Crown Prince [POV]
*Die. Die. Die. Die.*
The single, repetitive, unadulterated mantra bounced violently against the walls of my consciousness, echoing with the absolute, crushing weight of a high-realm celestial execution decree.
Flying through the blood-scented, chaotic atmosphere of the ruined imperial plaza, my gaze remained locked with absolute, laser-focused hatred upon the single most repulsive, unforgivable biological entity I had ever encountered in my entire mortal existence: Great General Tang Gong Fai.
I didn't care about the political landscape of the kingdom anymore.
I didn't care about the historical preservation of the palace walls. The only objective left in my soul was to violently disconnect that traitor's head from his shoulders and gift it directly to my fallen beauty as an apology for failing to protect him.
The Great General, having completely carved a bloody path through my remaining loyalist vanguard, caught sight of my incoming silhouette and let out a booming, arrogant laugh, thrusting his heavy claymore upward to meet my descent.
As I flew through the air, my hand reached toward the spatial storage ring on my left finger. With a sharp, metallic ring that cut through the deafening roar of the battlefield, I drew the forbidden weapon: the Black Blazing Void Sword.
This specific weapon was gifted to me by my father on the exact day of my sixteenth birthday, forged from a highly volatile, deep-space meteorite stone that had fallen from the heavens centuries ago.
The blade was entirely coated in a permanent, shimmering layer of raw azure aura—an energy so profoundly destructive and unstable that the imperial elders had strictly forbidden me from ever unsheathing it in public due to the high probability of localized geographical collateral damage.
I had never used it. Not once. But today? The rules of engagement had officially been liquidated.
*Clang!*
Our blades collided with an earth-shattering resonance that sent a massive, visible shockwave of azure and crimson qi rippling across the marble stage.
Sparks flew everywhere like a localized meteor shower, the sheer kinetic pressure instantly vaporizing the stone tiles beneath our feet and sending several lower-realm soldiers from both factions flying across the plaza like ragdolls.
"Do you honestly think you possess the qualifications to be a King, you arrogant brat?!" Great General Tang roared, his facial muscles straining as he tried to push against the crushing weight of my azure aura.
"Look at yourself! You are not worthy of this throne!"
"If an absolute, peerless sovereign like myself is considered unworthy," I replied, a cold, terrifying sneer breaking through my stoic imperial mask as my eyes burned with crimson killing intent,
"do you truly believe a bloated, treacherous parasite like you could ever hope to claim it? Dream on, old man. You will never lay your filthy, treasonous hands upon this empire—and I will personally ensure that every single member of your next generation is completely eradicated from the imperial genealogy records."
With that being said, I ceased all defensive moderation. I aggressively funneled 100% of my internal imperial mana directly into the core of the meteorite blade. The steel didn't just glow; it violently vibrated, its outer color instantly darkening into a deep, light-devouring void black as the azure flames erupted into a raging bonfire.
=====°°°°°
Tang Gong Rong [POV]
*Ha! Absolutely spectacular!*
A deep, intensely satisfied chuckle vibrated within my chest as I gazed down at the completely paralyzed, fast-asleep form of Lady Jiao Shu Heng currently resting across the arms of my elite shadow assassins.
The tactical acquisition protocol had been executed with textbook perfection. My destined first wife was officially in my possession, her immaculate porcelain skin looking as breathtaking as ever under the hazy smoke of the battlefield.
"Take her immediately to the secure, reinforced underground transport carriage at the rear perimeter," I instructed my shadows, my voice dropping into a low, authoritative murmur.
"Guard her with your actual lives. If a single hair on her head is damaged before we successfully establish the new regime, I will personally use your souls as fuel for my cultivation furnace."
"By your command, Young Master!" the shadows whispered in unison, vanishing into the shifting smoke like obedient ghosts to secure my prize.
With the primary luxury asset handled, my gaze naturally drifted back toward the grand imperial stage where the high-velocity drama had just unfolded.
Specifically, my eyes sought out the exact coordinate of the second beauty—the mysterious, sharp-eyed creature who had miraculously teleported onto the stage to save the Crown Prince.
A heavy, profoundly disappointed sigh escaped my lips.
What an absolute, tragic waste of top-tier visual scenery. Through the precise focus of my high-realm cultivation pupillary technique, I could see his limp body lying across the marble.
The forbidden golden arrow had completely penetrated his chest cavity. I knew the exact physical mechanics of that weapon; even if the Crown Prince had miraculously pulled the shaft out, the malicious, life-sucking tracking curse had already systematically destroyed his internal meridians.
The unique, sharp, and entirely captivating allure he had possessed just minutes ago was officially gone, ruined entirely by plot compliance.
*Sigh... so incredibly disappointing,* I thought, shaking my head.
*I suppose I will have to find a replacement first concubine once the blood settles.*
Looking slightly past the gorgeous corpse, my eyes landed on the main throne just in time to see the old Emperor violently cough up blood and completely collapse against the golden armrest, his life force hitting absolute zero.
A devilish, triumphant smile broke across my face.
*Ha! What a genuinely beautiful sight!*
The old sovereign was officially dead, the loyalist forces were completely leaderless, and the only obstacle left between the Tang family and total global domination was that ugly, structurally weak, and thoroughly stressed-out Crown Prince.
I confidently turned my eyes toward my father, expecting to see him effortlessly decapitating the bratty future King with his superior military cultivation base.
But the exact millisecond my eyes locked onto their duel, the smug smile completely froze on my lips, my expression instantly warping into a deep, horrified frown.
*What the actual, unadulterated f*ck is going on?!*
Up on the stage, the Crown Prince's sword had completely turned into a pitch-black void of pure destruction.
With a single, monstrous downward swing that literally tore a rift through the local air currents, he struck my father's claymore.
The impact was so violently catastrophic that my father—the legendary, undefeated Great General of the Yang Empire—was literally launched a full mile away through the air, smashing through three separate structural marble pillars like a human cannonball.
Before his body could even hit the ground, the Crown Prince transformed into a streak of blinding azure light, chasing after his flying figure with the speed of a localized lightning strike.
My entire face darkened into an ugly mask of pure panic. Throwing caution to the wind, I channeled 100% of my agility qi, lunging directly toward their direction to help my father before his biological systems were permanently shut down by the male lead's rage.
Xiaofan [POV]
*Oh no! This is bad! This is mathematically catastrophic!*
My heart practically leaped into my throat as I witnessed Tang Gong Rong launch himself across the battlefield, moving with high-velocity precision directly toward the coordinate where the Crown Prince was actively hunting down the Great General.
If those two high-realm monsters double-teamed the future King while he was operating on pure, unhinged emotional grief, the loyalist side would completely lose its primary combat asset!
I instinctively tried to shift my footing to intercept him, but my own physical situation was far too cluttered.
A fresh wave of Tang family rebel soldiers surged forward, blocking my path with heavy iron shields.
Furthermore, the absolute highest-priority threat on my immediate radar had just stepped out from the clearing smoke.
It was the second son of the Tang clan—the notoriously corrupt, utterly repulsive fatty of the family, Tang Xiaojian.
He was casually twirling a poison-tipped dagger between his stubby, silk-covered fingers, a sharp glint of pure, calculating slyness dancing within his bead-like eyes.
The moment his gaze locked onto the fresh blood painting my face and dress, that disgusting, knowing smirk widened across his face.
I immediately stopped my forward momentum, stepping back into a solid, low-profile assassin stance and glaring at him with a fearless, bone-chilling intensity.
"Well, well, well... look who we have here," Tang Xiaojian purred, his voice dripping with a greasy, deeply unsettling amusement that made my skin want to violently crawl off my flesh.
"Little Xiaofan... how have you been? Did you miss me, hmm? Did you miss all those beautiful, entirely happy moments we made together back in the dark corridors of the training estates?"
The sheer sight of his face made an intense, physical wave of nausea wash over my stomach. Disgust, raw and unfiltered, mapped itself clearly across my every feature.
"Pweh!" I spat directly into the crimson-stained dust between us, my voice carrying the freezing resonance of an executioner's blade.
"When I look at your bloated, pathetic silhouette, all I can see is a deeply disgusting, sub-human creature. You aren't a man, Tang Xiaojian—you are a literal demon crawling out of the lowest layer of the abyss. Just looking at your repulsive face for a single consecutive second makes me want to violently puke, drag your head down to the dirt, and repeatedly step on it until there's nothing left but grease."
The creepy, overconfident smile on his fat face instantly froze solid. Within a fraction of a heartbeat, his skin turned an ugly, mottled shade of crimson as pure, unadulterated rage completely warped his features.
His eyes narrowed into two murderous slits, his teeth grinding together with a wet, sickening crunch.
"You are officially a dead woman, you little bitch," he hissed through gritted teeth, his high-realm poisonous qi violently flaring around his daggers.
"Come and try it, you parasite," I whispered.
And with a sharp, explosive burst of kinetic energy, our blades crossed, and the final duel for gege's honor officially began.
=====°°°°°
Xiu Liang [POV]
Meanwhile, far away from the flying heads, the collapsing pillars, and the high-realm geopolitical warfare, the atmosphere inside the sterile, blindingly white system dimension had completely devolved into a shouting match.
"YOU ARE A FUCKING SHIT SYSTEM! A GENUINE, CERTIFIED, MECHANICAL PIECE OF TRASH TOASTER!"
I was literally slamming my fists against the mahogany executive desk, my modern corporate composure completely shattered into a million angry pieces.
I pointed a trembling, highly aggressive finger directly at the floating, neon-blue digital cube that was currently attempting to display an innocent, wide-eyed emoji face on its interface.
*"Host, please maintain proper corporate decorum inside the system breakroom!"* 888 chimed back, its electronic voice emitting a sharp, defensive beep.
*"The trajectory alteration algorithm was executed with 100% mathematical accuracy according to your explicit, high-priority verbal instructions! You specifically stated, and I quote from the internal audio log files: 'Alter the tracking parameters right now so I can save the Crown Prince!' I simply fulfilled my operational duties as your assigned administrative assistant!"*
"I TOLD YOU TO USE A MAMBO-JAMBO TOOL, NOT CONVERT MY TRACED BODY INTO A LITERALLY MAGNET FOR AN INCCURABLE SOUL-DRAINING APOCALYPSE ARROW!" I roared, my chest heaving even though my digital soul didn't technically possess lungs.
"Do you have any idea how much that hurt?! The pain reception bypass didn't even kick in until after my entire central nervous system felt like it was being aggressively blended by a high-speed industrial mixer! I am a background worker! A corporate survival specialist! My job description explicitly states 'maximize lifespan through strategic avoidance of plot conflicts'!"
I forcefully marched over to the 4K live surveillance screen, pointing aggressively at the image of the Crown Prince currently losing his absolute mind and slicing Great General Tang through a mile of solid imperial real estate.
"Look at that screen!"
I screamed, my voice cracking with deep, existential despair.
"Look at what your trajectory override has done! The male lead has officially entered a permanent, unhinged yandere killing mode! He thinks I'm his tragic, dead star-crossed lover! If I wake up now, he's going to lock me in a golden cage for the next five hundred chapters! And look at Xiaofan! She's currently turning into John Wick out there, decapitating people left and right because she thinks her gege was murdered by the state!"
System 888 slowly floated backward, its pixelated face shifting into a slightly guilty, sweating corporate avatar emoji.
*"Ding... well, look at the bright side, Host! The operational metrics for character investment have never been higher! The core developers are currently giving us an automated five-star performance rating for generating peak narrative tension—"*
"I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE DEVELOPERS' RATINGS!"
I bellowed, leaning completely over the desk, my eyes narrowing into two icy slits as I prepared to drop the ultimate, contract-breaking truth bomb regarding the bizarre, highly suspicious structural anomalies I had just noticed within my character vessel's internal data core during the comatose state.
"System... answer me honestly right now, without a single syllable of your generic corporate script guidelines," I whispered, my voice dropping into a terrifyingly hollow, deadpan tone that caused a literal, visible glitch to ripple across the blue cube's neon interface.
"Are you absolutely, 100% certain that I am not actually—"