[Journey to the Skyward Region]
After leaving the Sect, Raiking, Ezmelral, and Faye were mounted on Libinea, who had assumed her true form. She was a magnificent Phoenix, a creature of living flame so massive that she eclipsed the sun, causing every mortal in the lands below to stare up at the heavens in terror.
Who could blame them? It was rare for a being from the Skyward Region to cast a shadow over Dawnfall, a land primarily dominated by mortals.
As the wind whipped past them, Libinea explained the history of this segregation—a history written in jealousy.
"So, the King of the Dragon Clan fell in love with the Ancestral Phoenix?" Ezmelral shouted over the wind, trying to confirm the legend. "And when he discovered she loved a mortal man, he condemned the entire Phoenix tribe to guard the border forever?"
"Essentially," Libinea's voice echoed in their minds.
"What a spiteful man," Ezmelral scoffed. She glanced at Raiking, who was diligently protecting Faye from the wind with a magical barrier. "Master, how far would you go for the woman you love—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
She realized instantly it was a foolish question. She had access to the Goddess's memories; she knew exactly what he had done.
She had watched him go from being the terrifying, revered God of Death—an entity that made universes tremble—to becoming a Sect Master. And not just a master, but essentially a glorified janitor for a guild of reckless monsters, all to keep a promise to a mortal woman.
The Dragon King had destroyed a tribe out of spite. Raiking had destroyed his own nature out of devotion.
Though their methods were opposites, the root cause was identical.
"I see," Ezmelral whispered, watching Raiking adjust the baby's blanket.
"See what?" Raiking asked, not looking up.
"That even the Gods are slaves to love."
Raiking remained quiet, not for lack of a response, but because Ezmelral had a way of making statements that drove one into deep reflection.
Before Libinea could voice her thoughts on the matter, the atmosphere shifted.
Faye was the first to notice.
With a fragment of the Goddess's soul within her, she was naturally sensitive to the emotional undercurrents around her. She felt a sudden, intense surge of malice aimed at Raiking.
It was a sharp, unpleasant sensation. Faye's lip began to tremble, her eyes welled up with tears. She inhaled deeply, preparing to release a piercing wail.
DEFCON 1.
Libinea was determined to prevent that.
"Pause."
The colors of the world inverted. The wind ceased its howling. The clouds stood still.
Twelve figures, masked and clad in dark cloaks, who had just teleported into formation for an ambush around the Phoenix, were suspended in mid-air. Their weapons were drawn, their murderous intent frozen on their faces.
Ezmelral needed no prompting. She was already in motion.
She unsheathed her blade, turning into a blur of silver light within the grey world. She moved among the immobilized assassins, her sword executing lethal strokes with precision.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
In a heartbeat, she slit twelve throats.
She returned to Raiking's side, sheathing her blade.
Raiking didn't delay either. Without even rising, he swept his hand through the air, unleashing a wave of pure Entropy over the frozen foes.
"Decay."
The spell took effect immediately. The assassins' bodies began to age rapidly. Their skin withered, muscles shrank, and bones became brittle. By the time the spell completed, they were reduced to dust held together by their robes.
Libinea released the Time Stop.
"Resume."
The wind roared back to life.
The twelve now-lifeless robes were swiftly swept away by the gale force of the Phoenix's flight, dispersing the assassins' dust into the atmosphere. To an outside observer, it would appear as though the ambush had never transpired.
Yet, despite the swift elimination of the threat, Raiking, Ezmelral, and Libinea were gripped with fear.
Their eyes fixed on Faye.
The baby blinked, puzzled by the sudden vanishing of the "bad feeling." She sniffed the air. Then, seeing Raiking's calm demeanor, she concluded the danger had passed.
"Gaga!"
A wave of relief washed over the trio, far more potent than any triumph in combat. Raiking leaned back against Libinea's feathers, wiping sweat from his brow.
"That was close," Ezmelral whispered.
"Who were they?" Libinea asked telepathically.
"I don't know," Raiking replied, checking Faye's diaper just in case.
"…"
No one offered an answer. After the terror of a potential crying fit from Faye, none of them had the emotional capacity left to ponder the identity of their attackers.
"Anyways..." Ezmelral said, redirecting her attention forward to avoid dwelling on the trauma. "How close are we to the Phoenix Tribe?"
"A few more hours," Libinea clarified, flapping her wings harder to distance them from the residual dust.
---
[Northern Demon Region - The Silent Blade Clan]
While the trio showed no interest in investigating the masked attackers, the individual who sent them was currently experiencing a fate worse than death.
Inside a dim, stone cultivation chamber, the walls were lined with thousands of Soul Lamps—mystical green flames connected to the life force of the clan's operatives.
In the center of the room sat Grandmaster Vex, the Clan Leader. He was a masked figure channeling Qi to monitor the mission, his consciousness linked to the twelve elites he had sent to intercept the Phoenix.
Moments ago, he had been confident, watching the twelve flames burn brightly.
Then, in a fraction of a second—faster than a blinking eye—all twelve lamps shattered.
CRASH.
"AAAARGH!"
Vex fell from his meditative lotus position, clutching his chest. He writhed on the cold stone floor, coughing up mouthfuls of black blood.
The feedback was instantaneous and brutal. It wasn't just that they had died; it was how they died. Their connection had been severed so cleanly, so instantly, that his mind couldn't even process the method of death.
One moment they existed. The next, they were simply... erased.
"Grandmaster!"
The urgent cry echoed from the shadows as the massive stone doors creaked open.
Thamriel, known as The Tower of Gaze, hurried into the chamber. As a member of the elite group "The Six," he presented an imposing presence, holding a small, levitating pagoda in one hand. He dropped to one knee, using his free hand to assist the Grandmaster in rising from the ground.
"What happened?" Thamriel inquired, his voice resonating through the stone room.
"The Soul Lamps... they all shattered simultaneously."
Vex wiped the dark blood from his mask with a shaky hand. His breath was labored, his Qi flow still in disarray from the backlash.
"They were annihilated," Vex wheezed. "In an instant."
"Impossible!" Thamriel's eyes widened behind his helmet. "There were at least three experts at the Divine Stage among them. Even a Great General of the Human Armies would require time to defeat such a formation!"
"The Dawnfall King deceived us," Vex spat, gripping the edge of his meditation mat. "The intelligence was flawed."
He recalled the secret message that had accompanied the Human King's token. It spoke of a Storm Dragon—a creature at the Divine Stage—that had decimated 10,000 soldiers during the siege of the Sect. As the reports only mentioned the Dragon, the Assassination Clan naturally assumed the Sect Master was, at most, at the peak of the Divine Stage—a target manageable with a standard elite squad.
They had been disastrously, fatally mistaken.
"There is something unusual about this target..." the Grandmaster murmured, his eyes narrowing as he replayed the final instant of vision transmitted by his subordinates.
"What do you mean?"
"The Phoenix carrying him," Vex whispered. "Its feathers... they weren't just crimson. I saw streaks of Royal Blue near the crest."
Thamriel froze. The floating pagoda in his hand ceased its rotation. "Blue stripes?" he stammered. "But that signifies..."
"A Queen," Vex confirmed grimly.
"A Phoenix Queen?!" Thamriel exclaimed, losing his composure. "That's a creature of legend! Who could command the proud Phoenix Clan as a simple mount? Even the ancient Dragon Kings couldn't force them into servitude!"
A terrified silence enveloped the room. They realized they hadn't just disturbed a sleeping tiger; they had walked directly into the jaws of a leviathan.
"I'm not certain who he is," Vex admitted, struggling to stand. "But this contract is far more perilous than the Dawnfall King led us to believe."
He approached the wall of shattered lamps, his gaze icy. "Cancel the second wave. We will not send more sacrifices to their deaths."
"Then do we abandon the contract?" Thamriel asked.
"No," Vex replied, a sinister gleam returning to his eyes. "We will simply escalate. We will wait for Morgal. She returns from the Void Lands tomorrow."
Thamriel shivered at the mention of the name. "You would send her?"
"She will lead the next operation personally," Vex declared. "If he rides a Queen, then we must send a Calamity to confront him."