Interlude XXXV – The System Shatters
[ERROR REPORT]
Conflict Resolution: FAILED.
Entity: Seraphine
– Status: REFUSAL.
Entity: Ashen
– Status: WITHDRAWN.
System Cohesion: 0%.
Reboot: IMPOSSIBLE.
Warning: World Integrity compromised.
----
Snow fell over silence.
The duel was over.
Seraphine stood swaying, her sword point sunk deep into the ice, her body trembling. Blood ran from her shoulder, staining the white beneath her boots. Her breath came ragged, loud in the stunned quiet.
Across from her, Ashen lowered her blade. She was untouched save for a torn lock of hair, her cloak brushing lightly against the snow.
She smiled—not victorious, not defeated. A smile of completion.
Then she stepped back, sheathed her blade, and spoke for all to hear.
"You saw it yourselves. The wolf bleeds."
Her voice carried across the battlefield, clear as bells. "Your faith has teeth, yes… but teeth dull. She cannot protect you forever. Remember this."
And then, impossibly, she turned away.
The enemy host parted like water around her. No arrows loosed. No blades followed. Ashen simply walked into the storm, vanishing into the white as if she had never been there at all.
The war did not end. But it paused, suspended in awe and dread.
Seraphine's legs nearly gave.
Valeria caught her under the arm, pulling her upright. "Stay with me, commander!"
"I'm—" Seraphine coughed blood. The word "fine" died on her lips.
Noctis's eyes were sharp, searching. "She let you live."
Seraphine ground her teeth. Shame burned hotter than the wound. She wanted to scream. To deny. To strike at something, anything. But the truth stood plain: Ashen could have killed her, and chose not to.
The army knew it.
She could feel their eyes. Their silence weighed heavier than steel.
They retreated back behind the half-broken gates of Kilkreath. The fortress was alive with whispers.
"She bled.""She almost fell.""Ashen could have—""—why didn't she?"
Faith wavered. The walls trembled with it.
Seraphine lay in her chamber, shoulder bandaged, teeth clenched. She stared at the ceiling as if she could burn through stone.
Valeria sat beside her bed, silent. Noctis leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
At last, Seraphine rasped, "Say it."
Valeria's lips pressed tight. She refused.
Noctis answered instead. "You lost."
Her fingers dug into the sheets, knuckles white. "I stood."
"You bled," Noctis said coldly. "And every man out there saw it. Ashen doesn't care about killing you—she's already killed what you stand for."
Seraphine shut her eyes. The words hit deeper than the blade.
----
Interlude XXXVI – Ashen Alone
Ashen walked the snowy ridge, her cloak trailing in the storm. Her breath came steady, calm, as though she had not just fought.
She removed her mask, letting the frozen wind sting her face. For a moment, her expression was unreadable.
Then she whispered:
"The story cracks. The wolf howls. Now the Realm will listen."
And she smiled again.
----
Days passed.
The army fortified the walls, but the silence inside them grew heavier. Every soldier who passed Seraphine looked with eyes that once held unshakable faith—and now carried doubt.
She trained despite her wound, forcing her body past pain. She stood on the walls, watching, refusing to falter.
But at night, alone, she could feel the fracture widening.
Sometimes she saw Ashen's eyes in the dark, calm and inevitable. Sometimes she heard her voice: "Walls are faith. Faith dies when they watch it shatter."
Seraphine gripped her sword until her hands ached.
No.
She would not yield. She would not let this end here.
But in her chest, she knew the truth: something larger than war now stirred.
----
Interlude XXXVII – Darius
Darius's quill trembled. He stared at the System's collapsing code etched across the page.
"It's unraveling faster than even I feared," he muttered.
The Wanderer stood at the window, watching the storm.
"And what do you intend to do?"
Darius pressed his palms into the parchment, desperate. "I… I don't know how to stop it."
The Wanderer's reflection in the glass smiled faintly.
"Then perhaps the wolf must learn to stand outside the System's walls."