The mutated swordsman tore through the sky like a jagged black thunderbolt.
Cassian Vance soared thirty feet above the terrace floor, trailing greasy crimson smoke and burning sulfur. His black-iron greatsword roared through the evening air, aimed straight at the rosewood pillar supporting Kaelen’s ninth-floor balcony.
On the balustrade above, Kaelen did not flinch. He did not drop his teacup. He did not even uncross his slippers.
Down on the marble steps at Hour 530—as Kaelen’s Fallow Slate reached a five hundred and thirty-one times multiplier—Mina Vance moved with graceful precision.
Her slender hands emerged from her wide silk sleeves, holding the last two Tier 3 Frost Wards from Sera’s bridge pouch. Both white river-jade plates glowed with blinding azure light.
With these two plates triggered, only two reserve Frost Wards remained locked inside the tower armory. Each plate in Mina’s hands was packed with pure, compressed mountain frost.
“Thermal shock,” Mina whispered, her voice colder than winter frost.
She slapped both jade plates against the base of the central stone pillar. At the same moment, she unleashed the full reserve of her Jade Meridian Mid Pure Yin Qi.
