Chapter 16: Echoes of Forgotten Thrones
The world shuddered—not from war or gods—but from a name that no one dared to speak. And somewhere, in the quiet silence of the Void, a throne cracked open…
Crimson clouds veiled the skies above the celestial continent, forming patterns that hadn't been seen since the Mythic Age. As the Global Trials advanced to their second phase, the world's greatest powers—gods, demons, system sovereigns, and awakened nations—fell into uneasy silence.
They had all sensed it.
Not just the emergence of another high-tier system user… but the reawakening of a presence thought to be sealed across timelines.
Luo Shen.
But even he didn't fully understand what was returning.
Luo Shen stood before a shattered mirror in the academy's highest observatory, its cracks catching distorted fragments of his face. Behind his silver eyes, flashes flickered—memory fragments buried in forgotten time.
He saw…
A black sun hanging over a broken world.
A girl standing at his side—her name erased, her face always just out of focus.
A throne forged from dying stars, with himself seated upon it… wearing a crown made of chains.
"System… these memories. What are they?"
[Starlight Sovereign Protocol – Restricted Access Temporarily Lifted.]
[You are accessing Tier-7 Memory Echoes from your Pre-Epoch Identity.]
[Warning: Full Recall may destabilize your current system evolution.]
"Show me."
The mirror exploded with violet light.
And then—nothing but silence, and pain.
In the Empire of Seraphis, an archangel dropped her sword, kneeling with a pale face.
In the Abyssal Courts, a demon lord howled and ordered his legions to prepare for war.
In the floating shrine of the Chronos Guild, time itself froze for six seconds.
And deep within the sealed Necropolis of Sovereigns…
"He lives," whispered a voice that hadn't spoken in 3,000 years.
Back in the academy, Lian Shen rushed toward Luo Shen's quarters, clutching a glowing talisman—their late mother's. She felt something stir. Not in the world, but in her brother.
"Why… why do I feel like I'm losing you again…?"
She didn't know yet that it wasn't him she was losing—it was the world forgetting who he truly was.
And elsewhere in the academy's training grounds, the new transfer student—Astrid Valen, holder of the Divine-Class system Eclipse Sovereignty—watched the stars shifting above.
She closed her eyes, a tear forming for a reason she didn't understand.
"I've seen him before… but where?"
[System Alert: Hidden Trial Unlocked.]
[Trial of Thrones – Initiation Sequence Beginning.]
[All Sovereigns. Prepare.]
And in the center of the world, buried beneath the ruins of the Forbidden Pantheon…
A name was spoken again—for the first time in millennia.
"The Void Monarch… returns."