The battlefield trembled beneath the weight of countless Collectors descending through portals of light and shadow.
Each one was wrapped in a different aura — crimson fire, glacial frost, flickering lightning, and ghostly void.
Their presence distorted reality, twisting the metallic plains into chaos.
Li Feng stood amidst the storm, his silver eyes gleaming with calm amusement.
[Host Detected: Twelve active Collectors.]
[Estimated combined power: 8.3x current host capacity.]
[Warning: Survival probability — 11%.]
He smiled.
"Then let's raise the odds."
The Echo Legion behind him activated. Forty-eight phantoms of pure attribute light took formation, each mirroring one of his abilities — speed, flame, shadow, and blade. Their bodies pulsed with collected energy, humming in synchronization.
A Collector wrapped in molten armor sneered. "Li Feng, you've grown arrogant. Did you think absorbing scraps from fallen systems makes you a god?"
Li Feng tilted his head. "A god? No. Just a better scavenger."
Before the molten warrior could reply, Li Feng vanished.
The air split.
Boom!
A flash of silver light cut across the battlefield, and molten sparks scattered like exploding suns.
Li Feng reappeared behind the warrior, his palm still raised. The enemy's chest was pierced through — a clean hole where his heart once was.
[You've collected: +43 Strength.]
[Skill Fragment: Lava Pulse (1/6).]
The molten Collector screamed as his body dissolved into data dust.
The others froze. One of them whispered, "He... absorbed him instantly..."
But hesitation was death. Li Feng's Echo Legion charged like a storm.
Each phantom fought with mechanical precision — blades of lightning, waves of flame, shards of space tearing through the void.
The entire plain became a symphony of explosions.
[+18 Speed]
[+27 Agility]
[+5 Spatial Comprehension]
[Skill Fragment: Chrono Step (2/10)]
Every fallen Collector added to his might.
Every fragment made his aura heavier.
Still, the strongest among them remained — a woman draped in flowing black data silk. Her eyes were cold, her aura ancient. She didn't move, but the space around her twisted like a whirlpool devouring everything.
The others called her name with reverence and fear —
"The Law Devourer."
Li Feng's smile faded slightly. He could feel her presence bending logic itself. His system interface flickered and glitched under her pressure.
[Warning: System integrity 68%.]
[Unknown interference — law-class devouring detected.]
"So, you're the one pulling strings," Li Feng said, stepping forward.
The Law Devourer tilted her head, her voice echoing through both data and mind.
"Collector... or virus? You harvest attributes like a parasite, yet your essence is neither divine nor artificial."
Li Feng's lips curved faintly. "And you devour laws to sustain your code. So what does that make you?"
The air froze.
Two entities — one rewriting code, the other consuming it — faced each other in silence.
Then, without warning, the world collapsed.
The Law Devourer raised her hand, and the entire field of rules bent toward her palm.
Metal mountains crumbled. The digital sky shattered like glass. Every attribute around them — fire, ice, lightning, shadow — got pulled into a single black sphere spinning slowly above her hand.
"Everything belongs to the origin," she whispered.
"Return, Collector."
She unleashed it.
BOOM.
The black sphere exploded, devouring light and energy in every direction. Even Li Feng's Echo Legion shattered instantly, absorbed into the abyss.
[Alert: Legion Sync — offline.]
[Attribute loss detected.]
[Error! Error! Error—]
Li Feng's system began to scream warnings, but his expression didn't change.
He looked directly into the black hole and murmured, "Then I'll collect even that."
He extended his hand.
The Collector's Sigil (Type-Ω) flared on his palm, brighter than ever before. Its silver circuits spread through the air, forming a vast geometric network that overlapped the collapsing world.
[Skill Activated: Twilight Harvest – Absolute Override.]
Lines of light connected every atom of the battlefield.
Even the collapsing rules were tagged — numbers, patterns, equations flashing one after another.
For a heartbeat, both entities stood inside an infinite web of coded light.
The Law Devourer frowned. "You dare harvest law essence itself?"
Li Feng's eyes gleamed silver and black. "You devour to destroy. I collect to transcend."
He clenched his fist.
The world roared.
The black hole trembled — not shrinking, not expanding, but being rewritten.
Its energy streams twisted direction, flowing into Li Feng's sigil.
Every spark of law essence, every broken data string, got pulled toward him.
[Law Attribute Acquired: Devouring Concept (1%)]
[Skill Evolution Detected: Twilight Harvest → Cosmic Assimilation]
[Warning: Host Body unable to contain 100% data load!]
[System initiating emergency compression protocol…]
Light erupted from Li Feng's veins, burning through his robes. His skin turned translucent, showing circuits of power running beneath.
The Law Devourer's eyes widened — for the first time, a flicker of disbelief.
"You're rewriting your own limits…"
Li Feng smiled faintly, even as his body cracked with light.
"That's what Collectors do."
He vanished again.
A flash — and he appeared right before her, fist glowing with condensed law energy.
When he struck, the impact didn't cause an explosion — it caused silence.
Everything stilled.
Then her body broke apart, dissolving into fragments of black crystal and streaming code.
[You've collected: +99 Intelligence.]
[+76 Energy Control.]
[Unique Drop: Law Seed – Devouring.]
The battlefield calmed.
The void stitched itself back together.
Li Feng floated above the metallic plain, surrounded by drifting shards of golden data.
He slowly opened his hand, gazing at the pulsing black Law Seed resting there.
[Item Description: Contains the essence of "Law Devouring." Capable of absorbing and suppressing conflicting rules.]
His system flickered.
[System Update Available.]
[Would you like to integrate Law Seed – Devouring into System Core?]
Li Feng closed his eyes. "Do it."
The Law Seed melted into his chest.
The world darkened.
All nearby data streams bent toward him like worshippers before a throne.
[Integration Complete.]
[System Evolution: Stage II — "Collector Prime."]
[New Authority Unlocked: Devour Other Systems.]
Li Feng exhaled softly, his voice calm and low.
"So... now I can consume even systems themselves."
Far away, the sky tore open again. Dozens more portals appeared — Collectors, gods, even fragments of ancient systems sensing his awakening.
But Li Feng didn't even raise his head.
"Come," he murmured. "Let's continue the harvest."
His figure vanished into a streak of silver and black light as the new war began.