Chapter 264: Stellar Prism
Since the Deep SleepEnd, Kai Xiusu hadn’t felt this kind of threat in a long time—even the newborn Balor Fire Demon had been little more than a minor nuisance in his eyes.
But now, this call from the void stirred something far deeper, a dread that gnawed at the core of his being.
It’s time to uncover the truth behind all this.
After a moment of silent contemplation, Kai Xiusu thought.
If the entity behind this were truly capable of ending him, they could have struck during the battle. There would have been no need to lure him here.
And with the strength of the Red Dragon now, the only forces capable of trapping him would be those demonic Lords wielding near-Divine Power—beings of the Abyss. Yet such entities were repelled by the Prime Material Plane; they couldn’t manifest in their true forms without being torn apart by the fabric of reality.
So whatever lurked behind this, it had a vested interest in the Red Dragon—otherwise, why would it have nurtured him in a past life into a World Boss?
Perhaps he could turn that very advantage against it. A game of tiger’s mouth—stealing from the shadow’s grasp the very strength that was meant to be his.
With that resolve, Kai Xiusu folded his wings tightly against his body and lowered his head, carefully slipping into the narrow passage ahead.
Though spacious enough for demons and fallen giants, the tunnel felt cramped to him. But it was the only way deeper into the nest.
Still, his Darkvision served him well. His pale gold eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, cutting through the endless black.
At last, he reached the innermost cavern.
The cave was a nightmare of filth—sickly black-red blood smeared across every surface, writhing worms burrowing through the stone, and pools of acid eating through the rock like living poison.
But this was not all.
“This….” The Red Dragon’s eyes widened—something rare, almost stunned.
In the center of the cavern floated a twenty-sided Prism, each face etched with chaotic runes. From each surface, countless threads of dull yellow light pulsed outward, weaving through the air like veins of ancient magic.
Dark Chaos Mist swirled around it, thick with swirling particles that darted and shifted in random, frantic patterns, emitting a high-pitched, spine-chilling shriek—like a miniature Abyss itself.
“Stellar Prism,” Kai Xiusu whispered.
In his mind, the Prism was no mere artifact. It was a gateway—temporary, corrupted, but still the key to the Stellar Realm.
Stellar Realm.
A name he knew.
The pure realm of thought. The Silver Void between all true planes. Infinite, mysterious, and infinitely dangerous.
Here, the vast fleets of the “Stellar Corsairs”—Gis-Yangki’s warships—drifted like silver ghosts through the endless currents, raiding worlds across the multiverse. Yet even they were but specks in the grand design.
Beyond them, far greater and more grotesque things existed—Stellar Behemoths, Stellar Whales, and floating islands forged from the corpses of ancient, long-dead deities.
Even the most powerful and enigmatic Traveling Magicians viewed this plane as little more than a transit point—a place to pass through swiftly, never linger.
They bypassed exploration entirely, relying instead on magical conduits: Stellar Conduits or Prismatic Pools—devices capable of hurling a soul straight from the Prime Material Plane into any Outer Plane.
Stellar Realm…
If he had his way, Kai Xiusu would never step into this realm—certainly not now.
He could survive here, his strength enough to carve out a foothold. But survival wasn’t the same as safety. The unknown here was a predator waiting in silence.
“Come,” the voice echoed again, low and insistent.
“Embrace your fate.
Do not fear. Do not hesitate. Accept it all.”
The voice surged now—deeper, stronger, like a tidal wave crashing against his mind.
“No…”
Not this time.
Not under this kind of influence.
Kai Xiusu shook his head sharply, his pupils flaring. Even greed for power couldn’t blind him to the danger.
After a moment’s pause, he summoned [Heaven's Judgment Dragon Eye]—a divine relic of judgment and focus—and exhaled a torrent of fire, shaping it into a living, flame-formed dragon avatar.
The will of a Dragon Sorcerer warped reality itself.
The ethereal dragon eye embedded in the avatar’s face became its gaze, its connection to the outside world—and the conduit through which Kai Xiusu commanded the spellfire.
“Open.”
With only a fraction of his will, the runes on the Prism flared to life, each surface glowing with starlight. The gate to the Stellar Realm slowly, majestically, began to unfold before him.
Under his control, the Flame Avatar roared—a storm of heat and fire—then plunged straight into the passage.
Through the [Heaven's Judgment Dragon Eye], Kai Xiusu saw the world beyond: a tunnel of cascading rainbow light, stretching across distances beyond perception, until the edges of sight blurred and dissolved—then, finally, the last veil parted.
He stood in the abyss.
Stellar Realm.
The Flame Avatar stood upon a jagged black rock, its form trembling slightly in the silence.
Kai Xiusu whispered, “So… this is the Stellar Realm.”
In his past life, he had been nothing more than a mercenary, drifting through the Prime Material Plane—never touched by interdimensional missions, never glimpsed the grandeur of true multiversal realms.
Now, at last, he felt it.
Around him, endless void. Darkness threaded with silver currents—rivers of light that pulsed like veins of the cosmos. Stars—countless, brilliant—scattered across the sky, not just sources of light, but gateways to other planes, projections from distant outer realms.
Floating islands drifted through the void—some massive, some cracked and broken. Some were clearly the corpses of Stellar Behemoths. Others… might be the remains of forgotten, ancient gods—whose names were lost to time, buried beneath the dust of history.
And then, the voice came again.
Closer.
Clearer.
“The fire of revenge burns ever brighter…”
“Embrace the Abyss…”
“Come…”
The Flame Avatar drifted forward, guided by the sound.
Through a labyrinth of floating isles, it weaved—until at last, it found the source.
There, upon a floating island nearly ten kilometers across, stood a humanoid figure, bound and suspended in midair.
Three meters tall, its body twisted and monstrous—wings splayed like broken banners, horns jagged and cruel, skin raw and crimson. Every detail screamed Balor Fire Demon, a being of the Abyss.
Three pairs of wings—uneven, asymmetrical—writhed and flapped weakly in the void. The body was wrapped in thick, cursed chains, its limbs nailed to stone pillars. Around it, a complex web of magical runes pulsed with dark energy.
The entire island was a prison—built for one purpose: to contain this demon.
Shattered rocks floated around it. A crack stretched for over a kilometer—a wound in reality itself, a scar from a battle so fierce it had torn the fabric of space.
The demon was not the massive, hulking brute of legend. It was gaunt, emaciated—almost skeletal—but every breath it took sent a ripple of raw, deadly power through the air. A single loosening of the seal would release a flood of solidified Chaos Abyss mist.
Its head hung low.
Then—suddenly—it lifted.
Eyes deep as pits of flame locked onto Kai Xiusu.
A cruel, knowing smile curled its lips.
“The Path of Fate may shift…
But its endpoint is already fixed. Unchangeable.”
“Not by chance. Not by choice.
This is the decree of World Law…
And the final will of the Abyss.”
“Kai Xiusu… my perfect, fated Covenant Partner…
You have come at last.”
“Pleased to meet you.
I am Lord of Vengeance—Jezarslak,
a Balor Fire Demon from ancient times,
a former Lord of the Abyss,
and your future collaborator.”
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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