Down on the frozen granite plains of Iron-Bastion World (Planet 13), four billion battle-scarred bodyguards stood shoulder to shoulder inside the roofless ruins of Cell Block 13.
Icy wind howled across their notched tower shields and rusted iron halberds. Every single warrior in the formation carried dozens of old wounds—missing ears, shattered shoulder blades, and meridians scarred by protagonist sword-light.
At the head of the phalanx stood seven-foot-tall General Tie Shan, a Rank 7 Peak veteran whose face looked like hammered bronze.
“Hold the line!” General Tie Shan barked, planting his cracked iron halberd into the frozen mud as the ten-mile-wide [Gu Family Flying Courtyard Star-Cruiser] descended through the snow clouds above.
“Look at those thousand crimson warships behind that flying house! Any warlord with an armada that size only breaks open a prison when he needs four billion disposable meat-shields to storm a fortress!”
Beside him, a one-eyed shield-captain named Captain Mang spat blood-tinged frost onto the ground.
“Three hundred years ago, my old young master shared his last bun with me when I was a starving street orphan,” Captain Mang growled, tightening his grip on his cracked shield. “When the ‘Son of Destiny’ came to slaughter our clan and take my young master’s fiancée, I blocked seventeen flying swords with my own spine!
