Crimson bone fragments drifted down across the sky, and the last warmth above the dark sea of stars faded away.
Hun Zhan's consciousness left his shattered skeleton and appeared within a streak of crimson light.
Rootless and unsupported, he seemed liable to vanish from existence at any moment.
He knew perfectly well that he was already dead.
His flesh had shattered, his origin had burned away, and every last Against the Tide starfire had perished for the cause.
The path he had chosen and fought for had reached its end.
Under the rules of Monster World, beings like him would not disappear completely after death. Instead, the world's origin would forcibly recall and assimilate them, making them part of Monster World.
From then on, there would be no God of War, nor any Lord of Against the Tide.
The War God Seal that carried his lifelong path would also merge into Monster World.
Perhaps he, too, would be reshaped and reincarnated like those Origin Primordial Beings.
But by then, he would no longer be his original self.
Crimson light gently enveloped his wavering divine soul. Overwhelming drowsiness and a sense of sinking steadily eroded his consciousness, pushing him toward annihilation and reincarnation.
Just as Hun Zhan was about to close his eyes and sink away, something happened.
Deep within the hazy crimson glow, four figures with familiar outlines slowly emerged.
The four figures of light stood in four directions, the auras spilling from them ancient and vast, heavy with the weight of ages.
Hun Zhan's hazy, unfocused gaze sharpened slightly. Looking at the four figures he had thought long fallen, he felt a trace of bitterness rise deep within his broken divine soul.
"You old fellows-if only-you were still here. What a shame-you all failed."
He thought this was an