The Phoenix General's breath came in steady, measured bursts. Despite the scorch marks along his armor and the cuts on his arms, his spear still gleamed with killing intent.
Liu Shen, in contrast, stood untouched except for the faint burns on his left hand—burns that healed before the General's eyes, black qi stitching the skin as if nothing had happened.
"You're not fighting for the Empire," Liu Shen said, tone low. "You're fighting for something else."
The General didn't answer. His spear trembled—not with fear, but with gathering force. The courtyard's air shimmered, the heat thick enough to distort vision.
Liu Shen's Abyssal Beacon flared once. "I don't need your confession."
The General struck first. The spear darted forward in a blur, every thrust blooming into a phantom phoenix that screamed toward Liu Shen. One strike became ten, ten became a hundred—each wrapped in blinding flame.
Liu Shen didn't retreat. He spun his sword, shadows swirling to form a vortex that devoured the incoming flames. The sound of burning qi was swallowed into silence.
But the General was already inside the vortex, spear aimed at Liu Shen's heart.
The tip met a wall of black light.
Liu Shen's left hand shot out, gripping the shaft just behind the spearhead. With a twist, he wrenched it from the General's grasp, the metal warping under his strength.
The General's eyes widened.
Before he could recover, Liu Shen stepped in and slashed—not at the General's neck, but at the ground between them. The strike carved a jagged scar through stone, and from that wound in the earth, abyssal chains erupted, wrapping around the General's legs and arms.
Flames roared from the man's body in defiance, but the chains only drank them in.
"You fought well," Liu Shen said, raising his sword. "But the Empire you serve has already begun to crumble."
The blade fell.
It stopped—mere inches from the General's throat—as a thunderous crack split the air.
Both turned toward the palace's eastern wall. A surge of crimson light burst skyward, the protective barrier shattering like glass.
Liu Shen's gaze sharpened. Meixing.
The General saw his opening and tore free of the weakened chains, leaping back. "This isn't over."
Liu Shen didn't chase. His attention was already on the source of the light, his shadow stretching toward the breach like a living thing.
Without another word, he vanished into the darkness, leaving the Phoenix General staring after him.