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> "I choose… Chaos Eye."
The moment the words left Li Tianming's mouth, the throne of bone shuddered.
The corpse didn't move — not physically — but the air around its eye rippled, and a thread of glowing black flame leapt forward, straight into Tianming's forehead.
He screamed.
A thousand knives of light stabbed through his skull. His vision split into layers — past, present, soul, memory. Everything bled into each other.
The system stuttered.
> [Trait Acquired: Chaos Eye (Level 1)]
[Passive Effects:]
– See through illusions and disguises
– Detect nearby soul energy and hidden beings
– Glimpse probability-based "death echoes" (limited)
Side Effect: Temporary Madness Risk — Moderate.
Tianming collapsed to one knee, panting, eyes wide open and glowing faint purple.
The world… was no longer normal.
He looked at the cultists around him — and their auras screamed.
Each had a different soul color. Some pure. Some fractured. Some hollow.
But the horned priest?
He had two souls.
> "What… the hell are you?" Tianming muttered.
The priest froze.
> "You… you unlocked the Eye?"
Tianming stood slowly.
> "I see you. And I see him… hiding inside you."
> [New Passive Triggered: Death Echo Detected – Source: Cultist #3]
[Possible Future: Backstab. Poisoned Dagger. 18 seconds.]
He didn't hesitate.
Slash.
The third cultist dropped dead before he could even move — a dagger falling from his sleeve.
The others froze, stunned.
> "I told you," Tianming growled, voice colder now. "I don't need blind faith. I need control."
The priest knelt again, slowly. "Of course, my Lord. Forgive the test."
But Tianming was already turning toward the tomb again.
The corpse on the throne had gone silent. Its eye closed.
But the flame mark it passed into Tianming now shimmered across his own forehead — a third eye faintly etched like a closed scar.
The tomb whispered:
> "Now… go. Your prey comes."
---
🌒 [Meanwhile – Outside Sector 13]
A convoy of black warships hovered in the polluted sky, camouflaged in synthetic clouds. Onboard, Commander Eon of the Eagle Dominion reviewed footage from the fallen Valkyrie-07's memory core.
> "He absorbed her weapon. Overwrote her core signature."
He turned to the synthetic soldier standing beside him — a tall man with glowing circuitry embedded in his neck and spine.
> "Deploy the Hollow Blade Division. Initiate Phase II."
"If he has truly awakened the Chaos Eye…"
"We'll need more than machines to kill him."
---
🌌 [Back in the ruins]
Tianming emerged from the tomb hours later, cloak tattered, blade heavier, eyes colder.
As he stepped into the grey light of morning, he saw everything — even the wind left behind echoes of those who once breathed.
The system pinged again.
> [New Soul Trace Detected – 300 meters. Approaching.]
[Signature: Mutant – Unregistered. Death Echo: 97% chance — you.]
Tianming raised his blade.
> "Let's see if this eye is worth the pain."
---