I was suspended miles above the earth, completely separated from the world beneath me. There was no ground beneath my feet, no force I could push against, no direction I could move toward. I was simply there, hanging in the heavens, forced to look forward and face the being before me.
Amaterasu's radiant golden eyes stared directly into mine. They were beautiful beyond reason, carrying an infinite ocean of elegance and divinity, a beauty that felt as if it had been sculpted by the hands of creation itself. Yet beneath that perfection was something far more terrifying.
Fury.
Her gaze was not the gentle warmth of the sun. It was the burning rage of a star refusing to be extinguished.
"Fengxian. They call you The Flying General..." she spoke, her voice calm yet carrying the weight of the heavens themselves. "A strange title, is it not? I see no wings upon your back. I see no divine artifact that grants you flight. I see nothing that allows you to stand among those who dwell above."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Pathetic."
The word alone carried an unbearable weight.
"I know not what you truly are. I know not what you may become. Perhaps there is something hidden within you that even you cannot understand..." Her voice grew colder. "But right now, at this very moment, you are nothing."
Then...
The heavens changed.
At first, I thought it was the clouds.
I thought the storm above us had finally reached its peak.
But I was wrong.
The sky itself began to split apart.
The endless blue ocean above us cracked open, not like a storm breaking through the atmosphere, but like reality itself had been torn apart by an unseen hand. The laws that held the world together began to bend and fracture, revealing a void beyond the heavens.
There was no light within it.
No stars.
No existence that the mortal mind could comprehend.
Only a presence.
A presence filled with absolute anger, overwhelming dominance, and an authority that made even the concept of resistance seem meaningless.
The moment it descended upon the world, everything stopped.
The wind vanished.
The earth trembled.
The heavens themselves seemed to bow.
Even Amaterasu, the Celestial Sun Goddess, the being whose presence alone could illuminate the world, struggled beneath its pressure.
I watched as her body weakened under the weight of something far greater than herself.
And for the first time since my journey began...
I understood.
There were beings beyond gods.
There were forces beyond creation itself.
Something ancient had opened its eyes.
Something that did not need to prove its strength.
Something that simply existed, and because it existed, the world was forced to acknowledge it.
It was infinite.
It was absolute.
It was beyond comprehension.
"CEASE."
The voice did not echo.
It did not need to.
It was not a command spoken by someone seeking obedience.
It was a decree.
A law.
The moment that single word reached us, Amaterasu released me. Her expression changed, and even she, the goddess who had stood above me moments before, was forced downward.
She began plummeting from the sky alongside me.
The hole in reality slowly began closing, the terrifying presence retreating back beyond the boundaries of the world. As it disappeared, a single scoff escaped from the void, sweeping across the heavens with enough force to scatter every cloud above us.
The sky cleared.
The storm vanished.
The animals that had been overcome by instinct returned to normal, as if the world itself had forgotten what had just occurred. The trees returned to their roots, the grass settled, and nature resumed its endless cycle.
Everything returned to how it was.
As if nothing had happened.
But I knew.
Something had changed.
Because for a brief moment...
I had witnessed something that even the gods feared.
Akin to a comet descending from the heavens, I made my way back down to earth. The speed and momentum were so immense that fire began trailing behind me, burning through the air as I fell. I was a streak across the sky, a crimson comet visible for miles, leaving an unforgettable impression in my wake. From above, I could see the earth for what it truly was. Vast, endless, and yet somehow so fragile.
Sky Piercer unlatched itself from my back and began tumbling down toward the earth as well, following a completely different trajectory. My armor soon followed, piece by piece detaching itself and descending alongside me, scattering across the country like remnants of a fallen warrior. Everything that once represented my strength, my battles, my identity, was stripped away as I continued my descent.
Once again, I was left half naked.
No weapon.
No armor.
Barely any clothes.
Just myself.
And strangely enough, I felt free.
Yet beneath that freedom was an unfamiliar dread. The feeling of falling without anything to rely on, without anything separating me from the world. I was no longer the Flying General. No longer the warrior who carried Sky Piercer into battle.
I was simply Lu Bu.
Upon landing, any ordinary man would have ceased to exist from the force alone. Their bones would have shattered, their body erased by the impact. But I did not crash into the earth.
I landed with my feet first.
The ground beneath me immediately surrendered. The earth imploded before violently exploding outward, sending a shockwave through the surrounding forest. Trees were ripped from their roots and thrown across the landscape, while rocks and boulders became countless pieces of shrapnel that scattered through the air like falling stars.
For a brief moment, it looked as if a meteor had descended upon the world.
A deep breath entered my lungs, and with it came a strange sense of relaxation. I was alone. No weapon. No armor. No title to carry.
No god watching.
No enemy standing before me.
It was just me...
And nature.
I stepped out from the enormous crater and made my way toward a clearing within the forest. It was beautiful. The sun shone brightly above me, its warmth spreading across my skin as birds chirped and sang amongst the trees. The grasshoppers created their own small melodies beneath the leaves, each creature adding its voice to the endless symphony of life.
Once again, I found myself standing in the middle of it all.
The world continued moving without concern for who I was. It did not care about the battles I had fought, the gods I had challenged, or the destiny others had tried to force upon me.
For a moment...
I felt peace.
But then I felt it again.
That endless void of darkness.
That same suffocating presence I had felt within my room. The same unending dread and agony that seemed to leak from his very existence.
I turned my head to the left.
And there he stood.
Chiyou.
The Demon God of War.
The moment he appeared, the world around him began to decay. The trees closest to him darkened and withered, their leaves turning black as they fell. The grass beneath his feet charred and died, as if nature itself was rejecting his presence.
The air around him twisted, burning under the weight of his aura. Even the smallest pieces of existence, the very molecules surrounding him, seemed unable to remain whole in his presence.
He did not need to move.
His existence alone was enough to bring ruin.
Yet, as I looked to my right, I felt the complete opposite.
The radiant warmth of the sun.
A presence that did not need to demand attention, because the world itself naturally gravitated toward it. A sensation that could only be created by something pure.
Something that simply existed and allowed life to flourish around it.
It was beautiful.
It was like feeling love for the first time.
A sensation that every man and woman secretly yearned for, a warmth that reminded them why they continued living despite all suffering.
There she stood.
Amaterasu.
The forest around her was overflowing with life. Flowers bloomed beneath her presence, birds gathered around her without fear, and the trees stretched their branches toward her as if even nature itself wished to be closer to her.
It was divine.
Not because she demanded worship.
But because life itself wanted to exist beside her.
On one side stood Chiyou.
The Demon God of War.
The embodiment of destruction and endless darkness.
On the other stood Amaterasu.
The Celestial Sun Goddess.
The embodiment of warmth, creation, and life.
And between them...
I stood.
Once again, I was met by a choice.