The ceiling caved in.Stone and dust exploded downward as the senior enforcer dropped through, landing between them and the stairs. His mask wasn't blank like the others. It was carved with a single eye, unblinking, gold inlaid. Judgement.
Li Jin didn't wait. He shoved Lian Yue back and surged forward, using the bond before he even thought about it.
This time, he felt it.
Her qi was cold, precise, like starlight over ice. He didn't try to wield it. He threaded it. Pulled a thread of it around his own movement, sharpened his step, turned a clumsy lunge into something that made the enforcer shift back half an inch.
"Interference," the enforcer said. The voice was flat, inhuman. "Unacceptable."
He struck.
The air compressed. Li Jin felt his ribs creak before he even saw the attack. He threw himself sideways, dragging Lian Yue's power with him. The bond flared, and starlight erupted from the floor where he'd been standing, punching a hole through the stone.
Lian Yue caught her balance against the wall, eyes sharp. "Stop trying to fight him alone."
"I'm not," Li Jin gritted out, blood in his mouth. "I'm fighting him _with_ you."
He reached for her hand.
She took it.
The moment their skin met, the tower stopped feeling like a ruin. The bond snapped taut, and for three seconds, they were one system. His sight. Her power. His read on the enforcer's stance, her precision to exploit it.
Lian Yue moved first. A spear of condensed starlight formed in the air and drove forward.
The enforcer raised his hand to block it.
Li Jin redirected.
The spear didn't hit the hand. It hit the enforcer's ankle.
The mask tilted. For the first time, something like surprise rippled through the carved eye.
"Fate-weaving," the enforcer said. "Forbidden. Sever it."
He slammed his palm down.
The tower buckled.
Stone collapsed around them. Li Jin pulled Lian Yue into his chest, shielding her with his body as the ceiling came down. Pain exploded across his back. He tasted iron.
When the dust settled, he was on one knee, arm around her, both of them breathing hard.
Two more enforcers stood at the broken doorway.
They'd lost.
Lian Yue knew it before Li Jin did. The bond told her. His strength was fading, his qi threads fraying. If they fought, he'd die.
So she did the only thing Heaven hadn't calculated.
She dropped her weapon.
"Enough," she said, voice ringing off the stone. "I surrender."
Li Jin went still. "Lian—"
"Shut up," she said without looking at him. "If I don't, they'll kill you."
The senior enforcer stepped forward. "Wise."
Chains of light formed in the air, coiling around Lian Yue's wrists and ankles. They didn't touch her skin. They didn't need to. The chains bit into the bond itself, pulling tight between her and LiJin.
Li Jin felt it like a blade in his gut. He dropped to his hands and knees, choking.
"Stop," Lian Yue said, not to him. To Heaven. "If you harm him, the contract breaks. And if it breaks, you'll never find what you're looking for in me."
The senior enforcer paused.
"Explain."
She met his eye. "The Starweave Contract isn't just a bond. It's a key. And he's the lock. Kill him, and you lose me forever."
Lie or truth, Li Jin didn't know. But it worked.
The enforcer gestured. The chains slackened enough for Li Jin to breathe.
"Take them both," the enforcer said. "The Mortal Prince will answer for interfering with Heaven's decree."
Cold iron manacles closed around Li Jin's wrists.
As they were dragged toward the door, Lian Yue leaned close enough for only him to hear.
"I didn't lie," she whispered. "Not entirely."
Li Jin managed a bloody grin. "Good. I hate being lied to."
Outside, the sky split open again. A gate was opening.
Heaven had come to collect.