Her little face, obscured by feathers and miasma paled further as the blood loss got worse, her legs wobbling and wings light becoming pale, "For… for…"
Her breath became long and laboured, the idol fell from her palm, rolling forward to the foot of the throne, "...if you-, cough-, aren't a monster… please… sister… save he..r.."
As her consciousness began to fade away, the being slowly stood up to it's full height.
"I won't be a monster, if I save your sister?" He looked down at her, "Interesting. But it's not enough."
His face extremely close, she did not think of how handsome he looked, nor how youthful he was, nor anything of the sort.
"She-, she is the strongest!" She struggled on her feet and began to back up towards the door, "I-, we don't need… you…"
Her steps faltered and the stairs at the entrance of the royal palace became her fall, yet, a powerful energy stopped her just before her small head opened on the steps.
Instead, she floated upwards and beside the creature, grabbing her hand, it stopped her bleeding and asked, "Where is she?"
Her eyes sparked.
—
Nye Nie's breathing had run ragged.
The ghouls before her had begun to break through her barrier, and her wings had begun to wither from the terrible strain placed upon them.
Her very life force burned every moment.
She bit her tongue, trying to draw out any essence, scrap up anything she could to continue holding them back.
The ghouls stopped in their tracks, falling stiff, "So this is the acclaimed sister?"
"Yes, Mister!" A childish voice, the voice of her sister.
Nye Nie turned back with furious eyes, but they were instantly doused.
Before her stood her sister, smiling and looking up whilst holding hands with some sort of a shadow, the dead fell off of his aura like silent screams, his true form hidden by those haunting beings.
She shivered and fell to the earth.
Cannon fire boomed above, yet it landed mutely in her ears.
"Quite the girl." He looked down at her.
Nye Mie broke away from him and rushed to her sister, asking panickily, "What's wrong? Mister! What is wrong with my sister?!"
"She's exhausted." He shrugged, and looked to the sky quietly.
His eyes creased slightly.
For month's he'd been stuck in the city, unable to leave due to the constant sieges by the Eagle Demon's trying to retake the capital.
Unchained Expert's were not uncommon among the many brothers of the Eagle King, and with each brother having their own fiefdoms and in turn, their own military power spread out through the Northern Wastes, it was a constant battle.
Everyday hundreds of experts fell prey to the trap he laid in the skies, and everyday he was trapped within the city a day longer.
Above, the fleet lead by one of the king's cousins, broke through the Dread Fleets defensive line the Warship Vatoria began to fall from the sky in a ball of smoke.
Yet, the moment they broke through and believed they'd won, the miasma surrounding the city lifted ever so slightly, revealing a hundred more ships flying in the darkness, his fleet now completely surrounded.
The Warship Vatoria thought to be destroyed was raised from the deceptive fog and opened fire from below whilst the rest of the fleet rained hellfire.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
It was a short conflict.
By the time it had finished, Nye Mie and Nye Nie had stood up, and were watching him carefully.
"Why not just go?"
Naturally, he understood what Nye Mie was asking and he replied quite calmly, "If I leave, then I'll die. The miasma here hides my true naval strength and allows for an ambush, however outside I'll be the one attacked on all sides by Unchained Experts and their fleets."
Nye Nie's eyes reflected with the fires from the ships which had crashed into the city, the Ghouls now ravaging any survivors and turning them into one their own, raging and anguished selves, "Why… did you do this? What did we do… to deserve this?"
He could think of many ways to justify his actions, yet, "Because I wanted to. And no, you didn't do anything to deserve it, they did."
His eyes pointed at the same wreckage she was focused on, "They chose blood, I gave them the bodies."
She turned her eyes up to him, firmly, "Tenki Shi… I-, can I become as strong as you?"
He did not look away from the wreckage, nor did the screams in his ears stop, be they those of the living or the dead which plagued him so.
"Your names will be plenty, if you should walk this path," His voice lowered slightly yet it carried an edge, "The enemies will come in swarming."
Nye Nie glanced back at her sister, who was grabbing onto his hand again and slowly nodded, "I will do my duty."
"The road will be long and treacherous." He shook his head, casting the fiery wreck from his eyes, "If you achieve this power, you may well come to loathe yourself."
The dead all around him had not yet stopping chanting his crimes to the heavens, they'd not yet stopped and would not stop no matter how much he destroyed them.
His back turned to the thousands of ghouls without fear, walking slowly back to the palace, Nye Nie watched in silence until her sister called her forward and she began forward as well.
—
"Matriarch, we have almost arrived at the Eagle Demon Capital." Yui Luo spoke in no uncertain terms, the mountain in the distance filled to the brim with Miasma, a battle taking place as she spoke, "It appears the remnants of the Eagle Demons are launching an attack on it. This Heavenly Death is battling using some form of warship."
Liu Gang quietly prepared the Warrior Hall, sending them out onto smaller, faster boats for quick entrance before calling up, "Warrior Hall, prepared!"
Xiao Wun, who stood beside Cao Yue, who was using a brush to detail the surroundings, watched quietly, his heart pounding.
Over the year of war against the Western Plains, not a moment had gone by where he had not thought of his brothers and sisters in the clan, and watched out for their backs.
However it was different now.
This was no Western Plains, nor was it the Northern Wastes they faced off against and had won against in the past.
This was a new foe.
A being called itself Tenki Shi, the Heavenly Death.
A being which alone wiped out the Eagle Demon Capital in a day, and within months of constant siege from Unchained Experts, never moved a muscle, wiping them out with it's raw naval strength.
It made his spine tingle, and his hands shake.
He'd just recently broken through to Law Realm, after all.
"...I see." Operations slowed for a moment.
A kingdom-toppling beauty on the verge of being able to destroy the heaven's at a glance, and able to stir the hearts of any who laid eyes on her.
Wearing a veil and wielding the Heaven Bindings, her strength had become renowned throughout the entire Lower Demon Realm.
Her cultivation growing at terrifying rates as she had become an Unchained Expert after felling the Western Plains and taking all of their treasures.
It was even said that she was the descendant of the Great Taotie who wrent the skies during the Path War.
She who holds the reigns over one of the most feared Navy on the surface,
When she spoke, everyone stopped and listened.
The veil vibrated for a brief moment, and then went up in flames, her vast aura was like the mountains, unwavering and unmoving yet giving off the sensation of extreme power.
She stood a queen above the surface.
The Sky Martial, Feng Wuqing.
None dared to look down upon her fist arts capable of wiping cities off the landscape and changing the maps.
"What is it, Eldest sister?" Xiao Wun called out strangely, his eyes flickering around the Eagle Demon Capital, looking for what she saw.
Her face, which had been frozen, slowly melted into a small smile.
"Is that the name you chose, as your Dao name…" Her laugh came out crystal clear and smooth like a pleasant music to ones ear, "...you always said it was better to lie low, and then ended up doing the most arrogant things all the time."
As they got closer, those on the ships understood the confusing words of their matriarch.
Sitting upon the wall, a silhouette hidden behind miasma began to get clearer and clearer.
Sitting with one leg hung over the wall, and the other tucked away, a gourd of something on one knee, and leaning on the other with a spirit leaf in his mouth.
The undeniable patriarch of the Shou Clan, the leader of the Dread Fleet and Heavenly Death.
Shou Xin.
With a slight smile, and a crescent gaze, he watched as the fleet slowed to a stop just outside the city.
"You're late." He played with the crooked crown in his hands, "I was lonely."
"I'm late?" She rolled her eyes and began descending, "You were the one who left."
"I couldn't help it," He shrugged and threw away the crooked crown, mist obscured him and when he reappeared his clothing was proper and the spirit leaf and gourd gone, "I tried to find you."
"I would have looked for you more," She stopped a few feet away from him, a gentle smile cresting her lips, "But, I was too angry. I knew you'd come back, though."
"When I heard you'd gone to fight the Western Plains Bull Demons, I wondered," He stepped a little closer and wrapped his hand around hers, "What terrible fate awaited them?"
"Annihilation." She laughed sweetly, "What about here? I heard you only took the capital?"