The rise&fall

light faded as suddenly as it had come, leaving behind steam, scorched stone, and silence.

Leeyang stood breathless, sword raised in defense. Huwue knelt beside him, her fingers splayed across the cracked ground, panting. Her cloak had been shredded by the force of her own blast. Around them, the alley was warped — the walls blackened, the snow vaporized.

Where the two Silent Fangs had stood, there was nothing.

No body.

No ash.

Just two burned shadows etched into stone.

Leeyang lowered his sword slowly, watching Huwue with quiet caution. Her eyes were half-glazed, her lips pale.

Then she slumped forward into unconsciousness.

He caught her just before she hit the ground.

Footsteps pounded toward the alley.

Rangi and Gogjen appeared, both bloodied. Gogjen's shirt was torn at the shoulder. His blade was drawn and scorched. Rangi was worse — limping heavily, one arm limp at her side, her face smeared with ash and sweat.

"Leeyang," Rangi rasped, "you okay?"

"We're fine," he said. "Huwue unleashed something... I don't know what it was."

"She killed them?" Gogjen asked, eyes wide.

Leeyang nodded. "There's nothing left."

But Rangi wasn't looking at the alley anymore. Her gaze snapped upward.

"He's still here."

Before anyone could react, a fifth Silent Fang dropped from the rooftop above, blade aimed straight at Rangi.

She dodged — barely. His strike tore through the wall beside her. She stumbled, crying out in pain. The assassin moved fast, pressing his advantage.

"You're injured," he hissed, forming hand signs mid-swing. "I'll spare the cursed one. But you—"

He raised his hand. Blood energy pulsed between his fingers.

> "—you're excess."

Rangi clenched her dagger weakly, eyes narrowing. But she was too slow.

The Fang struck.

Then froze.

A sword had pierced clean through his back.

Leeyang stood behind him, eyes unreadable.

> "You never saw me."

He twisted the blade, and the Fang crumpled.

Gogjen rushed to Rangi's side as she collapsed to one knee.

"You idiot," she muttered. "I told you to stay behind."

"And miss the part where you almost die? Nah," Gogjen said, voice shaking.

From the rooftop, a distant shout echoed.

Another assassin — a scout.

He'd seen everything.

> "The cursed one lives!" he bellowed. "She killed them! The Silent Fang will take her!"

Then he was gone, vanishing into the smoke.

Leeyang sheathed his blade slowly, glancing back at the scorched alley.

Rangi groaned. "They're not going to let this go."

"No," Leeyang said. "They'll send stronger ones next."

He looked down at Huwue, unconscious in his arms.

"She didn't mean to," Gogjen said quietly.

"But she did," Leeyang replied.

---

The group moved quickly through the back alleys of Xi, keeping to the shadows. Leeyang carried Huwue on his back while Rangi limped beside Gogjen, her breath shallow and ragged. The once-quiet village now echoed with distant cries and the flutter of alert bells.

"The townsfolk saw the blast," Rangi muttered. "It won't be long before someone blames us."

"They'd be right," Leeyang said. "But they don't understand what they saw."

They reached a narrow tunnel under an abandoned warehouse and crouched there in the dark. Gogjen lit a small lamp, its dim orange glow dancing across the stone walls.

Rangi slumped against the wall and bit back a groan of pain. Gogjen immediately tore part of his sleeve and began wrapping her arm.

"You're always the one bleeding," he muttered.

"You're always the one smiling while it happens," she shot back with a half-smile.

Huwue stirred. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Where...?"

"You passed out," Leeyang said. "You killed two of them. Saved me."

She sat up quickly. "I didn't mean to—"

"You don't have to say it again," Rangi interrupted. "We know."

For a long time, no one spoke.

Then Leeyang broke the silence. "We leave at dawn."

"Where?" Gogjen asked.

"North," he said. "To the border of the United Nation of Fire. We hide her until we figure out what this is."

Huwue clutched her chest, where the strange pulse had erupted.

"Whatever's inside me… it's waking up," she whispered.

No one answered.

Outside, the wind howled through the ruins of the village.

Far from Xi — deep in the icy shadows of the eastern mountains — a lone masked assassin knelt in the snow, blood on his gloves and fear in his breath.

Before him stood a towering figure wrapped in layered black silk and iron-threaded armor, face hidden behind an obsidian mask etched with ancient markings and a crimson fang carved down the middle.

The Silent Fang 3rd leader.

> "Report,"the leader's voice rumbled.

The scout lowered his head, trembling. "They're dead. Two annihilated. One... executed. The fourth escaped, wounded."

> "And the cursed child?"

"She's alive," the scout whispered. "Her power... it's waking."

> "Who is the cursed child traveling with?" the commander asked.

" a girl who uses wood xuizhen...and two swordsman reckless, fast. They're young. They fight like they've known battle their whole lives."

A long silence followed.

The snow around them seemed to freeze harder.

Then the leader's voice cut through the stillness.

> "They were not worthy of the Silent Fang.

To be taken down by brats... they deserved to die. We'll return to Benin to report to the great one."

The scout said nothing.

The leader der turned, the air darkening around him.

> "This time, I'll choose who hunts them.

And they will not return empty-handed."