Central Continent, the main estate of the Mizumi Clan.
In the manor where the clan head lived, Saint Cole spoke of the Northern Abyss Continent, his words like cold rain on stone. Yugami Yuu listened, while Ayane and Yugong Jingyue sat aside, faces dark as stormclouds.
“How dare they hurt Little Emperor! That Basiloth Empire should be erased, no hesitation.” Jingyue’s voice was frost on steel, her usual gentleness sealed beneath ice.
“Exactly! At home, Little Emperor never even got a scrape. Now he’s gravely wounded—unforgivable. Wipe out that Basiloth Empire.” Even Ayane, ever mild, could not dam her rising fire.
“Ayane, Jingyue, breathe.” Yuu’s tone was a steady river, calming rough waves. “I’m angry too, but it’s not that simple. We need to weigh this slowly.” He looked to Saint Cole, headache like a pressure front behind his brow. “These days are anything but quiet. Inner World infiltrators slipped into the Northern Abyss, and Molor is still alive.”
“Mm.” Saint Cole nodded, the motion heavy as a laden branch. “The Basiloth Empire has grown into a force we can’t ignore. As for Dark Demon—since Elunis spread that Molor revived using the Dark Demon leader’s body, they threw Dark Demon out as a scapegoat. Now every faction hunts them. Their strongholds burn like grass after frost. Give it days, and ‘Dark Demon’ will be a name without a living echo.”
He paused, then continued, voice low like thunder on the horizon. “Our Dragon Kin reports say Molor’s group started leading Basiloth to annex the small nations yesterday. They likely aim to unify the Northern Abyss Continent. If it really goes that far…”
“Unify the Northern Abyss? The Mizumi Clan won’t allow that.” Yuu’s gaze was a drawn blade. “Tell me Basiloth’s current strength.”
“Not weak.” Saint Cole’s answer fell like weight. “Two at the Law Realm. Four or five at Overdeity Level. Over a hundred combined in the Divine and Sacred Realms. On the Northern Abyss, they’re the strongest. If we let it fester for ten or twenty years, they could truly unify the continent.”
“That alone isn’t the worst.” Yuu’s brows knotted, a hawk sensing storm. “It’s the Worldgate… If that legend is true, peace won’t hold long.”
Ever since the Worldgate faltered, change surged like a riptide; even as a world hegemon, the Mizumi Clan could feel their hands slip on wet rock.
“The Worldgate is beyond us,” Saint Cole said, sighing like wind through pines. “Let Sir Xino handle it. Our immediate fire is Basiloth.”
“Right.” Yuu’s nod was a steady drumbeat. “We exist to assist Senior Xinuo and steady this era. We do our part, nothing less.”
They leaned into the night-dark problem of Basiloth, voices like lanterns in mist.
“Jingyue, we’re not getting a word in. Want to step out for air?” Ayane’s smile tugged, a petal in rain.
“Okay.” Jingyue rose, the hall’s heaviness clinging like smoke, and they slipped into the open.
Outside the manor, they walked the garden paths. Lantern light stroked leaves like moonlight on jade, yet worry cast their eyes in shadow.
“I don’t know if Little Emperor will be all right. It gnaws at me.” Jingyue’s sigh drifted like a lone kite in wind.
“Don’t over-worry, Jingyue.” Ayane touched her shoulder, a warm palm on winter silk. “Saint Cole said they’re fine. Next, we just settle accounts with Basiloth.”
“I don’t mean that.” Jingyue shook her head, the motion crisp as a willow’s shiver. “They hurt him knowing he’s Mizumi. That says they don’t fear us.”
“It’s fine.” Ayane’s tone soothed like tea steam. “Fear or not, if they touch the Mizumi Clan, they pay.”
“That’s true,” Jingyue said, eyes narrowing like blades in scabbards, “but if they risked that to injure Little Emperor, they’re declaring war on us before the world. Under that sky, do we really believe they have no trump card? Miss Xinuo is bound by the Worldgate for now.”
“You’re not wrong,” Ayane admitted, a rueful smile like dusk light. “But let’s wait for Yuu and Saint Cole to decide. Our worry is just wind that scatters leaves.”
Since when did the Mizumi Clan have to tiptoe, Ayane thought, heart like a boat in sudden squalls. The world changes like weather.
“We can only hope Father and the others find a good answer soon.” Jingyue looked up at a cloudless blue, clean as polished glass, and her mood felt like a swallow lost in wide sky.
“Ah la—Ayane-sis, Jingyue. Long time no see.” A breathtaking girl in a silver-white battle robe appeared without a ripple, as if the air parted like silk.
Back in the hall, Yuu and Saint Cole’s discussion drew toward its shore.
“Yuu,” Saint Cole said, voice firm as an iron gong, “the whole world watches the Mizumi Clan’s response. If you can, don’t overthink. Cut out Basiloth at the root. Behind you stands Sir Xino; with that mountain, you fear no storm.”
“You’re right. I’m overcautious.” Yuu laughed at himself, thin and wry, like a flute in night. “Maybe I’m not cut to be clan head, hesitating on even small matters.”
He stood, stretched, sleeves rippling like waves. From his wide cuff, he drew an ancient token carved with the Mizumi sigil, the wood smelling of time. He weighed it, then spoke, voice like a blade drawn in daylight. “Any force that stands against the Mizumi Clan won’t be allowed to live under this sky. Saint Cole, take this token. Gather the other three great races. Destroy Basiloth.”
“Please wait, Clan Head.”
A pale, slender hand—jade carved by frost—took the token first. The newcomer’s beauty was a strike of lightning; red-violet eyes burned with battle light; her silver-white robe whispered like steel. Her aura pressed outward, a mountain wind that made even Saint Cole, a Dragon God, feel a thin edge of danger.
For a Dragon God to feel threat, even faint, spoke enough of this girl’s height.
“Holy Voice—you broke through to the Law Realm?!” Yuu’s joy flared, sunrise across cold water.
“Yes. A few days ago.” She nodded, fingers closing around the token like a gauntlet. “To think a force dares stand against the Mizumi Clan—courting death. Let me lead the four great races and punish them. You don’t mind, do you, Uncle Saint Cole?”
“No objection.” Saint Cole smiled, a knife’s glint turned warm. “Compared to me, the other three races will heed you more, Holy Voice.”
