PROLOGUE: The Fall of the Black Flame Part III
Talon Vorlag's power, once a crushing sea, became a singularity of absolute law. The emerald light of his Qi condensed into chains of pure, solidified order, each link humming with the Dao of Suppression. He did not look at Liam. His cold, draconic gaze fell upon the two pillars supporting the Black Flame's defiance.
"A king does not strike the soldier," Talon whispered, his voice laced with the chill of inevitability. "He breaks the shield and shatters the sword."
He raised a single finger. "`Shackles of Heavenly Order`."
The world broke. It was not an explosion, but a silent rewriting of reality. From the ground beneath them, chains of pure, azure law erupted. Lysandra, mid-roar, was caught. Her inferno of crimson flame was not extinguished, but nullified, the very concept of her fire ceasing to exist within the chains' grasp. The Unbroken Inferno was broken, her body forced to her knees with a choked cry of pain as the crushing law of the seal constricted around her.
The chains swarmed Isadora. Her `Mind Veil Halo` shattered like fragile glass. Her serene light, her connection to her companions, her very ability to channel the gentle Qi of life—all were severed. For the first time that day, a raw, pained gasp escaped her lips as the merciless power of the Azure Dragon Sect crushed her defenses completely.
The sounds of the battle faded into a dull roar in Liam's ears. Time itself seemed to slow, stretching into an agonizing eternity.
He saw it all. Lysandra, straining against the chains, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her fiery eyes screaming a defiance her body could no longer muster. Isadora, pale and trembling, her soul-light flickering like a dying candle, looking at him with an expression of pure, heart-shattering despair.
The Elders began to advance. Kyros, to finish his broken opponent. Malira, to savor the mind of the captured healer. Fenris, his void-grey eyes fixed on Liam, sensing the finality of the moment.
There was no path to victory. No escape. No hope.
Only a choice.
A memory of laughing with them around a campfire. A vision of Lysandra patching his wounds after a fight. The feeling of Isadora's hand in his. His promise. His vow. To protect them. To be their vanguard.
He looked at Talon's cold, triumphant face. He saw the future offered to his companions— subjugation or death. A cold, calm fury settled deep within his soul, a clarity born of utter hopelessness. If this was the end of his path, he would not walk it alone.
He would choose them.
He reached inward, past his strained meridians, past his cracking Qi Core. He reached for the very essence of his being—his life force, his will, his soul—and began to pull. The pain was beyond imagining, a feeling of being unmade from the inside out. This was the price. And he would pay it gladly.
With a final, loving look at the two women who were his entire world, he whispered the name of the art that was both his end and his final act of defiance.
"[Genesis Severance - Flame of Sacrificial Rebirth]."
The world outside vanished into a blinding, silent eruption of white-gold light.
Internally, Liam was already gone. He felt his core shatter into a million pieces. He felt his soul tear. It was the absolute peace of non-existence, a willing fall into oblivion.
But in the deepest, most primal part of him, something screamed NO.
A pattern, intricate as a divine blueprint and dormant since his birth, flared to life in his very bloodline. It was a power that refused to let its Progenitor perish. A power built for one purpose: a new beginning.
A series of cold, emotionless messages flooded his shattering consciousness, stark and clear against the storm of his unmaking.
`[FATAL SACRIFICIAL TECHNIQUE DETECTED: Genesis Severance]`
`[THREAT TO PROGENITOR'S EXISTENCE CONFIRMED]`
`[FORCEFULLY AWAKENING DORMANT PHYSIQUE...]`
`[DIVINE GENESIS PATTERN PHYSIQUE... ACTIVATED!]`
`[SYSTEM PROTOCOL: SURVIVAL. PROTOCOL: PROGENITOR PRESERVATION. PROTOCOL: LINEAGE GENESIS]`
`[THE BLACKWOOD HAREM SYSTEM... INITIALIZING...]`
`[ANALYZING HOST STATUS... Qi CORE: SHATTERED. SOUL: FRAGMENTED. BODY: CATASTROPHIC FAILURE. VITALITY: 0.01%]`
`[SYSTEM OVERRIDE: INITIATING RECONSTRUCTION... ERROR! INSUFFICIENT ENERGY. SEEKING EXTERNAL SOURCE...]`
The last thing Liam perceived before consciousness dissolved entirely was the image of Isadora and Lysandra, their faces masks of pure horror, reaching for him as the silent, beautiful, world-ending wave of his own life force rushed out to meet them.
Then, only darkness.