refuse, and perish with this ant hill."
Chu Yao's claws flexed.
His bloodline sang.
A choir of devoured souls screaming YES.
But something else screamed louder.
Liu Ruyan's heartbeat.
Through the Devour Mark, he felt it—racing, terrified, loyal.
He looked at her.
Her eyes were wet.
Not from fear.
From choice.
"If you take that hand," she said, voice raw, "you'll stop being Chu Yao."
He laughed—broken, human.
"I stopped being Chu Yao the day they fed me to the beast."
BOOM.
The God Corpse's palm slammed down.
Chu Yao didn't dodge.
CRUNCH.
His dragon arm caught it.
Scales shattered.
Bones screamed.
[Calamity Flames + Mirror Calamity = Divine Backlash]
Starlight turned crimson—reflected.
The God Corpse's own hand exploded into nebula dust.
It didn't flinch.
"Pain is the price of godhood."
THE TRAP
The dust reformed—into tendrils of divine script.
They pierced Chu Yao's chest like spears of light.
[SOUL ASSIMILATION INITIATED]
[Host Consciousness: 94%… 87%…]
His vision fractured.
FLASH.
He saw himself on the throne—god-emperor of a dead universe.
FLASH.
Liu Ruyan's corpse at his feet, eyes devoured.
FLASH.
The system—laughing.
"You were always the vessel."
Chu Yao's third eye burned.
No.
He bit his own tongue.
Blood flooded his mouth—his blood, not the god's.
SOUL CALAMITY DEVOUR—REVERSE.
The tendrils screamed.
Divine script unraveled into his jaws.
[Devouring God Corpse Fragment – Progress: 3%… 7%…]
[Possession Risk: 91% → 78% → 62%…]
The God Corpse's galaxies flickered.
"Impossible. You reject divinity?"
Chu Yao spat starlight.
"I don't want your throne. I want your death."
LIU RUYAN'S CHOICE
The Devour Mark on her chest exploded with pain.
She fell to her knees, coughing black blood.
The God Corpse's voice slithered into her mind:
"Kill him. Free yourself. I will make you a goddess."
Her sword rose—
—not at Chu Yao.
She stabbed her own heart.
SHNK.
The blade pierced clean through.
But she didn't fall.
Instead, she grabbed Chu Yao's claw—
—and drove it into the wound.
"BLOOD SOUL CONTRACT."
Her voice was a scream and a prayer.
[Contract Activated: Life-Link]
[If one dies, both die. If one ascends, both ascend.]
The Devour Mark shattered.
Crimson runes crawled from her heart—into his.
Their souls fused.
Chu Yao's third eye opened wide.
He saw her memories:
Huo Tian planting her as a child spy.
Years of fake smiles, real tears.
The moment she chose him over the sect—over godhood.
He roared.
Not in pain.
In rage.
APOCALYPSE SOVEREIGN FORM
The fusion triggered it.
Chu Yao's body exploded into light.
1,000 meters.
10,000.
A Crimson Apocalypse Sovereign—humanoid, crowned in devoured heavens, six wings of blood-fire.
The God Corpse shrank in his shadow.
[APOCALYPSE SOVEREIGN FORM UNLOCKED]
[Domain: Devour Realm → Devour Cosmos (1,000km)]
[New Ability: Godslayer Edict – nullify divine authority]
Chu Yao's voice was the death of stars:
"YOUR TIME ENDED EONS AGO."
He clapped.
KRA-KOOOOOM.
Reality folded.
The God Corpse was crushed into a singularity—then inhaled.
[Devouring God Corpse Fragment – 100%]
[Bloodline Evolution: Stage 14 → Stage 15 (MAX)]
[FINAL FORM: APOCALYPSE SOVEREIGN (PERMANENT)]
[Heavenly Tribulation: CANCELLED – You ARE the Tribulation]
The sect mountain vanished.
A crater 100 li wide.
Only Chu Yao and Liu Ruyan remained—floating in the void.
She was alive.
Her wound healed by his blood.
Their hearts beat as one.
THE AFTERMATH
The sky cracked open.
Not tribulation.
Heavenly Dao's Eye—a golden pupil the size of a moon.
It stared at Chu Yao.
"Calamity Sovereign. You have devoured a god. The Upper Realms will hunt you."
Chu Yao smiled.
Fangs like galaxies.
"Let them come."
He looked at Liu Ruyan.
Her eyes were crimson now—his crimson.
"Where to?" she asked.
He pointed at the stars.
"Every sect. Every realm. Every god."
ROAR.
The Apocalypse Sovereign ascended—
—a red comet streaking toward the heavens.