---
They came without sound.
Seven blades of light descended from the Divine Council — each one forged from the breath of stars, each wielded by an Arbiter of Law. Clad in celestial iron and crowned with halos carved from time, they did not speak as they fell.
They simply existed.
And that was enough to kill worlds.
Yun Che didn't flinch.
He stood on the bones of forgotten titans, Hong'er floating beside him like a blood-red whisper made solid. Jasmine stood a breath away, her Primordial Aura weaving across her skin like threads of annihilation. Their eyes met.
No words.
Only will.
---
The first Arbiter struck.
A spear of holy origin tore through the sky, trailing golden embers and prayers meant for gods long dead.
Yun Che stepped forward.
He didn't dodge.
He dragged his fingers across the air, and the spear shattered — not from strength, but from irrelevance.
Jasmine moved at the same moment, her footfall cracking the earth as she blurred into starlight, meeting two Arbiters at once. Her blades — unnamed, wrath-born — sang with the grief of all the lives Heaven had culled.
The fight became a storm.
Not of lightning.
But of meaning.
---
The third Arbiter unleashed chains of Judgment, crafted from the spine of a divine beast. They sought Yun Che's soul — not to wound it, but to redefine it.
He laughed.
Just once.
And that laughter was a heresy.
He raised Hong'er high — no longer just a sword, but an oath, a rebellion, a love sharpened by war.
One swing.
The chains didn't break.
They forgot they were ever forged.
---
Jasmine struck the fifth Arbiter into the sky — and followed.
They clashed above a sea of clouds painted crimson by the moon's return.
Every blow she gave echoed with her past, every wound she received was silent, and every time her blade drank celestial blood, it sang Lian'er's name.
---
Then the sixth Arbiter opened their hands and revealed the Word of Denial — a decree etched into Heaven's Law.
A single phrase: "Return to Order."
It roared toward Yun Che, not as sound, but as reality rewriting itself.
He walked through it.
The decree shattered like fragile glass.
His aura rose, not in rage, but in remembrance.
Hong'er pulsed.
Jasmine landed beside him, blood trailing her lips.
He caught her.
She smiled.
"You're late."
---
The seventh Arbiter, the strongest, descended then — not with weapon or law, but with memory.
They were the Keeper of the First Flame.
Their eyes burned with the day the Crimson Throne fell.
"You should not exist," they said.
Yun Che's gaze turned toward the sky.
Then toward the moon.
Then toward the eighth light, still pulsing from beyond.
"You said that last time."
He walked forward.
And the Keeper met him.
---
The fight was not a clash.
It was a question.
Each blow a challenge.
Each block a refusal.
Each wound a statement:
"I remember. And I refuse to forget."
They fought atop winds that spun galaxies, their blades carving through starlight and storm, their fists striking echoes into the fabric of time.
And when the Keeper brought down the First Flame—
Yun Che stepped into it.
Not to resist.
But to claim it.
---
A hush fell across the battle.
The Arbiters stilled.
Even Jasmine froze.
Because the fire did not consume Yun Che.
It bent.
It kneeled.
And behind him, glowing in the distance, the Crimson Throne flickered once more…
Then opened.
Not a seat.
But a door.
---
And far above, watching from the edge of the Eternal Spiral, the Evil Infant whispered:
"Now show them why it was sealed.