The sky was on fire.
Flaming shrapnel rained from the heavens like hell's own judgment, igniting what little remained of the last United Earth Alliance forward base. Buildings that once stood proud had been flattened into skeletal remains of steel and ash. The screams of the dying mixed with the haunting screeches of dimensional monsters—unnatural beings from beyond the cracks in reality—forming a chaotic symphony of war and loss.
And amidst it all stood one man. A legend among soldiers. A phantom among monsters.
Commander Su Mengtian.
Clad in fractured black armor engraved with the insignia of the 9th Ghost Division, he was a titan among rubble, his breathing heavy, arms bloodied, and eyes locked on a singular truth,
This was the end.
Not of the war.
Not of humanity.
But of everything he had left to protect.
"Tian…"
The voice was so faint, he almost didn't hear it beneath the thunder of destruction. But he turned—swift, panicked—and there she was. Slumped against the edge of a shattered observation platform, Yueying looked like a broken porcelain statue: ethereal, beautiful, and far too fragile for a world like this.
Her white combat robe was soaked in crimson. The fabric over her abdomen was torn open, revealing flesh mutilated by the jagged spike of a Class-7 dimensional beast. Her silver spear, Moonfall, lay beside her, split in two. The light in her amethyst eyes—once fierce and unwavering—now flickered like a dying star.
"No…" Su Mengtian dropped beside her, falling to his knees as if the weight of her wound had crushed him too. "No, no, no. Not you. Not now."
He pressed both hands to the bleeding gash, trying to force her shattered body to stay intact through sheer will.
Yueying's fingers trembled as she touched his cheek. "You… made it."
"You shouldn't have stayed behind!" he shouted, voice trembling with rage and despair. "You were ordered to evacuate with the Capital Guard!"
"And leave you here alone?" she smiled faintly. "You should know by now. I always disobey stupid orders."
He wanted to laugh, but the lump in his throat turned it into a choking gasp. The metallic stench of blood was everywhere, but hers was all he could smell.
He was a mercenary commander. An elite hunter of the dimensional scourge. A survivor of over 400 missions.
But this…
This was the one battlefield he didn't know how to win.
"You don't die here, Yueying," he growled. "You hear me? I'm getting you out. I don't care what it takes. I'll carve a damn path through those monsters if I have to. Just stay awake."
But the light in her eyes dimmed further. "We always knew… this could happen. From the first moment we broke the rules… when I stepped down from the nobility… when I joined your war…"
"You didn't break the rules. You gave them meaning," he whispered, voice fraying like torn cloth. "You made everything I fought for worth it."
She smiled, slow and bittersweet. "You were always the wild one. The commander who wouldn't bow to anyone. Even fate. Even gods."
"Then I'll defy them again." His voice hardened. "I won't lose you. Not like this."
Her lips trembled. "You will… find me, won't you? In the next life?"
His breath caught.
She wasn't asking for a promise. She was giving him one.
"Yes." His answer was absolute. "I'll find you. I swear it. No matter what world I wake up in, I'll find you again."
The next silence was longer. Still.
Then her hand slipped from his face.
Her eyes closed.
And the warmth faded from her skin.
For a long moment, Su Mengtian didn't move. The war around him became a dull hum. The pain in his body, the smoke in his lungs, the open wound across his back—all of it was numbed by the singular, crushing truth that the only person who ever saw the man beneath the soldier… was gone.
Something broke in him.
And what rose in its place was rage.
Unshackled. Absolute. Cold as iron.
He laid her gently down, brushing a blood-soaked strand of hair from her cheek, and stood.
The air around him shimmered as he drew his blade—Dragonbone Edge, a sword forged from a beast that once tore through five cities. It hummed in his hand, as if sensing its master's fury.
The beasts were coming again. He could hear the earth-shaking growls, feel the pulse of the dimensional rift behind the mountains. They were closing in, and this time, there was no backup. No reinforcements.
Only one man.
He stepped onto the ledge of the crumbling tower. The wind tore at his cloak, and Yueying's last breath still clung to his armor.
They had taken his future.
So now he would take their blood.
"COME!" he roared into the void. His voice split the clouds like thunder. "I'LL SEND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU BACK TO THE VOID!"
And they answered.
Six monsters burst from the forest edge—black-scaled, with glowing blue eyes and bone-laced spines. Class-6 and above. One of them let out a shriek that shattered nearby glass. Another pounced.
Time slowed.
Su Mengtian moved.
A spin. A slide under the lunging beast. Dragonbone Edge sliced upward, splitting flesh and bone like paper. Blood splattered across his face, hot and acidic.
He rolled, pivoted, and launched himself into the next beast's maw, driving his blade into its throat before it could scream. Its death cry gargled into a hiss of smoke.
But they kept coming.
Claws tore at his armor. Fangs ripped at his limbs. And still he fought. Like a machine born only for death. Like a god who refused to kneel.
His blood soaked the ground beside theirs.
But he didn't fall.
Not yet.
Not until all six were dead, their corpses littering the base like twisted monuments to his wrath.
And then… finally… his legs gave way.
Su Mengtian dropped to his knees beside Yueying's body. His vision blurred. Internal organs ruptured. The broken sword clattered from his fingers.
But he smiled.
Because they had died together.
Because even the monsters knew: you don't take something from Su Mengtian without a reckoning.
As the light faded from his eyes, he whispered to the stars—
"Rebirth… if you're real… let me try again."
"Let me live for her… just one more time."
In the next life…
He would awaken to a world where magic had fused with science.
A world where humans unlocked beast bloodlines to become living weapons against dimensional chaos.
A world where ancient families ruled through awakened bloodline powers.
And he would be born again—not as a nameless commander—but as Su Mengtian, a child of ordinary parents in a distant district of Crimson Sky City.
He would have no power.
No title.
No authority.
But he would remember everything.
And he would begin again—not just to survive…
But to build an empire of his own.
To reunite with Yueying.
To become the strongest existence in this fractured world.