AT THE SA TI
EMPEROR LIANWEI POINT OF VIEW:
The courtyard cracked beneath our feet as Richard, Jin Voss stepped forward, and then the storm broke. He didn’t swing a blade, didn’t raise a fist. Instead, with a single gesture, the air warped and exploded outward. The shockwave sent half the guards sprawling, weapons clattering across the stone. Bai Jun caught Bai He before he hit the ground, teeth bared. I lunged, sword flashing. Zeyrith’s shadow dove with , wings cutting like scythes.
Richard raised one finger. Steel scread as my blade halted inches from his chest, the air itself holding it in place. With a twist of his hand, he sent skidding back across the courtyard, boots carving furrows in the stone.
"You fight like him." Richard sneered, eyes glinting. "Like your father. Always rushing forward, never thinking the board three moves ahead."
Bai Rong roared, striking from the side, his blade wreathed in fla. Richard turned, flicking his wrist, the fire vanished, snuffed like a candle. With the sa motion, Bai Rong was thrown back, smashing against a pillar with a grunt of pain.
"Rong!" Bai Yu shouted, moving to shield him, his own blade weaving arcs of water drawn from the pond.
This ti Richard stepped through, his hand slicing the currents apart as though they were paper. I forced myself back into the fight, Zeyrith’s voice thundering in my ear.
"Strike together, don’t let him isolate you!"Zeyrith shouted.
We did as Bai Jun struck from one side, I from the other, Zeyrith diving from above, wings glowing with divine force. For one heartbeat, it felt like we had him surrounded. Richard smiled.
"Better."He smirked.
Then ca the counter. The ground beneath us erupted in jagged stone, knocking Jun flat. My blade was caught mid swing, torn from my grip and hurled across the courtyard. Zeyrith’s dive was intercepted by a wall of raw force, sending him crashing into the balcony railing. Gasps and cries echoed. Bella sobbed into Bai He’s arms. Huan shouted.
"Get up, Uncle! Father get up!" His small body trembled, but his voice cut through like fire.
I staggered, chest heaving, rage boiling. Richard stood untouched in the center of chaos, his robes barely stirred.
"Do you see? I was ant for more than obscurity. I was ant to rule."He grinned as I could tell he was winning.
And then a sound. A whisper, thin but undeniable.
"Lianwei..."I regonized the voice.
The courtyard froze. Every head turned. There, leaning weakly against the doorway, pale as moonlight but standing, was i Shen. Her eyes, unfocused yet fierce, locked on . Richard’s gaze flicked toward her, and for the first ti, his smile faltered.
"Ah... so the snake didn’t finish its work."He said.
Sothing inside snapped. I surged forward, bare handed if I must, fury roaring louder than fear.
"You’ll never touch her!"I shouted.
The battle ignited again.
AT THE SA TI
I SHEN’S POINT OF VIEW:
Every step was agony. My legs trembled, poison still clawing through my veins, but I had to stand. I had to be seen. The courtyard was chaos guards groaning, the Bai brothers bruised but holding, Lianwei lunging barehanded against an enemy far beyond mortal asure. And Richard Jin Voss looked untouchable, older than stone, eyes alight with cruel certainty. But when his gaze t mine, that certainty cracked. Just a little.
I drew in a ragged breath. My voice shook, but the words ca, carried by sothing deeper than fear.
"You talk of being ant to rule... of being denied your crown. But that’s not the truth, is it?" I asked..
Silence fell. Even Zeyrith, stilled as if struck. Richard’s eyes narrowed.
"Careful, girl."He said.
I smiled faintly, though my body scread to collapse.
"You weren’t denied because your brother stole it. You were denied because you already failed. Because the gods saw the hunger in you, and they knew what it would make of the Empire."I said coldly.
Zeyrith’s wings shivered shock rippling through the divine being himself. His gaze darted to , wide, almost... afraid. It was first ti I saw his wings. No, i Shen no ti to get impressed. Richard’s face drained of color.
"How... do you know that?"He asked.
My knees buckled, but I caught the doorfra, forcing myself upright. My heart pounded like drums of war.
’I know because I’ve read it. The scrolls no one else could have touched. The story you thought buried, the tale you twisted to make yourself the victim."I said.
Whispers ran through the Bai brothers. Huan clung to Lianwei’s sleeve, staring at with wide eyes Richard staggered back a step, for the first ti unsure.
"Impossible. Those records were destroyed-"He started.
"Not destroyed." I cut in, my voice steady now, carried by sothing that felt older than .
"Hidden. And written into every page of the story you now stand inside. You didn’t lose to politics, Jin Voss. You lost to yourself."
The god Zeyrith’s voice bood suddenly, wings flaring like a storm.
"Impossible. No mortal should... no human could know this..."He said.
But I kept my gaze locked on Richard. On the man who thought himself untouchable.
"You tried to erase your failure. You tried to twist the narrative. But the story rembers. I rember. And now you rember, too."I said.
His hands shook, barely perceptible. For the first ti, the emperor that never was looked... small. My lungs burned, my vision blurred. Every word I spoke felt like it was tearing itself out of the marrow of my bones. Richard’s stare bore into , a predator’s glare faltering into uncertainty. And then my hand tightened around sothing warm against my chest. Rosalie’s dallion. My mother’s. The one she had pressed into my palm on that final day before I started to hate her again.
"When you are lost, rember, you carry more than blood."She said.
The tal pulsed, faint and golden, like it had been waiting. I staggered, clutching it tighter, and suddenly the air cracked. A sound like thunder splitting the heavens roared through the courtyard. Every torch guttered, every banner shuddered. In my hands, light flared, pouring from the dallion until shapes began forming script, strokes of ink, curling like smoke before hardening into parchnt.
A scroll. Not just any scroll the scroll. Its seal bore the mark of the old dynasty, a sigil no living scholar had ever seen intact. Gasps rippled. Bai Rong swore under his breath. Huan’s jaw dropped as he clung tighter to Lianwei’s arm. Even Richard stumbled back, color draining from his face. And above all, the god himself Zeyrith, reeled, his wings thrashing wide.
"This, this cannot be! That record was banished to the void beyond divine reach!"He shouted.
But it was there. Real. Solid in my shaking hands. Henry sweet, quiet Henry took a step forward, his lips parting, voice breaking into awe.
"That... that’s the Chronicle of the Broken Heir. Father told it was a myth."He said.
I knew that this was my mother’s gift to fix things that he was not able fix before her death.
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