Morning sunlight flooded the jagged ruins of Sovereign Peak. The white marble terraces, once symbols of unassailable power across the province, lay reduced to scattered rubble and smoking craters. Columns stood like broken teeth against the bright blue sky, and the courtyard where thousands had knelt in terror now smelled of dust and scorched stone. The air was warm and clear, carrying no trace of the purple gloom or sulfur poison that had choked the mountain for months.
Ye Chen stood motionless in the center of the shattered plaza. He held Lin Xi in his arms, her pale face resting peacefully against his chest while the stasis seal held her heart at absolute rest. He looked down at her features, but his chest felt hollow and dead. The twenty years of lifespan he had paid to the System led
