The world had held its breath too long. Now, at last, it exhaled fire.
At dawn, the Compact struck. Not with honor, not with declarations, but with roaring skies, whispering blades, and thunder forged in forbidden foundries.
Across the fractured borders of the Crimson Sky Empire, three hells erupted.
At Frostveil Chasm – The Eastern Front,
The winds howled between the icy ridges of Frostveil Chasm, clawing through armor and spirit wards alike. Long Yucheng stood at the crumbling edge of a once-stable cliff, blood frozen to his face, eyes narrowed against the falling snow. His glaive, engraved with soul-etched dragons, pulsed faintly with qi.
"Hold the line!" he roared. "Frostveil does not bend to cowards in golden cloaks!"
Beneath the frozen ridge, columns of Compact soldiers surged up the escarpment—Shi clan formations glowing with crystal runes, the Peng clan's rock-armored juggernauts slamming into Long family phalanxes.
Yucheng turned as an aide shouted, "Crystal reinforcements from the left flank! Shi Jainhong sent aid!"
But the relief never reached them.
Moments later, the so-called reinforcements turned their weapons—not on the Compact, but on Long soldiers.
"Treason!" Yucheng screamed.
A blast of crystal-laced mana shattered the snow ramparts. Long soldiers tumbled like broken banners. Yucheng surged forward, cutting down two traitors, deflecting a third.
"Sound the second horn! Form a broken crescent! Protect the inner gorge!"
But the second horn never sounded. The signal tower had fallen.
And yet—
From the west, horns did sound. Silver and blue banners emerged from the mist, riders galloping like a winter storm.
Yueying, clad in Snow Pavilion ceremonial armor, led the vanguard.
"Hold fast! The snow remembers its own!"
Her blade gleamed like moonlight. As she charged into the rear of the Compact ranks, the very air changed—the snow seemed to sing. Behind her, dozens of elite Snow Pavilion cavalry followed, wielding mirrored polearms and radiant bows.
Yucheng stumbled back beside her mount as she leapt off it mid-charge.
"Brother Yucheng," she said breathlessly, "I came as soon as I heard."
Yucheng, bleeding and dazed, managed a grin. "You always did like dramatic timing."
The Luminous Pass – South of Tianzhen,
Kai Chan stood amidst the ancient steps of the Luminous Pass, his hands trembling not from fear, but from resonance.
"They're using anti-resonance fields," he murmured, staring into the swirling fog where echo wards used to hover. "My illusions are failing."
Hallmaster Yue Mei stood beside him, her hands glowing with light sigils. "Then we rely on clarity. Light cuts through shadow."
From the ridges came a sound like grinding bones—Compact soldiers, hidden under illusion-cloaks, poured forth with Nullsteel cannons mounted on reinforced carriages.
The cannons hummed with a deadening aura.
As the first one fired, the air shivered. No explosion. No sound. But half a ridge simply went silent—spiritual defenses gone, wards dead, cultivators on that ridge convulsing from backlash.
"Nullsteel," Kai gasped, backing up.
Yue Mei gritted her teeth. "Strike before they can fire again. Signal Baojin!"
From above, shield-shaped light formations surged forward as Baojin's Aegis disciples descended with protective domes, holding off a second wave.
Kai, recovering, activated a rare auditory relic—Echovellum. A single chime reverberated, fracturing enemy cohesion. Screams followed.
Tianzhen City – Western Front,
Hallmaster Rao Lin stormed through fire.
A full battalion of Hall of Valor warriors pressed the Echoing Steps, their battle-horns ringing like divine thunder.
He bellowed, voice louder than war.
"Take their heights! Break their spines! Leave only dust!"
Inara, already bloodied, coordinated the left assault flank.
"Rao! They're breaking the outer bastion with cannon teams!"
"Then we burn the cannon teams," he replied.
Inara turned to a younger disciple. "Tell the second company to prepare the Hollow Pike Maneuver. I'll lead them myself."
"But Hallmaster—!"
She gave a faint smile. "No better time to bleed."
Inara raced ahead with her unit. They dived through shattered wall segments, blades slicing through Compact shieldmen.
Then—
Nullsteel cannon fire.
A dome of silence.
Inara stood at the center of the blast, her spiritual core flickering like a dying ember.
She kept moving.
She kept moving.
She cut down the cannon squad with a screamless charge, her veins glowing from spiritual overload. Her blade shattered. Her left arm followed. Still, she stood.
Her blood steamed against the stone.
Smoke still clung to the shattered cliffs like a dying storm.
Inara, Hallmaster of Ironblood, lay crumpled near the base of the outer siege wall. Her armor was torn, stained with dirt and blood. Shards of Nullsteel embedded in her left shoulder and thigh shimmered faintly, disrupting any healing qi that dared approach.
Baojin and Rao Lin found her first.
"She's alive," Baojin breathed, kneeling by her side.
Inara's eyes fluttered open. "The wall... broke... tell me it broke."
"It shattered like glass," Rao Lin replied, his voice thick with restrained fury. "You did it."
She gave the faintest smirk. "Then I don't regret it."
Warden Elira Sorn arrived moments later with two Soulbinders and medical adepts. The adepts tried to pulse healing qi into Inara's wounds, but the Nullsteel spikes rejected the flow like oil repelling water.
"No spiritual healing," Elira muttered, "We'll need alchemical intervention. She must be moved."
Inara's voice cracked. "Don't waste medicine. I've done my part."
Mengtian arrived moments after, his cloak soaked from crossing storm-drenched trenches. He dropped to his knees beside her.
"Inara," he said, voice low. "You were never meant to break alone."
She met his gaze. "You needed time. I bought it."
He gently took her hand. "The world will remember your fury. I swear it. But now... rest. We'll finish what you started."
She passed out.
Mengtian rose slowly, his expression unreadable.
"Rao Lin," he said, "secure this ridge. No further retreats. Deploy the Hall of Valor to sweep the flanks. I'll hold the pass myself if I must."
Tianzhen – Southern Cliffs of Kun Island,
Su Mengtian stood in silence.
The storm had grown restless. Lightning danced across the clouds as signals came from all fronts.
Yueying had secured the Frostveil Gorge, for now. Kai Chan and Yue Mei held under terrible cost. Rao Lin's valor squads were dug in at the Echoing Steps.
And Inara...
He found her body in a field clinic. Her chest rose faintly. Her pulse weak. Her eyes fluttered open as he knelt.
"Su...Mengtian?"
He held her hand.
"The world will remember your fury," he said, voice low. "I swear it."
Thunder roared like judgment.
She gave the faintest smile before sleep claimed her.
Behind him, Ji Yeyan appeared, cloak drenched with blood.
"Peng clan is collapsing at the docks. Long scouts are returning. The tide is turning."
Mengtian rose.
His voice, quiet and final:
"Then let the heavens watch. Let the earth weep. We begin the storm's end now."
The Crystal Court,
Inside the opulent depths of the Crystal Court, high above the silvered plains of Shi territory, the Shi family elders gathered in cloaked silence.
Shi Jainhong slammed his fist against the crystalline war-table. The surface flickered from the impact.
"You promised the Crystal Division would hold!"
Shi Hengzhi's gaze was grim. "They did. Until Long Yucheng's signal tower fell. Then their command was severed."
Shi Leiming's eyes glinted. "We need to spin this. The loss of that unit must be blamed on the Long—publicly. Quietly, we activate Plan Yujing."
Shi Yuluo hesitated. "Plan Yujing targets leyline saturation zones. Do you truly want to accelerate that path?"
"There is no turning back," Jainhong growled. "The Hallmasters act like war is beneath them. But we were born for it."
A courier entered, breathless. "News from Kun Island. The Nullsteel deployment at Frostveil was repelled. Inara of Ironblood survives."
That made them pause.
"Survives?" Hengzhi repeated.
"She led the charge herself. And they say Su Mengtian was with her by nightfall."
The room tensed. The name sent ripples even into this bastion of stone.
Shi Jainhong's face twitched. "Then the war must escalate further. We do not let martyrs write the history—we write it with flame and stone."
He turned toward Leiming. "Activate the secondary golem cores in the east. If they want legends... then let the next one end in fire."
The Shi clan chamber fell silent.
But far below, in the crystal prison of Vault 9, the ancient golems stirred.
And in the north, the winds changed.