Part 4 · Chapters
Facing the Black-Armored General Again
True protection gives everyone the chance to stand side by side.
The quiet before their rematch weighed more than a roar. On the muddy ground, Xiao Jin listened to everyone's ideas. For the first time, he did not rush to be the first to charge.
The Black-Armored General saw at once that he had changed.
“A different suit of armor, and you think you've learned to protect?”
“I used to think a different power would be enough too,” Xiao Jin said. “That's why I'm not here to prove how strong I am.”
Yan Pan began the fight.
He struck the ground with both palms. Four ridges of rock locked the general's feet. As the heavy sword split them, Feng Ling's vacuum blades severed the surrounding supply of mist. Shuang Ya froze the joints through cracks in the armor. Xiao Jin maintained the Guardian Field, letting all three withstand the counterattack.
The devouring vortex erupted from the general's chest.
In their first battle, Xiao Jin had rushed into its center and dragged everyone in. This time he stepped back and gave his place to Feng Ling.
“Reverse wind!”
The air reversed from within the vortex, briefly upsetting its core. Yan Pan raised the ground at once, while Shuang Ya grew ice crystals beneath the armor.
The general roared and swung its greatsword at Shuang Ya.
Xiao Jin stepped before the blade. His Heartflame Armor shattered, and real injury cracked his breastbone. He did not force himself into another attack. “Switch!” he shouted.
Yan Pan took the front. Feng Ling carried Xiao Jin beyond the attack's reach. Shuang Ya temporarily sealed his wound with cold.
The general's greatsword paused for an instant.
“I once carried every life on my own shoulders too.”
A crack entered the voice inside the armor.
“Then they all died.”
The sword fell again.
As the black core lit once more, the seams across its chest suddenly tightened, as if something unseen were tugging at the body inside.
“That opening was left for you on purpose,” Ye Sha said.
Her voice came from behind the black mist.
She and two shadows split in three directions. Crescent daggers skimmed the armor's surface. The three slashes did not cut iron. They stained the previously invisible lines of control a cold violet.
“Twin Shadows, Buried Moon.”
Only then did the others see countless thin black threads crawling through the seams into the body inside.
A heavy strike at their planned angle would shatter the core—and tear apart the person being used as its vessel.
“I can only make you see them.” Ye Sha sheathed her blades and withdrew. “Whether to cut them is your choice.”
Shuang Ya instantly froze the threads' crossing point. Feng Ling drew the escaping mist away from the armor. Yan Pan pinned the general's uncontrolled right arm with his square shield.
Xiao Jin saw the exposed core, but did not strike at once.
Shuang Ya glanced at his shattered armor.
“Can you still stand?”
“Yes.” He formed the Ember Blade again. “But this time I'm listening to you.”
Shuang Ya did not answer immediately.
Her eyes followed the cracks across the armored chest.
“After the first burst, the left seam opened a little.”
“After the second, the same crack appeared on the right.”
The two fractures were drawing toward the center of the core.
“The next time, the core will be fully exposed,” Shuang Ya said.
The Black-Armored General released another burst.
Xiao Jin caught the heavy blow with Flame Return. The skin along both arms split.
The core lit completely. Shuang Ya shouted:
“Now!”
Xiao Jin sent all the stored black fire back along the way it had come.
With a thunderous crash, the armor's chest broke open.
Shuang Ya froze the connections. Feng Ling stripped away the shield. Yan Pan struck the general head-on with his square shield. Xiao Jin followed the path all three had made and drove the Ember Blade into the black core.
The black armor fell apart in layers.
Inside was only a man the mist had eroded almost beyond human shape.
“I decided when they retreated, when they attacked, and who should live to the end.”
Black mist poured from his mouth and nose.
“So afterward, I stopped trusting companions. I trusted only power strong enough to command everyone.”
Xiao Jin looked at him.
“Believing in power isn't what made you this way.”
“You just became too afraid to trust anyone else.”
“You could rule everyone with your strength.” Before falling to his knees, the general asked, “Why are you always willing to stand in front of others?”
Xiao Jin put away his fire blade.
“Standing over people doesn't take much,” he said. “Standing in front of them all takes real strength.”
Black mist began devouring the last of the general's mind. With his remaining strength, he revealed the truth. The master of the mist was Hui Ying, who was carrying the Hearts of Fire and Ice to the border. Once war began, fear and hatred would complete their fusion, allowing Hui Ying to take a fully formed body.
Beneath the shattered helmet was no monster, only a face consumed by mist.
Far away, two colors of fire had already stained the sky red.
The Frost Kingdom's advance army had reached the border.
And Flame City's main force was about to march.