Snow fell like scattered droplets across the courtyard, each flake drifting down through air thick with death. The space was filled with the smell of burnt flesh, acrid and sharp enough to make eyes water. An eerie black-green flame still flickered across several corpses, refusing to die despite the cold. Where snow touched these unnatural fires, it didn't melt. It dissolved, turning directly to mist that rose and vanished.
In the center of this nightmare stood a woman.
Her breath came uneven, each inhale a struggle. She was panting, chest heaving with effort. Wind blew through the courtyard, pulling her black hair back from her face. She would have been beautiful if not for the scars that marred her features, old wounds that told stories of battles survived.
Her name was Crystal Aserra. The Queen of the Kingdom of Asterion.
She looked at the silver-masked figure standing at the courtyard entrance, at the ocean of soldiers packed behind him, and she sighed. The sound carried exhaustion deeper than physical fatigue.
"Noah," she said, her voice steady despite everything. "I did not think you would need this many people just to kill me."
The silver-masked figure reached up and removed his mask with deliberate slowness. He stopped and let it fall. The mask hit the snowy ground with a dull thump, half-burying itself.
The face beneath was handsome in a sharp, calculated way. Dark eyes that held no warmth. A mouth that smiled too easily.
"My queen," he said, his tone almost apologetic. "I am sure you understand this was the only outcome. Your power has grown unchecked, and the councils are worried."
Crystal laughed. The sound was bitter and sharp, cutting through the cold air. Then she coughed, and blood spattered onto the snow at her feet. The poison's effects were intensifying, burning through her system like liquid fire. Her muscles spasmed involuntarily.
She smiled through the pain, showing red-stained teeth.
"Do not hide behind politics, husband," she said. "We both know whose power has gone unchecked for a while now."
She straightened slightly, forcing her body to obey despite the agony.
"It's weird, you know. You took everything away from me after what I have done for you. I fought for you. Bled for you. Conquered kingdoms, all for the name of the Kingdom of Asterion. But this is what I get in return."
Her smile turned sadder, more genuine.
"I guess this is my karma."
Noah, the King of Asterion, tilted his head slightly. Then he smiled, and it was a devilish thing, all sharp edges and cruel amusement.
"No," he said simply. "You did not do it for me. You did it for the kingdom. And now that I have no use for a scarred queen like you, I have to kill you. Besides…"
He gestured broadly at the ruins around them, at the blood and bodies.
"Your death will bring peace to the continent. Your existence destabilizes too much. People fear you. That fear breeds rebellion."
Crystal laughed again, harder this time despite the blood that came with it. She laughed until the sound echoed off the broken mansion walls.
"Do you really think you have won?" she asked, her voice suddenly deadly calm. "Even if I die here tonight, I will take you all with me."
She smiled, and this time there was nothing sad about it. Only cold certainty.
She raised her katana. The blade caught moonlight, still slick with blood from earlier kills. Then she activated her bloodline power, the thing that made her truly dangerous.
"Heavenly Body: Serpent's Gaze."
Her eyes changed instantly. The pupils transformed, becoming serpentine slits surrounded by vivid green. But it didn't stop there. Four small dots appeared around each pupil, rotating slowly like celestial bodies orbiting a star. The effect was hypnotic and terrifying in equal measure.
She looked down at her katana with those transformed eyes and activated a technique.
"Serpent Gaze: Heavenly Demonic Flames."
Greenish-black fire erupted along the blade's length. Not normal flame. Something deeper, something wrong. The fire moved like it was alive, flowing and coiling around the steel.
Noah's expression hardened. He pointed directly at her.
"Attack!" he shouted.
The army behind him moved as one. A thousand bodies surging forward with perfect coordination, weapons raised, battle cries filling the air.
Crystal moved to meet them.
She slashed out twice in rapid succession. Sword energy, visible as distortions in the air, flew from her blade in wide arcs. The energy slammed into the front ranks of guards. Bodies went flying, some cut clean through, others knocked aside with bone-breaking force.
The night air filled with screams.
More men rushed forward, stepping over their fallen comrades without hesitation. Crystal met them with her burning blade. Each strike left trails of greenish-black flame in the air. Each cut cauterized as it severed, leaving wounds that smoked and sizzled.
She pulled her blade free from another burnt corpse. The man had made the mistake of blocking instead of dodging. Her flames had consumed him from the point of contact, spreading faster than he could scream.
But there were still so many more.
Wave after wave crashed against her position. Her body was failing, poison and blood loss working together to drag her down. Her vision began to blur at the edges. Each breath came harder than the last. The flames on her katana flickered, growing weaker.
She knew this would be her end.
The thought brought a strange smile to her face. She'd always known she'd die in battle. At least it was on her own terms, standing rather than cowering.
She looked down at her katana. The flames had died completely, leaving only ordinary steel slick with blood.
The army kept coming, an endless tide of black-cloaked soldiers.
She looked past them, finding Noah standing at a safe distance, watching with clinical interest.
Then she looked up. Snow drifted down slowly, each flake catching moonlight as it fell. The scene was almost peaceful from this angle.
Her green serpent eyes scanned the army surrounding her. She met the gaze of soldier after soldier.
And they began to burn.
One by one, then in groups, black-green flames erupted across bodies. Men who had looked into her eyes even for a second found themselves consumed. The fires spread through the ranks like a plague, jumping from person to person as panicked soldiers accidentally met her gaze while trying to retreat.
Screams multiplied. The organized army dissolved into chaos as men tried desperately not to look at her while also trying to fight. It was an impossible task.
She had taken out almost half of Noah's forces with this single technique.
But the cost was immense. After releasing those flames, she felt her body going critically weak. Her knees buckled. The poison had spread to the point where her extremities were going numb.
She decided to end it. One final technique. One last strike before her body gave out completely.
Crystal began to move through the remaining army, her blade flashing. She cut down anyone in her path, moving with the desperate speed of someone running on pure will. Each step took her closer to Noah.
She saw him clearly now, close enough to make out his expression. He was injured, one hand pressed to his side where blood seeped through his crimson robes. But he was still standing, still watching her with those cold, calculating eyes.
She said to herself, quiet enough that only she could hear: "One last attack."
Crystal raised her blade. Sword energy began to pulse along the katana's length, building with each heartbeat. The energy was visible now, a rippling distortion that made the air around the weapon shimmer. She lifted the sword high above her head with both hands.
Power built. The very air seemed to compress around her.
Then she said the name of the technique as she brought the sword down in one perfect, devastating arc.
"Serpent Art Technique, First Form: Heavenly Sword Slash."
The slash came.
Reality itself seemed to split along the path of her blade. A crescent of pure cutting force erupted forward, expanding as it traveled. It carved through the ground, through bodies, through the very foundations of the ruined mansion.
The destruction was absolute.
A fifty-meter crater appeared in the earth where her technique struck, edges perfectly smooth as if cut by divine mandate. The walls of the abandoned mansion simply ceased to exist, reduced to less than dust. Trees within a fifty-foot radius of the slash's path were gone, not knocked down but erased, leaving only stumps.
Seventy-five percent of Noah's remaining army died in that single instant. Some were caught directly in the slash and simply stopped existing. Others died from the shockwave that followed, bones shattered and organs ruptured.
The few survivors were injured to varying degrees. Men lay scattered across the courtyard and beyond, groaning or unconscious.
Noah himself was alive, but barely. The technique had caught him, though not directly. Both of his arms were injured, one bent at an unnatural angle. He coughed, blood spattering from his mouth. But he was standing, using some cultivation technique to remain upright despite his wounds.
Crystal's body failed.
She collapsed to the ground, her katana falling from nerveless fingers. She hit the snow hard, no strength left to break her fall. Pain flared, but it was distant now, like it was happening to someone else.
She couldn't feel her body anymore. The numbness had spread completely. Her vision was fading, darkness creeping in from all sides. She was dying. She knew this with absolute certainty.
As her vision tunneled, she saw Noah walking toward her. He moved slowly, each step obviously painful. But he came nonetheless, determination keeping him moving.
He stopped beside her, looking down. Blood dripped from his mouth, but he was smiling. That same cruel smile he'd worn earlier.
Crystal tried to speak, but no words came. Her vision was turning black, consciousness slipping away like water through cupped hands.
The last thing she saw was Noah standing above her, silhouetted against the falling snow.
Then darkness took her completely.