The second gate tore wider with a sound like tearing silk soaked in blood. Violet mist poured out in thick ropes, coiling around the conscript lines like living smoke. Rift Hounds were no longer the only threat; larger shapes moved behind the tear—Rift Stalkers, D-rank at minimum, bodies segmented like armored serpents, eyes glowing the same poisonous purple as the mist.
Lin Feng reached the forward perimeter just as the first wave crashed.
He made no effort to hide now. Let them see him—let Lin Hao's spies report back that the "trash" had come alone, unarmed except for the stolen dagger, robe torn from the night's running.
He needed the attention.
Yue Li and Xiao Qing needed the time.
He stepped into the mist.
A Rift Stalker lunged—faster than the hounds, jaws unhinging in three directions.
Lin Feng didn't dodge.
He met it head-on.
The black thread surged from his palm—not a visible attack, but a pulse of devouring intent that struck the creature's core before its teeth could close. The Stalker convulsed mid-air, segments cracking as its essence began to flow backward into Lin Feng's meridians.
He staggered under the influx—raw, chaotic power that tasted of void and hunger.
[Ding! Partial Devour: Rift Stalker (D-rank) – 40% essence absorbed]
[Warning: Sovereign's Mask at 55% weakness. Anomaly detection chance now 62%.]
He felt eyes on him—Lin Hao's, from the elevated command platform two hundred paces back. The half-brother's qi flared in surprise, then suspicion.
Good.
Let him come closer.
Let him commit.
Another Stalker emerged from the mist, flanked by a pack of hounds.
Lin Feng moved through them—not with grace, but with brutal economy. Dagger in one hand, black threads lashing from the other like invisible whips. Each kill fed him more essence, each feed pushed the mask closer to collapse.
He was buying seconds.
Every second Yue Li used to smuggle Xiao Qing deeper into the hidden library compartment.
Every second the Spirit Song fragment inside him hummed louder—his mother's lullaby threading through the violence like a needle through torn flesh.
*"Little phoenix, fly beyond the storm…"*
The song hurt more than the wounds.
Because he wasn't flying.
He was burning everything around him to keep others safe.
A shout from behind—Lin Hao's voice, carrying over the chaos.
"Surround him! The cripple's gone mad—capture him alive!"
Three outer guards Lin Hao had bribed rushed forward, spears leveled.
Lin Feng turned.
His eyes—usually bottomless black—now flickered with faint silver light. The Spirit Song fragment bleeding through the cracks.
The guards hesitated.
One of them recognized something in that gaze—not trash, not cripple.
Something older.
Something grieving.
Lin Feng didn't give them time to rethink.
He stepped forward.
The black threads didn't kill them.
They simply… drained.
Not essence. Will.
The guards dropped to their knees, spears clattering, faces slack with sudden, crushing despair. Memories of their own small betrayals—stolen rations, ignored cries for help, the casual cruelty of following orders—flooded them all at once.
They wept openly.
Lin Hao's face twisted in fury from the platform.
"Kill him!"
More guards surged.
But the mist thickened suddenly—unnaturally.
Yue Li's work.
She had slipped away earlier, using a low-grade fog talisman she'd bartered for weeks ago. Not enough to hide an army, but enough to shroud the path to the library stacks.
Lin Feng felt her qi signature flicker once—faint, worried—then vanish as she retreated with Xiao Qing.
Relief hit him like a physical blow.
Followed immediately by the system's cold chime.
[Ding! Side Quest "Shield in the Storm" — Completed]
[Primary protective role fulfilled by ally: Yue Li]
[Reward Granted: Temporary Resonance Stabilizer (50% reduction to emotional overload for 72 hours)]
[Hidden Condition Bonus: ×1.5 multiplier applied]
[Dominion Points +450 | Current total: 588]
The relief was short-lived.
Because the overload reduction didn't erase the memories—it only dulled their edges.
His mother's voice still sang inside him.
And now it sang louder—clearer—because the fragment sensed he had chosen mercy tonight.
Even if that mercy cost him.
Lin Hao descended from the platform, blade drawn, metal qi coiling like molten silver around the edge.
"You think you can humiliate me in front of the entire clan?" he snarled. "You think you can steal what's mine?"
Lin Feng wiped blood from his lip—his own, from biting down during the last devour.
"I'm not stealing anything," he said quietly. "I'm collecting what was already owed."
Lin Hao laughed—harsh, unhinged.
"Then collect this."
He lunged.
High-grade metal root qi exploded in a blinding crescent slash.
Lin Feng didn't block.
He stepped inside the arc—close enough to smell the sweat and arrogance on his half-brother's skin—and drove the dagger upward in a shallow arc.
Not to kill.
To mark.
The blade grazed Lin Hao's cheek—just deep enough to draw blood.
A single drop fell.
And the black thread latched on.
[New Full Mark Applied: Lin Hao]
[Devour Readiness: 1/100%. Time to full consumption without direct confrontation: 168 hours]
Lin Hao staggered back, hand flying to his face.
"What did you—"
Lin Feng met his eyes.
"Everything you took from me," he said, voice soft but carrying over the battlefield noise, "I will take back. Piece by piece. Starting with the illusion that you're untouchable."
Lin Hao's qi flared wildly—panic beneath the rage.
He screamed an order.
More guards rushed.
But the gate chose that moment to vomit its next horror.
A Rift Sovereign—briefly glimpsed before the tear snapped shut behind it.
C-rank. Towering. Body a mass of writhing purple tendrils, crowned with a dozen glowing eyes.
The entire forward line screamed.
Even Lin Hao froze.
Lin Feng looked at the monster.
Then at the sky—where the tear was already healing, but not fast enough.
He made his choice.
He ran—not away from the Sovereign.
Toward it.
Because if it reached the clan lines, Yue Li and Xiao Qing would never make it to safety.
The Spirit Song fragment sang louder—approving, grieving, proud.
*"Even when the sky forgets your name…"*
Lin Feng leaped.
Black threads erupted from both palms now—visible this time, no longer hiding.
They wrapped the nearest tendril and pulled.
The Sovereign roared.
And Lin Feng—fractured, bleeding, doubting, but still fighting—began to devour a creature that should have been far beyond him.
Behind him, Lin Hao watched in stunned silence.
For the first time in either life, real fear entered his eyes.
Not of the monster.
Of the brother he had always called trash.
Who was now burning brighter than any star the heavens had ever named.