Chapter 1: Extinction, The Caged Fiendish god
Under the sea of countless stars, where light itself seemed to kneel before the void, a lone mountain peak floated in the vastness of space.
At its summit stood a roofless coliseum-like structure, vast and ancient, its circular stone walls cracked by time. Sinister statues with warped beasts faces and forgotten deities loomed along the perimeter, their hollow eyes watching in silence.
At the four cardinal points North, South, East, and West stood four colossal pillars, each rising so high they pierced the very heavens, their ends lost to the infinite stars.
Each pillar glowed crimson, etched with ancient runes and formation scripts pulsing with power. From them hung titanic chains, thick as a grown man's waist, forged from a black so deep it seemed to drink the light around it. A dark aura slithered off them occasionally. Occasionally, the chains trembled and when they did, glowing runes briefly flared to life as if suppressing it.
At the center of this unholy arena lay a platform the convergence point of all four chains.
And bound to it, kneeling, was a being.
Chains gripped his limbs. His body was covered in countless wounds lashes, cuts, burns, the remnants of divine swords and celestial lightning. His long, unkempt hair draped over his face like a shroud, hiding eyes that once made galaxies bow in terror.
Even in this pitiful state, with his powers sealed to the barest flicker, the aura leaking from him bent space around his form a suffocating pressure that would crush weaker demigods.
Suddenly, he stirred.
His head rose slowly, painfully. His eyes, half-shrouded in hair, gazed at the golden figure approaching.
The man was clad in radiant armor, shining with divine light and the blessings of a hundred realms. Each step he took echoed with righteousness.
"Dead Emperor," the golden figure said, voice calm, tone edged with pity and mocking. "Five million and twenty thousand years. And still… you refuse to admit you were wrong?"
The chained man's voice was hoarse more ash than flame yet steady.
"My Dao is the path of Dead. Where there is no life, there is no pain."
The golden man shook his head, a wry smile forming beneath his helm.
"And that... is where you've always been wrong."
"You and I, we were both once the pride of our era. But you chose the demonic path. And look where it brought you. Fallen. Forgotten. Chained like a black beast."
"Even the Heavenly Dao rejected you. So tell me… what makes you think you will ever win?"
There was silence before the chained man replied, "Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps the heavens are right to curse me. But if obedience was the answer, why does peace never last?Because we are sentient beings and we were never made for peace, only dead can bring true peace."
"And what of meaning? Does absence of pain give birth to peace, or merely numbness? Even the rocks are without pain, yet they do not ascend. Pain is the whetstone upon which Dao is carved. Without life, there is no Dao there is no existence. You forsook suffering, but in doing so, you forsook growth."
The chained man said nothing.
He had no answers or perhaps he no longer cared for them.
Was his path meaningless? Was rebellion against the heavens a curse?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
But at this stage, it didn't matter.
He simply looked up and asked:
"Why are you here?"
The golden man sighed, his expression softening.
"The demigods and demi goddesses have spoken with the Sage. We've decided to end it, to end you. For our peace... and yours."
"We'll send you into the cycle of reincarnation. Hopefully, you'll be born into a better fate."
"Though with negative karma like yours, even Ming Po might weep."
"Farewell, my old friend."
He drew his sword.
"We are not born to be still, Dead Emperor. We are born to struggle. That is what you never understood."
Light exploded.
BOOM.
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14 Years Later, Xin Family Household, Asura Empire
A young man, aged fourteen, lay stretched out on a bed. The boy looked very small, the lack of nutrition having clearly stunted his growth. His face was smashed in from many sides and looked unsightly. There were also many scars on his arms, which he had tried to hide by stretching down his shirt.
There was no peace in his sleep. Only the haunted twitch of a boy who had never known warmth, only the ache of survival. He had long stopped dreaming of comfort. Now, even his breath was rebellion.
A groan and whimper escaped his mouth every so often. The shirt he wore was bland and filthy, but through the mud and grime, a few letters could be made out: Xin. The boy's name was Ryuk, and he was a part of the Xin family. The Xin family was one of the three great families that ruled over Green Doe Village, which served the Bull Empire situated in the Woe Continent.
At this moment, the room was tense as a man with a large blonde beard and short silver hair stood inside Ryuk's room, and with him came a simple maid who served the Xin family. The man with the beard was Ryuk's father, Xin Feng, the eldest son of the Patriarch.
Xin Feng pulled out a piece of parchment and began to read it.
"Hereby, Ryuk, son of Feng, shall be expelled from the honorable Xin family. Ryuk shall be resigned of the surname Xin for the following reasons: the questionable murder of his mother, ruining the image of this great family with his bad habits and lack of effort to help the family."
Xin Feng spoke coldly, as if he were addressing a total stranger. One could easily understand the relationship between father and son from this single exchange. The maid then stepped toward Ryuk, pulled off the clothes bearing the Xin family name, and threw beige pants and a plain shirt over his naked figure in a single move, Ryuk didn't have the power to stop a cultivator and could only watch. Throughout the entire process, the maid displayed nothing but disgust as how the clothes smell and looked so dirty. Ryuk remained silent through it all as he clenched his fist tightly with anger burning in his eyes as he looked at his so called father.
They treated dirt like it was above him. But Ryuk had come to understand one thing—humans only spit on what they fear becoming.
A cold feeling radiated off him, and the maid Feng instinctively took a few steps back.
"Hahaha, revoke of the name Xin? A name that has brought me no single blessing? I never choose to be born! Feng, you bastard of a father! I... I can accept my mother's death as a reason, but not helping? I was never taught any cultivation methods from the day I was born. I want a trial in front of the whole family!" Ryuk spoke, his voice coarse and chilling something unusual for a kid he knew justice is not given. It is demanded. If the heavens won't judge me fairly, then I will judge them in return.
"Enough, you curse child! You killed your mother, my wife somehow! I know you did! Ever since you were born, I've never saw anything good in my life! Furthermore, it was the clan that petitioned the Patriarch for your removal. Just pack up and leave! We doing you good by not killing you. The Patriarch has been kind enough to allow you to stay in the Xin dog house at the edge of the village, so stop being so greedy, you freak!" Xin Feng shouted as his emotions turn a bit unstable thinking of his wife.
Ryuk pulled his weak body up, put on the clothes, and walked out.
"Hahaha, kindness? Don't joke. You think I don't know why you people are scared of me? You think I don't see those conceited bastards taking everything from my food, my medicine, my mother's heirlooms, just to try and feel superior? I know those bastards are worthless, and the only way they can feel better is if they believe they're better than me a nobody. If anything, I'm being kind. If I cultivated, who knows how high I could go? Screw their kindness. I'll crush them!" Ryuk yelled with anger as his eyes turn red.
"Xin family, even if it means death, I'll kill you all for this one day . You took your family name away from me? Fine! I don't want to even use Ryuk anymore too since it was given by you all! I am Zorai!"
If a name binds you to chains, then it is not identity, it is a leash.