Streaks of compressed flame tore across the Ruan estate, piercing the darkness before striking their designated targets with unerring accuracy.
The first impact engulfed the roof of the guard quarters. A heartbeat later, the storage buildings erupted, followed by the kitchens, each explosion rolling into the next until the night itself seemed to tremble. Tiles shattered. Burning timber spun through the air. Smoke billowed upwards as cries of alarm broke out below.
For one stunned moment, the estate froze.
Then everything moved at once.
Lanterns flared to life behind windows and along covered walkways. Figures poured from the buildings, some rushing towards the fires while others stumbled away from them in confusion. The guards stationed near the entrance to the patriarch's courtyard hesitated, caught between their post and the spreading blaze. They shifted back and forth until flames climbed high enough to paint the surrounding walls red. Only then did they leave the gate and rush towards the fires.
A warning gong boomed from near the main entrance. The first strike rolled across the rooftops, deep enough to rattle the night air. It sounded again, faster this time, each blow answered by more lights appearing throughout the estate.
Then a lamp flared to life inside Patriarch Ruan's courtyard.
Several guards below had finally spotted them. They pointed towards the platform, their shouts carrying faintly through the chaos, but by then, it no longer mattered.
The first objective was complete.
"Nihilister, the courtyard next. The guards have cleared the entrance. Isolate it—set the surrounding buildings and pathways ablaze."
A grin spread across Nihilister's face as she redirected her weapons.
Flames poured from the dragon-headed appendages in roaring torrents, sweeping across the pathways surrounding the courtyard. Fire climbed the nearby buildings and spread along the ground, sealing every route leading away from the private residence.
Nihilister moved both appendages apart, tracing the outer walls from opposite directions. The streams of fire followed her aim until they met on the far side, boxing the entire courtyard within a blazing ring.
The effect was immediate.
Guards who had only moments ago rushed towards the other fires turned and began racing back. They abandoned the burning buildings to the servants, converging instead on the flames now blocking every path into Patriarch Ruan's courtyard.
Below, servants had already formed a frantic line around the nearby water feature, passing buckets from hand to hand as they fought to contain the spreading fires.
Su Yan's gaze shifted towards the returning guards.
"Nihilister, destroy the entryway between the water garden and the courtyard. Don't let them through."
One of the dragon-headed appendages swung towards the narrow passage. A streak of compressed flame crossed the estate and struck the archway above it.
The explosion tore through wood and stone alike. Part of the roof collapsed into the passage, burying it beneath burning beams and shattered tiles. The guards at the front recoiled as debris crashed down before them, cutting off the route they had intended to use.
They would find another way eventually, but not quickly enough.
Su Yan turned his attention back towards the isolated courtyard.
It was no longer empty.
Patriarch Ruan stood at its centre, staring up through the shifting light of the surrounding flames. His two wives stood behind him, robes hastily thrown over their nightclothes, yet none of the three appeared hurried.
The first wife stood half a step behind the patriarch's right shoulder. She was tall and broad-shouldered, her dark auburn hair bound behind her head. Even at rest, there was a heaviness to her build that made her low, steady stance resemble a coiled spring.
The second remained farther back, closer to the residence. Long black hair spilled loosely over her pale robe, framing features that appeared almost delicate beside the woman ahead of her. One hand rested against the doorframe while her gaze moved between the burning walls and the figures above.
Ruan said nothing.
His eyes travelled first across the hovering platform, then over 2B, before finally settling on Nihilister and the dragon-headed weapons poised beside her.
Around him, his estate burned.
Not a ripple of emotion crossed his face.
The sight left Su Yan uneasy.
He pressed the feeling down.
Ruan was watching him. So were the two women standing behind him.
Su Yan would not let any of them see uncertainty.
A second barrier formed several feet beneath the platform, hanging in the air like the next step of an unfinished staircase.
Su Yan stepped down onto it.
Only once Nihilister and 2B had followed did the platform above them fade. It reformed several feet lower, allowing Su Yan to continue his descent. The two barriers traded places again and again, one supporting them while the other appeared below, carrying the three of them gradually towards the courtyard.
Nihilister and 2B remained at either side, matching his measured pace as they walked down through the firelit night.
When Su Yan finally reached the courtyard, however, it was clear the display had not produced the effect he wanted.
Patriarch Ruan regarded him with an almost bored expression.
"I'll give you credit—the entrance was elegant."
His gaze travelled slowly down Su Yan's frame.
"You are simply too short to pull it off."
He gestured towards 2B and Nihilister.
"Your companions make a far more convincing impression."
His attention settled on the dragon-headed weapons poised beside Nihilister.
For the first time, his bored expression shifted. His eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze lingered on them.
"Those…"
A brief pause.
"An External Soul Bone?"
A trace of genuine interest entered his expression.
"I assume you are responsible for the fire currently ravaging my estate."
Nihilister glowered at him.
"I am. What of it?"
Ruan gave a quiet snort.
"Then compensation seems only reasonable."
His attention shifted to 2B. His gaze moved over her clothing and weapons before lingering on Pod as it floated beside her.
"A soul tool unlike any I have seen before."
The faint interest in his eyes sharpened.
"Yes. I believe I have found suitable compensation."
"Shut up!"
The words tore from Su Yan before he could stop them.
Ruan's attention returned to him.
One eyebrow rose.
"I doubt a child like you has anything substantial to offer me. Have your companions leave behind the External Soul Bone and that soul tool, and I may be willing to let you go."
His expression hardened.
"Refuse, and whatever follows will be the consequence of your decision."
"No. You don't get to demand anything from us." Su Yan's hands clenched at his sides. "You killed my family, you bastard!"
Ruan's eyes narrowed.
For the first time, he studied Su Yan directly, his gaze lingering on his face.
"I assure you, I have no idea what you are talking about."
His gaze passed over Su Yan once more.
"I do not even know who you are."
Su Yan tore back his hood.
"I am Su Yan, the sole surviving son of the Su family."
His voice shook, but he forced the words out.
"Nine years ago, you and your men attacked my home. You slaughtered my family. I survived only because my mother hid me until Spirit Hall arrived."
The patriarch's expression did not change.
"I wouldn't know anything about that. I only arrived here eight years ago."
Su Yan gritted his teeth.
He scrutinised the man's face, searching for the slightest crack in his composure.
He almost missed it.
A glimmer of amusement flickered in Ruan's eyes.
Su Yan lunged forward.
The first wife's stance tightened, her weight shifting onto her front foot.
Before Su Yan could take another step—or she could intercept him—a hand clamped firmly around his shoulder.
2B stood beside him, her grip unyielding. The movement pulled back her hood, allowing her white hair to spill free around the black visor covering her eyes.
Su Yan went rigid beneath 2B's hand, but he did not try to pull free.
Ruan watched him, the faint amusement still lingering in his eyes.
"You entered my home, set fire to my estate and rejected the terms I offered."
His gaze dropped briefly to Su Yan's clenched fists.
"And now you have attempted to attack me."
The amusement faded from his expression.
"It appears there is nothing left to discuss."
He raised one hand.
"Yueshan. Qingxian. Begin."
The two women nodded and released their Martial Souls.
Yueshan's Cragscale Land Dragon possessed her first. Her pupils contracted into narrow slits, fangs lengthening beneath her upper lip as patches of earthy yellow-brown scales surfaced across her cheeks, shoulders and forearms.
Five Soul Rings rose around her—two yellow, two purple and one black.
Beside her, pale light gathered between Qingxian's hands and turned into the elegant frame of a harp. Four Soul Rings emerged around the Crystal Harp, two yellow followed by two purple.
Ruan finally released his own Martial Soul—the Double-Headed Blood Bat.
His features sharpened almost imperceptibly. His canines lengthened, his ears drawing slightly to points as a deep crimson tint crept into his eyes. Darkened nails extended from his fingers, more claw than human.
Then his Soul Rings rose one by one.
Yellow.
Yellow.
Purple.
Purple.
Black.
Black.
Six rings revolved around him.
Su Yan's stomach dropped.
A Spirit Emperor.
"Shit."
The next few moments passed in a blur.
Qingxian's fingers swept across the strings of the Crystal Harp, releasing a sonorous melody through the courtyard. Three of her Soul Rings lit in rapid succession.
A soft green and yellow radiance settled over Ruan and Yueshan, followed moments later by crystalline light that began orbiting their bodies.
At the same time, four of Yueshan's Soul Rings brightened.
Dark brown stone spread across her shoulders and chest, extending down her arms until most of her upper body was encased in thick, overlapping plates of rock. Nothing else visibly changed, but Su Yan barely had time to register that before her final black Soul Ring ignited.
Boom!
The air seemed to burst around Yueshan as she shot across the courtyard.
One moment she stood beside Qingxian.
The next, she was already bearing down on them.
Pod split apart with a mechanical crack, revealing the firing mechanism beneath. A steady stream of energy bolts tore towards her.
Each struck with a sharp metallic ding, scattering away as small flashes of blue light rippled across the crystalline shell surrounding her.
Su Yan's first Soul Ring flashed.
Two barriers snapped into existence across Yueshan's path.
It made no difference.
She ploughed through the first without slowing. The second shattered an instant later, scarcely more effective than placing a sheet of paper before a charging carriage.
And she was still coming.
An arm wrapped firmly around Su Yan's waist.
A moment later his feet left the ground as 2B pulled him against her side and leapt backwards, carrying him clear of Yueshan's charge.
Yueshan landed with a crash, crushing the stone tiles where he had been standing only a moment before.
Movement caught Su Yan's eye.
Ruan had drawn a small knife across his palm.
He flicked his hand, scattering droplets of blood into the air.
For a moment, they simply hung there, suspended like tiny rubies beneath the firelight.
Then Ruan's fourth Soul Ring lit.
The droplets stretched and sharpened. In an instant, each had transformed into a slender blood needle.
Su Yan reacted on instinct.
His first Soul Ring lit as two barriers formed between them. He did not even register which elements he had aligned them with.
The blood needles punched straight through.
Perfectly circular holes appeared across both barriers as the crimson points continued towards him without noticeably slowing.
They grew larger in Su Yan's vision.
Then they vanished.
A great gout of flame swept across his field of view, swallowing the entire volley along with his already perforated barriers.
The blast continued across the courtyard towards Yueshan, forcing her to throw herself aside. Flames clipped the crystalline shell around her, blue light flaring violently before fading to a noticeably weaker glow.
Still held firmly beneath one of 2B's arms, Su Yan let out the breath he had been holding. The fight had erupted in mere moments, and he had barely been able to think.
Su Yan looked across the damaged courtyard towards the three figures opposite them.
Qingxian was already playing again, crystalline light gathering around Yueshan as the weakened shell began to recover.
Ruan, however, was staring at Su Yan's group with open curiosity.
"Do you really take us so lightly that you would not even show your Martial Souls or Soul Rings?"
His gaze shifted towards Su Yan.
"The boy is too slow and weak to be of any real help, but you two…"
"Nihilister. Shut him up."
Nihilister kicked off the ground.
Stone tiles shattered beneath her feet as she shot towards Ruan.
His eyes widened, his arms snapping up into a guard.
Nihilister grinned.
One of the dragon-headed appendages whipped forward.
"You talk too much."
It slammed into Ruan's raised guard with a deafening crack.
The crystalline defence around him burst apart into shards of blue light as Ruan was hurled skyward, rapidly separating him from Qingxian and Yueshan.
His third Soul Ring ignited.
A pair of blood-coloured bat wings burst from his back, tearing through his robes as they spread wide. With several powerful beats, Ruan arrested his momentum.
He looked down.
Nihilister was already moving.
She leapt onto the roof of the still-intact residence and immediately launched several streaks of compressed flame towards him.
Ruan wasted no time dodging.
Yueshan moved to pursue Nihilister, but the moment she stepped forward, a massive white blade came spinning across her path like a buzzsaw.
She was forced to break off and throw herself aside.
Virtuous Treaty tore past her and buried itself deep into the courtyard stone.
Yueshan landed beside Qingxian, who was already desperately playing the Crystal Harp as she attempted to reform Ruan's shattered defence.
Yueshan stared at the white blade for a moment before it began to dissolve into bright motes of pale-gold light.
Her eyes followed them across the courtyard.
The motes gathered behind 2B, reforming into Virtuous Treaty as it returned to its place floating behind her back.
Then pale-gold light swallowed Yueshan.
The beam struck the crystalline shell head-on, forcing her back several steps as blue light flared violently around her. Cracks spread across its surface, but it held.
By the time the beam faded, its glow had dimmed considerably.
Yueshan barely had time to recover before Pod resumed firing.
A steady barrage of energy bolts hammered against the weakened defence, each impact producing another sharp ding as it ricocheted away.
Yueshan drove one hand into the stone tiles beneath her feet.
With a sharp wrench, she tore an entire slab free and hurled it towards 2B.
A golden barrier snapped into existence in its path.
The stone slab smashed into it with enough force to shatter the panel, but the impact broke the projectile apart with it, fragments of stone scattering across the courtyard.
Yueshan growled as another succession of sharp dings rang around her.
Behind her, Qingxian's fingers continued moving across the Crystal Harp. Crystalline light flowed over Yueshan, filling the cracks across her damaged shell until its glow returned to full strength.
The moment it was restored, Yueshan's fifth Soul Ring blazed.
The air burst around her as she charged back into the fray.
2B released Su Yan, sending him clear with a controlled shove before meeting the charge head-on.
Virtuous Treaty traced a brilliant arc through the air and smashed into the crystalline defence.
Cracks erupted across its surface.
Yueshan's expression tightened.
Her charge was driving her straight into the blade.
She slammed one foot into the ground.
Stone cratered beneath her as her charge came to an abrupt halt, immediately relieving the pressure against the crystalline shell.
Yueshan dipped sharply beneath the blade, shifting her upper body to the side as it passed.
Then she drove upwards.
Her right fist came hurtling towards 2B's chin in a vicious uppercut.
2B released Virtuous Treaty and drew Virtuous Contract across her body.
Yueshan's rock-covered fist slammed into the blade.
The impact launched 2B backwards, her boots leaving the ground as she was thrown across the courtyard.
She twisted in the air and drove Virtuous Contract into the stone beneath her.
The blade carved a long gouge through the courtyard as it bled away her momentum before 2B finally came to a stop.
She straightened.
Behind her, Virtuous Treaty reformed in a shower of pale-gold motes.
2B reached back and caught its hilt.
With a sword in each hand, she charged straight back into the melee.
Su Yan remained off to the side, forcing himself to take in the battlefield.
2B was holding her own against Yueshan. Her blades were constantly spreading cracks across the crystalline shell, while Pod's relentless barrage kept the pressure on. Her greater agility kept her moving around the heavier woman's attacks.
But every time they began to make progress, Qingxian repaired it.
Su Yan spared Nihilister a quick glance.
She was still moving across the rooftops, exchanging attacks with Ruan, a manic grin still plastered across her face.
His attention returned to Qingxian.
The woman was completely focused on the melee, her fingers dancing across the Crystal Harp as her third Soul Ring activated again and crystalline light flowed towards Yueshan.
Su Yan moved.
Keeping to the edge of the courtyard, he hurried towards Qingxian while giving the clash between 2B and Yueshan as wide a berth as he could.
His first Soul Ring lit.
Two gold-coloured barriers snapped into existence on either side of Qingxian.
A discordant note rang from the Crystal Harp.
Su Yan brought his hands together.
The barriers shot inward.
They slammed against Qingxian's crystalline shell, blue light flaring brightly around her. Cracks immediately spread across Su Yan's barriers from the impact, while the shell surrounding Qingxian merely dimmed.
But the momentary interruption was enough.
Across the courtyard, Pod's energy bolts continued hammering uselessly against Yueshan's crystalline defence, each impact producing the same sharp metallic ding as they ricocheted away.
This time, however, Qingxian was not repairing the cracks spreading beneath 2B's blades.
Virtuous Treaty came down in a heavy arc.
More fractures raced across the shell.
Virtuous Contract followed.
The crystalline defence shattered.
Yueshan immediately crossed both arms above her head.
Virtuous Treaty crashed into the rock armour beneath, biting deep and tearing a jagged gouge through the overlapping plates.
Yueshan surged forward.
2B released the blade and flipped backwards over the charging woman, twisting through the air before landing behind her.
Pod never stopped firing.
This time, the energy bolts did not ricochet.
They hammered into Yueshan's exposed rock armour, breaking small chips from its surface with every impact.
Yueshan spun towards the barrage and slammed both hands into the ground.
With a violent wrench, she tore a large section of stone free and hauled it up in front of herself as an improvised shield.
Qingxian's fourth Soul Ring lit.
Her fingers struck the strings.
A sharp, discordant note tore through the courtyard.
The two cracked barriers beside her shattered instantly.
Su Yan saw the air distort.
Something was coming towards him.
He threw himself to the side.
An invisible force smashed into the spot he had occupied a moment before, cracking the stone beneath it.
Su Yan hit the ground hard and twisted around.
Qingxian was already playing again.
Her third Soul Ring glowed as crystalline light flowed across the courtyard towards Yueshan, a new shell beginning to form around her.
Su Yan tried to disrupt her again.
This time, Qingxian was ready.
Sometimes she simply ignored his barriers and continued restoring Yueshan's defence. Other times, her fourth Soul Ring lit and another discordant note tore through the courtyard, shattering them before forcing Su Yan to dodge the attack that followed.
A support Spirit Master with an actual offensive Soul Skill.
Su Yan had not anticipated that at all.
As he threw himself aside from another counterattack, movement from Pod caught his eye.
Its weapon had shifted away from Yueshan.
The gathering light was aimed directly at Qingxian.
Yueshan moved the instant she noticed.
She stepped squarely into the line of fire, placing her armoured body between Qingxian and the charging laser.
The beam struck.
Blue light flared violently around Yueshan as cracks spread across the freshly restored crystalline shell, its glow dimming beneath the impact.
Qingxian was already repairing it.
Crystalline light flowed from the harp almost as soon as the laser faded, sealing the fractures before 2B could fully capitalise on them.
The combination was starting to grate on Su Yan's nerves.
He took a deep breath as Qingxian stopped targeting him for the moment.
Then he noticed it.
For all the effectiveness of their coordination, Yueshan and Qingxian were a far cry from how they had looked at the start of the fight.
He would not say they were losing.
Not yet.
But their breathing had grown heavier. Yueshan's movements no longer carried quite the same effortless force, while Qingxian's fingers moved across the Crystal Harp with slightly less grace than before.
2B, meanwhile, still looked fresh.
Other than the dust and grime marring her clothes, there was little sign that the fight had taken much out of her at all.
If they kept this up, they might be able to wear them down.
Qingxian's fourth Soul Ring lit again.
Su Yan tensed, already preparing to throw himself aside.
Then he saw where she was facing.
He wasn't the target.
"2B, dodge!"
A sharp, discordant note tore from the Crystal Harp.
Yueshan immediately dropped flat.
The air distorted above her as the concussive wave ripped across the courtyard, heading straight for 2B.
2B jumped, launching herself cleanly over it.
Yueshan was ready.
While dropping to the ground, she had seized two broken chunks of stone from the shattered courtyard.
She hurled them both.
"2B—"
Su Yan's first Soul Ring lit, but he was too late to intercept the stones.
Still suspended in the air, 2B twisted and kicked sharply against empty space.
Her body abruptly shifted sideways, slipping through the narrowing gap between the two projectiles.
Su Yan's relief lasted less than a second.
Yueshan's fifth Soul Ring lit.
His own Soul Skill was already activating.
Two golden barriers snapped into existence in the air, set at right angles to one another.
Yueshan launched herself.
2B's feet struck the first barrier.
She kicked off.
Gold fractured beneath her boots as the barrier shattered, sending her hurtling away from the path Yueshan had been charging towards.
Yueshan tore through the space she should have occupied.
2B twisted in mid-air, turning her body as her momentum carried her towards the second barrier.
Her boots struck its surface.
She kicked off again.
The second barrier shattered beneath her feet.
The sudden change in direction sent 2B sweeping down behind Yueshan.
Virtuous Treaty came forward, its point driving towards the centre of her back.
It struck.
Blue light erupted around Yueshan.
Cracks raced across the freshly restored crystalline shell before it shattered beneath the force of the thrust.
The greatsword struck the rock armour beneath.
Its point scraped across stone for the briefest instant before finding one of the narrow gaps between the overlapping plates.
Then the white blade slipped almost gracefully through.
Yueshan's body jerked violently as Virtuous Treaty punched through her front, its once-white blade now stained red.
She barely had time to draw breath before 2B's momentum carried them both down.
They crashed into the courtyard with Yueshan underneath, fractured stone bursting out around them as the greatsword drove into the ground beneath her, pinning her in place.
The impact tore a ragged gasp from Yueshan's throat.
2B did not hesitate.
Virtuous Contract flashed into her hand.
With a small turn of her wrist, the blade swept through a brief silver arc as she aligned its point.
Then she drove it down.
Yueshan screamed.
Virtuous Contract punched through the upper-right side of her back and buried itself into the stone beneath her.
Her right arm went slack.
Two white blades now held her against the shattered courtyard.
Elation surged through Su Yan.
It lasted less than a heartbeat.
The ground vanished beneath his feet.
He was airborne.
Su Yan's eyes darted across the courtyard, desperately trying to understand what had happened.
Then they found Qingxian.
Her fourth Soul Ring burned brightly around her, her face twisted into a rictus of hatred.
His vision went dark.
2B moved the instant Su Yan was struck.
Leaving Yueshan pinned where she lay, she dashed across the courtyard and caught him before he could hit the ground.
She landed and quickly checked him over.
Unconscious, but there were no obvious signs of serious injury.
A faint breath of relief escaped her.
2B carried him away from the scattered rubble and encroaching flames before carefully lowering him to the ground.
"Pod. Sentry duty. Protect him."
"Acknowledged."
Pod floated into position beside the unconscious Su Yan.
2B turned back towards Yueshan.
Qingxian had already reached her.
Both hands were wrapped around the hilt of Virtuous Contract as she desperately tried to wrench the blade free.
It refused to move.
"Qingxian… run… leave me."
"I am not leaving you, you… you muscle-brained oaf."
Tears welled in Qingxian's eyes as she planted one foot against the broken stone and pulled again.
Nothing.
"Move, you stupid sword!"
Pinned against the shattered courtyard, Yueshan could see 2B approaching over Qingxian's shoulder.
"Qingxian… she's coming… run."
Her voice came out in ragged, wet gasps as the pool of blood beneath her slowly widened.
Blood began soaking into the lower hem of Qingxian's pale robe as she strained against the sword.
She finally looked up.
2B was coming towards her.
Qingxian released Virtuous Contract and struck the strings of the Crystal Harp.
Her fourth Soul Ring blazed.
One concussive wave after another tore across the courtyard.
2B dodged each without breaking stride.
Fear spread across Qingxian's face.
She stumbled backwards.
Her heel struck Yueshan.
Qingxian froze.
The fear remained, but something harder settled over it.
Her third Soul Ring lit.
Crystalline light surged around both women, forming a fresh shell over Yueshan before closing around Qingxian herself.
Then she screamed towards the rooftops.
"Husband! Help us!"
2B launched herself forward.
Su Yan awoke abruptly, his eyes snapping open.
He tried to jerk upright, only for waves of pain to surge through his body and force him back down with a flinch.
He blinked several times, struggling to clear the blur from his vision.
Pod hovered silently beside him.
Then he heard it.
A steady succession of heavy impacts echoed across the courtyard, each dull thud accompanied by the faint ring of stressed crystal.
Su Yan followed the sound.
2B was pummelling the crystalline shell surrounding Qingxian.
The woman had planted herself in front of the prone Yueshan, a second shell shimmering around the injured woman behind her.
Blood had already soaked into the lower hem of Qingxian's pale robe, staining the fabric red where it brushed against the shattered courtyard.
Sweat dampened the robe higher up as well, the once-neat fabric now clinging to her frame. Loose strands of black hair stuck to her cheeks and neck, but she did not seem to notice.
Her fingers moved across the Crystal Harp again and again, no longer with the same delicate grace as before, but with frantic determination.
Crystalline light continuously poured into both shells, most of it gathering around her own.
2B gave her no respite.
Each blow made Qingxian's defence flare and crack, forcing her to pour more Spirit Power into restoring it before the next strike landed.
A streak of flame tore across the night sky, drawing Su Yan's attention upwards.
Ruan looked considerably worse than before.
His once-pristine robes were singed and blackened in places, several sections torn from the constant exchanges with Nihilister.
But it was his face that made Su Yan stare.
He blinked, taking another moment to make sure the firelight was not playing tricks on him.
Ruan had gone frighteningly pale, his features drawn and hollow beneath the shifting light. He looked almost bloodless.
He was still trying to reach Yueshan and Qingxian.
Every time he angled towards the courtyard, however, Nihilister cut him off with another barrage of flame. His own attacks forced her to dodge or intercept them, but never bought him enough space to break away.
The surrounding rooftops and courtyard had become mottled with dark splashes of blood.
Considering how Ruan looked now, Su Yan could guess where most of it had come from.
Then Ruan's fifth Soul Ring lit.
Every patch of blood flashed crimson.
Su Yan's eyes widened.
The blood erupted.
Jagged spikes burst from the rooftops, walls and shattered courtyard wherever the crimson stains had landed, all converging on Nihilister at once.
For the first time, there was nowhere obvious for her to move.
Nihilister did not look worried.
Both dragon-headed appendages snapped down.
Flame exploded around her.
The inferno swallowed Nihilister and the forest of blood spikes alike, consuming them almost instantly beneath the overwhelming heat.
When the flames receded, nothing remained of the attack beyond scorched stone and a few dark stains.
Nihilister grinned.
"You sneaky little shit."
Her gaze swept over the scattered remnants of blood.
"So that's what all of that was for."
Ruan ground his teeth.
"Enough!"
His crimson eyes snapped towards the courtyard.
Towards Qingxian desperately maintaining her failing defence.
Towards Yueshan pinned beneath the two white blades.
Towards the pool of blood steadily spreading beneath her.
His gaze shifted.
The guards were still fighting their way towards the courtyard. Some had abandoned empty buckets and were trying to drag burning debris aside by hand, while others searched desperately for another route through the flames.
They had barely advanced.
Ruan's expression hardened.
"Useless trash."
He drew the small knife and drove it through his own palm.
His fourth Soul Ring lit.
As he pulled the blade free, blood clung to the steel instead of falling away. It stretched with the knife, thick and viscous, lengthening until a crimson blade had formed around it.
By the time the knife cleared his hand, Ruan was holding something closer to a sabre than a dagger.
He turned towards the guards and swung.
A thin crimson line tore from the blade.
For an instant, it seemed almost harmless.
Then it accelerated.
The crimson line passed cleanly through several of the guards.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then their bodies came apart.
Blood spilled across the stones as what remained of them collapsed to the ground.
The surviving guards froze.
Then the screaming began.
A wooden bucket struck the stones and rolled away, spilling what little water it held into the spreading blood.
Ruan let out a slow breath.
His sixth Soul Ring lit.
A crimson pulse erupted from his body, sweeping across most of the courtyard before bending conspicuously around the area where his wives lay.
The blood moved.
At first it merely trembled against the stones before it began crawling across them like something alive.
Blood poured from the bodies of the dead guards, joining the streams already racing across the courtyard. Crimson rivulets climbed walls, crossed broken stone and even pulled themselves through the shallow water spreading from the fallen bucket.
All of it flowed towards Ruan.
Above him, the blood began gathering.
Drop by drop, stream by stream, a dark crimson sphere rapidly swelled into existence.
Nihilister watched in silence.
The manic grin she had worn at the beginning of the fight was gone.
A memory came unbidden.
The sensation of her own flesh being torn away.
Indivilia and Chatterbox looming over her battered body.
Gleefully taking from her.
When she looked at Ruan again, there was no amusement left in her expression.
Ruan remained deathly pale, but as the sphere above him continued to swell, some of his earlier confidence returned.
His fourth Soul Ring flashed.
Several thick masses of blood tore themselves away from the Reservoir and hung suspended around him.
They twisted, compressed and lengthened.
Within moments, each had taken the shape of a crimson spear.
Ruan thrust out his hand.
The spears shot downwards.
Some streaked towards Nihilister.
The others went for 2B.
Nihilister answered with another blast of flame.
The earlier needles would have vanished instantly.
These did not.
Their surfaces hissed and blackened as they tore through the inferno, forcing Nihilister to twist aside while one of her dragon-headed appendages smashed another from the air.
2B evaded the spears aimed at her.
They struck the courtyard instead.
Not at her.
In front of Qingxian and Yueshan.
Ruan's fifth Soul Ring lit.
The embedded spears pulsed.
Jagged blood spikes erupted from each impact point, rapidly branching towards one another until they interlocked into a crude crimson wall between 2B and his wives.
Suspended above the courtyard, Ruan looked down at them.
"I have indulged this farce long enough."
His gaze swept across the burning estate.
"You burned my property. You killed my guards."
His eyes finally settled on Qingxian and Yueshan.
"And you laid your hands on my wives."
His fourth and sixth Soul Rings blazed.
The Blood Reservoir convulsed.
Almost half of the enormous sphere tore free at once and poured towards the crimson sabre in Ruan's hand.
The weapon did not simply grow.
The blood compressed.
Layer after layer folded into the blade, its crimson surface darkening as more and more mass was forced into the same narrow shape.
The air around its edge began to distort.
Slowly, the surface of the blade took on an almost metallic sheen.
Ruan swung.
The same thin crimson line tore through the air.
Only this time, it was faster.
Far faster.
Nihilister snapped one of her dragon-headed appendages across to intercept it.
The crimson line struck.
A piercing screech ripped through the courtyard as the compressed blood flared violently at the point of contact.
Metal buckled.
The slash carved deep into the appendage before finally dispersing, leaving a long crimson-edged gouge across its surface.
Ruan's fifth Soul Ring lit.
Nihilister reacted immediately.
The second dragon-headed appendage snapped towards the damaged one and unleashed a concentrated burst of flame.
The blood coating the gouge hissed and vanished beneath the heat before Ruan could make use of it.
She inspected the damage.
The attack had torn through the outer armour, but had failed to breach anything important beneath it.
"Old man's got some bite after all."
Nihilister ground out the words as she refocused on Ruan.
More masses of blood were already separating from the Reservoir.
They stretched and compressed into crimson spears around him.
Ruan launched them.
Nihilister answered immediately.
Compressed bursts of flame shot from her weapons, one for each incoming spear.
The attacks collided above the courtyard.
The night sky bloomed with successive explosions of crimson and orange, momentarily illuminating the burning estate like a grotesque display of fireworks.
Something flashed through the light.
Nihilister stepped sharply aside.
A crimson line tore through the space she had occupied an instant earlier.
It continued past her and carved across the rooftop.
Tiles, timber and stone split apart before the structure collapsed beneath her feet.
Nihilister burst back through the wreckage moments later.
Ruan had already moved.
Blood was pouring from the Reservoir into the wings stretched across his back.
They swelled rapidly, each membrane thickening as crimson mass flooded through them until their span seemed almost grotesquely oversized.
Heat began rolling off Nihilister in waves.
An orange glow appeared between the gaps of her armour.
Ruan folded both wings around himself.
Then snapped them open.
Blood tore free beneath the violent motion.
For an instant, it spread out in two enormous crimson sheets.
The glow beneath Nihilister's armour brightened.
Then the sheets fragmented.
Hundreds of sharpened streaks rained towards Nihilister.
The air around her distorted violently as the light intensified from orange to almost white.
Su Yan stared despite himself.
For one impossible moment, the glare became so intense that he thought her skin had turned translucent.
Above her, Ruan seemed to finally realise what was coming.
Ruan's fourth Soul Ring flashed.
The remaining Blood Reservoir surged towards him.
Crimson liquid folded around his body from every direction, rapidly enclosing him inside a thick sphere of blood.
Then the light became unbearable.
Su Yan threw an arm across his eyes. A heartbeat later, orange light flashed through his eyelids.
The shockwave struck almost immediately afterwards.
Heat rolled across the courtyard as Nihilister unleashed a torrent of flame unlike anything she had used so far.
For the next several seconds, fire was all Su Yan could hear.
Then it abruptly stopped.
The heat remained.
Dry air scraped down Su Yan's throat as he lowered his arm, leaving his mouth painfully parched.
His eyes immediately found Nihilister.
Several sections of her armour still glowed a dull red, waves of heat and wisps of steam rising from her body.
But Su Yan noticed something else.
Something he had not seen from her once during the entire fight.
Nihilister was breathing hard.
Her chest rose and fell in deep, heavy breaths.
She took a quick glance over her own body as she continued to gasp.
"Shitty-ass body… shitty-ass parts… can't even sustain that output…"
Above the courtyard, a blackened sphere still hung in the air.
A gentle night breeze passed through it.
The sphere crumbled.
Fine black ash scattered into the darkness.
Ruan was still alive.
Angry red burns mottled his exposed skin, stark against the bloodless pallor beneath. His robes were little more than scorched remnants in places, and even his Blood Wings looked ragged around the edges.
Yet somehow, he was still in the air.
"Su Yan."
He jolted at Nihilister's voice.
When he looked over, she was pointing towards Ruan.
"Get me up there."
"What?"
Nihilister drew in a deep breath.
Then crouched.
Su Yan's eyes widened.
"Wait—"
She launched herself into the air.
His first Soul Ring flared on instinct.
A golden barrier manifested beneath her just as her momentum began to fade.
Nihilister's foot struck it.
She kicked off.
Sideways.
The barrier vanished the instant her foot left it.
Su Yan almost lost her.
Another barrier manifested ahead of her, angled just enough to catch her next step.
Nihilister struck it and launched herself back across the sky.
Su Yan dismissed it immediately.
The first barrier flashed back into existence higher up.
Her foot landed against it for barely an instant before it vanished as well.
Su Yan's head spun.
Nihilister darted through the night in violent bursts, every impossible change of direction marked by a golden barrier that existed for barely longer than the instant her foot touched it.
He had no time to move them through the air.
He had to dismiss them, predict where she was going next and manifest them there.
The first few appeared almost too late.
Then he began to catch her rhythm.
Nihilister twisted in mid-air.
Su Yan dismissed the barrier behind her.
The next one was already waiting.
Her foot struck gold.
She shot upwards.
Ruan twisted in the air, desperately trying to track her.
He couldn't.
Nihilister was changing direction too quickly, while his damaged Blood Wings left every attempt to reposition sluggish and uneven.
By the time he finally managed to follow her movement, she was already above him.
A golden barrier flashed into existence.
Nihilister kicked off.
Straight towards him.
Both dragon-headed appendages rose behind her, their jaws still glowing dimly from the inferno she had unleashed moments earlier.
Ruan's eyes widened.
Both appendages came down with crushing force.
The still-heated metal struck him with a violent hiss, searing against his skin as Nihilister hammered him out of the air.
Ruan fell like a bullet.
He struck the courtyard hard enough to burst shattered stone out around him, his body driven partially into the ground.
Nihilister followed.
Su Yan reacted on instinct, manifesting a barrier beneath her path.
She ignored it.
A second appeared lower.
Nihilister twisted past that one as well.
Then she hit the courtyard.
She landed on both feet with enough force to fracture the stone beneath her, cracks racing outwards from the point of impact as broken fragments jumped around her.
Nihilister straightened and stalked towards Ruan.
He had barely begun to move when she reached down, seized him and dragged him free of the crater.
Across the courtyard, Qingxian watched.
Her fingers remained poised above the strings of the Crystal Harp.
But they did not move.
The crystalline shell around her flickered.
Then disappeared.
The shell surrounding Yueshan followed a heartbeat later.
Qingxian slowly lowered herself beside Yueshan.
Tears traced clean lines through the sweat and grime staining her face as she looked down at her, then towards the battered figure being dragged across the courtyard.
She made no attempt to run.
Nihilister reached them and casually swept aside one of the remaining sections of the blood wall.
Then she threw Ruan through the opening.
He struck the ground and rolled to a stop beside his wives.
Ruan coughed violently and tried to push himself upright.
Qingxian was beside him immediately, slipping an arm beneath his and helping him sit up.
His eyes went straight to Yueshan.
The dark-brown rock armour that had covered her body was gone, the last fractured plates having crumbled away as her Spirit Power faded. Only scattered patches of earthy scales remained beneath the blood soaking through her clothes.
Virtuous Treaty and Virtuous Contract still pinned her against the shattered stone.
She was still clinging to life.
Each breath came as a shallow, wet rasp, weaker than the one before it. Her left hand shifted against the ground, fingers trembling as though searching for something.
Qingxian saw it.
She lowered herself beside Yueshan and immediately took the trembling hand between both of hers.
"I'm here."
Yueshan's fingers weakly closed around hers.
Ruan stared at her for a moment before reaching out with his burned hand and gently brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face.
"Yueshan."
Her eyes moved towards him.
The faintest trace of relief softened her expression.
As Su Yan approached, he could not help but feel a twinge of sympathy.
It changed nothing.
Whatever they were to each other did not erase what Ruan had done.
For a moment, Su Yan stared at the three of them, unsure how to proceed.
His gaze settled on the two women beside Ruan.
"You two… did you know about Ruan's past? About the things he had done?"
Qingxian's shoulders drew inward, her head lowering.
"We knew enough."
Her voice was quiet.
"But whatever his past, he is our husband. He never hid what he was from us."
She looked towards Ruan again, the affection in her expression undiminished, before shifting closer and resting her head against his shoulder.
Yueshan said nothing.
She barely seemed to have the strength to.
But when Su Yan looked at her, there was no shock in her expression. No disbelief at what he had accused Ruan of.
Her eyes simply moved towards her husband.
That was answer enough.
Su Yan closed his eyes and drew in a slow breath.
When he opened them again, whatever hesitation remained no longer held him back.
"Ruan. I have one last question."
Ruan gave him a weak glance.
"What?"
"Do you actually remember my family?"
Ruan chuckled weakly.
"Does it even matter anymore?"
His jaw tightened.
"Yes. It does to me."
Ruan's eyes lingered on Su Yan for a moment.
A faint smile touched his battered face.
"Then I'm afraid you'll have to live without the answer."
His gaze shifted towards Yueshan.
Qingxian's arm remained wrapped around him.
Ruan let out a tired breath.
"Finish it."
Su Yan clenched his fists.
For one fleeting moment, he wanted to deny Ruan even that.
"2B, retrieve your swords. Nihilister… you got one more blast in you?"
"For you? Always."
Virtuous Treaty and Virtuous Contract began to dissolve into pale-gold light.
As the blades vanished, Yueshan's body finally settled against the shattered stone.
Ruan immediately reached for her.
With Qingxian's help, he carefully drew Yueshan's upper body towards him, cradling her against his lap.
Qingxian remained pressed against his other side, one arm wrapped around him while her free hand still held Yueshan's.
Ruan pulled them both closer.
Su Yan watched them for a moment.
His fists slowly unclenched.
"Nihilister."
She glanced back at him.
"Kill them."
Nihilister stepped in front of Su Yan.
The jaws of both dragon-headed appendages opened with a metallic clank, orange flame already leaking between their teeth.
She looked down at the three of them.
"Anything to say?"
Ruan merely huffed, his arms tightening around his wives.
Qingxian buried herself against him, one arm still wrapped around Yueshan.
Nihilister waited a heartbeat.
"Fine."
Then she drowned them in fire.
Su Yan watched the flames in silence, his entire body tense.
He did not know what he had expected.
When the flames finally died away, three blackened figures remained where the family had huddled together only moments before.
None of them moved.
Su Yan stood there staring at them.
His heartbeat was strangely steady.
Perhaps the reality of what had just happened had simply not caught up with him yet.
Something glimmered amongst the blackened remains.
A thin layer of ash flaked away from Ruan's corpse, revealing a gold necklace set with sapphire gems.
Unlike almost everything surrounding it, the necklace appeared completely untouched by the flames.
Su Yan hesitated.
Then he crouched beside Ruan's remains.
His fingers hovered over the necklace for a moment before finally closing around the chain.
It was cool.
Everything around it still radiated heat, yet the gold felt almost cold against his fingertips.
He reached behind Ruan's neck and found the clasp.
The body shifted slightly beneath his touch, sending another layer of ash sliding onto the broken stone.
Su Yan swallowed and worked the clasp free.
The necklace came away without resistance.
He was still examining it when a faint voice reached him.
"Mother… Father…"
His head snapped towards the sound.
A small boy stood framed in the entrance of the burning residence.
A maid stood beside him, desperately pulling at his arm, but the boy seemed rooted to the spot.
His eyes were fixed on the three blackened figures in the courtyard.
Su Yan slowly rose to his feet.
And suddenly, the rest of the world came rushing back into focus.
The crackling of the flames.
Smoke billowing high into the night sky.
Screams of panic somewhere deeper within the estate.
The heat against his skin.
And a small boy staring blankly at the charred figures that had once been his family.
He felt sick.
Nihilister's gaze shifted towards the boy.
Su Yan saw it.
"No."
She glanced at him.
"2B, Nihilister. We're leaving. Now."
"Just like that?"
Su Yan nodded.
"Our objective is complete. Anything beyond that isn't our concern. We're leaving."
"Whatever you say."
Su Yan manifested the barriers once more, giving them a path away from the burning estate.
As they ascended, he spared one last glance towards the courtyard below.
The boy had not moved.
The maid was still trying to pull him away, but he seemed barely aware of her.
His eyes remained fixed on the blackened remains of his family.
Su Yan did not like what he saw.