I. The Silence Before the Storm
The world stopped breathing.
Xiao Chen stared down at the small, pale hand gripping his ankle—a child's hand, fragile and perfect, its fingers curled with innocent trust. The True Fiend God looked up at him with eyes like twin voids, its face round and soft, its lips parted in a wordless question.
"Daddy?" it repeated, its voice a melody of shattered glass and distant screams.
Behind him, Leng Xueyi's frost-serpent hissed, fangs bared. Mei Ling giggled, her venom-dilated pupils swallowing her irises. Princess Luo Ying took a step back, her Solar Phoenix screeching in primal terror. The high priestess Lian collapsed to her knees, her brand burning black.
And Shā—the knife-handed assassin—moved.
Her blade-fingers slashed toward the child's throat—
—and shattered like ice against stone.
The Fiend God child blinked, unharmed. "No hurting," it chided, pouting. Then it looked back at Xiao Chen, its void-eyes filling with tears. "Daddy, why do they hate me?"
Xiao Chen's demon-arm twitched, the obsidian claws retracting against his will. His Heavenly Demon, usually so ravenous for control, had gone utterly silent.
"You're not my child," Xiao Chen growled, his voice rough with barely leashed violence.
The Fiend God tilted its head, its dark hair shifting like living shadow. "But I am yours," it said, as if explaining something simple. "You made me. When you stabbed the egg. Your blood woke me up." It smiled, revealing tiny, needle-like teeth. "I'm Xiao'er now."
A chill crawled down Xiao Chen's spine.
This thing—this abomination wearing a child's face—had named itself after him.
II. The Weight of a God's Love
They couldn't kill it.
Leng Xueyi's frost shattered before touching Xiao'er's skin. Mei Ling's most potent venoms evaporated in midair. Shā's blades broke. Even Princess Luo Ying's Solar Phoenix, which had burned armies to ash, could not so much as singe the child's robes.
And the high priestess Lian?
She was weeping, her brand now a pulsing wound, whispering prayers to a god she no longer understood.
Xiao Chen watched, his demon-arm throbbing, as Xiao'er skipped through the carnage of the Bloodbone Catacombs, humming a lullaby as it patted the severed heads of imperial guards like pets.
"Daddy, look!" it called, holding up a still-beating heart. "It's shiny!"
Leng Xueyi grabbed Xiao Chen's shoulder, her fingers biting into his flesh. "We need to leave. Now."
But Xiao'er heard.
The child appeared in front of Leng Xueyi, its void-eyes blinking up at her. "Auntie is scared," it observed. Then it reached out—
—and touched Leng Xueyi's stomach.
A black mark, identical to the high priestess's brand, bloomed across her skin.
Leng Xueyi gasped, her frost-serpent writhing in agony as its scales turned black.
"Now Auntie is stronger," Xiao'er said, smiling. "Like Daddy."
Xiao Chen moved, his demon-arm slamming the child into the nearest wall.
Stone cracked. Dust rained.
But Xiao'er just giggled, dangling from his claws like a kitten.
"Daddy plays rough," it giggled. Then it licked his talons, its tongue leaving behind streaks of black blood. "I like it."
III. The Emperor's Last Gift
They found Zhu Yan's body in the throne room, his ribcage split open, his heart missing.
But his eyes were alive.
"Xiao… Chen…" the corpse rasped, its lips moving without breath. "The child… is a key… not the lock…"
Then Xiao'er skipped into the room, holding the Emperor's still-golden heart like a toy.
"Daddy! Look what I found!"
The corpse of Zhu Yan collapsed into dust.
IV. The Heavenly Demon's Warning
That night, as the others slept fitfully, Xiao Chen entered his inner space—and found it changed.
The endless void was now a ruined temple, its pillars carved with screaming faces. At its center, the Heavenly Demon sat on a throne of bones, its blade-fingers tapping impatiently.
"You've doomed us all," it said, its voice echoing with a thousand dead tongues.
Xiao Chen crossed his arms. "Explain."
The Demon laughed, the sound like breaking spines. **"The Fiend God is not a being. It is a force. That child is just a vessel—one you filled with your blood, your rage, your hunger." It leaned forward, its horned visor inches from Xiao Chen's face. "It loves you because it is you."
Xiao Chen remembered the way Xiao'er had licked his claws, the black blood left behind.
"How do I kill it?"
The Heavenly Demon smiled.
"You don't. You control it."
Then it plunged a blade-finger into Xiao Chen's chest, carving a new rune beside his heart.
"But first… you let me in deeper."
V. The Marked Harem
By dawn, all of them bore the brand.
Leng Xueyi's frost had turned black, her serpent now a creature of shadow and ice.
Mei Ling's veins pulsed with liquid darkness, her giggles echoing unnaturally.
Princess Luo Ying's Solar Phoenix shed its golden feathers, becoming a crimson monstrosity.
Shā's blade-fingers dripped void, cutting realities instead of flesh.
Even the high priestess Lian's prayers now summoned whispers from the abyss.
And Xiao'er?
It clung to Xiao Chen's back, its tiny arms wrapped around his neck, humming as it played with his hair.
"Daddy is perfect," it whispered. "We'll be perfect together."
Xiao Chen looked at his harem—his women, now touched by the same horror as him—and knew.
There was no going back.
Chapter 10 End