The Flame Court was ablaze—not with fire, but with questions.
Mei's presence was more than unexpected. She had no divine aura. No titles. No system gift. And yet she had arrived, not summoned, but drawn, like a comet burning through the threads of fate. A mortal soul crossing realms through the tether of love and memory alone.
Some called it a miracle.
Others—a threat.
Training a Mortal
Mei stood at the edge of the sanctuary's training field, her hands raw and her body shaking. Her first few days had been painful. Every technique the others took for granted—spirit channeling, aura control, divine focus—was foreign to her.
"I don't belong here," she whispered during one dusk session, sweat clinging to her neck.
"You didn't belong here," Lanmei corrected, tossing her a blade. "But now you do. And I'm going to make sure you survive long enough to remember why."
Lanmei's voice was rough but honest. And though the training was brutal, Mei endured. Not for power. Not for revenge. But because she knew the next time Chen stood between life and death, she wouldn't just watch.
She would stand beside him.
Meanwhile, in the High Court
Chen met with Ye Yue beneath the sacred moon blossoms—divine flora that only bloomed when one's fate was at a crossroads.
"She's strong," Ye Yue admitted. "Not because she's skilled… but because she refuses to break."
"She reminds me of who I used to be," Chen murmured. "Before all this."
Ye Yue placed her hand against his chest. "Then let her remind you. But don't let her distract you. The Trial of Severance isn't just about strength. It's about what you're willing to cut away."
"…And what if I'm not willing?" Chen asked.
"Then the trial will take it from you anyway."
[System Alert – Major Trial Initiation Imminent]
Trial: SEVERANCE OF SELFRealm Tier: Celestial Danger Class – Multi-Realm OverlapConditions: Face a manifested projection of your truest weakness.Threat Level: ???Rewards: ???Survival Rate: 9%
The Bonds Crack
Night fell, and with it came tension. Ye Yue stood at the balcony watching Chen and Mei training under moonlight, his smile softer than she'd seen in weeks.
Lanmei passed beside her, arms folded. "She's not just some mortal flame anymore."
"No," Ye Yue agreed. "She's part of his center now. That makes her our ally… and our danger."
"Then we burn through the trial before it burns him."
Into the Dreamfire
The next morning, the world twisted.
Chen woke not in his bed—but in a glowing arena of shifting flame and fractured mirrors. One reflection showed his childhood self. One showed him as the God of Yang. One… showed him alone.
The voice boomed like thunder laced with memory.
"To ascend, you must sever the path behind you. What will you keep, and what must be destroyed?"
Around him appeared three figures—Mei, Ye Yue, and Lanmei—each caught in a loop of their deepest fear.
Mei, drowning in mortal fragility, begging him not to leave.
Ye Yue, staring into the abyss of her failed divinity, cast from the heavens.
Lanmei, alone on a battlefield of corpses, surrounded by fire and regret.
And Chen—stuck between them.
[System Challenge: Embrace or Sever]
He could choose to sever his mortal ties to awaken fully as a god.
Or…
He could bind them even tighter and change the rules of the divine game.
Chen looked at them—not illusions, not fakes—but real fragments of the women he loved. Their fears. Their truths.
"I won't sacrifice you," he said.
He reached out—not with divine might, but with his heart.
The world shuddered.
Flames dimmed.
And the mirrors shattered.
[System Override – Path of Unity Initiated]You have defied the structure of the Trial of Severance. Creating new path: TRIAL OF UNION.Warning: Divine politics disrupted. Consequences inbound.
Final Scene: A Shift in Heaven
Somewhere far above, in the divine realm's oldest chamber, a council of veiled figures stirred.
"He rewrote the trial."
"He chose connection over ascension."
"Then he is no longer a pawn."
"No," said the one cloaked in stars. "He is a threat."