"Try not to die?" Linyue said without missing a beat.
"Sure. Sounds like a flawless plan."
Above them, the Red Phantom Maiden's laughter echoed faintly from within the storm. It was high-pitched, hollow, and grating. The storm began pulling harder, dragging even anchored soldiers inch by inch across the field. One soldier flew past, screaming as he clung to a random spear. The green and red glow at the storm's heart pulsed brighter.
Linyue raised a hand and pointed. "It must be the core."
Shu Mingye tilted his head to look, squinting past the blinding wind. "We can't even get close."
The pressure slammed down heavier, so thick it felt like an invisible giant sitting on his chest. Shu Mingye's flame shield cracked, tiny fissures running like spiderwebs across its surface. He gritted his teeth and forced more spiritual energy into it. The flames roared defiantly, but his body was trembling from the effort.
Then—crack. Another fissure. His lips parted. He coughed, sharp and wet, and blood sprayed from his mouth. Straight onto Linyue's face.
She blinked. Her dark eyes stared up at him, not flinching, not even wiping it off. "…Really?" she said flatly.
Shu Mingye had no energy left for words. His breath came out ragged, his vision blurring at the edges. But even through the storm and the pain, he couldn't look away from her eyes. So calm. So unbothered. So… Linyue. The calm that made him want to laugh and cry at the same time.
He let out a shuddering breath, his body going slack as he leaned into her. Then he tightened his hold, wrapping his arms around her so tightly he almost crushed her. His frame curved protectively over hers as he pulled her close, covering every inch of her with his own battered body. He dropped his head against her shoulder, breath warm against her neck.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice unshaken despite the apocalypse swirling around them.
"...Using you as a pillow," Shu Mingye muttered hoarsely, his words muffled against her shoulder. "Might as well… if we're about to die."
"You're bleeding on my robes."
"They're red anyway."
Linyue narrowed her eyes at the pulsing storm core ahead. The demon's laughter still echoed faintly in the cyclone.
"Fine," she murmured. "I'll blow up the core. You just… stay here. Bleed quietly."
Shu Mingye's grip didn't loosen. "No. We're doing it together."
"You're half dead."
"Then I'll be a useful half-dead man."
Linyue let out a soft sigh. "Let's stick to the plan."
"What plan?" he shot back hoarsely. "Try not to die?"
She didn't bother answering. Her gaze locked on the glowing, pulsing core at the storm's center. It was throbbing now, veins of energy crawling through the cyclone.
Last Breath of the Phantom.
The old legends of wind demons. When near death, they burned through every scrap of spiritual energy, pulling all matter—stone, wood, bodies—into the center before detonating in a cataclysmic explosion. If it succeeded, nothing would survive. The battlefield… gone. The soldiers… ash. The second wall… likely reduced to rubble, if not worse.
"Uh oh," Linyue muttered, tilting her head slightly.
Shu Mingye groaned, barely holding the flame barrier around them. "That's not a good sound. I don't like that sound."
Above them, debris spun faster. Spears, helmets, even whole trees ripped upward by the raging storm.
Shu Mingye's chest heaved as he kept his weight over her, shielding her from flying rocks and wind blades. "Tell me you have a plan that isn't just lying here looking pretty."
Linyue's eyes narrowed as her calm expression deepened into focus. Her hand moved upward. Blue spiritual energy coiled up her arm. Sparks danced across her skin, her raised hand glowing. Her other hand clamped down on Shu Mingye's shoulder with surprising strength.
She whispered softly, "We're not going to die… well, I'm not."
Shu Mingye tilted his head at her, blood still streaking down his jaw. "Comforting. Truly."
"Close your eyes," Linyue said calmly.
He squinted. "Why?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she tugged his shoulder tighter against her, pulling him to her body.
Shu Mingye blinked, startled, but didn't resist. His face landed squarely in the curve of her neck.
…Gardenia. She smelled like gardenia. Sweet, fresh, cool like a quiet spring morning before all hell broke loose. For a split second, his mind went blank. His body, battered and burning with pain, decided it would rather stay here forever. And then he realized what he was doing.
Wait. Was he rubbing his head against her neck? Was he… sniffing? Again?
Shu Mingye's eyes flew wide as he realized, but before he could move, before he could even think, a sound split the world in half.
BOOOOOM!
The ground trembled violently. A deafening, monstrous thunderclap followed, sending a shockwave through the air so powerful it made his teeth rattle.
He froze. His hands tightened instinctively around Linyue. "What—"
Another BOOM.
This one was louder. Closer. The battlefield shook so hard cracks splintered across the dirt.
He snapped his head up. His eyes locking on the sky. A pillar of blue flame had shot down from above. No, wait. Not flame. It looked like flame, but it moved like lightning. Blue flame crackled with electric fury as it split the sky, surging downward like the wrath of a thousand gods. It struck the storm's core with such force that the air detonated.
Shu Mingye stared, mouth slightly open.
The thunderous boom echoed again, louder as another streak of blue flame slammed into the ground. And then another. Each strike carved molten craters into the earth, the sheer heat turning rocks into glowing glass.
His dark eyes darted down to Linyue. Her face was calm. One hand was raised lightly to the sky. Sparks danced across her pale skin, little motes of blue light orbiting her like fireflies. Her long lashes didn't even flutter as the world exploded around her.
Shu Mingye's thoughts scrambled.
Blue flame. Lightning strikes from nowhere. And this eerie, undetectable strength she had hidden so well.
"Just where… did this power come from?" he murmured to himself.
Before his mind could catch up, the sky answered for him. Another bolt of blue flame tore down from the sky. It didn't just hit the core—it impaled it. The Red Phantom Maiden's swirling storm shuddered violently, its once-mighty winds now unraveling. The air split with a scream as the demon's bloodstorm cracked, then collapsed.
Linyue finally lowered her hand. Her fingers trembled faintly. She exhaled, long and quiet. The blue sparks around her flickered out one by one. She was exhausted. Every drop of spiritual energy she had was gone. Her body ached. Her arms felt like someone had replaced them with overcooked noodles. Her dark eyes slid toward the battlefield.
No more storm. No more raging wind. Just still air and a faint smell of scorched dirt. In the middle of it all, the Red Phantom Maiden's body stood frozen. Cracks spiderwebbing through its skeletal frame, faint light leaking out.
She turned her head and found Shu Mingye intensely staring at her. "The demon's body," she said softly.
Shu Mingye blinked. "The demon's body," he repeated, his voice a little too high-pitched for his usual cold Demon King of Shulin tone.
"Yes," she replied. "The demon's body."
"Right." He shook himself, dragging his eyes away from her and forcing his mind back into the present.
Linyue tilted her head at him. "Can you get up?"
Shu Mingye groaned. Every muscle in his body was screaming in protest. His fire shield was long gone. His clothes were sliced open in too many places to count. And yet he pushed himself upright. Slowly. Painfully. Heroically. And then he grabbed Linyue by the waist in one smooth motion, pulling her closer as he straightened his spine.
Somewhere off to their left, a soldier—half-buried under debris and very much still alive—poked his head out and screamed, voice cracking.
"I'M ALIVE!!"
Another voice nearby added weakly, "Wait—me too!"
And a third soldier groaned from under a snapped tree branch, "Did… did we win?"
Linyue sighed softly. "I think they'll be fine."
Shu Mingye didn't answer. He was too busy holding her tightly, his breathing uneven, his sharp eyes darting toward the cracked, unmoving form of the Red Phantom Maiden.
"I'll take care of that," he said finally, voice low but steady. "You should go back and rest."
Linyue tilted her head, her expression neutral except for the faintest glint of mischief in her eyes. "I'll be fine. But you don't look fine." She gestured vaguely at him. "Especially your robes. They're… hanging on by optimism alone."