Page 1
Atop the Northern Wall. Midnight.
The guard commander stares at the horizon, eyes narrowed. Something is moving on the other side. Fast movement. Unfamiliar.
He turns. He runs.
He finds a soldier asleep at the guard post stairs — snoring without a care in the world.
He kicks him.
"Get up! Now!"
Page 2
The soldier jolts upright: "What — what's happening?"
"Go. Fast. There's unusual movement on the other side. Send a dispatch to the Lutosh and Shalubi clans. Now. Move."
The soldier grabs his cap and runs for the stairs.
The back gate opens. Two soldiers ride out on horseback at full speed. One stumbles at the door but keeps going without looking back.
Page 3
The guard commander returns to his post. He watches. The movement doesn't stop.
He shouts downward: "Maximum alert! Everyone prepare!"
Thirty soldiers below start moving. They put on their armor in fast, urgent motions.
But one of them trips over his own boot. His eyes are red. The smell of drink is impossible to miss.
A soldier beside him breathes deep and whispers: "Something's different this time. Didn't you see how those two horses rode out just now?"
Page 4
The drunk soldier leans against the wall: "Nothing's happening. This Wall hasn't been attacked in twenty-one years. Calm down."
The other soldier closes his eyes for one second.
Opens them.
Breathes deep.
Calm. I'm at my level. I can do this.
Page 5
On the other side of the Wall. At the main gate of the Tali Kingdom.
The commander of the First Battalion looks at the man sitting atop the catapult.
"Are you ready, Bayki?"
Bayki places both hands on the catapult and smiles — wide, genuine:
"Ready? I'm about to explode! Open this damn door. I can't wait anymore!"
Suddenly — the light of dawn breaks across the horizon.
Page 6
Slow motion.
Bayki launches from the gate at the tip of the charge. The catapult slowly turns red. It spins. A red flag snaps above it.
"Moooove out!"
They surge toward the Wall at tremendous speed.
Above the rampart, the soldiers brace themselves. One grips the largest crossbow. The others draw their bows.
Page 7
Bayki at the front. Half the distance covered.
The soldier on the Wall fires the largest arrow. A clean, direct hit.
But a red blast erupts from the catapult.
BOOM.
The arrow disintegrates in midair.
The guard commander: "Impossible—"
BOOM.
The first gate collapses entirely.
A slow-motion close-up on Bayki's face as he's about to leap from the catapult — tongue out, eyes gleaming with childlike joy.
Page 8
The thirty soldiers hold the breach.
The soldier who was afraid moments ago freezes. His hand is on his sword handle — but he doesn't draw. His eyes are wide.
Everyone tries to hold. It's not enough.
Bayki leaps from the catapult.
A bolt of lightning bursts from his body.
Crack.
The sound of piercing. The first soldier's head rolls across the ground.
The other soldiers scream. One charges with a sword. A right hook drops him instantly.
Page 9
Above the Wall, the archers throw small grenades that explode on the attackers below.
"Open the gate! Open the main gate!"
The guard commander shouts from above: "Open the main gate and the rear gate! Move!"
A soldier hauls the lever upward with both arms.
Page 10
Bayki watches the gate open slowly.
"Finally… I'm going to see the North!"
General Liban's face appears at the front.
"Haaaa—!"
The two armies collide in the narrow passage with crushing force. Horses go down. Lightning illuminates everything. The Lutosh general stabs from the right — pulls his sword — cuts from the left.
Bayki ducks behind a shield as soldiers surge around him.
Page 11
The Tali general shouts: "Fall back! Pull back!"
The soldiers raise their shields. They retreat slowly toward the other side.
General Liban watches them. The gate closes slowly in front of them.
Page 12
The Tali soldiers pass through the gate. It closes behind them.
Bayki erupts: "Why did you pull back?! We had them! We were stronger in that first moment!"
The general looks at him calmly: "Compose yourself. We don't know their true numbers yet. The orders are clear — if you meet serious resistance, fall back and request support."
He turns to one of the soldiers: "You. Ride to the Kingdom now. Bring the Second Division. We need reinforcements."
He looks out toward the Wall.
"Their defense is weaker than it should be. I think we have a real opportunity here."
He turns back to his men.
"At least we accomplished something today, soldiers."
He looks through the window.
"We destroyed the first gate of the Wall."
Page 13
Somewhere else entirely. Inside the tunnel.
Mabu rides hard through the darkness. Soldiers follow him in silence.
A strange green light appears.
Page 14
They enter a vast chamber. Green eggs cover the walls and floor in every direction. The place is unnaturally still.
Page 15
The soldiers keep riding through the center of the chamber. An explosion from behind.
Mabu turns his horse. Stops. Looks.
A horse emerges from the dust — panicked, riderless.
The dust clears.
Page 16
Two massive green insects stand where the rider was. Their claws dripping with blood.
Mabu holds his breath: "What the—"
They launch at the soldiers.
Spiders appear from the right and the left. Their numbers multiply at terrifying speed.
Page 17
Mabu dismounts: "Yuzuha! Stay close to me!"
He draws his sword. An insect launches at him fast. He deflects its claw — looks at it up close. Massive, long claws like blades.
He spins and takes its head in one stroke.
Page 18
"What kind of creature are you…"
Yuzuha throws her chained scythe. It wraps around a massive spider's neck and tears through it.
Then without warning — a deep tremor beneath them.
Page 19
The ground splits.
The giant worm erupts directly beneath them. It swallows three soldiers in a single moment. One of them never had time to scream.
A soldier beside it: "What — what is THAT?!"
Mabu stops. He stares at it.
The worm turns in the air. And faces him.
Page 20
He steps back. One step. Two.
It slams into him with its body — launches him through the air — and drives him into the wall with enormous force.
It opens its jaws above him.
He rolls away at the last moment.
He hits the ground. Gasping.
Mabu gets up. He turns toward the soldiers.
Page 21
"Form a circle! Everyone back to back! Now!"
The soldiers move fast. The circle takes shape.
The fighting erupts from every direction. Spiders throw their webs. A soldier goes down — tangled, pinned.
Mabu spots the worm approaching the circle from the other side.
Page 22
He runs toward it. He leaps onto it. Flies with it through the air.
Yuzuha's scythe pierces its neck from the side. He grabs it. Drives it in. Once. Twice. Three times.
The head drops.
Mabu falls with it. He hits the ground hard.
Time slows. The sound drops.
Page 23
Just a short rest. Just a moment.
Yuzuha's hand reaches down toward him: "Get up. This isn't the time to rest."
They rejoin the circle.
A soldier — strong-looking, voice controlled — speaks: "If we stay here, we all die. One by one."
Mabu wipes blood from his face. His eyes sweep the chamber fast.
Then — an egg explodes. Several insects burst out and scatter in every direction. One unfolds its claws and launches straight at Mabu — on the verge of cutting him in half—
Page 24
Mabu deflects its strike with force and splits it in two.
Another comes. Then another. Without pause.
"They're multiplying too fast. We can't hold against these numbers."
Fear appears on Mabu's face.
He looks left — soldiers behind him being torn apart.
He looks right — finds Yuzuha. She's drifted away from him, fighting.
One of the insects comes up behind her.
Mabu's eyes go wide.
Yuzuha.
The claw rises in the air.
"NOOOOO—!!"
Continued in Chapter Seventeen
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