The morning after felt wrong.
There was no sun here, not really. The sky above the Neutral Zone was fractured, half a burning red horizon, half a pale wash of mist. Time bent strangely; the air felt heavy, stagnant. Every sound carried too far.
The survivors looked worse than the broken plaza.
Kavya sharpened her blades until her fingers bled. The old man sat muttering to himself, clutching his crooked staff as though it were the only thing keeping him tethered. Dev sat in silence, sword across his knees, his eyes never leaving the shifting rifts.
Arjun huddled near his mother. He didn't sleep. Every few minutes his fingers brushed the runes etched into his staff, as though afraid the light might never return if he let go.
And me—
The Inkblade lay across my lap, shadows curling upward, restless. Its whispers gnawed at me without pause.
"…more prey… more blood… tear both worlds…"
✦
The system pulsed.
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 92%. ][ Time Remaining: 6 days. ]
Instability had already taken hold. The air itself quivered at the edges of the plaza, thin as glass ready to shatter.
And beyond those cracks, I heard them.
Beasts, pacing. Growling. Waiting.
✦
They didn't wait long.
The first attack came with the sound of claws raking stone.
From the crimson rift poured a pack of beast-born—smaller than the lion-warrior from before, but no less vicious. Hyena-headed, wolf-jawed, their weapons crudely forged but coated in flame and bone.
"Packmaster says they hide," one growled, its voice too human, too mocking. "We drag them out."
They slammed into the edge of the Neutral Zone—
And passed through.
The barrier pulsed faintly but cracked like thin ice.
The survivors panicked. The old man stumbled back, shrieking prayers. Kavya cursed, leaping to her feet, blades flashing. Dev moved in beside her, steady and grim.
I rose with them, the Inkblade shrieking in my hand.
The siege had begun.
✦
The first beast lunged at Dev, spear raised. Dev met it head-on, steel clashing with bone. Sparks flew, the impact forcing him back a step—but his reforged blade held. With a roar, he shoved forward, slicing the beast's arm open to the bone.
Another pounced at Kavya. She rolled aside, her silver daggers flashing in arcs of steel. The beast's head rolled before it realized it was dead.
The survivors screamed as three more broke through, charging toward the huddled group.
I dashed forward, Inkblade shadows bursting outward, impaling one through the chest. It shrieked as the blade drank its flame, body withering to ash.
But two remained.
One lunged at the old man. His staff glowed weakly, a shield flickering—but it shattered under the beast's strike. He fell screaming, the claw descending—
And light flared.
A barrier snapped into place between claw and flesh.
Arjun.
The boy stood trembling, staff raised, runes blazing brighter than before. His barrier didn't just block—it flung the beast backward, crashing it into rubble.
The old man gaped, then scrambled away, muttering curses.
The other beast turned, furious, lunging at Arjun's mother. She shoved her son behind her, but the staff pulsed again, light spilling outward to shield them both.
The claw struck harmlessly against the barrier.
✦
For a moment, everyone froze.
Even Kavya.
The silver-bladed woman, who had cursed the boy, snarled at him, glared at him—stared as his staff glowed again.
And when a third beast lunged, this one toward her—
The staff pulsed one more time.
The barrier bent outward, wrapping around Kavya like a second skin. The beast's claws skidded off light, leaving her untouched.
Kavya killed it an instant later, her blades cutting clean through its throat. Blood sprayed her face. She didn't blink.
But her eyes flicked back to Arjun.
Confused. Furious.
Afraid.
✦
The fight raged. Dev cut down his opponent in a brutal arc, sword cleaving through bone. I drove shadows through the last beast, its body collapsing as the Inkblade drank deep.
The survivors gasped in the aftermath, shaking, bloody but alive.
And all of them turned to Arjun.
The boy clutched his staff, trembling. The glow had faded, but faint sparks still crawled along its runes.
The mother wrapped her arms around him, glaring at the others as if daring them to say anything.
The old man spat. "A cursed child, blessed staff… it's the same."
Kavya didn't speak. She just cleaned her blades, eyes unreadable.
Dev finally broke the silence. "Whatever it is, it saved us. Twice."
Arjun's gaze flicked to me, wide and fearful.
But also—burning.
He didn't know what the staff was. Neither did I.
But the gods did.
I could feel their eyes.
Watching.
Waiting.
✦
The system pulsed again.
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 90%. ][ Time Remaining: 6 days. ]
The number was smaller.
The cracks were spreading.
And the war had only just begun.
The smell of beast blood hadn't faded before new voices carried through the air.
Cold. Controlled.
"Outer disciples of the Azure Sword Sect," a man's voice called, cutting through the stillness. "We come not as enemies. Surrender, and your fates may yet be tolerable."
The survivors stiffened.
Figures stepped from the pale gate of Murim—three cultivators in flowing robes, blades at their sides. Their steps were measured, their presence heavy. Qi radiated from them in shimmering waves, distorting the air.
Where the beasts had been savage hunger, these men were sharpened steel.
And their eyes locked on me.
✦
The lead disciple unsheathed his sword with a whisper of steel. "So. The Neutral Zone holds. Foolish."
His gaze slid to the Inkblade in my hands. His lips curled in disdain. "A weapon of devouring. Script-breaking filth. Such things belong only in Murim, purified and bound."
Script-breaking.
The word cut deeper than his sword.
The survivors didn't understand it. But I did.
They knew.
✦
The old man dropped to his knees at once, his crooked staff clattering to the stone. "Take me! I'll come willingly! I'll serve! Just spare me from—" His hand pointed toward me, shaking. "—from him!"
Kavya's lip curled. "Coward."
But her eyes weren't on him. They were on the cultivators. Measuring. Calculating.
Dev stepped forward, his sword raised. "Stand down," he said evenly. "This Zone isn't yours."
The disciple laughed softly. "And who are you, mortal? What right do you have to speak?" His blade lifted, qi gathering along its edge. "Bow, or be cut down."
✦
The survivors wavered. Fear spread like fire through dry grass.
The mother clutched Arjun, pulling him close. The boy's staff hummed faintly, but he didn't raise it this time. His eyes stayed on me, wide and uncertain.
Kavya's daggers gleamed as she spun them, torn between fight and flight.
The old man crawled forward on hands and knees, begging, his voice cracking. "Please! I'll betray them! I'll—"
"Enough."
My voice cut through it all.
The Inkblade pulsed, shadows coiling upward like snakes.
"I told you before. I won't bow. I won't choose."
The disciple sneered. "Then you die."
✦
He lunged, sword flashing, qi screaming in the air. The strike should have split me in two.
Instead, I moved.
The Inkblade roared in my grip, shadows exploding outward. But not at him.
At the Zone itself.
The blade cut through the air, tearing into the shimmering edge of the Neutral Zone. The world screamed. Light fractured, shadows bursting outward, colliding with the cultivator's qi.
The impact sent him staggering back, eyes wide. "Impossible—!"
The other disciples drew their blades, fury blazing.
The Zone rippled violently, but it held. For now.
✦
The system shrieked across my vision.
[ Warning: Unauthorized manipulation of Zone boundary detected. ][ Instability increased. ][ Neutral Zone Stability: 86%. ]
Then—
Something else.
Words that weren't meant to be seen.
[ You are no longer prey. ][ You are anomaly. ]
The text bled across my vision, unstable, dripping like ink.
The cultivators froze, their eyes narrowing.
One whispered, voice sharp. "The gods have marked him."
Another spat. "Then all the more reason to kill him now."
They advanced—only to stop, blades halted midair.
The Neutral Zone pulsed, light flaring, rejecting them.
For now.
✦
The disciples withdrew slowly, eyes lingering.
"We will return," the leader promised. "And when neutrality collapses, script-breaker—we will claim what you are."
Their forms dissolved into mist, fading back into Murim.
Silence fell again.
✦
The survivors stared at me like I wasn't human.
The old man sobbed, face pressed to the stone. "You'll doom us all…"
Kavya said nothing, but her glare could have cut steel.
Dev's sword lowered, but his eyes stayed locked on me. "Anomaly," he repeated quietly, as if testing the word.
Arjun's staff sparked faintly in the silence. His voice was small, trembling—but sure.
"You… broke the rules again."
I met his gaze. The boy didn't flinch.
The Inkblade whispered in my skull, savage and hungry.
"…break more… rewrite… ascend…"
And somewhere beyond even that, I felt it—
The eyes of the gods.
Watching.
Waiting.
✦
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 85%. ][ Time Remaining: 6 days. ]
The war had only just begun.
And the script was burning.