Tian Shen walked out.
Not rushed. Not hesitant. His steps were measured, deliberate, each one ringing with authority. His spear lay casually in his hand, yet its point gleamed with a suppressed light that seemed to pierce the horizon itself.
The black-spear general, tall and armored in black steel, watched him come. Around the man, the serpent banners snapped in the cold wind, and behind him a tide of disciplined riders shifted uneasily, their mounts stamping the earth.
This was no rabble. This was an army drilled for slaughter.
But Tian Shen's gaze did not waver. His body, tempered through blood, storm, and breakthrough, radiated a calm violence.
The general sneered. "You dare step out alone, boy?" His voice thundered. "Do you think yourself equal to me?"
Tian Shen tilted his head, eyes sharp as blades. "Equal? No."
He lifted the spear slightly, the edge humming as faint arcs of lightning coiled along its shaft.
"I came to bury you."
