The battlefield felt silent.
Not because the fighting had stopped.
Not because the war had ended.
But because the world itself seemed to be holding its breath.
Lue stood amongst the endless sea of blood and corpses, his sword hanging loosely from his hand while his mind drifted somewhere far away from the battlefield.
Far away from the screams and the dying soldiers and the cold wind brushing against his face, because none of those things seemed important anymore.
Nothing felt important anymore.
Not after Qian.
Not after Piao.
Not after Qianhe Yuan.
The warmth he had spent so desperately trying to protect had disappeared one piece at a time until there was nothing left.
Only silence.
Only emptiness.
Only him.
"Father...?"
The word escaped his lips almost unconsciously.
His eyes remained fixed upon Jun.
Upon the sword resting within his hand.
A strange feeling crawled through his chest.
That sword.
For some reason...
It felt familiar.
Not like something he had seen before.
Not like a weapon he recognized.
No.
It felt like a memory.
A memory buried so deeply that even looking at it caused pain.
The feeling disappeared before he could grasp it.
"It is my battle, Lue."
Jun's voice cut through the silence.
The exhaustion in his voice was impossible to hide.
Blood dripped from his sleeves.
From his fingertips.
From the countless wounds covering his body.
Yet somehow he still stood straight.
Like a mountain refusing to fall.
"Stay out of it."
Lue's chest tightened.
His gaze shifted toward the figure standing opposite Jun.
The Master.
The source of everything.
The man responsible for so much suffering
"But... he..."
Lue looked toward Jing Li.
Toward the man who had taken everything from him.
"I know."
Jun's voice softened.
Just slightly.
"Please."
Only one word.
Yet they carried more exhaustion than an entire lifetime.
Jun slowly turned his head.
Their eyes met.
For a brief moment, the battlefield disappeared.
Just two shadows standing before one another.
One preparing to fight.
The other was preparing to lose something he wasn't ready to lose.
Then suddenly-
A violent pain pierced through Lue's mind.
His vision blurred.
The battlefield vanished.
Another memory surged forward.
Another nightmare.
Qian's face appeared before him.
Covered in blood.
Smiling.
Dying.
"Lue..."
A voice.
His voice.
"Lue..."
The vision shattered.
Lue's eyes widened.
His hand tightened around his sword.
"Qian…"
The name barely left his lips.
Something inside him snapped.
Without realizing it, his hand had already reached for his sword.
The sword left its sheath.
The cold steel reflected the moonlight.
All he could see was Jing Li.
All he could think about was killing him.
His body moved.
Then suddenly-
A hand had gently pushed his blade downward.
The touch wasn't forceful.
It wasn't even threatening.
Yet Lue couldn't move past it.
He turned.
A young man stood behind him.
Tall.
Calm.
His black robes moved lazily with the wind.
Unlike everyone else on the battlefield, he looked completely relaxed.
As though the countless corpses around them were nothing more than scenery.
A faint smile rested on his lips.
"We meet again."
Lue immediately stepped back.
His instincts screamed danger.
Not because the man looked dangerous.
Because he didn't.
That was what made him terrifying.
Lue attacked without hesitation.
The sword flashed forward.
The young man moved.
Not away.
Toward him.
Lue's strike missed.
Before he could react, his wrist was caught.
The young man spun.
And suddenly-
Lue found himself turning with him.
His balance shifted.
His attack dissolved.
The battlefield rotated around him.
For a moment, Lue couldn't even understand what had happened, because one second ago he had been trying to cut this man down, and now his own body was moving alongside him, his feet following steps he never intended to take as the young man guided him effortlessly through the blood-soaked battlefield.
A step.
A turn.
Another step.
The young man's grip never loosened.
Every time Lue tried to attack, his sword was redirected as though it were merely part of the movement, and before he realized it, what should have been a fight had somehow become a dance.
The moonlight reflected off his blade while blood-covered robes swayed with the wind, creating a sight so strange that even the soldiers around them forgot they were standing in the middle of a war.
The battlefield had become their ballroom.
Corpses their audience.
Blood their music.
Lue's eyes darkened realising that.
The young man smiled.
"Why in a hurry?"
His voice brushed past Lue's ear.
Lue immediately struck again.
The young man stepped closer instead of retreating.
The blade missed.
Another pull.
Another spin.
Lue lost balance while getting distracted by Jun and Jing li battle and found himself turning once more before falling straight into the young man's arms.
The young man's smirk lowered a little, his eyes brightened slightly.
His arms wrapped around Lue.
Holding him there.
As though the battlefield belonged to nobody else but them.
As though thousands of corpses surrounding them didn't exist.
Lue's rage deepened.
Yet before he could break free-
The earth exploded.
BOOM.
His eyes instantly shifted toward Jun.
The real battle had begun.
Jun and Jing Li collided once again, their swords crashing together with enough force to shake the battlefield itself, sending cracks racing across the ground beneath their feet while soldiers from both sides stumbled backward in fear.
Jun looked less like a human and more like a storm.
Every strike carried grief.
Every strike carried rage.
Every strike carried the weight of Piao, Qianhe Yuan, and everything he had lost.
Yet Jing Li remained terrifyingly calm.
His blade moved with frightening precision, blocking, redirecting, and countering every attack while the two figures disappeared and reappeared across the battlefield faster than most eyes could follow.
Even so-
Jun was pushing him back.
For the first time, Jing Li's smile had disappeared.
Lue stared.
Then suddenly-
A familiar voice echoed through his mind.
"Lue..."
Qian.
Lue froze.
The young man's grip weakened for the briefest moment.
That was enough.
Lue broke free instantly.
"Jun!"
In Lue's vision, he could see Master fall to the ground… and Jun is barely standing.
Jun was on the verge of falling unconscious.
Lue started running towards them, totally ignoring the young man.
Then once again-
A hand grabbed him, very tightly, almost hurting.
The young man.
Something finally snapped.
Lue turned and struck with everything he had left.
The sword cut through flesh.
Through bone.
Through the young man's body.
Blood spilled from his lips.
Yet strangely-
He smiled.
As though he had been waiting for this.
"but how..." he whispered.
The world shattered.
Far away, in a palace covered in gold and illuminated by countless lanterns, a man slowly opened his eyes before a mirror, his reflection staring back at him through crimson eyes.
His fingers brushed against the blood lingering on his lips.
A smile appeared.
"Damn..."
His voice echoed through the empty palace.
And somewhere beneath that smile, hidden from the entire world-
The game had finally begun.
- The end of season 2