The Neutral Zone didn't wake.
It convulsed.
Shards of stone floated higher than ever before, drifting into the cracked sky like fragments of a broken mirror. Whole slabs tilted at impossible angles, some flipping upside down before crashing back into the plaza. Every sound echoed too far, stretched until even whispers seemed to linger.
The system's voice came jagged, broken.
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 54%. ][ Warning: Collapse imminent. ][ Time Remaining: 2 days. ]
Two days left. But no one believed it anymore. The Zone felt ready to shatter with the next breath.
✦
The survivors were already unraveling.
The old man ranted louder than ever, his voice shrill and cracked. "This is his fault! Every crack, every scream—it's him! He drags us into the pit while the gods laugh!"
Kavya sat apart, sharpening her blades with steady, deliberate strokes. She didn't deny his words. She didn't confirm them either. But the silence in her eyes was sharper than any accusation.
Dev stood like a wall, sword resting across his shoulders, gaze calm but unyielding. "Keep talking and you'll break faster than the Zone. Blame him all you want, but without him we're already dead."
The mother clutched Arjun close, her hands shaking. The boy didn't look at her. His eyes were fixed on me, his staff humming softly in his grip. The glow hadn't faded since yesterday.
And me—
The Inkblade pulsed in my hand, shadows curling upward, whispering eagerly.
"…the cracks are ripe… devour the Zone… end this cage…"
I tightened my grip. I wasn't sure if I was holding the blade anymore—or if it was holding me.
✦
The attack came like thunder.
Claws on stone. Howls rolling across the plaza.
From the crimson rift spilled a warband of Beastborn, larger than any before. Dozens poured through, wolf-headed, lion-headed, reptilian jaws snapping with hunger. Their weapons gleamed with fire and bone, their laughter too human.
"Neutral prey," one growled. "Soft. Weak. Break them."
The survivors froze.
Then the warband surged.
✦
The first wave hit like a storm.
Kavya darted into the fray, her daggers flashing silver arcs. She slit a wolf-beast's throat, but another slammed into her from the side, claws raking shallow across her ribs.
Dev met three at once, his sword a blur of steel. He cut one down in a brutal slash, blocked another's flaming axe, but the third's jaws snapped at his throat.
I moved, the Inkblade shrieking, shadows bursting outward to impale the beast through the chest. Its body shriveled as the blade drank it dry.
The old man screamed, stumbling backward, staff raised weakly. A Beastborn lunged for him—
Light flared.
Arjun's staff pulsed, barrier snapping into place. The beast slammed into it and rebounded, jaws shattering on impact.
The boy gasped, face pale, but the runes blazed brighter.
✦
The warband pressed harder.
More poured through the rift, axes and spears raining down. Flames licked across the cracked plaza. The survivors fought back with screams and blood, but the weight was crushing.
Kavya barely avoided another strike, her daggers clashing against claws. Dev bellowed as his sword clanged against three at once. The old man crawled on hands and knees, sobbing, muttering prayers that no god answered.
The mother clung to her son, but Arjun pulled free. His staff glowed like a beacon now, brighter than ever.
He raised it high—and the barrier spread.
Light wrapped not just around him. Not just his mother.
It rippled outward, shielding all of them.
Kavya. Dev. Even the old man.
The Beastborn crashed against the barrier, sparks flying, claws scraping uselessly.
Arjun screamed, the sound raw, tearing from his throat as his small body shook with the effort. His staff hummed, runes burning, light cracking across the air.
The shield held.
But so did the toll.
✦
The beasts reeled back, snarling, flames dripping from their jaws. Their leader, a lion-headed brute, slammed his axe against the stone and roared.
"Kill the child first."
Every Beastborn turned their eyes to Arjun.
The boy collapsed to one knee, staff trembling in his grip, sweat pouring down his face. The glow dimmed but didn't fade.
His mother screamed, dragging him back. Kavya stepped in front of him without thinking, blades raised. Dev moved beside her, sword steady.
And I stood between them and the warband, the Inkblade screaming in my grip.
The Zone cracked around us.
The war hadn't ended.
It had just begun.
The Beastborn withdrew like a tide, snarling and spitting fire as they slipped back toward the crimson rift.
Not defeated. Not broken.
Just… waiting.
And when the pale rift shimmered, I understood why.
Figures stepped through, qi humming like thunder.
Three outer disciples. And with them, one more.
His robes were darker, heavier. His sword gleamed brighter, the qi around him burning sharp enough to warp the air. His gaze swept across the shattered plaza, cold and unhurried.
The survivors stiffened.
The old man collapsed to his knees, sobbing. "Inner Disciple…"
Kavya's face went pale. Dev gripped his sword tighter, jaw clenched.
The Inner Disciple's eyes locked on me.
"So this is the fracture."
✦
He drew his blade. The sound was clean, final.
"Neutrality cannot exist. The script bends for no one. It only breaks."
His sword lifted, qi screaming along its edge. "And you, outlander—you are the break."
He moved.
The world blurred.
I raised the Inkblade, shadows roaring outward, and his strike still cut me to the bone. Pain split across my shoulder, blood spraying hot across the stone.
The Inkblade shrieked in my grip.
"…devour him… devour his line… feast on his qi…"
I staggered back, the whispers pounding in my skull.
The Inner Disciple followed, blade flashing again. His speed was unreal, every strike a storm.
Kavya leapt in, daggers clashing against his sword, sparks flying. He batted her aside with a single swing. She hit the ground hard, gasping.
Dev charged, his reforged blade ringing as it met the disciple's strike. The impact cracked the stone beneath their feet. Dev roared, his arms shaking, but the qi flared brighter and forced him back.
The disciple raised his blade high—
And Arjun screamed.
✦
The staff erupted with light, barriers snapping into place around Dev, around Kavya, around his mother.
Even around me.
The Inner Disciple's strike slammed against the shield. Sparks showered, qi screaming, but the barrier held.
For a heartbeat.
Then cracks split across the light.
Arjun trembled violently, his knees buckling. His staff hummed like it was splitting apart in his hands, runes blazing too bright to look at.
The shield held.
But Arjun's body didn't.
He collapsed, blood running from his nose, breath ragged. His mother caught him, sobbing.
The light dimmed.
The Inner Disciple smiled faintly.
"Even shields break."
✦
I roared and swung.
The Inkblade shrieked, shadows exploding outward in a frenzy. They lashed at the disciple, tearing through his qi barrier, snapping at his flesh. He staggered back, blood spraying as the blade drank deep.
But the whispers surged louder than ever.
"…more… more… devour everything… cut the script open… feed until nothing remains…"
My vision blurred. Shadows coiled up my arms, crawling across my chest, digging into my skin.
The Zone cracked with every strike, fissures splitting, sky raining sparks.
The system screamed.
[ Warning: Unauthorized manipulation of instability detected. ][ Instability escalating. ][ Divergence expanding. ][ Title path accelerating. ]
✦
The disciple snarled, qi blazing brighter as he forced the shadows back. "You are poison. Nothing born of script survives your kind."
He struck again. The Inkblade met him, shadows colliding with steel, devouring qi.
The Zone screamed louder.
Cracks spread wider. Light poured from the sky.
The survivors cowered beneath it, shielding their heads as stones rained down.
The old man sobbed, "He's killing us all…"
Kavya pushed herself to her feet, blood streaking her face. Her eyes flicked to me—rage, fear, and something like awe.
Dev staggered back beside me, his sword shaking. "Reed," he rasped, "whatever you're doing… it's breaking more than them."
Arjun stirred weakly, his staff sparking, his young eyes burning through the blood on his face.
"You're… breaking the story."
✦
The Inkblade writhed in my grip, shadows writhing like serpents, the whispers howling in triumph.
And the gods answered.
[ A god of war laughs with bloodlust. ][ A god of silence whispers: "The fracture widens." ]
The disciple froze for half a breath, eyes narrowing.
Then he lunged again, blade raised high.
The Zone cracked wide beneath our feet.
✦
[ Neutral Zone Stability: 51%. ][ Time Remaining: 2 days. ]
The world was ending faster than the system promised.
And I was dragging it down with me.