Pov Author
The dark did not close around Anna.
It claimed her.
Reality snapped shut behind them like a severed spine, and the last echo of the dying realm was crushed into silence. When her feet hit solid ground again, the impact stole the air from her lungs.
She stumbled.
Did not fall.
Because Shou Feng's hand was already there.
Not gentle.
Not steadying.
A grip that decided she would remain upright.
"Do not collapse," he said coldly. "I did not tear through planes to drag you only for you to break."
Anna wrenched her arm free. "You don't get to touch me like that."
He looked down at the space where her arm had been.
Then at her.
Slowly.
Black eyes unreadable, endless, reflecting nothing but shadow.
"You misunderstand," he said. "I do not touch without reason."
That did not help.
She looked around.
The land stretched endlessly—black stone etched with ancient sigils that pulsed faintly like buried veins. Above them, the sky churned, crimson and void twisting together as if the heavens themselves were restrained by force.
"This place…" Her voice lowered. "This is yours."
"Yes."
The single word carried weight—ownership, dominion, threat .
"You brought me to your territory," Anna said. "Why?"
He began walking. Not checking if she followed.
She did.
Because the ground behind her cracked softly, warningly, as if retreat was no longer an option.
"You are unstable," Shou Feng said. "Your presence fractures what is sealed. You provoke reactions you do not understand."
"I didn't ask for any of this."
"No," he agreed. "You did worse. You survived it."
She stopped. "That's your explanation?"
He turned.
In one step, he was in front of her.
Too close.
The air pressed inward, her healing power flaring painfully in response to his presence, as if her body recognized something it shouldn't.
"You healed a kingdom designed to rot," he said quietly. "You walked into my prison and opened it. You silenced an abyss that had fed for millennia."
His gaze sharpened.
"The universe does not forgive that."
"So now what?" she asked. "You keep me here?"
He tilted his head slightly, studying her like a weapon that had yet to choose a direction.
"You stay," he said. "Until I decide what you become."
Her chest tightened. "I'm not something to shape."
A pause.
Then—
A low, dangerous smile touched his lips.
"Everything becomes something," he said. "Eventually."
The ground beneath them shifted, forming a path toward a colossal structure carved into the mountainside—an ancient citadel wrapped in chains that glowed faintly with suppressed power.
Anna felt it immediately.
"This was built to hold you."
"Yes."
"And now?"
"Now," he said, eyes forward, "it exists to remind others what happens when they try."
She swallowed. "Renji said you were breaking laws."
Shou Feng stopped walking.
The chains around the citadel rattled, responding to his stillness.
"Renji speaks of law because he was never chosen," Shou Feng said. "He confuses resentment with wisdom."
"And Kiyoshi?"
That name did something.
Not softness.
Irritation.
"Kiyoshi believes restraint is virtue," Shou Feng said. "Peace is a luxury of those who have never been caged."
He turned back to her. "You will not speak his name here."
Anna met his gaze. "You don't want peace. You want control."
For a split second—
Something dark flickered behind his eyes.
Not anger.
Not denial.
Interest.
"You assume those are separate things," he said.
A distant tremor rolled through the land.
Anna felt it before she heard it—an ancient pressure rising, watching.
"Something followed us," she whispered.
"Yes," Shou Feng replied calmly. "I allowed it."
Her head snapped up. "You—what?"
"Obsession draws predators," he said. "I wanted to see who was desperate enough to cross into my domain."
The sky裂—split open.
A presence bled through the tear, immense and suffocating, carrying a familiar cruelty that made Anna's skin go cold.
A voice echoed from the rupture, amused, intimate—
"Still collecting broken things, my student?"
Shou Feng did not look away from the sky.
"Show yourself, Kazan."
Anna's blood ran cold.
Kazan.
The darkness parted—and Lord Kazan stepped through reality itself, robes untouched by the storm, eyes locked not on Shou Feng—
But on her.
His smile was slow.
Possessive.
Hungry.
"…Nahan," he breathed. "You came back to me."
Anna staggered back. "That's not my name."
Kazan's gaze never left her. "You look exactly as you did when you died."
Shou Feng moved instantly—shadow surging, power roaring—
Positioning himself between Anna and Kazan.
Not protective.
Territorial.
"She is not yours," Shou Feng said, voice low and lethal.
Kazan laughed softly. "Then why does she stand in your shadow like something you're afraid to lose?"
The silence that followed was sharp enough to cut worlds.
Shou Feng did not answer.
Behind him, Anna realized something terrifying—
The God of Destruction had stepped in front of her without even thinking .
And whatever that meant…
He hadn't realized it yet.
End of Chapter