The sky above the Heavenly Demonic Sect did not calm after Jin’s coronation.

  If anything… it trembled harder.

  The demonic clouds twisted into a vortex, reacting to the sudden shift in power. Jin stood atop the blackened courtyard, Esdeath resting against his shoulder, his demonic aura coiling behind him like a shadow made of living hunger.

  The Elders—Wu included—watched him with a mixture of awe and terror.

  Elder Wu stepped forward first. The same old man who once met Jin outside the sect gates… offering a sip of Heaven’s Shame, secretly praying Jin would topple Azrael.

  Now, he bowed.

  Not out of submission alone—

  but out of vindication.

  “My Lord…” Elder Wu said, voice trembling. “The prophecy was correct. You have shattered his throne.”

  Jin didn’t respond immediately. He simply tightened his grip on Esdeath, his eyes cold and unreadable, the remnants of demonic transformation still tattooing his skin with faint, crimson sigils.

  Behind Jin, a faint distortion appeared—

  Vorgath materializing within Jin's consciousness. Only Jin could see him, but his presence was undeniable. His voice echoed like a low growl across a dead battlefield:

  “Boy… you’ve barely stepped into the gate of true demonic ascension. Don’t get comfortable.”

  Jin scoffed softly.

  “Just tell me what I gained.”

  Vorgath’s smirk widened—razor-sharp fangs glinting.

  “A new constitution. Your body adapted to what you witnessed—a Demon God’s technique.

  From now on, you can transform at will.”

  Jin didn’t answer, but a faint pulse under his skin showed he already felt it.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The elders gathered before the throne platform—Azrael’s former seat now cracked from Jin’s earlier burst of power. Dead bodies had been burned to dust, death qi still lingering.

  “Elders,” Jin said, stepping onto the throne.

  Esdeath was thrust into the stone in front of him, the echo shaking the hall.

  “If any of you intend to test me…

  do it now.”

  Silence.

  Not one elder moved.

  Instead, Elder Wu knelt first.

  “We serve the Heavenly Demon Lord.”

  The others followed, one by one, until the entire hall was pressed to the ground.

  Jin looked down at them, expression unreadable.

  “Good. The Heavenly Demonic Sect is no longer a place of stagnant cruelty.

  We evolve… or perish.”

  In Jin’s mind, Vorgath crossed his arms.

  “Listen well, boy. You asked why I chose you—not that I had much choice after your system chained me.”

  Jin’s eyebrow twitched. “Just spit it out.”

  “Demon Gods are not born. They are claimed by destiny. The universe selects vessels—those who can break the balance between Heavens, Dao, and Abyss.”

  Jin’s heartbeat slowed.

  “Only one in every trillion cultivators can awaken such a path.

  Azrael was trying to force it.

  You… naturally triggered it.”

  Jin exhaled.

  “Good. Then I’ll finish the path.”

  Vorgath chuckled darkly.

  “Finish it? Boy… you haven’t even started.”

  Word spread instantly.

  The Heavenly Demon Lord is dead.

  The throne has passed to a mysterious outsider.

  The Sect has a new ruler—one that even the dead fear to whisper against.

  Rival sects trembled.

  Couriers were seen rushing down mountains, sending urgent jade slips. The demonic underworld reacted like a stabbed beast—clan heads, assassins, cult masters—all scrambling to understand who this Jin Valentine was.

  But inside the Heavenly Demonic Sect itself?

  The atmosphere was worse.

  Some disciples worshipped Jin like a god.

  Others feared him.

  Others still planned rebellion in the shadows.

  It didn’t matter.

  Jin felt all of it… and dismissed it.

  He had bigger problems.

  Just as Jin was about to issue his first decree, the skies ruptured.

  A golden tear opened above the sect, blasting out pressure so dominant even Elder Wu choked on his breath.

  Swords descended like falling stars.

  Spears hovered in a formation of divine geometry.

  A massive lotus of heavenly light rotated above the clouds.

  Elder Wu gasped.

  “The Heavenly Alliance… they came personally?!”

  One hundred cultivators in celestial armor hovered above the sect.

  At their center floated a man with pure white hair and eyes like sharpened dawnlight—radiating a power that made the mountains kneel.

  “Jin Valentine,” the man spoke, his voice sending tremors through every disciple.

  “You killed Azrael.

  You claim the demonic throne.

  You break the Heavenly Balance.”

  His gaze sharpened.

  “By decree of the Alliance—

  you are to be seized.”

  The entire sect held its breath.

  And Jin?

  He laughed.

  Jin raised Esdeath toward the sky.

  “First decree of the Heavenly Demon Lord…”

  his voice thundered through the clouds,

  “Any force that threatens our sect—

  shall be slaughtered.”

  The Heavenly Alliance cultivators shifted uneasily.

  Jin smirked.

  “Since you came to take my head…

  I’ll take your lives instead.”

  Vorgath’s laugh echoed in Jin’s skull.

  The white-haired leader of the Heavenly Alliance finally stepped forward.

  And the world froze.

  His aura alone surpassed Azrael’s by an impossible margin.

  Even Vorgath’s tone dropped to something cold.

  “…Boy.

  That one… isn’t human anymore.”

  Jin’s pupils narrowed.

  A mark of divinity pulsed on the man’s forehead—

  a sigil forbidden in the demonic realm.

  Elder Wu collapsed to his knees, horror-stricken.

  “A Heavenly Saint…

  Impossible… why would a Saint come here?!”

  The man pointed his spear down at Jin.

  “Next arc, Jin Valentine—

  is your eradication.”

  Lightning split the sky.

  The world darkened.

  The arc begins.