The battlefield had shifted.
Fox—now a Heavenly Sovereign Nine-Tailed Flame Beast—stood guard.
Nine golden tails encircled Lin Tianren's unconscious body.
His breath was faint.
[Core Stability: 2%][Meridian Damage: Severe][Consciousness: Lost]
The remaining demons hesitated.
They had just witnessed evolution.
They had just lost commanders.
But then—
The sky split.
A shadow moved across the clouds.
Not fully descending.
Not yet.
But enough.
Demon Lord pressure.
The Beast Queen reacted instantly.
Queen's Descent
She landed beside them.
Emerald aura surged outward like a tidal wave.
Every demon within 500 meters was crushed flat.
Her voice was calm—but strained.
"We withdraw."
Fox lowered its head slightly in acknowledgment.
She placed one hand over Lin Tianren's chest.
A pulse of ancient life energy stabilized his shattered meridians—barely.
Not healing.
Just preventing death.
Then—
She extended her wings.
A massive emerald barrier expanded.
Blocking incoming abyssal projectiles from distant demons regrouping.
They retreated toward the Beast Territory's inner safe zone.
Demon Retaliation
But the Demon Lord was calculating.
He would not waste power on a wounded sovereign beast protected by a Queen.
Instead—
He shifted targets.
Far away.
Toward something softer.
Toward something fragile.
Toward the Human Frontier Village.
The Human Village
The first wave hit at dusk.
No generals.
No grand strategy.
Just rage.
Thousands of mid-tier demons descended like locusts.
The village guards—mostly Bronze and low Silver cultivators—were unprepared.
Houses caught fire instantly.
Wooden roofs collapsed.
Screams filled the night.
A father tried to shield his daughter—
A demon spear pierced through both.
A mother pushed her son into a cellar—
She never made it inside.
An elderly man clutched a farming blade—
He was torn apart in seconds.
Blood ran through the dirt roads like rainwater.
Infants cried among burning ruins.
A little girl shook her fallen sister—
"Wake up… wake up…"
But there was no breath left.
Flames reflected in tear-filled eyes.
The sky glowed red.
Safe Zone – Too Late
Inside the Beast Territory's protected area—
Lin Tianren lay unconscious.
Fox's nine tails wrapped around him like a living fortress.
The Beast Queen stood outside the chamber.
Her aura flickered.
Not from exhaustion.
From damage.
She had taken a distant abyssal strike during retreat.
A wound across her side—black corruption slowly spreading.
She concealed it.
But Fox noticed.
News Arrives
A surviving human cultivator stumbled into Beast Territory.
Burned.
Half-dead.
He collapsed before the Queen.
"The village… gone… demons… everyone…"
Then silence.
Dead.
Fox's golden eyes narrowed.
Its tails ignited brighter.
Even unconscious—
Lin Tianren's fingers twitched.
As if he felt it.
The Queen's Burden
The Beast Queen looked toward the burning horizon.
Her voice carried sorrow.
"The Demon Lord chooses cruelty over confrontation."
She turned toward Fox.
"Guard him."
Then she stepped forward—
Preparing to move despite her injury.
But the corruption in her wound pulsed violently.
Her body trembled for half a second.
Gold-level abyss poison.
She had shielded Lin Tianren from it earlier.
Now it was spreading.
Still—
She did not retreat.
Aftermath of Night
By dawn—
The human village was ash.
Bodies lined the broken streets.
Some survivors wandered in shock.
A baby cried beside two unmoving figures.
Smoke rose into a silent sky.
No warriors remained.
Only loss.
Inside the Sanctuary
Lin Tianren remained unconscious.
But within his shattered core—
Something changed.
Not rage.
Not hatred.
Resolve.
A memory forming.
Of cries he did not hear—
But would soon learn.
Fox lay beside him silently.
Nine tails burning softly.
The Beast Queen stood at the edge of the forest—
Watching the distant smoke.
Emerald aura dimmer than before.
Heavenly injured.
But unbowed.
War Status
Human Village: DestroyedCivilian Casualties: MassiveBeast Queen: Gold-Level Corruption InjuryLin Tianren: Unconscious, Critical