The Neutral Zone was rotting.
By the third day, even the survivors could see it.
Chunks of stone plaza floated freely above the ground, drifting like broken teeth. Cracks laced the sky, lightning bleeding from one half to the other as red and pale horizons gnawed at each other. The air tasted like iron and smoke.
Every breath felt borrowed.
The system pulsed, jagged and weak.
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 68%. ][ Instability accelerating. ][ Ti Remaining: 4 days. ]
Four days left.
If the Zone even lasted that long.
✦
The survivors had stopped pretending to be a team.
The old man's voice rose first, desperate and shrill. "We can't survive this. Don't you see? The beasts, the cultivators, the—whatever that was yesterday—" He jabbed a trembling finger at . "We're not ant to be here! Murim will take us. They'll want his head, not ours. That's our chance!"
His words found a listener.
Kavya twirled her daggers, eyes narrowed, her voice calm but sharp. "For once, he's not wrong. How many more nights do you think we'll last? Neutrality's just another word for waiting to die."
I didn't answer.
Dev did.
"Then die standing." His sword rested across his knees, steady as always, his voice even. "Better than crawling to them."
The old man spat. "Better a coward alive than a fool dead."
The mother said nothing. She only held Arjun close, her eyes darting constantly to .
And Arjun—Arjun didn't look away. His staff rested across his lap, runes faint but still glowing. His gaze burned, quiet but unwavering.
Waiting.
For .
✦
The first attack ca sooner than expected.
Claws against stone. Snarls echoing.
A pack of Beastborn spilled from the crimson rift—wolf-headed again, but this ti heavier armored, their weapons jagged axes dripping fire.
"Test them," one snarled in a half-human growl. "See how long their cage holds."
They surged forward, teeth bared, laughter in their guttural voices.
Kavya cursed and darted in to et them, her blades flashing silver arcs. Dev rose with his sword, his movents steady, asured. I felt the Inkblade writhe in my grip, shadows shrieking with hunger.
The beasts hit us like a storm.
✦
I cut the first down with a single strike, shadows exploding through its chest. Dev t another head-on, steel clashing against fire. Kavya slipped past one's guard, her dagger plunging up beneath its jaw.
But sothing was wrong.
They didn't fight to win.
They fought to test.
The beasts pressed hard for monts, then withdrew, circling, darting in again. They left gaps wide enough for us to counterattack, only to scatter before we could cut them down.
They weren't here to kill us.
They were probing.
Testing the cracks.
The fight ended as suddenly as it began. Half the pack lay dead. The other half slipped back into the crimson rift, their laughter echoing long after they were gone.
The survivors stood panting, bloodied but alive.
But my stomach sank.
That wasn't a raid.
That was a signal.
✦
We didn't wait long to find out who it was for.
The pale rift rippled, and figures stepped through.
Murim cultivators—three again, different faces, sa robes. Their blades glead with qi, eyes sharp, steps deliberate.
One tilted his head as his gaze swept the battered plaza. His lips curved in faint amusent.
"So. The beasts soften them, and we collect the pieces."
His eyes locked on .
"The script-breaker holds still."
The survivors froze.
The word rang louder this ti, heavier.
They knew.
The Murim disciples drew their swords in unison. Qi flared, humming in the fractured air like a chorus of steel.
Where the Beastborn were hunger and rage, these n were precision. Their movents were sharp, deliberate, each step asured as though they fought not just with strength but with inevitability.
One pointed his blade at .
"Neutrality is an illusion," he said calmly. "The script does not bend. It breaks. And you—" his eyes narrowed—"you are the break."
✦
They struck without warning.
The first disciple's blade scread with qi as it cut for my chest. I barely raised the Inkblade in ti, shadows colliding with shimring steel. The impact rang like a bell, cracking stone beneath our feet.
Another darted past , blade arcing toward Kavya. She spun, daggers flashing—but her opponent's strike carried the weight of a mountain. Her blades skidded off, sparks flying.
She cursed, stumbling back.
The third swept toward the survivors, his qi crackling as he aid to cut down the old man and the mother in a single stroke.
Dev intercepted, his reforged sword ringing as it locked against the cultivator's blade. His arms shook with the effort, but he held.
For a mont, the plaza dissolved into chaos—qi against shadow, steel against blood, screams against silence.
✦
The disciples were fast. Too fast.
Their blades moved like lightning, their strikes carrying a weight I couldn't match. The Inkblade scread, shadows bursting outward in jagged arcs, but every ti I drove them forward, their qi slashed through like fire cutting smoke.
Kavya fought desperately, her silver daggers flashing, but she was driven back step by step. One disciple's sword carved a shallow line across her arm, blood spraying.
Her eyes flicked to —fury, fear, calculation all burning at once.
"You've dood us!" she scread. "This is your fault!"
For a heartbeat, I thought she'd turn her blades on instead.
Then the disciple's sword cut down toward her skull.
And Arjun's staff flared.
✦
Light erupted, a barrier snapping into place around her. The cultivator's blade slamd against it, qi sparking—but it held.
Kavya staggered back, untouched. Her eyes widened, staring at the boy as though seeing a ghost.
Arjun trembled, staff shaking in his hands, but the runes glowed brighter, steady, unyielding.
The cultivator snarled, blade grinding against the light. "Interference."
The staff pulsed again, throwing him back.
Kavya stared, breathing hard, her blades slick with blood. Her lips parted, but no words ca.
For the second ti, Arjun had saved her life.
And it broke sothing in her glare.
✦
The fight roared on. Dev clashed with his opponent, sweat pouring, his arms shaking as he blocked strike after strike. The mother dragged Arjun back, but his staff pulsed in ti with every blow, as though drawn to the battle itself.
And —
The Inkblade writhed in my hands, shadows exploding outward in a frenzy. The whispers scread louder than ever.
"…devour their qi… tear the script apart… more, more, more…"
I slashed at the lead disciple, shadows raking across his chest. He staggered, blood spilling, but his qi flared to seal the wound instantly.
He laughed. "Even your weapon knows its place. It was born to consu, not to defy."
The Inkblade scread agreent.
And for a mont—just a mont—I nearly gave in.
The hunger promised power. Victory. An end.
All I had to do was stop fighting it.
✦
The disciple lunged, blade raised high.
I roared and swung with both hands, the Inkblade shrieking as shadows tore through the air. They collided mid-strike—steel against shadow, qi against devouring force.
The Neutral Zone scread.
Cracks split across the plaza, light bleeding upward. The air shuddered, fragnts of sky falling like shards of glass.
The system's voice shrieked, glitching across the air.
[ Warning: Unauthorized interaction with instability detected. ][ Instability increased. ]
Then—
Sothing new.
Words that dripped like ink, jagged and broken.
[ You stand where no script exists. ]
✦
The disciples froze.
Their eyes flicked to , wide with fury and fear.
"The gods…" one whispered.
Another snarled. "He is stepping outside."
They moved as one, blades raised to cut down—
But the Neutral Zone pulsed.
Light flared, rejecting them, forcing their bodies back toward the pale rift.
The disciples cursed, their voices fading as the rift pulled them away.
"This is not over, script-breaker!"
Then they were gone.
✦
Silence fell, broken only by ragged breaths.
The survivors stared at in horror and awe.
The old man sobbed, muttering prayers. The mother clutched Arjun close.
Kavya wiped blood from her face, her eyes still locked on the boy who had saved her. For the first ti, her glare wavered.
Dev lowered his sword, his gaze fixed on . "Outside the script," he said quietly. "Whatever that ans."
The Inkblade writhed in my grip, trembling with hunger, with triumph.
And above it all, I felt the eyes.
The gods.
Watching.
✦
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 64%. ][ Ti Remaining: 4 days. ]
The Zone was dying.
But the script was burning faster.
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