Chapter 2 · free to read
She came down for a corpse. She found something the sect had never taught her to kill.
I couldn't out-duel a real swordmaiden. But I didn't need a sword. I needed the ones already broken.
But the ash takes a price. Every blade I devour, it tries to devour me back.
I forced it down. All of it. And for one heartbeat, the founder's dead peak lit up like it remembered how to burn.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.