Mud splashed eight feet into the air as a six-ton boulder sheathed in red-hot fire runes whistled down from the gray sky and slammed against the outer curtain wall of Azure Fall City.
Boom!
A dome of dark, octagonal light rippled across the black iron-stone ramparts. The runic boulder shattered into gravel against the glowing geometry of the "Eight-Trigram Iron-Fortress Barrier", showering the moat below with harmless sparks and wet dust.
Two full weeks had dragged by since First Prince Huang Wei's forces pried open the eastern mouth of the Dead Crow Basin and marched up to the fortified plains outside Azure Fall City.
