The eighty-yard crimson palm hung suspended above the courtyard like an upside-down mountain of boiling slaughter.
Sulfur rain hissed against the star-iron shingles of the nexus dome. Drops of dark, burning blood splattered across the granite flagstones, dissolving the masonry into smoking trenches of black acid.
Down below, Grand Chancellor Vaelen threw his head back, his white hair whipping wildly in the updraft. His chest was sunken, his life-force burning like a dying lantern, but his eyes flared with hysterical triumph.
For three dynasties, this forbidden technique had been the imperial court’s ultimate executioner.
Whenever a frontier sect grew too proud or an independent warlord refused to pay the seasonal blood-toll, an imperial chancellor would descend with this exact strike. It had flattened five great mountain gates and turned entire river valleys into glass.
Vaelen had sacrificed four centuries of his remaining lifespan to summon it. He had poured every drop of his remaining marrow into the incantation, certain that nothing short of a Saint Vessel could survive the falling doom.
High on the dome, the Fallow Slate flashed with blinding silver text.
[The Fallow Slate] [Track 4: Dragon-Vein & Fortress Array Rewriting] [120-Minute Burst Window Active — Minute 5 of a Planned 5] [Active Multiplier: 18,010x] [Rate: 1 Burst Minute = 18,010 Full Baseline Hours] [Cumulative Comprehension: 72,040 Baseline Hours Applied; Minute 5 in Progress] [Target: Tier 6 Vermilion Heaven-Extinguishing Palm]
