Rain poured down endlessly. The gray night sky seemed to spill all its sorrow onto the earth. Thunder cracked and roared in every direction. The once quiet ground was now soaked with water and blood. The scent of iron and wet earth filled the air, creating a mournful atmosphere that pressed heavily on the heart.
In the midst of that ruin, Lu Zhou crawled slowly. His body was covered in wounds, blood streaming from his shoulder—but all that pain meant nothing compared to the wound tearing at his heart. His gaze focused on only one thing—his son. The son he once abandoned. The son now lying motionless, barely alive.
"Lu Tian..." he whispered, hoarse and trembling. "My son..."
With ragged breaths, he dragged himself closer, knees hitting the wet ground. He reached for Xuan Di—his child—and gently cradled him, as if holding the past he had long lost.
Xuan Di's body was cold, pale, and wounded. The rain could not wash away the blood that clung to him. Yet in Lu Zhou's eyes, he was still the little boy who once sat in his lap, laughing joyfully at the stories of heroes told by his father.
"Forgive me… my son… forgive me for not being there when you needed me most..."
And then came the tears. Lu Zhou's tears fell, landing on Xuan Di's cheek. In a small miracle, Xuan Di's eyes fluttered open. That weary, blurred gaze found his father's face.
"...Father...?"
"I'm here... I'm here now..." Lu Zhou's voice shook, unable to hold back his emotions.
Xuan Di smiled faintly. His lips were cracked and bloody, but he still tried to speak. "Father... why is my fate so cruel...? Why is this world so dark...?"
"Don't speak, my son… save your strength..."
But Xuan Di kept going, even as his voice grew fainter, nearly drowned by the roaring sky.
"...If only... we lived in a peaceful world... without wounds... without betrayal... without blood..."
His trembling hand lifted, touching his father's face. "If only… I could have been just a normal child… loved… without needing to fight… without needing to hate…"
Lu Zhou gripped that hand tightly. "You were loved, my son… always..."
But in the next breath, the hand fell. His breathing stopped. That final smile vanished into silence.
"LU TIAN!!!" Lu Zhou's scream tore through the heavens. The world seemed to mourn with him.
The rain fell even harder. Lightning struck nearby. The flash lit up the image of a father clinging tightly to his son's lifeless body, refusing to accept that it was too late.
"If this world cannot give you peace, then I will create it myself!" he shouted with rage and fury. "If blood must be paid with blood… then let the world drown in my wrath!"
He gazed down at his son's face, gently brushing back his hair.
"There will be no more children crying alone… no more children born only to be broken by this cruel world..."
As thunder cracked again, the light revealed a glimpse of the past—little Lu Tian laughing as he ran through a field, sleeping peacefully in his arms, calling out "Father!" with innocent joy.
"Why didn't I protect you from the beginning...?" he whispered. "You were the best part of my life..."
He rose slowly, holding Lu Tian's body carefully, as if carrying every memory they never got to make.
"I swear… by blood and by tears… I will avenge it all. I will build the world you dreamed of..."
Step by step, he walked into the storm, leaving behind a battlefield of ruin and death.
And the sky kept weeping—with a father who had lost his son—carrying that small body toward a new fate, born of rage, vengeance, and the hope for a better world.