Heaven’s Forsaken System

Chapter 26: The Abyss Stirs

The silence following the battle was short-lived. The echoes of shattered paradoxes still lingered in the air, rippling through Shen Liang's world. He could feel it—something else had awakened.

The envoy turned sharply, their celestial-abyssal aura flaring. "The rift is closing, but the battle has only drawn more attention."

Shen Liang's eyes narrowed. The enemy had not expected resistance. But now they knew this world would not be taken easily.

[System Notification: Existential Threat Level Escalating – External Disturbance Detected]

From beyond the battlefield, a different force stirred—not from the rift, but from the depths of the Abyss itself.

The abyssal warlord tensed, his obsidian armor humming with an energy Shen Liang had never felt before. "Something… familiar, yet wrong. The Abyss should not react to this battle, yet it does."

The silver-flamed woman stepped forward, flames crackling at her fingertips. "If the Abyss moves, it either means opportunity—or fear."

Shen Liang exhaled. He had spent his existence breaking chains, forging something beyond the Celestial and the Abyssal forces that had once dictated the universe. But now, even the Abyss itself seemed… uneasy.

And unease meant uncertainty.

Uncertainty meant danger.

The ground beneath them trembled. Shadows flickered unnaturally, stretching in directions they should not. Then, a sound—a low, guttural whisper—slithered through the air. It was not speech, but something older, something primal. The Abyss was speaking.

The envoy stepped back, eyes darkened with recognition. "This is no ordinary disturbance. This is something that has been waiting."

Shen Liang turned to his gathered warriors. "We've dealt with one enemy today. Now, let's see what waits in the darkness."

A sudden gust of black wind howled across the battlefield, sweeping through the scorched remains of paradoxical corpses. The sky, once flickering between storm and stability, ripped open once more—but not by the hands of the invaders from beyond. No, this was different.

This was from within.

A great chasm tore open beneath them, and from its depths, a presence surged forth. Not a being, not a voice, but a force. It was abyssal, yet unlike anything Shen Liang had encountered before. A force unshackled. A force forgotten.

The abyssal warlord dropped to one knee, eyes wide in disbelief. "This… this should not exist."

The silver-flamed woman's flames flickered, dimming under the crushing weight of whatever had emerged. "Something ancient is stirring. Something that even the Abyss itself has lost control of."

[System Alert: Unidentified Abyssal Manifestation Approaching – Warning: Unknown Threat Level]

Shen Liang's fingers flexed as he reached into the essence of his own world, reinforcing its boundaries. He had forged this realm from nothing. He had willed it into being. And now, something from the old order—something older than Heaven and the Abyss alike—was challenging his dominion.

The whispers grew louder. The chasm deepened. Then, from its depths, it rose.

A shadow formed—not formless, not shifting like the paradoxical entities from beyond the rift, but something solid, absolute. It towered above them, an abyssal colossus forged from the oldest, deepest recesses of forgotten history. The darkness clung to it, not like an aura but as if the void itself feared to let it go.

And then, for the first time, it spoke.

"You have severed the cycle. You have rewritten existence. And now, you will face what was left behind."

A cold force swept over the battlefield, pushing warriors and exiles alike to their knees. The envoy's expression darkened. "It is not just a remnant of the Abyss. It is something that was never meant to be seen."

The abyssal warlord's voice was tight with disbelief. "It is not alive. It is a force incarnate."

Shen Liang stood firm. He would not kneel. This thing—whatever it was—was trying to assert dominance, to claim authority over something that no longer belonged to it.

His world rejected it.

The ground beneath him pulsed as reality itself fought back against the entity's presence. Shen Liang raised his hand, fingers spreading as his domain solidified. The sky ceased its trembling. The cracks in reality began to close. The abyssal force hesitated.

It could be fought.

The silver-flamed woman recovered first. "If it was left behind, it means it was abandoned. It means it was deemed unnecessary."

Shen Liang's smirk returned. "Then let's make sure it stays that way."

He raised his other hand, and the weight of his will surged forward. His power was no longer that of a mere cultivator—it was creation itself. The entity reeled, its towering form shuddering as the very laws of Shen Liang's world turned against it.

The whispers turned into a roar. It was fighting back.

The sky darkened further. The chasm deepened. And then, as if sensing it could not take this battle lightly, the force did something that sent a chill through even Shen Liang.

It began to assimilate.

Shen Liang's world bent. The battlefield twisted, parts of the landscape folding into themselves. His warriors cried out as their bodies flickered, pulled toward the abyssal force.

The envoy's eyes widened. "It is trying to consume the laws of this world! If it succeeds—"

Shen Liang did not let them finish.

He thrust his arms out, and with a command that shook existence itself, he cut the Abyss off.

The force shrieked. The chasm sealed. The warriors collapsed to their knees as the battlefield restored itself.

For a long moment, only the sound of labored breathing filled the air. Then, the system pulsed.

[System Notification: Anomaly Contained – Abyssal Incursion Repelled]

The abyssal warlord exhaled. "It's gone."

But Shen Liang knew better.

"No," he murmured. "It's waiting. And next time, it won't just watch."

The silver-flamed woman nodded. "Then we must be ready."

Shen Liang turned his gaze toward the sealed chasm. Whatever had emerged from the Abyss had been left behind for a reason. And now, it had seen his world.

And it wanted it.