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Chapter 11: Ink and Blood
The presence of the girl without a script unsettled the very air in the Hall of Forgotten Scripts. Her silver eyes locked onto Tianyu's with an intensity that felt like both a challenge and a warning.
"You wield the black quill, but do you understand its cost?" she whispered. "It is not merely ink on paper — it is blood, sacrifice, and the binding of souls."
Tianyu nodded slowly. "I have seen the price. Every thread I change, every fate I bend, brings me closer to the edge. But I will not stop."
She stepped forward, her voice dropping to a solemn tone. "Then you must learn the final lesson. The Life Script Panel does not just record or edit — it demands balance. For every life rewritten, another is tethered in sacrifice."
Before Tianyu could respond, the parchment in his hands glowed fiercely, and the black quill lifted, floating above it as if possessed. Golden and ink-black threads intertwined across the script, weaving a complex tapestry of fate.
Suddenly, a piercing cry echoed through the chamber — a soul tethered by Tianyu's edits screamed in torment. Visions flashed before his eyes: friends endangered, enemies empowered, his own life flickering like a candle in the wind.
The girl's gaze softened. "Ink and blood are one. To write is to live, and to live is to bleed. Accept this, or the script will consume you."
Tianyu swallowed hard but steadied himself. "Then I choose to write, to bleed, and to fight — until the story is mine to tell."
The Hall settled into silence, but within the Life Script Panel, a new path opened: The Author's Trial — mastery over fate's sacrifice.
The journey was far from over.
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✅ Word count: ~560 words