The night before the assault was too quiet.
The canyon camp slept in shifts, fires banked low to avoid detection. Shen Yuan walked the perimeter with Yun Xue, his spear clutched like a staff, ribs aching with every step.
"We've drilled them as much as we can," Yun Xue said quietly. "But this will be their first true offensive. Some of them won't come back."
Shen Yuan looked at her. "Do you think we shouldn't do it?"
She shook her head. "If we don't hit the outpost, they'll tighten the net around the Nexus, and we'll never reach it. We have to."
I threaded a projection into Shen Yuan's awareness.
[ OBJECTIVE: CAPTURE BONE COURT OUTPOST ]
[ SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 28% ]
If you commit, you must succeed quickly, I told him. The longer we're exposed, the faster their enforcers will close in.
Shen Yuan exhaled. "Then we don't fail."
They moved at dawn.
Fifty survivors slipped through the canyon shadows toward the outpost—a fortified stone tower clinging to the edge of a cliff, Bone Court banners hanging like black scars against the pale sky. The branded captives led the way, Han Fei at their head.
Shen Yuan stopped the group just outside sight of the watchfires.
"Once we start, there's no retreat," he said. "Break their suppression talismans first. Without them, they're just men in armor."
Yun Xue stepped forward. "Strike fast, hit hard. Keep each other alive. You've all survived worse than this."
Han Fei's gaze swept the branded captives. "We're not running anymore. We fight for the ones they still have chained."
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group. The fire in their eyes was real now, not forced.
"Go," Shen Yuan said.
The first strike was silent.
Yun Xue's dagger slid through the throat of the nearest sentry, pulling him backward into the shadows. A second fell before he could cry out.
Then the alarm flared.
Bone Court horns blared as talisman seals across the tower ignited, casting the canyon floor in a pale, suppressive glow. The air thickened instantly, choking qi flow, dragging every movement into a crawl.
"Break the seals!" Shen Yuan roared.
The branded captives hurled themselves at the glowing talismans lining the outpost's walls. Han Fei's blade cut through the first, sending a ripple of relief through the formation. Yun Xue scaled the battlements with her team, talisman daggers flashing as she carved the seals from the stone.
Shen Yuan charged the gate, spear cracking through the wooden barricade.
[ SUPPRESSION FIELD STRENGTH: 74%… 61%… ]
The Bone Court garrison surged from the tower.
Enforcers in black talisman armor met the survivors head-on, halberds sweeping in arcs that broke bone and sent bodies flying. A branded captive screamed as a suppression net closed around him, the runes burning through his skin.
Shen Yuan struck the enforcer holding the net, spear punching through the man's throat. He ripped the talisman from the captive's chest and shoved him toward the rear lines.
"Stay together!" he barked.
Yun Xue landed beside him, blood streaking her face. "We've cleared most of the seals on the east wall. Suppression is fading!"
[ SUPPRESSION FIELD STRENGTH: 33% ]
Han Fei's voice rang out from the west side. "Last one—cover me!"
Shen Yuan turned to see him clambering up the cliff wall toward the final talisman seal, Bone Court enforcers hacking at the rock beneath him.
If he falls, suppression returns to full strength, I said.
"Not happening," Shen Yuan growled.
He pushed forward through the melee, ribs screaming as he cut a path to Han Fei's position. Yun Xue was right behind him, parrying halberds with surgical precision.
"Han Fei!" Shen Yuan called.
Han Fei looked down just as the final talisman shattered under his blade.
The suppression field collapsed.
Qi surged back into Shen Yuan's meridians like fire in his veins. He leapt, spear flashing, driving it through the chest of the nearest Bone Court enforcer.
The survivors roared as their strength returned, overwhelming the garrison in a tide of fury.
When the fighting stopped, the outpost was theirs.
The survivors stood in the wreckage, breathing hard, faces streaked with blood and ash. Han Fei limped down from the cliff wall, collapsing onto the ground with a hoarse laugh.
"We did it," he said.
Yun Xue's expression was grim as she surveyed the dead. "Not without cost."
Six survivors hadn't made it. Two branded captives had died trying to breach the suppression field, their bodies still hanging from the battlements.
Shen Yuan forced himself to stand. "We bury the dead. Then we fortify."
I pulsed a warning through the tether.
[ BONE COURT RESPONSE FORCE ETA: < 36 HOURS ]
This position will draw them like blood in the water, I said.
Shen Yuan tightened his grip on the spear. "Good. Let them come."