Across two hundred million light-years of Sector 1 (The Eastern 200 Galaxies), time seemed to freeze on the edge of an unthinkable nightmare.
The King of Betrayal’s final fail-safe had bypassed the battlefront above Mount Sky-Hilt entirely, targeting the softest, most defenseless places across three million inhabited worlds.
In the snow-covered Frost-Blade Galaxy forty million light-years to the northeast, a middle-aged Rank 6 sword cultivator named Lin Tie. A devoted husband and father who had just finished repairing his family’s roof—suddenly screamed as black script-veins bulged across his temples. Though tears poured down his cheeks and he bit his own lip until it bled to stop himself.
His cursed right arm raised his heavy iron broadsword and swung it straight down toward the neck of his eight-year-old son, who was holding up a warm bowl of porridge for him!
In the jade-spire dormitories of the Cloud-Sea Sword Sect, fifty thousand twin brothers. Sworn sisters who had grown up sharing the same bunk beds simultaneously thrust their razor-sharp practice rapiers toward each other’s hearts!
On board ten thousand civilian passenger star-ferries crossing the Eastern trade lanes, bodyguards and ship captains swung their sabers toward the passengers they had sworn with their lives to protect!
