In the great halls, shimmering with light that still fell short of the Heavenly Emperor’s grace.

At the moment, he sat indifferently, watching his son dictate among three of his former subordinates: the Heavenly Virtues of Kindness, Charity, and Diligence.

"Where is Jidu?" Kami’s voice thundered in the great hall, an act none dared to perform in God’s presence except for him.

Lan Duo answered him, her voice laced with a tiredness she couldn’t express in words, "The Dragon was enraged at his presence. I told you it wasn’t wise to send him there."

But Zihao countered her, "He is still capable enough to retreat. His pride gets in the way..."

Kami was about to bark orders when the Heavenly Emperor shifted in his seat.

All of their attention turned to him, recognizing the familiar look on his ever-calm face.

"What happened?" Kami asked suspiciously.

The Emperor shook his head and spoke as if it were just a passing matter,

"I hereby declare there remain only 6 Virtues now. The Virtue of Humility, or rather the Sin of Pride, is dead."

His serene voice left the great hall and reached the ears of everyone in the Land Above All.

The news unsettled the hearts of all those listening.

Eons had died, yet the 7 pillars remained standing, tall above all the Empyreans.

Yet, all of a sudden, he had died?

The three Virtues sitting in the great hall were shocked. Their expressions differed with each passing second.

They wanted to refute it, deny that one of them could perish just like that. But the one who had delivered the news was the Heavenly Emperor himself.

There was a common understanding between them that if one of them died, so could the others.

And so, their hearts were unsettled, for the first time since the war began... or more appropriately, for the first time since eons.

. . .

A few minutes later, the Lord of Shadows also received the news.

Surprised, he turned to face the three Virtues in front of him. Such an outcome, though advantageous to them, also introduced an unknown variable in the war he had been planning for centuries.

"Your former companion, Jidu, was killed."

Baoshi almost gasped, holding herself back. Qingyu mirrored her emotions.

The most unsettled, among those present, was none other than Old Gu.

A smile broke out on Yasashii Hito’s face as he stared at the old man. His lips parted. "It seems you were right about that child. How prophetic..."

He knew that even at this moment, Old Gu didn’t think that the Heavenly Emperor could be defeated by the likes of him.

Yet, a greenhorn boy killing one of the 7 Virtues drained all color from his face.

A century and a half earlier, the boy was helpless against a group of Sages, and now he had returned powerful enough to take down a Heavenly Virtue.

That kind of growth scared him; it scared him because that kind of growth was exactly something that could eclipse the light brighter than all stars, the Heavenly Emperor.

Yasashii, however, was more amused than surprised. Amused at the varying degrees of emotions reflected on Old Gu’s face.

The most prominent of these emotions was, evidently, regret.

’I wonder... is it regret of sealing him?

Or not killing him when he had the chance to?’

. . .

Back in the unknown Realm, Ozul looked at Zier,

"You should be first, but you have yet to fully heal."

Zier looked back at him, confused. "First for what?"

Only then did Ozul recall he had not even told them why he needed the Heavenly Virtue captured alive. They had simply followed along with his wishes.

"For the changes I am about to forcefully make in your bodies," he explained, "I am not sure if something could go wrong. Your mastery over Blood Arts would have been a failsafe."

The trio immediately understood that he was trying to make them stronger, but the other three remained confused.

"What do you mean by changes?" Rai stepped forward, asking curiously.

But Ozul shook his head, "You three will be the last. The physique of Beastkin is different from that of the Humans."

Rai’s eyes twitched; he wanted to yell at him that that wasn’t an answer to his question, but it was smarter to stay quiet in front of someone who could so easily subdue a Heavenly Virtue.

Blaze took a step, "Then experiment on me-" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

But Raven cut him off, "My control over Spiritual Essence is more refined. It’s better if I go first."

Ozul nodded. He had the same idea.

"Uhm, how about we just wait a little for me to recover?" Zier intervened, raising his hand.

"..."

Ozul stared at him, unblinking.

"How long will that take?" He asked.

"A few hours? I think I can recover my strength in a day, max."

He had just assumed Zier would take weeks to recover.

"Okay..." He answered mechanically.

Raven smirked knowingly.

And so, Ozul opened another spatial rift, as all of them silently walked into it.

He could wait another day.

It wasn’t like he was dying to knock on the Emperor’s door, demanding the answers he had been looking for all this time.

...

Far from Phoenix City, the spatial rift opened right at the doorsteps of the small house in the City of Refuge.

The 6 Empyreans following behind him looked clueless as he quietly walked into the house and shut the door behind him.

"Come back when you’re healed," his voice came from inside.

The trio nodded, leaving with Ember and Rai for the central city hall. Raven also made sure that there was no presence anywhere near Ozul’s house.

Even Vesta, the unruly Beastkin, shrugged and left him alone.

Inside, the house was empty and dark.

But that was exactly what Ozul needed. Creating a comfortable bed-like structure using the Purity, he lay down in silence.

He had never truly discussed his thoughts with anyone.

But right now, he wished there was someone who could listen. That there was someone who could understand.

Lately, something was tugging at his mind.

A strong pull, a flash, and a familiarity that churned away what little peace his mind could procure these days.

The sensation, as if a vagueness was trying to come out of himself, spreading until it pressed against the walls of his mind.

The anxiety was anything he had ever suffered before. Something was wrong with him, and it wasn’t normal.

He had put it all aside when he came out of the Abyssos Prison, but after absorbing the Heavenly Virtue, it was thrumming.

It was becoming slowly unbearable.

’The stronger I get, the stronger it gets as well...’ He realized the problem.

The same thing was happening with his emotions as well. The stronger he got, the more vividly he could ’experience.’

As if the answer to this problem was just gaining a bit more strength, as if everything could be achieved if only he reached out to grab it—just that it was always too far.

Calming his emotions, he pacified the itch.

His thoughts wandered to his abilities, his strength, as he began to compare himself to the rest of the Virtues.

Right now, he was powerful. So powerful that he didn’t think he could test the force behind in a Realm with cities and towns scattered across the continent.

Even before accumulating Jidu’s essence and making it his own, he could cut into the Heavenly Virtue. Now that he had taken yet another step forward, it gave him an even greater edge.

"If they are only this strong, I can kill them all..."

. . .

A day later, he sensed Zier nearing his house.

With little else to do, he immediately opened the door, letting him walk inside.

"I hope you’re prepared for this," he mentioned, letting him know that he wasn’t really confident in tinkering with anatomies.

But Zier didn’t worry much. In all his experience, he understood that Ozul always took an extra step of precaution than was needed.

And even if something went wrong, he remembered all the dangerous experiments he had conducted in his own body and still managed to patch himself right back up.

"I can handle it," he replied, walking into the dark of the room.

His Empyrean senses allowed him to spot Ozul in the dark room as he walked and sat in front of him in a lotus position, closing his eyes as the blood in his body began to glow unnaturally.

With Blood Arts, he was ready for any problems.

"It might be painful. I-" he paused, not knowing how to put it without it sounding gruesome before he sighed and gave up, "I wanted to rip the Spiritual veins apart and build them anew, but I think reinforcement of the old ones will bring better results."

He was sharing his thoughts so Zier wouldn’t be caught unprepared by the procedure.

Furiously nodding, he replied, "Yes! Yes! I am sure that will bring better results, no need to rip apart my Spiritual veins, please."

Ozul didn’t say anything, closing his eyes, his senses shifted from the visual perception of his eyes to the perception of the Purity.

It entered Zier’s body and immediately latched onto all of the veins.

The thin black layer was solid, as it pushed aside the organs and took its place like an insulation layer near the Spiritual veins.

Zier winced at the casual handling of his inner organs, but remained steady.

’Well, that wasn’t so hard...’ he thought, sighing in relief.

Unfortunately for him, he had jinxed himself.

"Okay, brace yourself. I will start the merging..."