The first of the shadows broke through the line of rooftops with a shriek that tore through the valley's silence like a blade. They poured down the wooden shingles like a torrent of living smoke, limbs contorting, bodies twisting into forms that defied anatomy.
Elder Ilvara didn't hesitate.
"FORMATION—NOW!"
Her voice trembled with the force of command, sending ripples of energy through the disciples. Those trained enough responded instantly. Adepts moved into the crescent defensive arc. Inner disciples unsheathed blades that shimmered faintly with Qi. Even the novices, though trembling, formed a defensive barrier around the wounded child.
Ren Xiang stood at the front line beside Mira and Taro. The ground beneath him thrummed with a tension that felt almost alive. His Inner Sea pulsed in response — shallow, unformed, yet enough to grant him heightened sensitivity.
The shadows surged like a tidal wave.
"Steady!" Ilvara barked. "Wait for my signal!"
Ren Xiang inhaled slowly, tracing the star-node pattern mentally. The air around the shadows bent faintly — too faint for most to notice, but not for him. Each wraith moved with a concealed rhythm. Their limbs unfolded in angles that corresponded to geometric distortions in the air.
Patterns again.
Everything had a pattern.
But this time, it wasn't the resonance of a single creature — it was a collective pattern, a synchronized frequency that linked every shadow.
Mira gripped her blade. "Ren, if you see anything unusual—"
"I see everything unusual."
She almost smiled despite the terror.
The first shadow hit the defensive crescent.
Ilvara swung her blade, cleaving it in two — but the halves twisted, folding back together before dissipating to reform behind her.
A disciple was too slow; a tendril wrapped around his ankle, dragging him into the mass of shadows. His scream cut off abruptly as Ilvara severed the tendril and pulled him back, but his skin was already pale, his meridians dim.
"THEY DRAIN ENERGY!" she shouted. "Do not allow contact!"
Ren Xiang's heart hammered. His breath sharpened. The star-node geometry in his memory flickered like a constellation coming alive.
One of the shadows lunged at him.
It bent the air—
He moved.
A precise sidestep, shifting weight through his heel. The tendril cut the space where his throat had been a moment before. A second lash came low; Ren Xiang shifted again, breath aligning with a lower node.
"You're doing it again!" Mira shouted, slashing a shadow off his flank. "Moving like you're following invisible lines!"
"I am following lines," he replied.
"You're impossible!"
Another shadow lunged toward them, faster than the others — its body flickered with a deeper, darker resonance. Ren Xiang recognized it instantly. This one was a node generator — an anchor. It stabilized the others.
He exhaled.
The world slowed.
He stepped into the shadow's arc, not away from it. Mira shouted, but Ren Xiang was already inside the creature's range, his hand pressing through distorted air. He wasn't striking it — he was striking the center of distortion, the point where resonance peaked.
His palm landed on empty space.
A shockwave boomed.
The anchor wraith exploded in a burst of mist.
The synchronized rhythm of the shadows faltered. The tide hesitated. Several shadows collapsed into shapeless vapor before reforming messily, their coordination broken.
Ilvara's eyes widened. "Xiang! You—"
"Break the anchors," Ren Xiang said. "There are more."
"How many?"
Ren Xiang inhaled sharply. His chest hummed.
He pointed past the rooftops, toward the far treeline.
"There," he said. "Three more coming."
"How do you—"
"I just know."
Ilvara bared her teeth. "Good enough."
She lifted her blade.
"Adepts, with me! Inner disciples, cover the novices! Xiang, Mira, Taro — stay alive!"
"Yes, Elder!" Mira shouted.
Taro managed a squeak that sounded like agreement.
Ilvara leapt forward, a streak of light cutting through the mist.
Ren Xiang pushed forward with the front line. Shadows crashed against them like black foam. Mira moved like lightning beside him, her blade cleaving through tendrils before they touched. Taro swung his spear in wide arcs, surprisingly coordinated, using brute strength to disrupt wraith shapes.
But Ren Xiang did not attack randomly.
He watched.
Every shadow, every distortion, every motion followed rules. If he could decode the collective rhythm, he could destabilize the entire swarm.
He inhaled slowly, tuning to the air.
There — a faint vibration.
The wraith swarm shifted direction slightly, their movements aligning to a new frequency. Ren Xiang sensed the pattern: an outward ripple, like a pebble thrown into water.
He tracked the ripples to their source.
A tree.
One tree at the valley's edge — gnarled, old, roots bulging out of the earth. Its bark rippled unnaturally, like breathing skin.
Ren Xiang's stomach clenched.
"That tree," he whispered. "It's an anchor point."
Mira's head snapped toward it. "That—? How can a tree be—?!"
"It's not a tree." Ren Xiang's voice dropped. "It's a conduit."
Before Mira could question him, the tree exploded.
Black roots whipped across the ground, tearing soil like paper. A colossal shadow figure rose from the roots — its shape vaguely humanoid, its body composed of swirling darkness and tangled root-like tendrils. Its head had no features, only a void that pulsed with a slow, terrible rhythm.
A deep voice vibrated through the air — not sound, but vibration — shaking bones.
"FOUND… YOU."
Ren Xiang's pupils constricted.
Mira froze.
Taro's spear clattered to the ground.
Ilvara spun around, blade raised. She hadn't reached the other anchors yet — she ran back toward them, fear and fury colliding in her expression.
Ren Xiang's breath broke.
He recognized that voice.
Not exactly — not fully — but something in it was familiar. Something embedded in his death. Something from his past life.
Abyssal.
But not Nocturn — weaker, cruder.
A scout.
Ren Xiang swallowed hard. "A fragment… of an Abyssal General."
Ilvara skidded to a halt. "WHAT?!"
Ren Xiang's voice trembled for the first time since his rebirth.
"This is a Whisper-Echo. A low-tier manifestation." He inhaled shakily. "A shadow of something far greater."
Mira looked at him, horrified. "Ren… how do you know that?"
He shook his head. "Later."
The Whisper-Echo raised its massive arm — and the entire valley vibrated with dark resonance.
Hundreds of shadows reformed behind it, synchronized once more, even stronger.
Ilvara lifted her blade with both hands. "THIS IS NOT AN OPPONENT YOU FACE!"
She stepped between Ren Xiang and the Echo. "Xiang — RUN. I will hold it back!"
Ren Xiang didn't move.
"Xiang! I SAID RUN!"
"I can't."
"You WILL—"
"No."
Ren Xiang stepped forward.
"Xiang!" Mira shouted. "STOP!"
"Are you insane?!" Taro cried. "That thing will eat you!"
Ren Xiang's voice was calm, steady.
"It came here for me."
Ilvara froze.
Mira's breath hitched. "That… thing is after you?"
Ren Xiang nodded. "I felt it before it appeared."
Ilvara's face turned cold and sharp. "Then you must escape even more—"
"No," Ren Xiang said softly. "If I run, it will follow. And it will kill anyone in its way."
He looked up at the Whisper-Echo.The towering shadow leaned down, its faceless void seeming to stare.
"YOU… DO NOT… BELONG."
Ren Xiang's bones vibrated in response.
"No," he whispered. "Neither do you."
The Whisper-Echo lunged.
Ilvara struck — her blade cleaving through one massive arm — but the arm reformed instantly. Mira dragged Ren Xiang back by instinct, but he planted his feet, drawing a breath so deep his ribs trembled.
He summoned the star-node resonance.
The Inner Sea pulsed.
His meridians burned.
He thrust his palm forward.
Not at the Echo —
But at the air in front of it.
The resonance rippled silently.
A perfect, precise shockwave.
It hit the Whisper-Echo's core frequency.
The giant shadow staggered.
Ilvara gasped. "Impossible…"
Ren Xiang's entire body trembled. He wasn't strong enough to defeat it — but he could disrupt it. A fragment. A distortion. A scout. It wasn't whole — it was a projection.
Ren Xiang felt its structure — like a half-formed equation.
He inhaled sharply.
And struck again.
A second shockwave.
Stronger.
The entire Wraith swarm convulsed and collapsed into formless mist.
The Echo reeled, its massive arms flailing. Its body flickered violently, unable to maintain structure.
Ren Xiang's bones screamed.
His Inner Sea trembled violently.
He had pushed beyond his limits.
Ilvara shouted, "XIANG, STOP—YOUR MERIDIANS CAN'T HANDLE—"
Ren Xiang ignored her.
He struck a third time.
A perfect resonance curve.
The Whisper-Echo roared — a sound that shattered several rooftops — and imploded inward, collapsing into a vortex of black dust that spiraled upward and vanished into the sky.
Silence.
The valley stopped trembling.
Ren Xiang exhaled — and collapsed to his knees, vision blurring.
Mira caught him before he hit the ground. "XiANG—!!"
Ilvara rushed over. "His meridians—THEY'RE OVERLOADED! Taro—bring water! Mira—support his breath!"
Taro sprinted.
Mira placed her hands over Ren Xiang's chest, channeling steady warmth. "Breathe, Xiang… breathe…"
Ren Xiang inhaled weakly. His Inner Sea felt like shattered glass. Every meridian node flickered painfully.
Ilvara gripped his shoulder. "Xiang… how did you do that?"
He looked up, barely conscious.
"Because…"
He drew a shaky breath.
"I've fought something like it… before."
Ilvara's eyes widened.
Mira's hands trembled.
Taro dropped the water jar.
Ren Xiang closed his eyes.
"And I killed it once."
Darkness rushed in.
Far above the valley, unseen by any mortal eye, a crack pulsed faintly in the night sky — a tear barely visible, like a hairline fracture in a crystal dome.
On the other side of that crack…
Something enormousstirredand smiled.