The dust over the Shanghai docks had barely settled, but the silence was heavier than the explosion. I stood in the center of the glassed-over crater, my breathing steady. My Ancestral Armor retracted, melting back into my skin like liquid violet silk, leaving me in my scorched combat gear.
"Li Xian..." Xiao Yan approached cautiously, his boots crunching on the glass. He wasn't looking at me; he was looking at the sky. "The 'Herald' is gone, but she left something behind."
I looked up. In the spot where Astra had vanished, a giant holographic screen had ignited in the atmosphere. It wasn't for us. It was a broadcast to the entire sector.
[ NOTIFICATION: UNIVERSAL SYSTEM UPDATE ]
[ TARGET ID: Li Xian (Earth/Sector 009) ]
[ CRIME: Assault on a Divine Herald / Illegal use of the Golden Key ]
[ BOUNTY STATUS: ACTIVE — SSS RANK ]
[ REWARD: 1,000,000 Stellar Credits + 1 Core Seed of Immortality ]
My heart skipped a beat. "An SSS-Rank Bounty?" I whispered. "They didn't just label me a criminal. They labeled me a prize."
"It's worse than that," Yan said, pointing at his tablet. "Look at the 'Active Hunters' list."
I grabbed the tablet. Names were flashing in gold and blood-red.
The Iron Butcher (Mars Colony)
Shadow-Walker Kael (Nebula Void)
The Seven Sins Mercenary Group
"They're all coming for Earth," I realized. "By defeating Astra, I didn't save the world. I just put a giant target on it."
Suddenly, my 'Void Heart' pulsed with a violent heat. A new screen appeared, visible only to me.
[ SYSTEM AWAKENING: EMPRESS PHASE 1 ]
[ NEW FEATURE: THE ARMORY OF IMTIYAZ ]
[ DESCRIPTION: Your father didn't just hide the Key. He built a fortress. To unlock the first floor, you must find the 'Hidden Forge' located beneath the Great Wall. ]
"My father left a Forge?" I felt a surge of hope. If Imtiyaz knew this day would come, he wouldn't have left me defenseless. He was a laborer, a builder. He always had a backup plan.
"Yan, get the jet-ship ready," I said, my voice hardening. "We aren't staying in Shanghai. If these hunters want a piece of the 'Golden Key,' they're going to have to find me in the mountains."
"But Li, you're exhausted! You just fought a God!" Yan protested.
"I'm not exhausted, Yan," I said, looking at the scarred Moon one last time. I felt the power of the 230 chapters of my destiny flowing through my veins. "I'm just getting started. If the Galaxy wants to play a game of hunters and prey... they're about to find out that the prey has teeth."
I turned toward the north. The Great Wall was calling. And I knew, deep in my soul, that my father's greatest secret was waiting for me there.The jet-ship hummed as it hovered over the snow-capped peaks of the North. Below us, the Great Wall of China snaked across the mountains like a sleeping stone dragon. But the peace was an illusion.
"Li, I'm picking up a signature," Xiao Yan whispered, his fingers dancing across the radar. "It's not a ship. It's a... ghost."
[ System Alert: Stealth Field Detected ]
[ Class: Assassin-Type ]
[ Distance: 50 Meters... and closing ]
I didn't blink. I didn't reach for my sword. I closed my eyes and let the 'Void Heart' feel the vibrations in the air. My 165cm frame was perfectly still, but my purple-white wings were twitching beneath my skin, ready to burst.
"He's already on the ship, Yan," I said calmly.
SHINK!
A blade of pure black energy sliced through the cockpit glass, missing my throat by a mere inch. A figure materialized from the shadows—Shadow-Walker Kael. He was thin, wrapped in rags that seemed to absorb the light around him, and his eyes were glowing red like dying embers.
"The Empress is sharper than the bounty said," Kael hissed, his voice sounding like sandpaper on glass. "A million credits for your head, girl. That's enough to buy a whole moon."
"You should have stayed in the shadows, Kael," I replied, my eyes snapping open. "On Earth, we have a saying: Don't wake a sleeping dragon."
I kicked the cockpit chair toward him, and in that split second of distraction, I summoned the Sovereign Blade. The cabin was too small for wings, so I fought with raw martial arts, my blade clashing against his twin daggers.
Clang! Clang! Sparks flew, lighting up the dark cockpit.
"You're fast, but you're tired from the Herald fight," Kael laughed, his body flickering in and out of existence. "I can smell the exhaustion on you."
"That's not exhaustion you smell," I retorted, spinning into a high kick that cracked his shadow-mask. "That's the fire of a Forge you'll never see!"
Suddenly, the ship rocked violently. We were directly over the Hidden Forge coordinates. The 'Golden Key' in my chest began to hum, vibrating so hard it cracked the floorboards of the jet.
[ Location Confirmed: The Gate of Imtiyaz ]
[ Action: Emergency Ejection Initiated ]
"Yan, jump!" I screamed.
The floor of the ship vanished. We weren't falling into the snow—we were being pulled into the mountain itself by a massive gravitational well. Kael tried to shadow-step away, but the purple gravity was too strong.
"NO! This isn't part of the contract!" Kael screamed as we were all sucked into the darkness of the earth.
I didn't scream. I smiled. I could feel my father's energy everywhere. I wasn't falling into a trap. I was finally going Home.The fall didn't end in a crash. It ended in a hum.
One moment, Kael and I were screaming through a dark mountain shaft; the next, we were suspended in a field of violet anti-gravity. The air here smelled of ozone and ancient stone. As my boots touched the metallic floor, the lights flickered on—row after row of glowing blue circuits embedded in 2,000-year-old brickwork.
"What... what is this place?" Kael stammered, his shadow-powers flickering uselessly in the high-frequency energy field.
"This is the Hidden Forge of the North," I whispered, looking at the massive banners hanging from the ceiling. They bore the symbol of a hammer crossing a gear—my father's mark.
[ Voice Command Required: Identify Resident ]
[ Scanning DNA... Analysis: 99.9% Match — Heir of Imtiyaz ]
A massive circular door, forged from Star-Iron, began to rotate. Behind it sat a single pedestal. On that pedestal rested a pair of gauntlets that pulsed with the same rhythm as my own heart.
"The Vanguard Grips," I realized. My father hadn't just built machines; he had built a way for me to fight the Galaxy.
"Move aside, girl!" Kael roared, desperation overcoming his fear. He lunged, his black daggers aimed at my chest. "That gear belongs to the highest bidder!"
I didn't reach for my sword. I stepped forward and plunged my hands into the gauntlets. They snapped onto my forearms, hissing as they fused with my Ancestral Armor.
SHING!
I caught Kael's black daggers with my bare palms. The metal didn't cut me; it shattered against the gauntlets like glass.
"My father was a laborer," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous low. "He taught me that if you want to build something that lasts, you have to break the things that get in the way."
I tightened my grip on his wrists. The gauntlets glowed with an intense white heat.
[ New Skill Unlocked: Kinetic Overload ]
[ Damage: Critical ]
I released a pulse of pure kinetic energy. The shockwave didn't just throw Kael back—it disintegrated his shadow-cloak, leaving him shivering and powerless on the floor.
"Go back to the shadows, Kael," I said, standing over him, my 165cm frame casting a shadow that seemed to fill the entire hall. "Tell the other hunters that the 'Prize' isn't waiting to be caught. She's busy arming herself."
I looked at the 'System' screen floating in front of me.
[ Current Objective: Locate the remaining 3 Forges ]
[ Next Destination: The Underwater Trenches of the Pacific ]
I looked at Xiao Yan, who had just crawled out of the landing pod, looking dizzy but alive.
"Get the ship fixed, Yan," I said, staring at the blueprints of Galactic-level weapons carved into the walls. "We have a lot of work to do. And I think it's time we stopped running and started hunting."
The 'Golden Key' in my chest glowed brighter than ever. I wasn't just a daughter anymore. I was a War-Smith.