Tears welled in his eyes and began to fall, streaking down his bloodstained cheeks. They weren't the tears of sorrow or defeat, but something else... something that carried with them the weight of everything he had endured.
The rage, the hatred, the overwhelming darkness that had consumed him for so long... it all began to melt away, drop by drop, as those tears fell.
The black-reddish aura that had clung to his body like a shroud, the very manifestation of the demon that had taken over his soul, began to dissipate. It unraveled slowly, like smoke blown away by a gentle breeze, vanishing into the night.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Feng Chen smiled. It wasn't the twisted grin of a man lost to his anger, nor the cold, cruel smirk of the beast he had become. This smile was small, genuine, and real. It was the smile of someone who had finally found peace.
