The One King

The purple light completely enveloped Azrael and Gaya, and the space around them began to ripple violently.

In the next instant, the two disappeared.

It was not merely a matter of spatial movement. It felt as though they had crossed a boundary separating entirely different worlds.

Moments later, the two reappeared above a colossal stone platform.

The platform was meticulously polished and stretched for nearly an entire kilometer. It was made of a strange, jet-black stone with an almost mirror-like sheen, from which an ancient and mysterious aura radiated.

The platform floated within an endless, pitch-black void.

There was no sky.

No ground.

No stars.

Only boundless darkness, with the black platform suspended within it.

Azrael and Gaya landed upon the platform.

Gaya immediately looked around with curiosity and caution, trying to determine where they were. Yet all she could see was the endless darkness surrounding them.

Finally, she turned toward Azrael.

"Azrael... where are we?"

But she received no immediate answer.

Azrael was standing at the edge of the platform, staring silently in a particular direction.

There was something strange about his gaze.

It was not his usual cold or indifferent expression.

Instead, his eyes were filled with nostalgia.

Gaya approached him and stood beside him, following his gaze.

The moment she saw what he was looking at, her eyes widened.

Her entire body froze in shock.

A colossal continent was floating within the dark void.

It was incredibly far away, yet its enormous size made it appear deceptively close.

The continent was so vast that Gaya could not even begin to estimate its boundaries.

For several moments, her mind was incapable of processing what she was seeing.

Once she finally recovered from the shock, she quickly turned toward Azrael.

"What is that continent? And where exactly are we?"

Azrael did not answer immediately.

He remained silent for several minutes.

He looked as though he were retrieving memories buried deep within the depths of time.

Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke calmly.

"That continent is called Astaria."

He paused for a moment.

Then continued,

"And it is my personal domain."

Gaya's eyes widened once again.

"What?"

She could hardly believe what she had heard.

She had never heard of a cultivator possessing an entire continent as a personal domain, let alone one as vast as the continent before her. Its size was comparable to that of all the continents in the Mortal World combined.

She stared at Azrael in disbelief before asking in a trembling voice,

"How can that be your personal domain? You're joking, aren't you?"

Azrael heard her question.

For once, a faint smile appeared on his face.

"You know far too little about me."

He then gazed toward the distant continent for a moment before asking,

"Do you know the Prophecy of the Dark Lord?"

Gaya answered without hesitation.

"Yes. Everyone knows that prophecy. It appeared decades ago."

Silence descended for several moments.

Then Azrael spoke.

"Twenty-one years ago, a child was born in the world of Panguya."

His tone changed slightly.

"From the moment he was born, he was branded as someone destined to bring death and destruction upon the world."

He paused briefly.

"They never even gave him a chance to discover whether he would actually follow that path."

Gaya listened in silence.

Azrael continued.

"His family abandoned him."

Then he added in an even colder voice,

"And the world abandoned him... before he had done anything at all."

Azrael lowered his gaze slightly.

"The rulers of the world concluded that he did not deserve to remain in Panguya."

"But they did not kill him."

His words paused for a moment.

"They did not want the world to condemn them for murdering an infant, nor did they want their reputations stained."

Then he said,

"So they decided to exile him from the world and send him to a barren realm devoid of energy, where he would live... and eventually die."

A shiver ran through Gaya's body.

Yet she did not interrupt him.

She was beginning to realize that this story concealed something far greater than she could possibly imagine.

At that moment, Azrael's voice changed.

It became colder.

Harder.

More ruthless.

"But during the execution of the exile..."

He stopped.

Silence filled the void.

Then he continued in a dark voice,

"Something went wrong with the ritual."

Azrael raised his eyes toward the distant continent.

"And the child's soul was split into fragments..."

He paused.

Then slowly added,

"...and scattered across time and space."

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