The rain had not stopped since before dawn. It ran in crooked threads down the stone steps of the Moonveil District Arms Hall, pooled in the hollows between cobblestones, and soaked the banners until they clung limp against their poles. Beneath the eaves, Kael Ruan stood still, the damp creeping into his bones, a new-forged badge cold in his palm.He was twenty-four, the youngest ever sworn as Arms Keeper of Moonveil, and the weight of that truth pressed heavier than the rain. Across the courtyard, Master Renji watched him from the covered walkway, eyes unreadable, arms folded within his soaked robe. The old man’s hair had gone more silver than black this year, but the steel in his gaze had not dulled.Kael bowed once, low. “It’s done.”Renji’s reply was a grunt, though there was pride buried in it. “Then you know there’s no turning back.”The badge in Kael’s hand pulsed. Cold light bled across its surface letters forming where there had been none. [Silent Oath System Activated]Oat

The Hall of Justice was more crowded than before. Word of Kael Ruan’s night in the Vaults had spread in whispers that no official report could explain. Merchants in embroidered robes rubbed shoulders with dockhands still smelling of the river. Guards stood in double lines along the walls, their hands too close to their hilts for comfort.Kael stepped through the tall doors with Liara Fen at his side. She wore plain black today, her hair tied in a simple knot, yet her presence drew every eye as if she carried a crown.Lord Magistrate Zhen sat higher than the rest, his pale gaze sweeping over the chamber. “The hearing will resume.”At the prosecution’s table, Captain Morren smirked — but there was something tight in the set of his jaw that hadn’t been there before.The first witness was a cooper named Jian, his left hand missing at the wrist. He bowed awkwardly and kept his eyes fixed on the floor.“Tell the court what you saw,” Kael said.Jian’s voice was rough. “I saw men load wagons

The road east of Moonveil was nothing but wet earth and wheel ruts, the morning fog clinging low enough to lick at the horses’ legs. Kael Ruan rode at the front, his cloak drawn tight, eyes scanning the mist-shrouded horizon. Liara Fen rode beside him, silent but watchful.Behind them, Joren and Matsu followed with the packhorse carrying provisions, maps, and the few Soulsteel shards Kael had kept. Every time the wind shifted, the fragments gave off a faint, metallic whisper, like something trying to form words it had long forgotten.Renji had not wanted him to leave the city. “The Oath doesn’t bind you to chase shadows,” the old master had said. But Kael knew the truth: if he didn’t follow the trail now, the Emperor would choose the time and place of their next meeting and Moonveil would bleed for it.The map Liara carried was marked with a single red circle: Ashen Hollow, a village abandoned two winters ago after a mine collapse poisoned the wells. Renji’s informant claimed caravan

The first guard moved with a speed that didn’t belong to him. His blade sang through the dim light, striking where Kael had been an instant earlier. The gold-threaded darkness in his eyes didn’t blink, didn’t flinch.Kael pivoted, letting the Oath guide his arm. His sword met the guard’s in a sharp ring, sparks scattering into the cold air. The second guard closed in from the left, the black mist coiling from his mouth with every exhale.Liara slid between two shelves, twin daggers flashing. Her first strike caught one guard across the arm — the flesh beneath split, but instead of blood, threads of gold spilled out, writhing like living things.“Not human anymore,” she said, voice tight.Kael drove his shoulder into the first guard, slamming him back into the shelf. Scrolls tumbled to the floor, parchment scattering across the cold stone. The guard’s head snapped forward, teeth bared, and the gold in his eyes flared.[Oath Energy: +5]Kael’s sword cut clean through the man’s chest. Th

The valley was a scar between two ridges, the ground littered with pale stone and the skeletal remains of long-dead trees. A river once ran here, but now only a shallow channel cut through the rocks, its water dark and still.Kael Ruan stood at the center, the Core Fragment heavy in his palm. The Oath pulsed in time with his heartbeat, each throb a reminder that this was the place he had chosen.Joren and Matsu were already setting the outer perimeter, driving iron stakes into the ground where ropes strung with talismans would hang. Liara Fen crouched near a flat slab of stone, arranging clay jars in a precise pattern. Inside each jar was a mixture of ash, salt, and ground quartz — Renji’s design to slow the Emperor’s mist.Renji himself sat cross-legged on the slab, his cane resting across his knees. His eyes were half-closed, his breathing slow. “The ground remembers,” he said quietly. “Blood was spilled here long before you were born. It will be spilled again.”Kael glanced up at t