"When the heavens deny the soul, chaos makes its own path."
The light was pulling her—steady, warm, and almost gentle.For the first time since the endless void, Crystal felt something like peace.She didn't know where the light was taking her, only that it was away from the emptiness.
But just as the glow wrapped around her completely, something changed.
The soft hum that had filled the void trembled.The green light flickered. Once. Twice.
Then it turned red.
The calm warmth vanished, replaced by a cold, mechanical pulse. The screen before her reappeared, its letters bleeding crimson across the empty air.
[ERROR. Host soul too large for vessel.]
[Attempting to compress soul structure...]
[Creating link between host body and host soul...]
Crystal froze. The words scrolled faster and faster, her reflection faintly visible in the red glow.
"Too large…?" she whispered.
The screen pulsed again, its edges flickering as if the system itself was straining to hold together.
[30%...]
[50%...]
[60%...]
The red glow pulsed violently, and a sharp tone rang through the emptiness.
[ERROR. Process unstable.]
[Link compromised.]
The light around her shuddered. The void began to vibrate, fragments of light scattering like shards of glass.
Crystal's heart—her soul—tightened with fear."No… no, don't stop," she pleaded, reaching toward the flickering screen. "You can't stop now!"
She could feel it slipping—the pull that had been guiding her forward was weakening. The edges of the light wavered, thinning into threads.
Her voice trembled. "Am I… going to be trapped here forever?"
The thought clawed at her chest like a beast. After everything—after dying, after losing everything—was she destined to disappear again into that nothing?
The light flickered faster.
Then, suddenly—
The red turned green again.
The hum stabilized. The scattered light fragments were drawn back toward her, swirling into a steady, calm vortex.
[Reconnecting…]
[Power restored.]
[Connection stabilized.]
[Host soul successfully revived.]
Crystal gasped. "It worked…?"
She didn't understand what had happened, but relief flooded her being. Warmth returned, wrapping around her fading edges, and for a brief moment, she allowed herself to smile.
But before she could feel happy—
The system spoke again.
Words began appearing one by one, glowing softly in front of her.
[Host soul cannot be contained in the new vessel.]
[Creating realm to link body and soul.]
[Warning: In doing so, system assistance will be temporarily disabled.]
Her eyes widened. "Disabled?"
The words shifted again, rewriting themselves faster than she could react.
[New method discovered.]
[Initiating alternative synchronization.]
[Assigning primary objectives for host reactivation.]
A series of faint chimes followed, each one accompanied by a new line of glowing text.
[Host's first mission to reactivate system:]
1. Die – Completed.
2. Create a Soul Sea – Incomplete.
3. Find a Soul Mate – Incomplete.
[System Message:]
When the following objectives are met, the host will be fully revived. Failure to meet them will result in permanent erasure or died.
Time Limit: Three Weeks.
Crystal stared blankly at the glowing letters, her mind trying to process the words.
She blinked. Once. Twice. Then laughed softly, the sound hollow and disbelieving.
"Three weeks…?" she muttered. "To… create a Soul Sea? And find a soul mate?"
Her voice cracked.
She read the words again, half-expecting them to change, but they remained the same.
Her hands clenched tightly.
"To awaken this system…" she whispered, "I had to die first. That's step one? And step two—create a Soul Sea?"
Her laugh this time was sharper, almost hysterical. "That's impossible."
Even her master—an immortal who had lived longer than kingdoms had existed—had never achieved that. A Soul Sea wasn't something one could create. It wasn't a cultivation stage—it was transcendence.
Her master used to say:
"To form a Soul Sea is to drink directly from heaven's will. Even the gods fear to taste it."
And now, she was supposed to do it in three weeks?
Her pulse quickened. The void around her hummed again, faintly echoing her panic.
"Impossible," she whispered. "This has to be a joke."
The third objective burned faintly at the bottom of the list:
3. Find a Soul Mate – Incomplete.
Her smile vanished.
Her chest tightened painfully, the old wound reopening.
Her soul mate.
The words made her sick.
She thought of Noah—the man she had given everything for. The man she had fought beside, bled for, killed for.
And he had betrayed her.
"Find a soul mate?" she muttered bitterly. "After all that?"
She shook her head, but her voice broke halfway through. "Is fate playing with me now?"
Her fists trembled. Rage and sorrow mixed in her chest like a storm she couldn't contain.
After a long silence, she finally whispered, "You ask me to trust again… after that?"
The screen didn't answer.
The words continued to glow in front of her, steady and merciless.
[Time limit: 3 weeks.]
Crystal's expression hardened. "Three weeks to accomplish the impossible, or vanish forever…"
Her voice was soft, bitter, but beneath it was a spark—the same stubbornness that had carried her through war and betrayal.
She let out a shaky breath. "Then I guess... I don't have a choice."
The light around her began to hum again, brighter and stronger this time.
The system's words glowed one last time.
[Host synchronization complete.][Beginning transference.]
The cocoon of light that had surrounded her started to twist, drawing inward. The green glow folded around her like layers of silk, then began to pull her downward.
The void trembled. A current of unseen energy surged through her, sweeping away the lingering fragments of despair.
Before she could speak—before she could even breathe—the light engulfed her completely.
Everything blurred.
Her last thought, before the world was swallowed by light, was a mix of disbelief and irony.
"Three weeks to do the impossible…"
A faint smile curved her lips as the glow swallowed her.
"Fine. Let's see what heaven does when I try."
And then, the light took her away.
After that the void entered back into silent.
"Those who defy heaven are cursed; those who endure it become legends."