The Destruction Realm stretched outward in every direction without end, a vast, quiet expanse wrapped in deep violet darkness. Above, a strange purple sky held stars that barely flickered, as though uncertain whether they were permitted to shine here. The ground carried its own faint violet luminescence, shifting softly underfoot. And throughout all of it, an omnipresent energy, destruction, in its purest, most undiluted form, saturated the air like a second atmosphere. No living thing moved as far as the eye could reach. No creature, no sound, no warmth. Only that single, endless quality. Ruin.

At the centre of this realm stood a palace.

Not a palace in any sense a mortal architect might recognise. Its span from one end to the other equalled that of an entire continent. Its towers reached so high that clouds formed around them, or would have, if the sky here permitted clouds. The entire structure had been raised from a material that was utterly black, absorbing light without reflecting it, shot through with veins of deep violet that pulsed faintly, like a slow heartbeat. From within, violet light bled outward through every opening, casting no warmth and no welcome.

Inside, at the heart of the palace, a throne room of proportions that dwarfed any hall ever built by mortal hands. Massive pillars lined the space in pairs, receding into shadow. A carpet of deep red ran the length of the floor to the foot of a throne at the room’s far end, the Throne of Destruction, which sat elevated and alone, as though the room itself had been designed simply to lead the eye toward it and stop.

A portal opened on that red carpet.

Two figures stepped through. A young man in a blue academy uniform. A woman in a maid’s uniform, her golden hair catching the violet light.

Necrotize crossed the throne room and sat. Catherine stood before him, her expression carrying the weight of questions she’d been holding since the garden.

He settled into the throne and let out a long, slow breath. Today had been exhausting in ways that had nothing to do with effort.

Catherine couldn’t hold them back any longer.

"Master, what exactly happened earlier? Why did a heavenly tribulation descend on Lyra now, of all times?"

Necrotize looked at her steadily. Then, unhurried, he began.

"Lyra has a divine constitution."

Catherine blinked. "...Divine constitution?"

"Yes. Think of it as both a blessing and a curse simultaneously." He leaned back slightly. "When Life first began creating living things, she also created certain unique vessels alongside them, bodies built differently from the rest of their species. Structured in ways that went beyond the standard framework. Those born with a divine constitution are inherently stronger than others of their kind, not marginally, but significantly. If you took two individuals of the same species, gave them identical knowledge, identical cultivation, identical quantities of essence, and one of them carried a divine constitution, the one with the constitution would always come out stronger. Always. By a considerable margin."

Catherine listened without interrupting. None of this had existed anywhere in what she knew. The concept itself hadn’t even been within the boundaries of what she’d imagined possible.

"Naturally, when Life began creating them, the rest of us objected." He paused. "I didn’t say much at the time, I don’t generally involve myself in those arguments unless it directly concerns me. But Life didn’t listen to any of them. Her entire reasoning was, ’this will be interesting.’ That was it. The woman is genuinely unhinged." He said it without particular heat, more as a statement of established fact. "When the others realised she wasn’t going to change her position, they reached a compromise instead. If Life was going to create these vessels regardless, then they couldn’t be left to simply exist among the rest unchecked. They would need to be tested more rigorously. And so it was decided, anyone born with a divine constitution would face a trial from the very beginning. Before they could access our essence at all."

Catherine assembled the pieces carefully in her mind. The shape of the day was becoming clear, why the tribulation had come, why it had come now. But one thing still didn’t sit right.

"But Master, there’s something else I don’t understand. Normally, one person can’t block another’s heavenly tribulation. If someone interferes, the cultivator’s progress is damaged. Today was different because you blocked it, I understand that, your standing makes the rules work differently. But my question is about everyone else. Not everyone has an Ancient Origin standing beside them. And if the tribulation that arrived today was that powerful from the very beginning, how would anyone who had just started refining Qi ever survive it?"

Necrotize looked at her expression, genuinely troubled, genuinely confused, and nodded.

"A fair observation. If every starting tribulation were that powerful, no mortal would survive their first refinement. Not even close. Even someone who had passed one or two major stages already would struggle. We’re not so unreasonable as to design a trial that can’t be survived. The tribulation that appears at each stage is calibrated to what the cultivator can actually withstand given their level of refinement. Someone just beginning would face something they could survive, barely, perhaps, but survive nonetheless."

Catherine frowned deeper. "Then today’s..."

"Was not normal," he said. "Someone interfered with it. The power it arrived with was not what it should have been. It was far beyond what any starting tribulation is meant to carry, someone amplified it deliberately."

Catherine went still.

Someone had interfered with a heavenly tribulation.

"But why?" she said slowly. "Lyra is a mortal. Yes, she has a divine constitution, but no one should have any particular reason to target her. She hasn’t done anything."

"They didn’t amplify it for Lyra." His voice was even. "They amplified it for me. They wanted to see how I would respond. And they succeeded in finding out."

The chill that moved through Catherine had nothing to do with temperature. Someone else was watching. Someone who had been paying attention closely enough to intervene in a universal law, and who had done so specifically to observe him.

"Is this Lord Morthos’ doing, Master?"

Necrotize shook his head slowly.

"It can’t be Death’s work. If it were, what arrived today would not have been a stage five tribulation. It would have been something a thousand no a million times more powerful. That wasn’t his hand." He was quiet for a moment. "Someone else. I have a name in mind, but I won’t say it without evidence. Accusing someone without proof isn’t something I’m willing to do."

The explanation settled between them, complete in its shape if not in all its answers.

Catherine looked at him with only one question remaining.

"Do they intend to harm those children?"

Necrotize held her gaze for a long moment.

"I don’t know," he said. "But probably."

A silence followed.

And then something changed in the realm around them.

The destruction energy that saturated the air began to fluctuate, shifting in ways it never did on its own. The ground, which stretched into infinity in every direction, trembled faintly beneath them. The weight of everything pressed down, suddenly heavier, as though the realm itself had drawn a breath and held it.

A barrier formed around Catherine without warning, enclosing her completely, separating her from whatever was moving through the space around her.

She looked at Necrotize.

Something had lit in his eyes. Not the quiet violet she knew. Something older than that. Something that carried the memory of everything that had ever been unmade. And then that light expanded outward, bleeding past the walls of the palace, past the realm itself, spreading through existence like a pulse, a signal sent to every corner of the universe simultaneously. A message that required no words and no translation.

His voice, when it came was soft. Quieter than anything that should have carried that much weight.

"But if they want to try...they will face the wrath of Destruction."