Blood dripped down the rugged arms of a man who was once praised as a hero to all. He was a man who spent every second of his life valiantly fighting for what he believed was right, uncaring of worldly desire.
Yet, here he was. Thick black chains made of Darkstar Iron cuffed his wrists and ankles, chaining him to the wall behind him and preventing any movement.
The material was well known for its ability to seal one's qi, but in this situation, it was hardly necessary. After all, they had already crippled his cultivation.
Nevertheless, the fire in the man's eyes didn't lessen in the slightest.
"Do you think this is enough?"
His voice was hoarse as he hadn't used it in many years. His skin was barely visible through the layers of dried blood that coated it, his face disfigured to the point where none would recognize him.
Still, he was unwilling to submit.
They trapped him in this place hundreds of years ago and tortured him almost daily in hopes of breaking his will.
However, they had never succeeded.
His legend had long withered away with time, becoming nothing more than fiction told to young children as bedtime stories. His existence as a human being was long forgotten.
Even his life force constantly dwindled on the edge of diminishing, but they wouldn't allow that to happen. Not until they got what they wanted from him.
As for who they were? That was something he would never forget. Their names cut through his mind every single day, etching themselves into his memory brutally in blood.
"Kronos, Althea, Hedrick, Jelena, Lucifer."
The Emperor of Time, Goddess of Life, Battle God, Demon Empress, and Great Sage. This was how the world knew them.
But to him, it was different. His closest friend, his lover, his brother, his sworn sister, and his most trusted subordinate. All those he trusted, and all those he had left in this life. Every single one of them had turned on him.
His closest friend stabbed him in the back, his lover poisoned him, his brother crippled his cultivation, his sworn sister locked him in this dungeon, and his most trusted subordinate tortured him for years.
"…all for that damned treasure."
He didn't want it. After the war ended, he wanted to live a peaceful life with those he loved, but that damn treasure appeared out of nowhere and latched onto him.
It engraved itself into his body, fused itself with his soul. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't get rid of it.
It had the potential to grant him limitless power, but power was not his desire.
He had already reached the apex of this world, as had they. But that damn treasure hinted at a vaster universe, more unbridled power.
It stimulated their greed. Greed that he didn't even know they had.
However, he was a forgiving man.
Even after being forced into this solitary confinement for tens of years, he still attempted to forgive them.
But as tens of years of brutal torture turned into hundreds, even he could not continue to look past their sins.
Even he could not stop himself from becoming a demon.
His skin had been flayed so many times that he forgot whether it even existed on his body anymore. His bones had been broken and healed so many times that their base structure had been altered.
Even his internal organs weren't safe, as he was fed various poisons and infected with deadly viruses.
His body was used as an experiment by the wisest scholar known to man.
And it wasn't even necessary to heal him. He had tried to kill himself, and they had tried to kill him for this treasure, but it was impossible. No matter how sincerely he prayed for death to take him, that damn treasure wouldn't allow him to die.
As for how he managed to keep his rationality? Even he didn't know. His sanity was long gone. His emotions had also died long ago. His mind was solely occupied by thoughts of revenge.
"Kronos. Althea. Hedrick. Jelena. Lucifer."
He wanted to kill them all. He wanted to return unto them what they had made him suffer through. In fact, that wasn't enough. He would increase their punishment tenfold, hundredfold. He would—!
"Is your soliloquy over?"
A voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Even after so long, you still hold hope of something changing. Or is it to be expected of the one they called the Heavenly Emperor?"
The sarcasm contained in those words was almost tangible. The sheer mockery in the tone made the man lose any semblance of rationality.
"LUCIFER!" He screamed.
He thrashed in his chains, uncaring of the fact that his feeble limbs couldn't handle the stress.
It was humiliating.
He would do anything if he could just kill the man in front of him.
But in his current state, he could do nothing but glare in resentment.
"Now, now. Quiet down before I am forced to waste more of my precious Eclipse Poison. I assume you do not have a particular interest in its effects?"
Lucifer didn't take him seriously at all. The situation had never changed for hundreds of years, so what was different now?
"Have I ever told you how much I love seeing you in this position?" He suddenly said, glancing towards the man.
"Your whole life, you were granted whatever you wished for. You were the world's hero, a man with riches, glory, and women. You lived a life that even Emperors envied. Did you struggle for any of it…?"
"No."
"You were Heaven's son. Favored by all and granted the luck to transform any precarious situation into an opportunity. You were even granted the chance to wield that wonderful item."
"But what did you do? You threw it away. You wanted to live peacefully with your family…? Bullshit! You, who sat at the peak of everything, did not want to lose your status! You feared the great unknown that was presented to us!"
"YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A COWARD!"
Lucifer's words were unending. He talked and he talked, complaining about every little detail of the man's life, however, the man wasn't listening anymore.
Were Lucifer's words true?
Absolutely not.
His struggles were what forged his indomitable will that didn't break even after almost a millennium of torture.
But even that was being discredited.
The man truly had nothing left. Not even the Legend he carved in blood was acknowledged anymore.
It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
If there was one thing he thought they couldn't take from him, it was his Authority, the very foundation that earned him the title of Heavenly Emperor.
Yet, at this moment, he could feel it fading.
Legends were a mysterious thing. Every deed a person committed throughout their life was recorded. Every feat contributed to their Legend. And as their Legend grew, their Authority was established. It was the Heavens' method of acknowledgment.
And the faith of the people, the retelling of those legends, all of it enhanced Authority to empower those who possessed it.
But the man's Legends were denied.
The people forgot his name.
And those who still remembered him did so in scorn.
As he felt his Authority crumble around him, even the man's will to survive began to diminish.
What was the point of wishing if one could never achieve?
What was the point of revenge if he couldn't carry it out with his own hands?
What was the point of life if he was forced to heel to the will of others?
"Kronos. Althea. Hedrick. Jelena. Lucifer…"
Once more, he wished to relive those times when this damn treasure wasn't in his life.
Once more, he wished he could stand proud as a dragon amongst men…
"…!"
Suddenly, his chest shone with an incandescent blue light that mirrored the stars. The glare was so bright that even Lucifer, who was absorbed in his own envy, was forced to look over.
"That is it! That is the same light that shone on that day! You are tired of him now that his Authority is gone, right?! Come to me! Together we can rule all creation!" He shouted with a maddening glint in his eyes.
Yet, the treasure didn't respond to him in the slightest. Instead, its light covered the body of the dying man it had fused with.
The man felt a surge within him. The feeling was familiar, but due to the fact that he hadn't felt it in so long, he barely recognized it.
Spiritual Energy was entering his body once more, ignoring the restrictions of the Darkstar Iron that bound him. With this qi, the man could revert his body to peak condition, even if he couldn't regain his cultivation.
But that wasn't at all what he wanted.
He was tired of all this bullshit.
If he was being given a chance, he already knew what he wanted to use it for.
"Lucifer, remember this! Remember me! Remember why I was titled the Heavenly Emperor!"
Cultivators always possessed a single fail-safe they could use as long as they had qi remaining. It was a move that would cause catastrophic damage, even if it came at the cost of their life.
It was a true last resort.
The man didn't know why that damn treasure was allowing him to do this, since it had forced him to keep his life all these years, but such thoughts were the least of his concern.
As the saying goes, a cornered animal is the most dangerous.
His eyes burning with unmistakable hatred and a hint of madness, the man detonated his core.
And all hell broke loose.