The sky split open.
Not with thunder.
But with chitin.
A hand the size of a palace clenched around the clouds, and through the fissure in space, a figure descended—part woman, part hive, all terror.
Elder Xue.
Her robes, once celestial white, had fused with a second skin of black hive armor. Horns curled from her temples. Her right eye glowed with human warmth; the left dripped amber venom.
And she smiled.
At Jian Long.
"My failed experiment," she crooned, voice like knives dipped in honey. "You've grown."
Jian Long's body locked. The cold anchor in his chest pulsed—not from power, but recognition.
She landed.
The earth cracked beneath her, hive matter bleeding from her heels, burrowing into the roots like cancer. Dozens of smaller hive drones clicked and twisted behind her, half-formed. Half-dead.
She raised her hand—and the drones stopped mid-crawl.
Her focus was only Jian Long.
"I gave you a divine anchor," she said, stepping forward. "You were supposed to become the next god of rebirth. But you fled. You fractured."
His voice was ice. "You put a parasite in me."
"I gave you divinity."
Behind him, Su Ling stepped forward, sword trembling in her hand.
"Stay back," Jian Long whispered.
But Su Ling didn't stop. Her eyes were locked on Elder Xue. Her face was pale—not from fear, but from something deeper.
Recognition.
Xue tilted her head, amused. "Still loyal to him, little frostbud? How charming."
Su Ling's lip quivered. "What… did you just call me?"
"Frostbud," Xue purred, kneeling. "It was your nickname. Before I gave you away."
The world fell silent.
Jian Long's mind blanked.
Su Ling took a step back. "What?"
"You weren't abandoned," Xue said softly. "You were delivered. The hive needed a mind to anchor their next queen. I couldn't bear to let them take Jian Long—so I offered you instead."
Tears slid down Su Ling's face. "You… gave me away?"
"To save him."
She smiled again—too wide. "You're my daughter, Su Ling. And Jian Long... he's your brother. Of a kind."
Flashback: Xue implanted the celestial anchor in Jian Long as a baby. Su Ling realizes she was given to the hive by her own mother.
Su Ling fell to her knees, sword clattering to the dirt.
Xue walked past Jian Long like he was furniture, stopping just in front of the girl who once thought she had no family.
"You were never abandoned," Xue said, voice like lullabies made of frost. "You were sacrificed. For a greater future."
Tears streaked Su Ling's face, but her fists clenched. "That doesn't make it better."
Xue's expression didn't shift. "You lived. You adapted. You even loved. Mei's existence was proof of your strength."
"She was a side effect," Su Ling spat.
Xue's hand hovered near her cheek—but didn't touch. "She was a mutation. An accident in the genetic reprogramming the hive did. But I saw it as a gift."
Jian Long stepped forward. "Why me?"
Xue turned, her chitin clicking with every breath. "Because your body had the highest compatibility rate with celestial seals. The moment you were born, the anchor chose you. You were the gate."
"Gate to what?" he growled.
"To the God in the Mark. The original celestial being who created the hive system. You weren't just a host—you were a successor."
Su Ling whispered, "You knew he would break. That he'd suffer."
"And I wept," Xue said, smiling. "But I wept as a mother, not a scientist. One of those roles had to die."
Su Ling stared at her, hate and sorrow crashing like waves. "And which role abandoned me?"
Xue's eyes shimmered with golden tears. "Both."
Mei, controlled by the hive, attacks Xue—but hesitates when Su Ling screams. Psychological Depth: Mei's human side resurfaces.
A screech tore through the clearing.
From above—Mei.
Her body descended like a burning star, wings of spined chitin fanned out. Hive nodes pulsed across her shoulders, and her eyes were blank with control.
She didn't speak.
She lunged.
Xue didn't flinch as the girl hurtled toward her.
Jian Long grabbed Su Ling and rolled aside as the ground exploded behind them. Mei struck, blades out, mouth open in a voiceless scream.
Hive drones swarmed behind her—but she ignored them. Her target was only one.
Xue.
The elder dodged, barely.
"Still loyal to your host?" Xue muttered, parrying one of Mei's strikes. "Or is it guilt?"
Mei's claws stopped inches from Xue's chest.
Frozen.
Shaking.
Su Ling screamed, "Mei! Don't do this!"
And something inside the girl shuddered.
Her claws dropped.
Her body spasmed.
From her mouth came a hoarse whisper: "Why… does her pain… hurt me?"
Xue blinked.
Jian Long pulled Su Ling back as Mei fell to her knees, clutching her head.
"Kill me," Mei begged. "End us. I don't want to be her anymore. I don't want to hear the hive in my skull."
Su Ling sobbed. "You're not just her. You're me. We're the same."
Mei looked up.
And—for a moment—smiled.
Not as a weapon.
Not as a queen.
As a girl who just wanted peace.
Then her body convulsed again, screaming. Hive tendrils erupted from her back, flailing.
"She's going to overload!" Jian Long yelled.
But it was too late.
Xue forces Jian Long to activate his seal, freezing the hive—but it starts killing Su Ling. Cliffhanger: Jian Long stops it last second—his left arm shatters into ice.
"Activate the seal," Xue ordered.
Jian Long didn't move.
"You'll die if you don't," she added, smiling.
He snarled, "And Su Ling?"
Xue shrugged. "Collateral."
She raised her hand, and golden script flared around Jian Long's chest. The celestial anchor ignited. Cold spread through his veins.
All hive entities around them began freezing—one by one. Mei screamed as frost climbed her spine.
And Su Ling clutched her chest.
She was tethered to Mei.
Her skin turned pale.
Her veins turned blue.
Jian Long screamed, "STOP!"
But Xue pressed forward, pushing the seal harder. "One sacrifice for billions!"
"Not her."
He grabbed his own chest.
And ripped the seal open.
Frost exploded outward.
His left arm turned black, then shattered into crystalline ice.
The energy wave stopped. Mei collapsed, alive. Su Ling gasped in pain—but she, too, still breathed.
Xue stood, disappointed. "Still soft."
Jian Long collapsed, clutching his stump.
Xue vanished into the sky, wings of bone and ice spiraling behind her.
But her voice echoed:
"You'll beg for that power back soon. When you see what's coming."