Chapter 12: Signs from the Void
The world was still reeling.
The First Global System Trial had ended only hours ago, but the aftershocks were just beginning.
Around the globe, high-ranking officials, awakened elites, and hidden gods were scrambling to decode what had just occurred. Billions had witnessed the battle broadcasts. Billions had seen him—the one who didn't belong in any database, any faction, or any registry.
He moved like a ghost. Fought like a god. And vanished before anyone could ask a question.
"Luo Shen."
That was the name murmured in silence across war rooms, temples, and celestial courts.
But who was he?
[Inside the Hidden System Space]
Luo Shen stood in silence. His cloak was gone. His academy uniform hung slightly torn at the sleeves. His black eyes stared at the holographic projection in front of him.
[Trial One: Completed.]
Reward: Chaos Token x1
Hidden Reward: [Void Trace Memory Shard] Acquired.
Global Ranking: Unranked.
System Classification: Unknown (Untraceable).
A faint pulse echoed from the center of his chest.
"The Void remembers," a voice whispered—one that was both his and not his.
He exhaled slowly. The system had given him a fragment of something. A memory, not yet clear. Just flashes:
A burning world.
A silver-haired woman crying as stars collapsed.
A sword, blacker than the abyss, stabbing through a god's chest.
And then… silence again.
[Somewhere in the Celestial Realms]
A cloaked figure opened his ancient eyes.
He sat on a floating throne built from the bones of devoured deities.
"He's returned…" the Dread Tyrant of the Seventh Sky said, voice shaking the space around him.
Another god stirred awake from slumber beneath a lake of crystallized flame. A demon queen wrapped in chains whispered his name in her sleep.
The Void Monarch—the one erased from time itself—was waking.
[Earth – Military Base, Sector 0]
"Zoom in again," Commander Fael barked.
The video was grainy. The figure—Luo Shen—was only visible for a moment before shadows consumed him.
"Whoever he is," said General Kade, "he bypassed our biometric scans. No system type. No energy trace. That shouldn't be possible."
"It's not," Fael replied. "Unless…"
He hesitated.
"Unless he's not from here."
The room went silent.
[System Space – Private Domain: Chaos Infinity Core]
Luo Shen sat on a floating stone amid the cosmic sea inside his own domain. Time didn't flow here.
[Memory Lock Status: 13% Unsealed.]
Note: Deeper memory layers may be accessed during extreme emotional distress or world-altering events.
He clenched his fists. "So I'm not even… fully myself yet."
System Alert: Anomaly Detected. Incoming Contact.
Suddenly, a swirl of silver light began to form above his hand.
Not hostile.
Familiar.
A strand of starlight coiled into his palm, forming a tiny orb of warmth.
He remembered that feeling.
[Academy Grounds – Later That Night]
Aria sat beneath a flowering tree in the academy's courtyard, her long silver hair glowing under the twin moons.
She held her hand over her heart.
"Why… does my system react every time he is near?"
She didn't know who he was. She'd just transferred. But ever since the Trial… something inside her pulsed when she saw him. A buried memory, or a sealed command?
No. It felt older than that.
It felt like destiny.
[Elsewhere – The Stars Begin to Shift]
A scholar in the Tower of Aeons panicked as the celestial map twisted.
"The constellations have… changed?"
One star blinked out.
Another reappeared—one that hadn't been seen for thousands of years.
It bore a symbol only a few ancient records still held:
Chaos.
The symbol of the one who should not exist.
[Final Scene – System Broadcast]
Across Earth, everyone heard it.
[Notice to All Awakened: Phase Two of the Global System Trials will commence in 72 hours.]
Trial Title: "Heaven's Grudge."
Warning: Interference from Unknown System detected. All standard protocols may fail.]
Luo Shen opened his eyes, standing now at the edge of a new storm.
He didn't smile.
He didn't speak.
But deep inside… a voice—the one buried—finally stirred again.
"It's time to remind the heavens… why they tried to erase me."