“Kill!”

The thunder of the war cry rolled across the sky over Chronos City.

Silver-armored soldiers poured from the royal palace, a swarm thick as locusts. Spears and iron swords flashed; their heavy footfalls tolled like a funeral bell.

The residential quarter had already been evacuated. The force clashing with them was the direct unit Nana Shi deployed before leaving the palace.

They too wore silver armor, blades keen, shields bright. But unlike the palace flood, they moved tighter, cleaner, like a drilled blade.

Line by line, elite silver soldiers formed a living wall, a sudden silver rampart that ringed the palace at the city’s heart. It was grim and grand.

“Kill!” Scarlet blood spattered into the air, announcing the opening act of the battle, the curtain ripped wide.

The palace soldiers were veiled in a thin sheen of Spirit Energy. Whites of their eyes rolled; the shrieks overhead were eerie, feral.

Trees and flowerbeds were crushed under reckless boots. The lamps by the paths bent, ripped and twisted out of true.

Chaos. Everything was chaos.

Murderous intent surged from the ground, while blood-mist burst aloft, tearing the city’s calm to rags.

In that instant, the blue sky wore blood. The silver wall was streaked again and again with jagged, glaring red.

Where was the peace of a few minutes ago?

The clash boomed like thunder. Even the armies camped beyond Chronos City heard it.

This coup had already blown past everyone’s imagination.

Boom! The explosion hit without warning. The earth shuddered hard. On the high cliff outside the city, leaders of the continental nations watched the human silver wall around the palace blast skyward, mud and men flung like straw.

Blood mixed with soil and shredded organs burst in midair, blooming like macabre fireworks, then fell as a red rain.

A frontline soldier stared, mind blank. A fetid drop, sour with dirt and iron, splashed his cheek. He didn’t even flinch.

The breach had collapsed a whole section inward.

Scraps of bodies lay everywhere. Soil soaked black with viscera and blood looked less like earth, more like a tar-dark bog.

Shock, flipping into stupefaction.

Then curdling into fear.

Every gaze was caught by the cruelty in front of them. No one noticed the sky losing a strip of light.

“An… airborne fortress…”

At last, the foremost soldier found his voice. Too late. Over Chronos City, a hulking shape pushed in, blotting out the sun. Black turrets glinted cold across its frame.

Even the continental bigwigs on the cliff clenched and twitched, faces drawn tight.

This wasn’t like any war they’d fought. No—this was the first time it felt like war, for real.

Other nations roll out tanks for internal strife. These people rolled out a sky fortress. What next, a Gundam?

The cannonade hammered, wave on wave. The obsidian fortress raged like a beast. Shells poured from its belly, smoke tails sketching pretty arcs before they slammed into the city and heaved up walls of air.

Crater after crater gouged the ground, shock laid out plain and brutal before every eye.

In minutes, Chronos City was smoke and ruin. Corpses sprawled in blood, soldiers still fighting and dying in the churn.

They were blown to mince, or blasted crippled, howling on the stones, waiting for the end.

Below the cliff, the view was hell made real.

“This wasn’t in their plan…” The ruler of the Holy Sun Kingdom stared at the beast in the sky, body trembling.

At this rate, forget snagging profit as a fisherman between clam and snipe. Even they might get swept into the blast.

What trouble did that woman provoke to drive this out?

“Lord Yan, do you see it?”

On the high terrace of the palace, the youth beside Trollop flung his arm toward the carnage, voice ringing. “This is what your talent should be.”

“Born for war. Master of war.”

“Wasting away in a room for a cold-blooded woman isn’t worthy of you.”

“You should aid me. Like now—crush the ants and trash under your heel.”

The boy’s eyes were bloodshot. Desire had cooked his wits; his excitement teetered on mania.

Yan Xiao, bound hand and foot, didn’t answer. Head lowered, he watched a corner of the scene below with sidelong eyes, and spoke something that made no sense.

“Tell me—have you ever seen a man-made high-tier sigil?”

“Hm?” The boy’s grin eased, interest hooked. His gaudy joy drew in, tamed for a breath.

Beside him, Trollop’s eyelid lifted. Her gaze, cool and pretty, slid to Yan Xiao with a hint of a smile.

“Lord Yan, what do you mean?”

Facing the youth’s confused look, Yan Xiao’s smile only deepened. “What, still not getting it? Then… a man-made high-tier sigil fused with a phoenix—ever seen that?”

Whoosh—

For a heartbeat, the world went still. As his last word fell, a blinding red speared up behind them, surging from below like a pillar of dawn.

That crimson flame pillar radiated terrifying Spirit Pressure. Its fierce light burned away the fortress’s shadow, turning night to noon.

A sharp phoenix cry tore upward, cleaving cloud and sky.

The bolt of flame that erupted looked like the most beautiful thing under heaven. Even the palace soldiers enslaved by sigils felt an urge to follow the phoenix fire.

Like—

Moths to a flame.

“What’s with that woman?”

The youth stared at the column of fire. A long-lost emotion rose cold in his chest.

Fear.

Like a flood-beast had fixed its gaze on his back. Sweat beaded in his palm as he crushed the terrace rail.

He’d never heard Chronos City housed anyone like this.

That brutal Spirit Pressure nearly matched the Ice Emperor of Northland.

“That’s… the Nesting Phoenix…?”

“What?” Memory snapped awake. He twisted toward Trollop, who looked just as startled. Terror filmed his eyes. Was this the one those ministers whispered about—the woman in Nana Shi’s heart?

But rumor said she couldn’t move. Why show up now?

Have you ever seen a man-made high-tier sigil?

Then… a man-made high-tier sigil fused with a phoenix—ever seen that?

“It was you!” The youth rounded on Yan Xiao, realization flaring into rage. “You revived her!”

Veins jumped on his brow. He looked like a beast about to break its cage.

But—

“Don’t panic, my lord. She isn’t at full strength. And we aren’t her target.” Trollop stared down at the Nesting Phoenix with rare surprise, then smoothed it away, returning to a calm, courtly poise.

“A man-made high-tier sigil, is it… Lord Yan, I must admit—at times, you make me love and hate you both.”

At the same time, below the palace, Thousandwise dragged herself up from the cobbles, blasted away by the Nesting Phoenix’s sudden eruption.

The bones in her lower body were pulverized. Pain like tearing claws raked her nerves, so sharp it almost felt good—no, it nearly knocked her out. If not for all her playful bouts with the Ice Emperor of Northland, her flesh toughened beyond mortal; and if not for the Piercing Duke’s long-hoarded blood pool keeping her life on a line, that burst would’ve killed her outright.

So the woman was truly as monstrous as Lord Yan said—no less than Nana Shi.

What was her name again?

Qi…? No. Yan Xiao had told her—the woman standing before her was the Nesting Phoenix.

“Who… are you?”

Her voice chimed like jade beads striking a dish, like sparrows at dawn.

Freshly awakened, the Nesting Phoenix’s mind was hazy. Strange memories and tangled pasts flooded her head like a tide.

Phoenix fire swept the ground. The city blazed red, a sea of flame without an edge.

The scene felt familiar, like a dream she’d walked before. But the woman collapsed at her feet didn’t match the face she expected.

Luoluo? No… that wasn’t the only familiar name.

There should be one closer, dearer…

Ah. That calming Spirit Energy—coming from over there…

One step. Two.

Her pale feet touched the cracked stone path of Chronos City. She looked like an immortal walking out of red lotus karmic fire, an elegance too clear to name.

“L–Lady Nesting Phoenix… wait…” Thousandwise watched her ignore the plea and slip toward the gate. She tried to rise, but even speech scraped raw; chasing was a fantasy. She could only stare as the Nesting Phoenix took one step, then another, and faded from view.