Chapter 117: The Echo That Burned the Sky

The Dominion Spire howled as ancient bindings shattered. The Ember of Liberation flared in Chen's grasp, a living comet of soulfire and defiance. The core of the Flame Court's powerbase was no longer a beacon of control—it had become a pyre of rebellion.

Lanmei's voice rang through the flames, urgent and sharp. "Chen! It's collapsing!"

Ye Yue pulled him back just as the central conduit burst into blinding white fire. The ceiling cracked, and divine energy vented upward in a pillar that pierced the sky.

The group fled as statues crumbled and the walls screamed with divine outrage. Sarina guided them through a dissolving passage of light, a hidden escape etched into the old gods' bones—until, at last, they erupted into the open air, breathless and scorched but alive.

Elsewhere, Across the Divine Realms

The sky twisted. The pulse of rebellion thundered through the Weave.

In the Jade Serpent Court, the Empress of Reflection sat frozen mid-ritual, her mirror fracturing as the Dominion Spire's light split across it. "He has touched the core," she murmured. "The seal is broken."

In the Court of Crimson Bone, Warlord Varka slammed a gauntlet onto his war table. "That damned mortal has ignited it. We are behind. Again."

In the Verdant Bloom, where balance was law, the high sages turned from their garden of dream roots, faces pale. "The fire was not meant to feel. And yet it remembers."

Even in the Court of Silence, where no word had been spoken in a thousand years, a single whisper was heard:

"He is becoming what they feared."

Back in the Skylands—Chen's Sanctuary

The group returned to their skyborne haven, battered and raw but victorious. The Ember, now dormant, pulsed with a quiet, sentient warmth at Chen's chest.

"We did it," Sarina said softly, awe in her voice. "We lit the match."

Chen nodded, but his eyes drifted to the sky. "And the gods saw it burn."

Ye Yue wrapped her arms around him from behind, her cheek against his back. "What you lit… was hope, Chen."

Lanmei, her blade at rest, added quietly, "And hope terrifies them more than war ever could."