Chapter 57: The Shattered Chosen One

As Ethan descended the damp stone steps of the subterranean staircase, a crisp system chime suddenly echoed in his mind.

*Ding!*

> **[System Notification: Heavenly Chosen One Lumian has perished. Host has gained 200,000 Fate Points and unlocked the "Inner Thought Sharing System" feature.]**

Ethan paused mid-step, a faint, amused smile curving his lips. He stared at the glowing blue system interface floating before his eyes. *Lumian is dead. That means Rose completed her task.*

Though he would have loved to witness Lumian’s expression as he realized that the woman who had been his wife in his artificial, fabricated past life was the very one executing him, Ethan had no time to waste on petty sentimentality.

In truth, Lumian had never posed a genuine threat to his grand design, but because he was listed as a target, his elimination was absolute.

Another notification chimed immediately after.

*Ding!*

> **[System Notification: Seraphina Vance has successfully integrated her newly acquired sovereign power. Her Fate Value has increased by 100,000 points.]**

Ethan’s smile softened into something genuinely fond. Over the past ten years, Seraphina had funneled a mountain of supreme opportunities straight to him, drastically depleting her own original fate reserves.

Armed with her past-life memories as a reincarnated Heavenly Empress, she knew the exact coordinates of every hidden realm, ancient legacy, and cosmic treasure.

For instance, a heaven-shattering flaming spear—a celestial artifact fragment that had fallen directly from the cosmos—was supposed to land in the hands of a neighboring empire’s emperor according to the original timeline.

But because Seraphina shared her meta-knowledge, she intercepted it and secretly bound it to Ethan’s soul while he slept, leaving no outward trace.

Ethan raised his right hand, flexing his fingers. Though his skin appeared completely normal to the naked eye, when he channeled his blue spiritual sight, a dense, pitch-black spear tattoo materialized across his palm, radiating a terrifying, world-ending pressure. A true heaven-shattering weapon, gifted entirely by Seraphina.

This could be considered Ethan’s most powerful weapon at the moment, a treasure given to him by Seeaphina.

However, despite its immense power, this treasure wasn’t designed for attacking. Its primary purpose was to defend him.

The reason was simple. Seraphina had integrated the treasure into Ethan’s body in such a way that if anyone attempted to kill him, it would automatically launch a counterattack and eliminate the attacker.

More terrifyingly, this treasure could kill beings up to Rank 8.

With such terrifying capabilities, it deserved to be classified under the Heaven-

Destroying Category in the Seven Sacred Treasures ranking.

Unfortunately, Ethan couldn’t use it himself yet.

Seraphina had sealed it inside his body using knowledge and spells far beyond his current understanding. Even when Ethan exerted all his strength, he could only sense the treasure’s existence within him.

He couldn’t draw it out, let alone control its power.

And Because Seraphina continuously redistributed her monumental protagonist luck and supreme treasures to Ethan, the cosmic laws of Heaven had grown furious. Her original protagonist luck—once a staggering 20 million points—had been slashed down by 5 million, leaving her with 10 million as celestial punishment for breaking the protagonist script.

This realization had initially worried Ethan, prompting him to orchestrate today’s brutal harvest: seizing Kael’s shadow entity and absorbing the Dragon and Phoenix blessings. His plan was to force this multicolored divine energy ball onto Seraphina. Convincing a former Heavenly Empress to accept such a gift might require brute force, but she had just acquired another massive asset—the **Eye of the Abyssal Sovereign**.

Ethan reached into his storage ring, pulling out the swirling, multicolored energy sphere that pulsed with raw dragon and phoenix divinity. He stored it back away, knowing he would eventually have to force it upon her. With Lumian’s 200,000 points added to his stash, his mind raced with lucrative upgrades and items to purchase from the system store.

Suddenly, his footsteps halted. *Wait... where is Arthur?*

He had tracked Lumian, Kael, and Seraphina, but Arthur was entirely absent from this sector of the secret realm. What kind of hidden opportunity was his "dear brother" stumbling into elsewhere?

Before he could ponder further, another notification flashed across his vision.

*Ding!*

> **[System Notification: Host has successfully stripped Kael of the Dragon and Phoenix Blessings and eliminated the Heaven-chosen heroine, Vespera. Kael’s Fate Points have decreased by 100,000.]**

From the upper platform far behind him, Kael’s ragged, tear-soaked shrieks still echoed faintly down the stairwell, a testament to his utterly shattered psyche. Ethan ignored the pathetic wails, humming a casual tune as he strode out of the stone cavern to hunt down Arthur and see what path destiny had carved for him.

***

Back at the summit of the grand staircase, the golden-blue protective barrier finally dissolved into nothingness, allowing the trailing wave of adventurers to finally reach the top.

When the foremost cultivators stepped past the threshold and into the sacred bed-chamber, their jaws dropped in absolute, unadulterated horror. Several of them instantly doubled over, vomiting violently at the grotesque sight before them.

Lying broken, battered, and utterly naked on the blood-soaked sacred bed was Kael. Pinned mercilessly beneath him was a massive, two-meter-tall muscular orc, its brutal assault continuing relentlessly while Kael’s lower body bled profusely.

Spotting the newly arrived crowd, Kael’s tear-filled eyes widened with desperate hope. He sobbed hysterically, clawing at the mattress. *"Help me! Please, someone help me! He’s going to ruin me!"*

A few kind-hearted cultivators moved forward to intervene, but before they could take another step, their eyes flashed an unnatural, unnatural pink. A foreign, terrifying mental imposition hijacked their minds.

Their expressions went entirely blank, and without a single word, they turned around, stepping backward and completely ignoring his agonizing pleas.

Kael broke down completely, wailing in a pool of blood, sweat, and tears.

*"Why?! Why is this happening to me?!"* he shrieked into the empty air, his voice cracking with unbearable anguish. *"I have no family left in this life, and now... my virginity is gone! I never wanted to open this damn gate! Mom... please, take me back to Earth!"*

The monstrous orc showed no mercy. Gripping Kael by the back of the head with heavy, calloused hands, it forced his face downward, its relentless assault intensifying with brutal, unyielding force.

Kael’s shrieks of sheer, unadulterated agony echoed endlessly through the grand staircase hall, vibrating off the blood-stained stone walls.

Any warri who managed to push past the lower steps and reach the upper platform was instantly ensnared by an insidious mental hex; their eyes glazed over with an unnatural pink hue, their minds hijacked before they could process the scene, forcing them to turn around and walk away in cold indifference, ignoring his desperate cries for help.

For seven agonizing, torturous hours, the nightmare continued without a single moment of respite.

Slowly, inch by inch, Kael’s burning fury and bottomless despair forced his shattered dantian to dredge up the last dormant reserves of his spiritual mana.

A sharp, brilliant blade of pure white light flickered into existence in his trembling, blood-soaked hand.

With a guttural, blood-curdling roar born of absolute hatred, Kael lunged upward, driving the light sword straight through the orc’s thick neck and severing its head in a single violent arc.

He collapsed back onto the ruined, blood-soaked mattress, gasping for air.

Excruciating agony tore through his lower body; he could no longer feel his legs, and his internal organs felt utterly pulverized, completely devoid of sensation.

Yet, the physical torment was nothing compared to the demonic rage consuming his soul.

With shaking hands, Kael forced open his spatial ring, drawing out a heavy, secondary blade. Channeling every remaining drop of his volatile mana into the steel, he ignited it into a searing, colossal Sword of Flaming Light.

He began hacking, slicing, and burning the lifeless, half-decapitated corpse of the orc over and over again. He chopped the beast into bloody fragments, slashed the flesh to ribbons, and scorched the remains with searing flames, venting his boundless hatred until not a single recognizable piece of the monster remained.

He tore into the ashes until every trace of the orc was utterly vaporized into nothingness.

Collapsing amidst the smoldering, blood-slicked cinders of the sacred bed, tears mixed with dirt and sweat streamed down Kael’s pale face. He heaved ragged, tortured breaths, his eyes burning with an icy, lethal malice.

"Whoever you are..." Kael choked out, his voice cracking with a terrifying, vow-bound venom as he stared blankly up at the vaulted ceiling. "Whatever monster put me through this... I swear to the heavens, I will find you. I will tear your soul apart, and I will make you pay for every single second of this humiliation!"

If Ethan were here right now and heard Keal saying those words, he would undoubtedly laugh before replying.

"You want revenge on me? And you actually think you can get it?"

He would then smile coldly and continue, "If you think your suffering is finally over, you’re dead wrong. This is only the beginning."

"As for lumian, I’ve already had him killed. But unlike him, I won’t grant you such an easy death. You still have a long way to go before your suffering ends."

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