The Primal Bastion's air reeked of charred wood and desperation. Li Tian lay motionless in the relic chamber, his body a lattice of cracks glowing faintly with the Primal Core's dormant energy. Xia hovered over him, her healing qi a fragile thread stitching his shattered meridians. Elder Ming crushed Starroot petals into a paste, his hands steady but his voice frayed.
"This will wake him. But it will also burn what's left of his spirit."
"Do it," Xia whispered.
The elixir coursed through Li Tian's veins. His eyes snapped open—one star-flecked, the other a void.
---
**The Council of War**
The war room buzzed with panic. Renshu's hammer gouged the table as he spat, "They've surrounded the eastern ridge! We're trapped!"
Yan Mei's daggers pinned a map of the Deadbone Wastes to the wall. "Nightblade assassins infiltrated the marsh. Our scouts are blind."
Elder Ming's vine golems slumped, their energy sapped. "The Veil holds, but barely. One more strike—"
Li Tian entered, his steps unsteady but his voice iron. "Then we strike first."
All eyes turned. The corruption had retreated to his collarbones, but his star-flecked eye pulsed with manic light.
"The Accord's alliance is a snake with three heads," he said, slamming a dagger into the map. "We cut them off one by one."
---
**The Stormpeak Gambit**
At dusk, Li Tian's forces feigned a retreat. Farmers-turned-actors hurled torches into empty barracks, simulating chaos, while Yan Mei's squad "fled" westward, trailing banners stained with pig's blood. Lady Nyra's scouts took the bait.
"They're broken!" she crowed, rallying her airships. "Pursue! Leave none alive!"
The Stormpeak fleet surged into the marsh—and into Elder Ming's trap.
The moment the lead airship crossed the tree line, bioluminescent fungi detonated in synchronized bursts, releasing paralyzing spores. Crews collapsed mid-deck as carnivorous vines ensnared hulls. From the fog, Li Tian's archers loosed fire arrows tipped with Starroot poison, igniting the ships' lightning cores.
Chain explosions lit the sky. Lady Nyra's flagship listed, its mast a burning spear. "Retreat! It's a—"
Li Tian materialized aboard her deck, his corrupted arm seizing her throat. "You shouldn't have come."
Primal energy devoured her lightning qi, leaving only ash.
---
**The Nightblade Deception**
With Stormpeak forces decimated, Li Tian turned to the Flame Emperor's camp. Under cover of darkness, Yan Mei and a handpicked team donned stolen Stormpeak armor, their faces smeared with ash.
"Remember," Li Tian instructed, "whisper of betrayal. Let their paranoia do the work."
They infiltrated the camp, spreading rumors: *Lady Nyra lives. She bargains with the Bastion to claim the Core.*
By dawn, Flame Emperor sentries executed three Stormpeak survivors, their distrust boiling over.
---
**The Tide Turns**
General Krell's siege engines stalled at the marsh's edge, their crews mired in suspicion. Li Tian struck at noon, when the sun blinded the Accord's archers.
- **Renshu's** hammer squad ambushed supply caravans, poisoning water stores with marsh toxins.
- **Elder Ming's** golems herded fire demons into Nightblade formations, their chaos masking Yan Mei's daggers.
- **Li Tian**, channeling the Core's fury, unleashed a controlled blast through the Veil, funneling Stormpeak lightning into the Flame Emperor's ranks.
The battlefield became a storm of fire and vine. Krell roared orders, but his troops fractured—Stormpeak remnants fleeing, Nightblades vanishing into shadows.
---
**The Cost of Genius**
Victory teetered on a knife's edge. Li Tian collapsed at the Veil's central node, blood seeping from his eyes. Xia dragged him into the relic chamber, her qi flaring.
"You're killing yourself!"
He gripped her wrist, his voice a guttural rasp. "Buy time… for the final move."
Elder Ming's vines sealed the chamber as Li Tian's consciousness faded. The Primal Core flickered—once, twice—before dimming.
---
**The Leader's Challenge**
At dusk, a horn shook the battlefield. The Flame Emperor's personal banner crested the ridge—a phoenix wreathed in black fire. Xuan Ji himself descended, his aura scorching the air.
"Li Tian!" His voice melted snow. "Face me, or watch your people *burn*!"
The Bastion held its breath.
In the relic chamber, Li Tian's eyes opened.
---