Part 3 · Chapters
The Defeat Born of Confidence
Victory can lift your head—and make you lose sight of those beside you.
The greatest danger of victory is that it can make you forget the hands you once needed. As Xiao Jin entered the throne hall, he mistook his companions' warnings for hesitation, and the unease in his own heart for fear of the enemy.
The Black-Armored General's body was completely hidden inside its armor.
Behind the visor was no face, only slowly turning black mist. The core on its chest held the light of both fire and ice.
“You brought your companions after all.”
The voice came from within the armor.
The old wound in Xiao Jin's shoulder and back burned fiercely.
It was the masked figure from the ancient battlefield. The same one who had blasted him off the bridge into the abyss.
Shuang Ya took one look and said quietly, “Retreat.”
“He's the one carrying out the plan.” Xiao Jin gripped his blade. “Beat him, and we'll find out where the Heart of Fire is.”
“His armor is swallowing our elements.”
“Then break it before it finishes.”
Without waiting for an answer, Xiao Jin charged.
The first few exchanges went unexpectedly well. Ash Step carried him around the heavy sword, and his blade opened a crack in the shoulder plate. Feng Ling and Shuang Ya also forced the general back several times.
The thought in Xiao Jin's mind grew firmer: he was no longer the weak boy from before the abyss. If he was fast enough and strong enough, he could protect everyone.
But the Black-Armored General had been watching all along.
On the tenth Ash Step, its heavy sword fell into Xiao Jin's path before he reached it.
He hastily changed direction. The general's left hand was already around his fire blade. The armor drank in its flame. Five fingers closed, and the Ember Blade snapped.
Cold, dark currents flooded the hall. Countless false temperatures scrambled Heat Sense. For the first time, Xiao Jin could not read the enemy at all.
“Left!” Shuang Ya warned.
He still went forward.
The heavy sword struck his chest. Xiao Jin flew backward, then immediately used Ember Breathing to get up.
“Retreat!” Shuang Ya shouted again.
“One more try and I can reach the core!”
He refused to withdraw. He compressed all his remaining fire into the broken staff and charged straight at the armor. The general deliberately exposed its chest, then released a devouring vortex as he approached.
Flame, ice crystals, and wind were all dragged toward its center.
Xiao Jin could not move. The black greatsword drove straight at his heart.
Shuang Ya knocked him aside.
The blade pierced her ice-crystal core. A sharp crack rang through the hall. She fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“Shuang Ya!”
Feng Ling raised a current to rescue her. With a backhand blow, the general smashed Feng Ling and half a stone pillar into the wall.
Xiao Jin's mind went blank. He charged again, without technique or judgment, only rage. The general caught his face in one hand and slammed him into the floor.
“You thought gaining power would stop you being weak,” it said. “But the weakest people have never been those without power.”
It lifted Xiao Jin's head, forcing him to look at his gravely injured companions.
“They are the ones who think being strong means they can carry everything alone.”
The hall began to collapse, but the general did not deliver the final blow.
“Leaving you alive to watch them pay your price will be more useful than killing you.”
It departed with the black mist.
Xiao Jin knelt among the rubble. His fire blade was gone; the broken staff had become charred fragments. The crystal in Shuang Ya's chest flickered. Feng Ling lay far away, unresponsive.
“I can do it.”
Only a few hours ago, he had said those words.
Now he did not even dare reach out to touch them. Lie Ang's warning rang in his ears once more, truer than ever.
Courage without strength could get people killed.
So could arrogance with strength.
Xiao Jin knelt beside the broken blade.
This time, he did not hear armor cracking.
He heard Shuang Ya and Feng Ling's faint breathing.