Steel screamed against crystal.
The impact of the assassin's twin blades against the World Gate Key sent a violent shock through my arm.
I staggered backwards across the black crystal floor of the Sovereign Archive, my grip tightening around the glowing key fragment.
The woman in crimson-black armour didn't slow.
Her eyes were hidden behind a half-mask of silver metal, but the killing intent pouring from her felt colder than the underground air.
She moved like a shadow given shape.
Silent.
Precise.
Deadly.
The second executioner broke through Lian Xueyi's wall of flame and joined the attack without hesitation.
Two against one.
Perfect.
I had started getting used to impossible odds.
Flame Step activated instinctively.
Crimson light flashed beneath my feet.
I twisted out of the first strike, ducked beneath the second, and slammed my elbow into the nearest attacker's ribs.
She moved with the hit instead of resisting it, reducing the impact.
Professional.
These were not sect disciples.
These were trained killers.
Behind them, Ashborn stood motionless near the shattered gate distortion, hands folded behind his back as if he were observing a lesson rather than a battle.
His obsidian mask reflected the crimson light of the archive.
His eyes remained fixed on me.
Studying.
Calculating.
That calm terrified me more than violence.
Lian's flames surged across the chamber like a storm.
Silver-red fire spiralled around her, forcing the second executioner to retreat for half a step.
Only half.
Even that told me enough.
These women were strong enough to stand against a sovereign goddess, even in her weakened state.
Ashborn's voice drifted through the battle.
"Do not damage the key."
Calm.
Measured.
As if my life were less important than the object in my hand.
That confirmed it.
The fragment mattered more than I did.
Good.
That gave me leverage.
I slid backward, putting distance between myself and the assassins.
"What exactly is the Covenant trying to do?"
The first executioner lunged again.
I blocked with the crystal key and barely held my ground.
Ashborn answered anyway.
"Restore order."
I almost laughed.
Every tyrant in history used prettier words for greed.
"By collapsing worlds?"
His eyes narrowed behind the mask.
"By preventing chaos from consuming them."
Lian's voice cut across the archive like fire.
"Liar."
She raised one hand.
A ring of crimson lotus flames formed above her palm.
"You call enslavement order because freedom frightens you."
Ashborn looked at her with something dangerously close to pity.
"No, Flame Sovereign."
He stepped forward.
"We call it necessity."
The pressure in the room changed.
He hadn't attacked.
Hadn't even drawn a weapon.
And yet the air itself felt heavier.
My instincts screamed.
This man was far stronger than Zhu Kain.
Far stronger than anything I had faced so far.
ARINA confirmed it.
Target analysis failed. Reason: Power beyond current scan range Recommendation: Survival Priority
Failed.
Wonderful.
Even the system was telling me to run.
Ashborn's gaze returned to the Phoenix Mark on my chest.
"There was once another who carried that flame."
His voice had lost its politeness.
Only memory remained.
"He burnt kingdoms trying to protect freedom."
A pause.
"And in the end, freedom burnt with him."
The way he said it made my blood run cold.
He wasn't speaking from history.
He was speaking from experience.
Who was he?
How old was he?
And why did the Phoenix Mark matter to him?
Before I could ask, the first executioner attacked again.
This time I let her come close.
Closer.
At the last second, I twisted sideways and threw the crystal key toward Lian.
Her eyes widened.
Perfect.
The second executioner instantly changed direction to intercept it.
Exactly what I wanted.
I grabbed the first assassin's wrist and used her momentum to throw her into the crystal shelf behind us.
Black crystal shattered.
Ancient memory tablets crashed to the floor.
Ashborn moved for the first time.
Fast.
Too fast.
One step.
And suddenly he was between Lian and the falling key.
His hand closed around the fragment.
No wasted movement.
No effort.
Just inevitability.
My chest tightened.
Too strong.
Lian's flames exploded.
A pillar of silver-red fire descended from above, swallowing the entire centre of the archive.
The shockwave knocked me backward.
Heat slammed into every wall.
Crystal shelves cracked.
For one heartbeat, I thought she had done it.
Then the flames split apart.
Ashborn walked through them.
Unaffected.
The crystal key is still in his hand.
Even Lian froze.
Impossible.
His black robes had not even burnt.
He looked at the key quietly.
Then at me.
"Now I understand."
That was worse than anger.
Understanding meant plans.
It meant I had become part of something larger.
He slipped the fragment into his sleeve.
"Professor Mehra truly was reckless."
My fists clenched.
"Where is he?"
For the first time, Ashborn answered directly.
"Alive."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"But not for long."
Rage hit harder than fear.
I moved before thinking.
Flame Step.
Phoenix heat.
Everything I had.
I drove straight toward him.
The first executioner tried to intercept.
I slipped past.
The second slashed my back.
Lian's fire blocked her.
I reached Ashborn and threw everything into one strike.
He caught my fist.
Easily.
Golden Phoenix flames burnt around my arm.
His bare hand held it like nothing.
His eyes met mine.
Ancient.
Cold.
Disappointed.
"You are not ready."
Then he pushed.
That was all.
Just a push.
But it felt like being hit by a collapsing mountain.
I flew across the archive and crashed into the stone wall hard enough to drive the air from my lungs.
Pain exploded through my spine.
I hit the floor and couldn't move.
Not for several seconds.
Ashborn stood above the shattered centre of the archive, calm as ever.
"The next fragment lies beyond the Moonwater Realm."
His gaze lingered on me.
"If you survive long enough, perhaps we will meet there."
Lian stepped forward, flames roaring.
"You are not leaving."
Ashborn looked at her.
"Not today."
The black gate behind him opened again.
Space tearing apart.
The two executioners retreated instantly.
Before stepping through, he looked at me one final time.
"The Phoenix chooses strangely."
Then he disappeared.
The gate closed.
Silence crashed down.
Only broken crystal remained.
And the place where the World Gate Key should have been.
Gone.
I forced myself upright, blood on my lips.
We had survived.
But we had lost.
Lian stood beside me, staring at the empty air where Ashborn had vanished.
Her voice was low.
"The Moonwater Realm."
I wiped the blood from my mouth.
"Then that's where we go next."
Because now this wasn't just about survival.
It wasn't just about saving goddesses.
It was about war.
And the Obsidian Covenant had just made it personal.