The Causality Court did not celebrate the truth. It did not get angry. It only moved forward, like a door that keeps opening no matter who is scared.
The golden spirals above the Ledger Warden turned again. A new page rose into the air, and the words on it burned bright, like they were written with star-fire.
The Court spoke.
"Record retrieval: Star-Script Regent. Stability claim."
The Silent Bell witness went stiff. His face was pale now. The envoy at the boundary looked like he wanted to grab him and drag him away, but he did not move. If he moved, the Court would mark it as interference.
Shan Wei stood calm. His eyes were steady. His hand stayed on his chest where the brand was hidden.
"Show it," he said.
The Ledger Warden lifted its sleeve. A thin line of light shot out from the page and formed a tall scroll in the air. The scroll was not paper. It was a record made from law. The title at the top appeared one word at a time.
STAR-SCRIPT STABILITY CLAIMFILED BY: STAR-SCRIPT REGENTLOCATION: ETERNAL CELESTIAL HEAVENTARGET: RETURNING THREAD — QI SHAN WEIREASON: "MULTI-REALM COLLAPSE RISK"
The Court stamped one more line.
"Begin reading."
The scroll opened by itself. The first lines appeared, and the words felt cold.
"Subject has previously reached Prismatic Sovereignty."
"Subject has previously defied Court correction."
"Subject's restoration of bonds may trigger 'Imperial Return Chain'."
The Heart under Shan Wei's seal stirred. It did not speak with laughter. It spoke like a snake in a dark box.
"They fear your love," it whispered. "Because love makes you move like war."
Shan Wei did not answer it. He kept his face calm.
The Court read the next lines.
"Imperial Return Chain includes: reactivation of Prismatic Imperial Capital blueprint, Sky-Palace formation anchors, puppet army network, beast sovereign resonance."
Then a new line appeared that made the air feel heavy.
"Risk: Prismatic Emperor may restore Six Consort Threads. Restored threads may unify into a Prismatic Dao Bond. Prismatic Dao Bond may override Court stamp authority."
The Court paused for one heartbeat. Then it stamped:
"Claim reason confirmed: authority fear."
The Silent Bell envoy at the boundary let out a slow breath. He looked angry now, not just worried.
"So it was never about 'stability,'" he said quietly. "It was about control."
Shan Wei spoke in the same calm voice.
"Who gave him the right to seal my bonds?" he asked.
The Court answered with a stamp.
"Authority used: Star-Script Regent's inter-realm mandate."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed slightly. That was all.
Outside the Court, the battle did not stop. The Thousand Masks Pavilion was getting desperate. Their contract tricks failed against Drakonix's flames. Their tools failed against Zhen's moving fortress. Their attempt to cut Xuan Chi's thread failed. Now they wanted one thing only.
A fast kill.
A clean kill.
A kill before Heaven itself stepped in fully.
A masked assassin lifted both hands. He pulled his mask off.
The moment the mask came off, the assassin's face was not normal. It looked empty, like someone erased the center of it. The assassin's skin flickered as if it could not decide what it was.
Yuerin's eyes widened.
"They're doing it," she hissed. "They're sacrificing their own masks."
Another assassin pulled off their mask too. Then another. Then another.
The air around them twisted.
A dark hole began to open behind them, like a door cut into space. It was not a normal portal. It was a one-time kill gate. A gate that would let an assassin step through any defense for one strike.
Zhen reacted at once.
"KILL GATE DETECTED," he said.
He drove the moving fortress forward harder. The dome surged like a wall with legs. The ground shook under it. The pressure hit the Pavilion group like a giant palm slamming down.
One assassin lost balance. Zhen's containment beam snapped out.
A box formed around the assassin.
Captured.
The assassin slammed into the invisible walls and could not escape.
Zhen spoke, very calmly.
"YOU ARE NOW A PRISONER."
Then he added, with blunt timing that felt almost silly because of how serious it was:
"PLEASE STOP STRUGGLING. YOU LOOK STUPID."
Yuerin made a tight sound, half laugh and half anger, and forced it down. Drakonix's eye turned toward Zhen for a heartbeat, as if the beast also noticed the strange puppet logic.
But the kill gate was still opening.
Xuan Chi's moonlight threads shook. The frozen-law scars around her spread like thin ice cracks on glass. They reached toward Zhen's dome, and even friendly formation lines began to stiffen slightly. Xuan Chi's lips turned blue. She hugged herself for a second, trying to hold her own power inside.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's leaking…"
Shan Wei's voice came through the link, steady and firm.
"Breathe," he said. "One slow breath. Then another."
She obeyed. The cracks slowed a little. Not gone, but slowed.
Drakonix pushed out of the cocoon again.
The shell broke apart in a loud, sharp sound.
He stepped forward.
Both wings opened.
They were huge now, phoenix-wide but edged like dragon bone. His prismatic scales shone like living crystal armor. His horns carried faint cosmic runes. His eyes were gold-crimson, and they did not look like a child's eyes anymore.
They looked like a sovereign beast waking fully.
The moment he stood free, the world's reaction hit like a wave.
Some cultivators outside the siege dropped to their knees without thinking. Some backed away, trembling. Even the Pavilion assassins hesitated, because a fully awakened Drakonix was not a "pet."
He was a disaster with a will.
Drakonix breathed in.
The air pulled toward him.
Then he breathed out.
Prismatic flame surged—not as a wild blast, but as a clean, cutting storm that burned rules and lies.
The kill gate shuddered.
The dark hole tried to hold itself open.
Drakonix's flame touched its edge.
The edge burned like cloth.
The gate screamed and collapsed.
The assassins who sacrificed their masks staggered back, shaking. Their faces flickered harder, like they were losing themselves.
Yuerin's voice was cold.
"That's the price," she said. "You gave your masks away. Now you have nothing left."
Inside the Court, the golden scroll kept writing.
A new line appeared.
"Star-Script Regent has prepared enforcement."
Shan Wei's eyes sharpened.
"What enforcement?" he asked.
The Court answered in a flat, cold voice.
"Heavenly stamp."
Outside the Court, the sky changed.
Clouds that were not normal clouds gathered. They were too straight, too sharp, too perfect. They formed a circle. The light above turned white-blue, like a cold sun.
Then a sound came from the sky.
Not thunder.
A voice.
A cold voice that carried the feeling of rank and command.
"By Star-Script authority…"
The words were slow. Heavy.
"…kneel."
A huge stamp of light formed above the battlefield. It was like a giant seal pressed into the sky. Lines of star-writing spun around it, and the pressure fell downward like a mountain trying to crush every spine.
Many people dropped to their knees at once. Their bodies moved without permission, forced by the weight of Heaven's order.
Even some Pavilion assassins fell, their pride crushed by the stamp they had tried to use as a shield.
Yuerin's shadows shook, pushed flat.
Xuan Chi's moonlight threads bent and trembled.
Zhen's moving fortress groaned as the stamp pressed down on its shield layers.
Drakonix's wings trembled under the force. His claws dug into the ground. His eyes burned with anger.
He did not kneel.
He roared.
The roar hit the stamp like a hammer.
The stamp did not break, but it shook.
Inside the Court, Shan Wei felt the pressure too, even here. He did not bend. He did not kneel. His body stayed upright, calm and controlled, but the air around him turned sharper.
The Heart in his chest whispered, fierce and excited.
"They came."
Shan Wei's voice was quiet.
"I know."
He lifted his chin slightly, eyes cold as gold steel.
"This is my answer," he said.
Outside, the heavenly stamp pressed harder.
"Kneel," the cold voice repeated.
Drakonix's flames flared higher, and for the first time, the flames touched the sky itself. They licked the bottom edge of the stamp and burned a small line through the star-writing.
A crack.
A tiny crack.
But a crack that should not be possible.
The battlefield froze for a heartbeat, everyone staring at that crack.
Because if a beast could crack a heavenly stamp…
Then the world had just seen the start of a war that would reach the heavens.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
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