The great gate closed slowly, like the turning of a heavy wheel of history, cutting them off from the looming unknown threat. Darkness, greedy like a monstrous beast, once again devoured all traces of light before them. Li Tuosen and Chu Yao stood like two solitary lighthouses, silently rooted in the endless void. All around them was deathly stillness, as though even time had ceased to flow. Only a faint, icy wind roamed like a ghost through the air around them, moaning softly.
Yet within A-Tuo’s chest, his heartbeat pounded like the drums of war—each powerful thump sounding an alarm bell, echoing with uncontrollable tension and a flood of anxiety that surged like crashing waves.
"You’ve made your choice. You’ve embraced your true name, Li Tuosen."
"Then, are you truly ready to face the fate that has long been sealed for you?"
The voice was a cold summons from the depths of hell, with no discernible direction nor presence—whispering like countless phantoms from the omnipresent darkness. As the eerie voice fell upon them, the previously frozen blackness began to writhe like a living entity, as though some ancient, malevolent being was stirring from its slumber.
In Chu Yao’s bright eyes, a flame of resolve ignited. Like a fearless warrior, she grasped A-Tuo’s cold and trembling hand tightly. With a voice gentle yet filled with strength, she whispered into his ear:
"Don’t be afraid, Li Tuosen. No matter what he truly is, he is only a shadow of your past—a part of you that once tried to flee. This time, I’ll be by your side. Together, we’ll face him without fear."
A-Tuo, like a warrior about to charge into battle, inhaled the icy air deeply, forcing himself to calm the turbulent storm in his heart. He slowly raised his head. The confusion in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a steely determination forged in fire, as he stared into the abyssal darkness.
In the next instant, a piercing screech split the air like a blade—followed by the sudden unfurling of massive black wings that seemed vast enough to shroud the entire world. They emerged from the darkness like a demon breaking free from hell, bringing with them a suffocating sense of oppression.
It was—
The Black Feather King.
Like a towering demon god crawling from the abyss, he descended before A-Tuo and Chu Yao. His massive form devoured all nearby light, casting them into a suffocating shadow. In his eyes, there was not a trace of humanity—only the frigid indifference of ice and the hollow emptiness of a bottomless void.
"You foolish mortals think that by knowing your true names, you can save everything? Pathetic."
The Black Feather King's voice, low and rasping like sandpaper scraping bone, echoed from the darkness like a death knell from hell.
"A true name is but the starting point of a fate already written. And it is also the cold mark of your inevitable end."
He raised his massive wings, each movement like the swing of Death’s scythe. The air trembled under their force, shredded by invisible blades. Every feather, cold and dark as obsidian, seemed a deadly weapon capable of reaping life with ease, shrieking through the air like the howls of tormented souls.
"You lowly insects—you are not worthy to surpass me. You were always meant to cower beneath my shadow!"
There was no mercy in his gaze—only the icy disdain of someone who ruled over annihilation.
As his words fell like final judgment, a storm of black feathers, sharp as blades and dripping with mortal venom, flew at them in a deadly barrage, tearing through the air toward their hearts.
But Chu Yao, a fearless warrior seasoned by countless battles, instantly drew her strange weapon—a blade forged entirely of feathers: the Featherfolk Sword. It glowed with a haunting light, as though imbued with the wrath of a thousand vengeful spirits.
"No! We will not back down again! We’ve made our choice—to sever the chains that have bound us with our own hands!"
Chu Yao roared like a phoenix reborn in flames. Her bright eyes blazed with unwavering resolve. Her blade sliced through the dark like a comet, pointing directly at the Black Feather King.
She and A-Tuo moved as one, their attack a perfect harmony of wills. The Featherfolk Sword danced like a furious storm, its arcs a deathly waltz, each slash cleaving the air with razor precision. Meanwhile, A-Tuo’s movements were steady and powerful, each step like the blow of an invisible hammer, shaking the ground beneath the towering foe.
Yet the Black Feather King moved with ghostly speed, his massive wings whipping through the void. The black feathers transformed into deadly bullets, raining upon the two like a relentless storm, trying to tear them apart.
"Such pitiful resistance—you think this meager power can defy my will? How absurd!" He laughed, a chilling sound like an owl in the night, full of scorn and contempt.
"All that you possess—your power, your struggle—it is all fuel for my strength. Your very existence serves only to make me stronger!"
A fire ignited in A-Tuo’s heart, an uncontrollable blaze of resolve. A yearning surged from his soul like a sprouting seed breaking through stone—he was no longer that helpless boy, drifting aimlessly, running from fear.
He clenched his fists. The force within him—like a slumbering dragon—erupted, surging through his veins not from despair, but from a searing desire for freedom, for self-determination.
"I’m not afraid of you! You are just a shadow of my past—and I’ve broken free!"
He roared like a beast unleashed, slicing the air with invisible blades. Countless points of starlight burst from around him, like shooting stars erupting from a volcano, casting light upon the consuming dark.
Chu Yao, in perfect synchronicity, unleashed her full strength. Her eyes radiated courage, and her Featherfolk Sword blazed to life, its tip piercing the sky as though to shatter the very night.
"This is our true power! We are no longer the weaklings we once were!"
She declared like a queen defending her throne, her voice soaring like the cry of a phoenix.
As the brilliance from their combined might illuminated the void, the rain of black feathers disintegrated like snow in flame, vanishing into scattered dust. In the Black Feather King's eyes, a flicker of disbelief emerged—but was quickly consumed by boundless rage.
"You... you actually—" His voice, once gravelly and cold, now shook with fury. His towering form began to flicker and distort like a mirage, until finally, it shattered into fragments of shadow and vanished into the void.
And yet—just when it seemed to be over, when the darkness around them began to ebb like a receding tide—Chu Yao’s sword, once sweeping in a storm, suddenly froze in midair. The space around them once again sank into an unsettling silence.
It was the stillness after a storm—the kind that hinted at something even greater, more devastating, just beyond the horizon.
A-Tuo’s heart pounded like a war drum. A cold, creeping unease flooded him.
He knew, like a traveler standing at the edge of a cliff, that this battle for their fate—was far from over.
The real test… had only just begun.
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