The acrid scent of blood, sweat, and metal suffused the air. Sounds of pained cries, agonizing howls, impassioned roars, and rousing grunts incessantly resounded. As one listened closely, no two sounds were the same.

A sensation of consciousness and awareness of self was born.

'Where am I?'

The first thought erupted like primeval light blooming at the dawn of all creation, abrupt and unforgettable. It ignited psyche pathways that seemed to have been dormant or deceased, burning a Sea of Consciousness into existence with the heat f mental strength, and smiting a soul into resonance with worldly might.

'Who am I?"

There was a heaviness. Trying to lift this heaviness was no different than pushing a boulder up a slanted hill that touched the sky. It was indescribably difficult, as exhausting as the imaginable could conceivably understand, yet the desire to complete the task was as prevalent as thought.

It was an ambition.

It was a dream.

It was a hope.

Push.

Push!

PUSH!!!

'OPEN YOUR EYES!!"

"HAAAAA!!!" A forceful inhale triggered a rising reaction as a pair of silver eyes exploded open with the strength to move worlds.

"Huuu...haaa...huuu...haaa..." A series of repeated breathing to siphon as much oxygen as possible while expanding and reaffirming the existence of one's lungs and ability to breathe. The ability to live. Clang. Clink. Bam. CRACK!!

A heart-wrenching shriek resounded in the ears, capable of instilling fear within the heart.

Alertness.

'I am Wei Wuyin of Red Dove City. I am a Royal Magi. I am a descendant of an Anima-Devourer. I am an Inheritor of Sin. I am an Empyrean Blessed. I am a True Void Dragon. I am an Akashic Tree of Knowledge and Emotions. I am an Eternal Creator of Genesis. I am the Inevitable Saber of The End! I am THE PARAGON OF THE STARS!!!'

"I AM ME!"

Suddenly, all things came to fruition within an instant. Wei Wuyin's eyes, which were forced open by his formidable will and soul, could observe his first sight. He was lying down, heaviness was on his chest, legs, and right arm, while his back was arched upwards, caused by a hard object beneath him. His position was odd.

The sky.

'The sky is...is that...?' Wei Wuyin's heart was grasped by disbelief. The sky was sanguine, akin to fresh- split blood, while the clouds were golden. Based on his understanding of celestial developments, it was highly likely that the solar star of this world was crimson. When he located the solar star of this world, it was rising from the horizon to the west, significantly different from the Myriad Yore Continent's native

star.

This celestial arrangement was a sign of retrograde rotation, indicative that the planet possesses an active World Soul. This was an extraordinary world, ancient and thriving. But where was this planet? Where was this world? Where was he?

Looking down at his torso, he knew why he was lying down with a heaviness. He was beneath corpses. And below him, there were likely more corpses. Severed limbs, heads, and the gore of exposed organs, crushed bones, and broken segments of armor, weapons, and shields encompassed his immediate vision.

Focusing intently, he discovered that all the corpses were humanoid. Moreover, so was he. Mustering some strength, he tried to pull the corpses off him. He grunted softly, exerting his strongest might, yet he was unable to remove the corpse lying atop him.

He was weak.

Too weak.

Intuitively, he tried access his cultivation base, mobilizing his innate energies to derive greater strength. But to no avail, he failed. For the first time, panic began to envelop his soul and mind.

'Orianna! King! Kratos! Eden! Are you there? ELEMENT! Little Defiant!! Bai Xiu! Heavenly War Spirit!!' He shouted repeatedly within his mind, but he was unable to project a mental incarnation within his mind to inspect his current state or use any spiritual sense.

'CELESTIAL EYES! COME ON!!!' He grunted harder, trying not just to activate his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity, but to push the heavy corpse garbed in thick armor aside. Despite his roaring grunt that strained his throat, he couldn't muster the right strength or leverage to extricate himself from this pile of dead.

Wei Wuyin felt sapped of energy, what little he had when he awakened, but he didn't give up. He regrouped his efforts, changing his strategy. Regulating his breathing, he observed the corpse and his body's position. It was on his torso, and both of his hands were in an awkward position, unable to properly lift or shove.

'Think smarter."

Patiently, he felt the stability of the corpse beneath him. It wasn't too stable. In fact, it was rather wobbly. There was a chance he was on a pile, so he decided to shift his hips to see where the least resistance was beneath him-left or right.

'Right.'

Seeing this, he began to slowly worm his torso about, readying himself with steadied breathing to accumulate energy. As there was the slightest leeway after he swung right, he dragged the corpse atop him to the left with a strong twist, relying on momentum and weight to shove the body off his torso. It slid off and then tumbled to the bottom.

fleshy series of splats of hitting flesh, metal, and then ground resounded in his ears. He stabilized himself before he slipped off the pile, finding his bearing as he returned to his lying down position, gazing at the sky. The tiny effort was gargantuan.

"Fa...ther!" A voice echoed in his mind.

"Orianna!" Wei Wuyin's voice was hoarse and not his own. He recognized the voice in his mind, however. Only a single one of his Spirits of Cultivation would ever call him that openly-Orianna. Joy suffused his heart as he tried to locate that voice, continuously shouting in his mind, hoping connection was beginning

form.

strengthen whatever

'T..ch!'

"King!" Wei Wuyin could hear them as if they were shouting on the other side of a wall, muffled yet distinct. He closed his eyes, focusing on their images, their presence, and their meaning to him, using various mental tricks to establish stronger connection. Surprisingly, it began to work.

"We're...here!" Eden's voice echoed out next.

"ROAR!!" A tyrannical roar laced with grave desperation and desire, forcing the world to bend to its will unleashed, surpassing the concept of time, space, and reality. Within an instant, Wei Wuyin could acutely sense their presence within him as his heart pounded in his chest, his mind throbbed, and his lower torso howled.

Then, Little Defiant's warmth that had shielded him for an untold number of years in the Samsara of the Stars washed over his body, dispersing the cold, lingering traces of death.

Element gently howled.

Wei Wuyin's eyes opened wide. He looked to his side, finding a chipped saber embedded in the chest of a nearby corpse. Moving slightly with wiggles, he was able to reach over and clasp the hilt. With a few grunts and hearty pulls, the spurt of blood followed as the saber was removed. The effort left him heaving heavy breaths.

Unfortunately, after pulling it out, he lost his balance. With a series of awkward tumbles, he fell from the pile of corpses and landed on the ground, smacked in the face by a stiff, severed corpse with its temple bashed in. One eye was missing, the other had popped out of its socket, hanging by a thin tissue, and its face was distorted with emptiness and regret.

"The family is together! Yay! Yay! Yay!" Ori's overly excited voice echoed within his mind, bringing a smile to Wei Wuyin's lips and heart all at once. This was despite the ghastly scene of the head.

"Tch!"

"Not even Hell can keep us apart," Eden commented with a sly, prideful tone of rarely shown confidence. Those words held true as the Second Calamity was unable to keep them away, their existences were tied together on a level far beyond ordinary circumstances.

"Tch," King remarked.

"...Where are we?" Kratos asked.

"I don't know." Despite hearing their voices, Wei Wuyin couldn't feel their power. Any of their power. He couldn't feel his innate energies that were cultivated since he was a young child or any sign of it. Slowly, he pushed himself upright, wobbly as his footing was, he could stand on his own two feet. "Are these my feet?" He looked at his legs and feet and the metal greaves and boots that covered them. He was thinner than he remembered. The legs were of the same height as his, but they were noticeably slimmer. Looking at his hands, he wore black gloves with steel-tipped knuckles and a set of metallic vambraces. Inspecting himself further, there was a cuirass on his chest alongside cauldrons. They all seemed to originate from the same metal.

He couldn't identify the material, but it evoked a strong sense of familiarity. Unfortunately, without his Spiritual Sense or Celestial Eyes, he was unable to determine more. His ears perked and his nose sniffed. Sounds were becoming particularly louder. One such sound was footsteps.

He lifted his gaze and what he saw caused his pupils to constrict!