Hu Xiao knelt in the center of the courtyard.

  His breathing came in ragged gasps. Every muscle burned. The life essence he'd consumed had taken its toll, leaving him hollowed out in ways he couldn't fully comprehend. But he was alive.

  He forced his head up. Forced his eyes to focus.

  *Hold on, Jin. Just a little longer.*

  Hu planted his hand against the stone and pushed. His body screamed in protest. His vision swam. But he got one knee under him, then the other. Then he was standing, greatsword heavy in his grip.

  He took a step toward his son.

  Ryze heard the movement behind him.

  He turned, eyes finding Tao's body sprawled across the broken stone. The bodyguard who had served him for three years. The Martial Master who was supposed to handle the kingdom's captain while Ryze dealt with the insect.

  Dead.

  Something flickered across Ryze's face. Not grief. Something colder.

  "Useless." The word came out flat. "Couldn't even handle one half-dead Martial Master."

  His gaze shifted to Hu Xiao, now on his feet and moving closer. The captain looked like he might collapse at any moment. Pale, unsteady, clearly running on nothing but willpower. But he was still holding that greatsword. Still approaching.

  Ryze's eyes narrowed.

  "It seems I need to finish this myself."

  He turned back to Jin, and for the first time, there was no boredom in his expression. No casual amusement. Just cold intent.

  "Playtime is over."

  Jin barely had time to raise his sword before Ryze was on him.

  The difference was immediate. Where before Ryze had been toying with him, deflecting lazily, now each strike carried killing intent. His qi-enhanced blade moved in tight, precise arcs that Jin could barely track, let alone defend against.

  A slash opened a cut across Jin's right forearm.

  He stumbled back, tried to reset his guard.

  Another slash caught his left side, slicing through fabric and skin.

  Jin gasped, pain flaring through his ribs. He swung desperately, but Ryze wasn't there anymore. A boot connected with his knee, buckling his leg. Then a palm strike to his chest sent him sprawling.

  He hit the ground hard, the impact driving the air from his lungs.

  Ryze stood over him, blade dripping with Jin's blood.

  "I've wasted enough time on you." His voice was flat now. No more taunts. No more mockery. "This ends now."

  *...circulate your qi.*

  The thought came from nowhere. Faint. Distant. Like hearing someone speak from the other end of a long hallway.

  Jin didn't register it. He was too focused on getting his sword up, on blocking the next attack that he knew was coming.

  Ryze's blade came down.

  Jin caught it on his sword, barely. The impact drove him further into the ground, his arms shaking from the strain.

  *Circulate your qi.*

  Clearer this time. A voice. Not his own thoughts. Something else.

  Ryze pulled back and struck again. Jin deflected, but the edge still caught his left shoulder, drawing a line of fire across the muscle.

  He used the impact to stumble backward, creating distance.

  Ryze didn't pursue immediately. Just watched him with those cold eyes.

  "You can barely stand, This is pathetic."

  Jin's chest heaved. Blood ran down his arms, dripped from his fingers. His father was somewhere behind Ryze, getting closer, but not fast enough. If Jin didn't do something now...

  *Circulate your qi.*

  The voice again. Insistent.

  Jin didn't have time to question it. Didn't have time to think. He just did it.

  He drew breath and pushed qi through his meridians, the same way he'd done thousands of times in training. Just a basic circulation. Nothing special.

  Then he attacked.

  His body moved on instinct, legs pushing off the stone, sword coming up in a desperate thrust aimed at Ryze's chest. It was slow. Predictable. The same speed he'd been moving at throughout this entire fight.

  Ryze saw it coming. Of course he did.

  His blade came across lazily to intercept, already dismissing the attack before it arrived.

  "The same slow movements." His voice carried contempt. "Did you really think—"

  The pendant burned.

  Warmth flooded through Jin's body. Not the searing heat from before, but something steadier. Stronger. It spread through his meridians like fire through dry kindling, filling those pathways that had been empty his entire life.

  White sparks crackled along his arms.

  His thrust accelerated.

  Ryze's eyes widened. His casual parry, timed for Jin's normal speed, was suddenly too slow. He adjusted, tried to redirect, but Jin's blade was already past his guard.

  The edge caught his cheek.

  A thin line of red opened across Ryze's face.

  For a heartbeat, they were frozen there. Jin's sword extended past Ryze's head. Ryze's blade caught between them. White sparks flickering and dying along Jin's arms.

  Then Ryze moved.

  His free hand came up, palm slamming into Jin's chest. The impact sent Jin flying backward. He crashed to the ground, skidding across broken stone until he came to a stop near the base of the outer courtyard wall.

  The sparks were gone. The warmth was fading. But Jin was still holding his sword.

  Across from him, Ryze stood perfectly still.

  One hand rose slowly to his cheek, his Fingers touched the wound and it Came away red.

  He stared at the blood on his fingertips and said nothing.

  "Jin!"

  The voice came from behind Ryze. Hu Xiao had closed the distance while they fought, greatsword in hand. His stance was unsteady, his face pale from exhaustion, but he was there. Standing between his son and the enemy.

  Jin pushed himself up against the wall behind him.

  For the first time since this nightmare began, something like hope flickered in his chest.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  They were both still alive. Tao was dead. And Jin had actually landed a hit on Ryze.

  they will survive this they thought.

  Ryze still hadn't moved.

  He stood there, staring at the blood on his fingers. The arrogance, the boredom, the cold intent. All of it had vanished, replaced by something Jin couldn't identify.

  Silence stretched across the courtyard.

  Then, slowly, Ryze tilted his head to the side. His eyes moved upward, toward the darkening sky, as if addressing someone unseen.

  "How long do you intend on watching?"

  Jin froze.

  *Who is he talking to?*

  Hu Xiao's eyes narrowed confused. His grip tightened on his greatsword.

  "Do you want me to report to Father that you allowed Tao to die and his son to get injured?" Ryze continued, his voice dropping to something colder and more bitter. "I'm sure he'd love to hear about that."

  A new voice answered.

  It came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Calm and Measured, Laced with subtle mockery.

  "I simply wanted to test your resolve, Second Young Master. The Patriarch would be more displeased with you than with me.... especially for getting your personal guard killed."

  Hu Xiao's blood ran cold.

  *Where did that voice come from?*

  He extended his senses, tried to locate the source. Found nothing. No qi signature. No presence. Just empty air.

  But someone was there. Someone powerful enough to completely mask themselves from a Martial Master's perception.

  "It seems I must take action myself." The voice spoke again, its tone shifting to something more distant and Absolute. "Though the Patriarch will not be pleased that you couldn't complete the task on your own."

  Ryze shrugged, finally lowering his hand from his cheek. "I'll deal with Father when the time comes, just finish everything up here so I can go home. I'll choose another guard once I'm back."

  Jin's mind raced, trying to process what he was hearing.

  *Another guard? Finish everything up? What...*

  Then the sky shifted.

  Qi pressure descended without warning.

  It wasn't like Tao's pressure from before. That had been heavy, suffocating, but survivable. This was something else entirely. This was a mountain falling from the heavens. This was the weight of the sky itself pressing down on everything beneath it.

  Jin's knees buckled. He collapsed against the wall behind him, sword clattering from nerveless fingers. The air in his lungs was crushed out of him. He tried to breathe and couldn't. Tried to move and found his body completely unresponsive.

  *What... what is this...?*

  He'd never felt anything like it. Never even imagined qi could be this overwhelming. This absolute.

  With tremendous effort, he turned his head toward his father.

  Hu Xiao stood frozen in place, greatsword hanging limply at his side. But it wasn't the pressure that made Jin's heart stop.

  It was his father's face.

  Pale. Eyes wide. An expression Jin had never seen on him before.

  Fear.

  Pure, primal fear.

  Not during the fight with Tao. Not when he'd been wounded. Not when he'd burned his life essence. Through all of it, Hu Xiao had been calm. Determined. Unshakeable.

  Now he looked like a man staring at his own death.

  "No..." The word escaped Hu's lips, barely a whisper. "Could it be...? This pressure... a—"

  A whisper came from above.

  "Kirin."

  A single word. No emotion. No chant. No warning.

  Then the heavens split open.

  Lightning descended from the sky. Not like Tao's techniques, not like Ryze's casual displays of elemental power. This was something beyond technique. Beyond comprehension. A bolt of pure destruction, larger than anything Jin had ever seen, crackling with energy that made the air itself scream.

  Jin tried to scream. Tried to move. Tried to do anything.

  His body wouldn't respond.

  Across the courtyard, Hu Xiao turned.

  Not toward the lightning. Not toward the sky.

  Toward Jin.

  Their eyes met.

  It wasn't a warrior's defiance. Wasn't a captain's resolve. It was softer than that. Gentler. The same smile he'd worn when he'd found Jin in the desert all those years ago. The same smile he'd given Jin after every sparring session, every breakthrough, every small victory.

  A father's smile.

  A father's farewell.

  Then a deafening boom.

  The lightning struck.

  The world turned white.

  The entire castle grounds trembled from the shockwave.

  When Jin's vision cleared, there was nothing left where his father had stood.

  he was gone.

  No body.

  No ashes.

  No fragments.

  Not even his greatsword remained.

  Just empty, scorched earth where the strongest man Jin had ever known had been standing a heartbeat before.

  "Father...?"

  The word came out broken. Barely a sound. Jin's mind couldn't process what he was seeing. Refused to process it.

  "Father...!"

  Louder now. Desperate. His eyes searched the scorched ground, looking for something. Anything.

  There was nothing to find.

  Hu Xiao was gone.

  Erased from existence as if he'd never been there at all.

  "FATHER!"

  The scream tore from Jin's throat, raw and primal. Tears he didn't know he had left streamed down his face. His body shook against the wall, pinned by the impossible pressure, trying to reach a man who no longer existed.

  Ryze's voice cut through his grief like a blade.

  "Did you have our forces retreat from the city?"

  "Yes young master Ryze"

  "Good then finish it"

  For a brief second everything stood still.

  Complete silence fell over the ruined courtyard. Even the distant sounds of battle had stopped. Even the crackling of fires had gone quiet.

  Then the voice spoke again.

  "Valerian Earth Rank Technique."

  The words hung in the air, heavy with power.

  "KIRIN: Form Five, Cataclysm."

  The sky screamed.

  Lightning rained from the heavens. Not one bolt, but dozens. Hundreds. They fell across the capital like the wrath of an angry god, each one larger than the city towers they consumed. The castle walls vanished in blinding light. The noble district disappeared. The market squares, the training grounds, the barracks where Jin had grown up. All of it swallowed by destruction that moved faster than thought.

  Screams erupted across the city.

  Building after building crumbled. Street after street was erased. The lightning walked across Emberhold like a living thing, consuming everything it touched.

  Jin lay pinned against the outer courtyard wall, unable to move, unable to look away, unable to do anything but witness as his entire world was destroyed.

  Then he heard it.

  A crack. Deep and groaning. Coming from directly above him.

  The section of wall behind him was collapsing. Massive stone blocks, loosened by the devastation, were falling directly toward where he lay.

  He couldn't move. Couldn't dodge. Could only watch death descend for the second time in as many minutes.

  the blocks inches away from impact

  suddenly the pendant blazed.

  And as they fell, golden light erupted from Jin's chest, brighter than anything the lightning had produced. It spread across his body in an instant, forming a cocoon of warmth just as the wall came down.

  Stone crashed around him and on top of him. Buried him in darkness and rubble.

  But the light held.

  "Shall we return, Second Young Master?" The voice asked, casual and composed, as if nothing of consequence had occurred.

  Ryze glanced at the collapsed section of wall where the boy had been. Buried under tons of stone. No chance of survival.

  "Let's go, Elder Yang." His voice was already distant. Already bored again. "The small fry can clean up the stragglers who fled north. The Kingdom of Fire no longer exists on Elaria."

  Their figures vanished into the storm clouds, leaving only smoke and silence behind.

  Darkness.

  Jin floated in it for a long time. Hours. Maybe longer. The golden light of the pendant kept him alive, kept the weight of the rubble from crushing him, kept his broken body breathing even when his mind had retreated somewhere far away.

  He dreamed of his father.

  Of training in the yard. Of meals shared in the barracks. Of the smile Hu Xiao had given him in that final moment.

  Of lightning, and screaming, and a world turning to ash.

  Dawn broke over Emberhold.

  Or what was left of it.

  The first rays of sunlight crept across a landscape of devastation. Where a city had stood, there were only craters and rubble. Where thousands had lived, there was only silence.

  Beneath the collapsed wall of the outer courtyard, something stirred.

  The golden light around Jin's body flickered once, twice, then faded entirely. The pendant went cool against his chest.

  His eyes opened.

  For a long moment, he just lay there in the darkness beneath the rubble. Breathing. Existing. Not quite remembering why that felt wrong.

  Then the memories crashed back.

  His father's smile.

  The lightning.

  The empty, scorched earth where Hu Xiao had been standing.

  Jin's breath caught. His chest seized. Something inside him cracked, and he couldn't tell if it was physical or something deeper.

  He pushed.

  Stone shifted above him. His arms screamed in protest, wounds reopening, but he pushed anyway. Again. Again. Until finally, a gap appeared. Light poured through.

  Jin dragged himself out of the rubble and collapsed on the broken stone.

  And stared.

  The castle was gone.

  Where the walls had stood for generations, there was only rubble and smoke. Where the towers had risen toward the sky, there were only craters. The courtyard where he'd watched his father fight, where Hu Xiao had burned his life essence to protect him.

  Nothing remained.

  Jin's legs moved without conscious thought. Carried him across the devastation to a patch of scorched earth near the center of what had been the courtyard.

  He knelt.

  The ground was cold now. Whatever warmth had lingered from that terrible lightning was long gone.

  "Father..."

  The word came out as barely a whisper.

  He touched the earth. Ran his fingers through the ash.

  This was all that was left. This patch of blackened ground. No body to bury. No sword to honor. No grave to mark.

  Just... nothing.

  Jin looked up.

  The city stretched out before him, and for the first time, he truly saw what had happened.

  Emberhold was gone.

  Not damaged or ruined but completely gone.

  As far as his eyes could see, there was only devastation. Craters where buildings had stood. Rubble where streets had run. The great walls that had protected the capital for generations, reduced to scattered stones.

  No movement. No sound. No life.

  Everyone he had ever known.

  Everyone who had ever called this place home.

  Gone.

  "No."

  The word escaped him. A whisper. A denial.

  "No... no... no..."

  He tried to stand. His legs gave out. He fell forward, hands catching himself against the scorched earth where his father had died.

  The pendant lay cool and silent against his chest. Whatever force had protected him, whatever power had kept him alive, it offered no comfort now. No explanation. No answers.

  Just the weight of survival when everyone else had died.

  Jin knelt there amid the ashes of his world.

  He couldn't cry anymore. The tears had run dry sometime in the night.

  He couldn't scream. His voice was gone.

  He couldn't move. His body had nothing left.

  So he just knelt there, hands pressed against the ground where his father had been erased from existence, and let the emptiness consume him.

  The sun continued to rise, painting the ruins in shades of orange and red. The same colors as fire. The same colors as his kingdom's banners, now buried beneath ash.

  Jin Xiao knelt alone in the wreckage of everything he had ever known.

  A boy who had woken up yesterday thinking he was a prodigy.

  A boy who had watched his father die.

  A boy who had lost everything.

  Today was his seventeenth birthday.

  Notes:

  forms, with each form representing a different variation of the technique. The higher the form number, the stronger and more advanced the variation becomes.