The Verdant Lunar World dimmed gently as the Infinite Sect gathered at the final spiral gate.
The moons themselves tilted slightly, forming a spiral above the exit portal—a gesture of recognition rarely shown to any cultivator, much less an entire sect.
> "The realm changed after us," Su Lin said softly, watching the constellation of oaths still glowing above.
Huzaifa nodded.
> "Because we didn't just take trials," he replied. "We left truth behind."
MIRA pinged up a visual feed—threads of divine contract energy now converged into their system map.
> System Update: Lunar Will integration complete. Realm-level negotiation protocols unlocked.
The disciples filed through.
But not all.
Two moons refused to close.
From one emerged a whisper: "He is coming."
From the other: "He remembers."
Huzaifa's gaze sharpened.
> "The Spiral War has already begun."
---
They returned to Qinglong Realm to find tremors—not in land, but law.
An entire region—Scargrave Ridge—was now ruled by a rogue sect known as the Eternal Blade Cult, whose members used swords forged from broken timelines.
Time Qi flowed strangely here. Trees bloomed backwards. Rivers flowed into the sky.
The Cult believed in a single prophecy:
> "When the Spiral rises, the Sundered Edge must fall it."
They knew of Huzaifa.
And they were preparing.
The Infinite Sect scouted from Rootspire's sky observatory.
> "Their weapons bend reality," Yuyan noted. "But they bend only one truth at a time."
> "We bend infinity," Huzaifa replied. "They will break."
He activated the Spiral Frontier Protocol—a newly unlocked realm command granted by the Lunar integration.
Five sub-realms opened.
Each held tailored training for sect disciples: quantum edge control, reverse-flow techniques, paradox combat forms.
They would not fight this war unprepared.
---
In Rootspire's deepest archives, MIRA uncovered a forbidden file—encrypted, unindexed.
> "Someone tried to delete this long ago," she murmured.
With Huzaifa's spiral key, the file unlocked.
A projection unfolded: ancient battlefields where spiral cultivators once fought Chrono-Templars, where entire minutes had been torn from timelines.
The war had a name: The Spiral War.
But no record of the victor.
Rheos arrived, his form flickering between god and shade.
> "Because the victor erased themselves," he said. "To end the cycle."
> "Until now," Huzaifa whispered.
> System Prompt: Fragmented Legacy Detected – Option to Reinstate Infinite Spiral Archive?
> "Do it."
A surge pulsed.
Knowledge from forgotten worlds rushed back.
And Huzaifa remembered who he once was—not a soldier in the war.
But the one who ended it.
> "I didn't lose. I chose silence."
Now he would rise again.
--
Under starlight warped by Blade Cult rituals, assassins entered the outer rings of Rootspire.
But the Infinite Sect was ready.
Yuyan's paradox blade intercepted one attacker mid-air—slicing not the body, but the possibility of a strike.
Su Lin crushed a timed-chained scythe with her oathfire, burning the enemy's vow that gave it form.
And then Huzaifa stepped into the fray.
> "You came with forged time," he said.
> "I arrived with evolution."
He touched one assassin's core—unweaving the steel from paradox itself.
> "You shouldn't exist yet," the cultist gasped.
> "Exactly," Huzaifa whispered.
A ripple erased the enemy.
And the others fled, unable to comprehend a foe outside their prophecy.
---
Huzaifa gathered the Infinite Sect and high-ranked allies.
He summoned the Spiral War Council—a convergence of powers loyal to freedom, evolution, and infinite truth.
Rheos, Yuyan, Su Lin, MIRA, Elder Korr, and new moon envoys took seats at the crystalline table.
Above them, the Spiral Sky opened—a projection of realms layered atop each other like cosmic petals.
> "The war isn't just in Qinglong," MIRA warned. "It spreads across anchors in other realms."
> "And it will not end until all of existence can choose growth over design," Huzaifa said.
He held up his Infinite Edge.
It pulsed.
> System: Spiral Dominion Path unlocked. Begin Ascension Protocols?
> "Begin," Huzaifa commanded.
The war had returned.
But this time, the spiral would not break.
It would consume.
---