Tsuyu and Hajun stuck close to Haein as they moved through the cave, careful not to wander too far from the entrance — if word came from Zhangli that he needed them, they wanted to be able to reach the surface fast.
"Kei said he found a Heavenly Crystal down here?" Haein asked, glancing around at the broken passages.
"That's right. Before this whole place collapsed." Hajun said.
Haein came to a stop, staring hard into the dark ahead of them, arms crossed. Then her head tilted slightly, listening. Footsteps, faint, somewhere above them. Someone coming in.
"Someone's here," she said quietly.
"What?" Tsuyu's brow furrowed. "That's not possible. I had men posted at the entrance — unless it's one of ours."
The three of them turned back toward the entrance to check, and ran straight into the man Haein had sensed instead.
"What rotten luck." He smiled, easy and unbothered, like running into three armed strangers was mildly inconvenient at worst.
"Who are you? How'd you get down here?" Tsuyu drew her blade, leveling it at him.
"Well, for starters..." His smile curved into something colder, his eyes flashing red for just a heartbeat. "I killed everyone guarding the way in."
"You—!" Hajun's face twisted with fury.
Haein, though, stayed perfectly still, studying him with quiet, careful attention.
Hajun didn't wait for anyone's permission. He charged, sword raised — and the man barely lifted a finger, an invisible force hurling Hajun sideways into the cave wall hard enough to knock the wind clean out of him.
"Hajun!" Tsuyu compressed her prana in a burst, speed flooding into her legs, and lunged.
Haein moved with her, matching her step for step. The man exhaled a wave of flame that caught Tsuyu across the shoulder, forcing her back — but it passed harmlessly around Haein entirely.
She blinked out of sight and reappeared behind him in the same breath, blade already swinging. He didn't even flinch, certain the barrier wrapped around his body would turn the strike aside without effort.
It didn't. Her blade opened a clean line across his back, and blood poured out immediately, soaking through his robes.
"What— how the hell did you do that?! You scum!" He spun, lightning crackling from his palm, striking at her again and again in a furious burst.
But something was wrong. Every bolt that connected simply vanished — swallowed whole by the strange blade in her hand, like it was starving for exactly this.
Tsuyu and Hajun both stared, stunned. Neither wasted the moment, though — they charged in from behind, only to slam uselessly against the barrier still wrapped around him, bouncing back before they could land a single hit.
"It's a barrier!" Hajun said, catching himself before he fell.
"Then how did Haein get through it?" Tsuyu muttered, shaking her head. "These Fabled Class people just keep getting more impressive."
The cultist, furious now, turned his focus entirely on Haein, throwing fireballs on top of the lightning, one attack bleeding into the next without pause. She danced through all of it, weaving and ducking, never quite where the fire landed. He noticed, and his grin returned, sharp and mocking.
"What's wrong? Your little blade running out of room?" A cruel laugh followed the taunt.
Haein spun clean through the air, evading another burst without so much as a scorch mark on her sleeve.
"She's fast." Tsuyu watched, wide-eyed. "Faster than Kei, even."
The cultist, so locked onto Haein, had entirely forgotten about the wound on his back — the one steadily draining his strength with every second that passed. He only noticed when his vision started to swim, edges going soft and gray.
"Damn it. Damn it!" His voice cracked with frustration. "Why can't I search this cursed cave without you insects crawling all over it?!"
His attacks faltered for just a second, one breath of hesitation — and Haein didn't waste it. She closed the distance instantly, blade cutting clean through the barrier like it wasn't even there, and took his head off in a single stroke.
He never even registered it happening. The last thing he felt was his soul being pulled, slow and inescapable, into the blade itself. He fought it, some small flicker of resistance sparking at the very end — and then nothing. Gone.
Tsuyu and Hajun stood frozen, equal parts amazed and quietly unsettled.
"Is this normal? Do all Fabled Class members fight like something out of a nightmare?" Hajun asked, voice a little unsteady.
Tsuyu's eyes lingered on the faint, glistening edge of Haein's blade. "That thing's... kind of creepy, honestly. Where'd you even get it?"
"It's a long story." Haein sheathed it without elaborating. "I'd rather not get into it, if that's all right."
"No, no — of course. Forget I asked." Tsuyu waved it off quickly.
"Thank you." Haein glanced down at the severed head lying on the cave floor, expression unreadable. "These cultists aren't ordinary people. They're practitioners too."
"I know." Tsuyu's jaw tightened. "Lady Yejin nearly died to one of them."
A voice echoed down from somewhere above, distant but urgent. "Lady Tsuyu! Are you down there?"
Tsuyu turned toward the sound. "Yes! We're here!" she called back, loud enough to carry.
A hwa-samurai came stumbling into view moments later, out of breath, chest heaving. "Thank the Goddess you're all right. Everyone posted at the entrance got knocked out cold — I almost didn't come down after you." He steadied himself, catching his breath. "Seon-Gak Han Zhangli sent me. Enemy warships are closing in on the island. He needs you there. Now."
Tsuyu's expression darkened instantly. "Let's move. Immediately."
Meanwhile, on the shore, Zhangli had already gathered his retainers, bracing for what was coming.
"Mages, form up! Ready to fire!" His voice cracked out across the beach, hand raised high.
The moment his hand dropped, a wave of fireballs launched from his lines, some slamming into the incoming ships, others catching and deflecting cannon fire before it could reach the shore.
A hwa-samurai jogged up and reported in. "Civilians are fully evacuated, sir."
"Good." A grim, satisfied grin crossed Zhangli's face. "Then we don't have to hold anything back."
The exchange kept escalating, blast after blast rolling across the water — until the ships closed enough to make out who was actually aboard them. Aquila. And beside him—
A figure stood at the helm of the larger warship, easily eight feet and change, a wall of hyper-muscled torso wrapped in old scars, wild brown hair whipping loose in the sea wind, eyes set deep and hard beneath a heavy brow. There was no mistaking him.
The Warlord of the South. Zarbosa Azun.
"Why bother invading here first?" Aquila asked, glancing sideways at him. "Why not go straight for their Emperor?"
"I've got something to settle here." Zarbosa's voice rolled out low and massive, like stone grinding against stone.
He raised his blade, already beginning to draw power into it.
"Everyone, clear out," Aquila called to the men nearby, already backing away himself, an unsettling grin spreading across his face. "When he charges up his Ragnarok, nothing good happens next."
On the shore, Zhangli stared out at the ship, disbelief written plain across his face. He'd been ready for a commander. He hadn't been ready for this. "Damn it — that's the Warlord! Zarbosa Azun himself!" His voice cracked with something between fury and alarm. "Everyone, brace! Defensive formations, now!"
Moments later, Zarbosa finished charging the massive blade in his hands — the Ragnarok, a greatsword humming with power that seemed to bend the air around it. He drove it forward in one enormous strike, and the force tore free as a shockwave that shattered everything in its path, ripping straight through anything solid enough to stand in its way.
Zhangli and his men could only watch it come, the wave of destruction rolling toward them across the water, and not one of them believed their combined shield stood any real chance of holding against it.