---
Yuan hovered above the broken spires of the ruined Azure Crown, his smile fading, replaced by a look of something ancient… and sad.
> "Come on, big brother. Don't you want to know?"
Tianming stood frozen.
His Chaos Eye pulsed violently — timelines unraveling around him.
> [Bloodline Override Request: Target – Yuan]
[Status: UNSTABLE / MEMORY CORRUPTED]
[Proceeding may trigger system backlash]
And yet—
> "I have to know."
He reached out.
Soul Thread ignited.
A silver-black thread lashed from his palm into Yuan's heart. The boy didn't resist.
He simply closed his eyes.
---
[Memory Sync Initiated: Yuan – "The Thing You Did"]
> [Warning: Emotional collapse risk > 68%]
[Are you sure?]
Tianming whispered: "Yes."
---
FLASHBACK – The Vault, Year -2 Before Collapse
Tianming was fifteen.
He stood before the Architect Council — restrained in silver chains that pulsed with soul-venom. Blood ran from his mouth.
Across the glass wall:
Yue'er.
Trapped in a soul-conversion pod.
They were turning her into a Weaponized Oracle.
> "Let her go!" Tianming screamed.
"She's not a threat!"
A gray-robed Architect leaned forward.
> "She's linked to you. That makes her a risk."
Another voice added—
> "You love her. That's your defect."
> "What are you going to do, Chaos Lord Prototype?"
"Kill us?"
Tianming's chains sparked — but his eyes were glowing.
> "No," he said coldly.
"I'll do something worse."
He inhaled. Deep.
And unleashed the forbidden code hidden inside his own seal —
the override key.
> "CHAOS CODE 000: Rewrite Authority."
Reality cracked.
Glass shattered.
The Architects screamed.
And Tianming — still just a boy — erased every soul in that room. Not by killing them.
But by rewriting them into nothing.
Even Yue'er's pod blinked out.
He collapsed after.
And when he awoke,
The Architects had sealed his memory.
Split his soul.
Locked away the code.
> "Because you broke the rule no Chaos Lord was ever meant to break…"
> You rewrote fate.
---
[Back – Present: Azure Crown]
Tianming hit the ground hard — blood pouring from his eyes, ears, and fingertips.
> [Corruption Surge: 19.4%]
[Mental Instability Warning – Echo Collapse Detected]
He screamed.
And for a moment —
all of time twisted around him.
The ruins rebuilt themselves in reverse.
The sky turned gold.
The city was whole.
> "No. Stop," Tianming gasped. "I didn't mean to—"
Yuan stood above him — not smiling anymore.
> "Now you remember."
> "You didn't kill the Architects, Tianming."
> "You erased them from existence. You became the first human to use god-level rewrite authority."
> "That's why they fear you. That's why they made me."
Tianming's hands trembled.
> "I… erased Yue'er too?"
Yuan nodded slowly.
> "And now, she's only real because you remembered her."
> "But memory is power. And power must be paid for."
Tianming stood. Weak. Shaken.
But his Chaos Eye had evolved — a third inner ring now spun in silence, deep violet and black.
> [New Trait Mutation Triggered: Third Eye – Awakened]
🔹 Passive: Timechain Sight – You can now glimpse decisions you never made.
🔹 Skill: Echo Rewrite (Locked) – [Requires 3 Chaos Cores and >30% Corruption]
🔹 New Limit: Soul Collapse Threshold Increased to 30%
Tianming breathed heavily.
> "What happens if I go above 30%?"
The system replied coldly.
> "Then you stop being you — and start becoming the thing they made you to be."
---
[Meanwhile – Golden Bird Nation, Oracle Garden]
A hundred soul-scribes gasped in unison. Their hands froze mid-scroll.
> "He opened the Third Eye."
> "He unlocked the rewrite code."
> "He's becoming what we buried."
---
[Back – Azure Crown]
Yuan took one step forward.
> "There's one more Chaos Memory waiting for you.
One more sin you've yet to remember."
Tianming looked up.
> "And then?"
> "Then you'll have to choose…"
> "Are you the Rebirth of the Chaos Lord?"
> "Or its Final Form?"
---