The scroll closed with a soft shhhk, its edges brushing against Crystal's fingertips like a whispered warning. She stared at the lotus seal for a heartbeat longer, then exhaled slowly.
"…Mari."
Her voice was calm, but the air trembled with pressure the moment she spoke.
Mari stepped closer, bowing slightly.
"Yes, my lady."
"Send word to the five assassins," Crystal said, eyes still lingering on the scroll. "Tell them to prepare to infiltrate the banquet hall."
There was no hint of fear in her tone only certainty.
Certainty was far more terrifying.
Mari swallowed, then nodded without hesitation.
"As you command."
She departed swiftly, her footsteps fading into the corridors of the Aserra mansion.
Left alone, Crystal turned the scroll over once more.
The lotus symbol stared back at her, faint and elegant a silent agreement from the Enchanted Palace.
A tiny piece on the board had moved.
A very dangerous piece.
Crystal placed the scroll gently on her desk, then climbed onto her bed. She crossed her legs, resting her hands on her knees as she straightened her spine.
Tonight was the banquet.
The night her plans converged.
The night she would live or die.
Her pathways were sealed by her master.
Her body was laced with hidden poison from Noah.
Her Chaos Center barely functioned.
Yet none of it mattered.
Crystal closed her eyes.
The Heart Sutra Technique pulsed quietly inside her mind a forbidden method, forgotten by most cultivators because it was unlike any technique they knew.
Instead of absorbing Chaos energy into one's pathways, it spread the energy throughout the body, storing it like a living battery, ready to release in explosive bursts.
Dangerous.
Inefficient.
Painful.
Perfect.
She raised two fingers and pressed them sharply into a point along her collarbone.
A jolt ran through her body sharp, cold, electric.
More acupoints activated in sequence, each touch sending a soft tremor through her meridians.
Then she inhaled.
The world shifted.
Chaos energy gathered around her like mist drawn to flame. It wrapped around her skin, sinking through her pores, spreading like wildfire into her blood, bones, and muscles. Her heart beat louder, faster, steadier.
Her breath deepened.
Her lashes trembled.
Crystal sat motionless in the dim room, absorbing the world little by little, becoming something far sharper far more dangerous than she'd been just minutes before.
Tonight, she would walk into the banquet with a borrowed life.
A temporary power.
A blade sharpened on the edge of desperation.
She would use it well.
***
Meanwhile… Somewhere Hidden in the Capital
In a room lit only by a single lantern, shadows rippled like restless smoke. Dark figures stood silently, their silhouettes merging with the walls.
Their leader a tall man with a jagged scar cutting across his jaw stepped forward.
He raised his voice just enough to reach them all.
"It's all set."
He looked around, eyes gleaming. "Soon, we move. Everything inside the banquet is prepared. Everyone ready?"
A chorus of low, eager voices answered:
"Yeah!"
The lantern flickered.
And the shadows began to shift.
Later That Day At The Banquet Hall
The great hall of the royal banquet was a masterpiece of architecture.
An open-roof design let the pale daylight spill in, bathing everything in a soft golden glow. The air smelled faintly of incense, polished wood, and rare flowers brought from the palace gardens.
Rion Kaze entered the hall first among his order, his eyes widening slightly.
"It's… beautiful," he muttered.
The main hall stretched long and rectangular, its upper balconies forming an elegant curve around the edges. Tables were arranged with perfect symmetry, draped with embroidered cloths. Lanterns floated overhead like captured suns, casting warm halos of light down upon the nobles' gathering place.
Rion walked further in, awed despite himself.
Then.
Lightning descended.
A streak of brilliant white-blue tore through the air above the open roof, striking the ridge beam of the hall with a thunderous crack.
Rion's breath caught.
A figure stood there perfectly balanced on the highest beam, as if gravity itself respected him too much to interfere.
A wooden demon mask hid his face.
Behind the mask, his eyes glowed like dying stars of blue, ancient, cold.
Two metal bands gleamed on his wrists.
His hair was tied high in a ponytail, shifting with the wind like a dark banner.
He wore a black ninja-like robe that clung to his silhouette, whispering quietly with each movement.
A black grasscutter kitana was secured horizontally behind his waist, its dull-black sheath absorbing the light.
The masked figure did not move.
Not even an inch.
He simply sat.
Motionless.
A silent guardian.
A reaper perched atop heaven's edge.
Or a man simply…
Rion swallowed.
"Why… is he aura farming here…?"
The masked figure ignored him entirely.
Meanwhile in the Royal Palace
Far away, in his private chambers, Crown Prince Kaen unfurled a scroll with careful fingers. His eyes scanned the inked message, and a low hum escaped his throat.
"So my master truly sent the best," he murmured.
He tapped the scroll against his palm.
The Black Sky Sect rarely intervened directly.
For them to send Rion Kaze a disciple whose strength was whispered about like a myth and that masked companion…
It meant the sect expected bloodshed tonight.
Kaen leaned back in his chair, resting his elbow on the armrest.
"Then I should also prepare," he said softly.
The Night Approaches
Across the capital, young nobles dressed themselves in silks, jewels, armors lined with thin runes, perfumes that masked their nerves.
The city streets glowed with lanterns.
Carriages rolled.
Banners fluttered.
The capital looked festive.
But under every smile was fear.
Under every breath was tension.
The banquet had become the heart of a storm .
A storm no one could see, but everyone could feel.
And in the Aserra mansion, Crystal opened her eyes.
Her body hummed with gathered energy.
Her heart was steady.
Her mind razor-sharp.
She stood.
The night would soon begin.
And every piece she placed on the board tonight
would decide who lived
and who died.