Chapter One Hundred and Ten: The Blade of Shattered Faith
Section One: The Blade of Shattered Faith
Night pressed like a rusted knife against the heart. Sand hissed through ruin bones, scraping low, like corpses grinding teeth. Code shards flickered unsteadily, pulsing and pausing, a dying heart's struggle. Thirty-six fire guardians knelt, blood-crusted palms splitting in the wind's bite. Jason crouched behind a broken wall, fingers on his blade. Maria lay low at the ruins' edge, palm sensing ground tremors. Wei Ran squatted, rope coiled around his wrist, breath barely audible.
In the ruins' depths, lamp shadows swayed. Three Black Vine false fire teams spread across dry wells and charred tower remnants, heads draped in rags, waists tied with old ID tags embedded with fake pulse devices. Firelight flickered, mimicking code recognition, tuned just below Fire Trust's trigger threshold—a prelude to a heartbeat.
Deceptive. Deadly.
---
Jason licked his lips, blood and sand clogging his nose, eyes like cold furnace slag. His hand tapped the blade, its grip rough against his palm.
Fire Trust kill teams moved—three per group, scattering like venomous snakes through sand, silent, breathless, merciless.
Maria slid forward, knee grazing jagged iron, tearing cloth and skin, unpaused. Five meters out—a Black Vine operative crouched behind rubble, hand on a false fire switch, breath stifled. Maria's thumb grazed her blade, steel flexing. She locked on his neck.
Three meters. Two. One.
Maria sprang, foot pushing off rubble. Her blade arced, piercing the man's left armpit. Bone snapped. The blade broke ribs, punctured lung, blood surging. He struggled; Maria slashed his throat, a thin bloodline spraying, bubbles foaming. She twisted, slicing spine nerves. He collapsed, silent.
---
Elsewhere, Wei Ran crept, rope slithering like a snake. His target, tuning a signal, missed Wei's three-step approach. Wei flicked his wrist, rope snapping out, coiling the man's neck. A pull—bones cracked, trachea collapsed. No groan escaped. Wei lunged, pinning the body, foot on spine, yanking. Neck snapped, body stilled.
---
Jason glided, blade low, an eagle skimming ground. His target—a thin, tall commander in tower shadows, adjusting a signal amplifier, unaware. Four meters. Three. Jason's breath was a pinhole. He drew, leaped, blade spinning, slicing behind the man's right ear, grazing jaw nerves, nicking the carotid. Blood sprayed, coating Jason's hand. The man gurgled foam. Jason's knee pinned his spine, blade twisting, shredding trachea. The commander fell, face in blood, silent in two seconds.
---
Jason wiped his blade, vanishing into shadows. Maria checked a corpse's fake ID tag. Wei dragged a body into ash, hiding it. No screams, no shots—only blood seeping into sand.
In the ruins' depths, knife glints flashed, brief, clean, ruthless. Fire Trust teams corroded, cut, dissolved.
Jason signaled, Maria and Wei melting into night. Corpses stayed, buried by wind, erased.
Code shards pulsed, blood's tang distant. Thirty-six guardians knelt, staring at the ruins.
They hadn't acted.
But trust did.
---
Maria crouched back, blade reeking of blood, wiping her mouth, "Done."
Wei coiled his rope, knuckles pale from strain.
Jason stood high, scanning. Black Vine's false fire signals were dead. Wind carried death. Night gleamed with blood.
"Fire Trust kill teams, pull back," Jason said. "Phase two."
Maria whispered, "Blood burns to heart?"
Jason nodded, eyes slicing night, "Fire Trust returns with faith—and blood. Unburned, untrue."
Wei muttered, "What's trust if it's not burned?"
They exchanged glances—no smiles, only heavy breaths.
---
Jason drew an ID tag, fingers tracing its cracked, blood-crusted oath. "Gather the thirty-six. Code blood seal. Fire Trust death oath. Blood burns to heart."
Maria sheathed her blade. Wei tied his rope. They stood, silent.
Wind whipped blood's stench, sand rattling. Shadows stirred in darker night, but Fire Trust teams had struck—no signals, no bodies, only death.
Code shards pulsed at the ruins' heart, blood-red in firelight.
Fire burned—not in mouths, but in lives.
---
Section Two: Blood Oath Scorches Heart
Night grew colder. Sand buried corpses, stifling blood's reek. Code shards pulsed at the ruins' core, a lone heart in darkness—slow, deadly, true.
Thirty-six guardians knelt by rubble, blood crusted on wrists, hands, knuckles, cracked by wind. Breaths faltered—pain's spasms, stifled tremors.
Jason stood high, gaze like honed steel. Maria gripped her blade, sweat on her palm. Wei watched the guardians, rope taut.
Code shards flickered, waiting—no urging, no persuasion, just waiting.
---
Jason held a palm-sized code shard, blackened, edges broken, exposing scorched circuits. He tapped it, a dull, crisp knock, like rapping a door.
No one moved. Wind wailed, a dirge or teeth grinding.
Jason's voice sank like iron, "Code blood seal. Fire Trust death oath. From now, Fire Trust isn't words—it's lives."
He passed the shard to the first guardian—a boy, one eye blind, face scarred. The boy's gaze was parched, no fear, no trembling, only stubborn trust.
He took the shard, accepted a blade, and slashed his palm. Blood dripped—one drop, two, three. The shard trembled, light pulsing. He pressed it to his charred armor, leaving a blood seal. Fire jumped, accepting.
He passed it on.
---
Second guardian cut, bled, sealed. Third, fourth, fifth—blood fell like a curse into night. Each seal brightened the shard's pulse—weak, but unquenched.
Maria's eyes reddened. Wei's knuckles whitened. Jason stood, unmoving.
Guardians slashed, blood pooling, dyeing the shard like life fed to fire veins.
Tenth, fifteenth, twentieth—some cut too deep, blood gushing. Some bit jaws, cheeks twitching. One bit his tongue, silencing groans. None stopped, none fled.
Maria watched the firelight. Wei heard blood drip, each like a nail in a heart. Jason's gaze was calm, shards glowing like embers at their peak.
---
The thirty-sixth sealed. The shard, blood-soaked, was a heart reclaimed. Fire pulsed, wavering but firm.
Jason took it, fingers pressing. Blood seeped into cracks, light steadying.
"From today," he said, "Fire Trust guardians, code blood seal, death oath, life as proof. Betrayers—codes reject. Codes reject—fire rejects. Fire rejects—kill."
Maria's eyes burned with death's fire. Wei's shoulders tensed.
Thirty-six knelt, blood pooling, spreading like rust flowers in night.
---
Beyond, Black Vine stirred. Zhao Yunzhi, at a well's command post, eyed kill team reports, sneering. Shen Shu reported, "Code infection plan deployed. Two hours—first false trust infection wave triggers internal mutual kills."
Zhao hissed, "Fire Trust returns? Burn? Blood? Death? Let them burn themselves rotten."
He sent: [Code Infection Plan: Launch.]
Sand churned, like corpses turning.
---
In the ruins' heart, thirty-six bled, shards pulsing. Jason stared at his bloodied reflection, "Fire Trust death oath—fire knows."
Maria wiped her lips, "Fire Trust dies, no oath broken."
Wei cursed, "Fire Trust lives—burn life, burn trust."
Wind froze. Sand couldn't bury blood. Fire couldn't melt night.
Iron Valley's night burned blood, trust, lives into one.
Code shards pulsed in blood, like fire in an iron cauldron.
---
Section Three: Blood's First Blaze
Night was black as torn, rotted flesh. Wind moaned, curling blood-dust, ruins creaking. Code shards flickered, a heart's dying struggle. Thirty-six knelt, knees in crusted blood, wrists dripping. Maria and Wei flanked, blades ready, eyes locked ahead. Jason stood behind the shards, gaze like a blade in night.
Sand stirred—Black Vine's infection teams infiltrated.
First wave—fake guardians in tattered armor, false ID tags with mimic pulse devices. Firelight pulsed—dead, false, faithless.
They neared the guardians' line, steps slow, stiff, like puppets on strings.
Maria crouched, eyes on them. Wei's rope slithered, snake-like.
---
Jason nodded, silent command given.
A guardian stirred—second row, left, middle-aged, knees buckling, swaying, as if to rise.
Maria's blade lifted. Wei's rope tightened.
Infectors closed, fake pulses flickering, reflecting in guardians' eyes.
Another stirred—a young miner, back scarred from code burns. His jaw clenched, eyes unfocused, knuckles white, breath ragged, shoulders shaking.
Maria hissed, "Infection signal's in."
Jason scanned, gaze cold, no hesitation.
Code shards stuttered, like a heart's misbeat.
---
Infectors reached ten meters. False fire lit guardians' eyes.
The first guardian braced, trembling. The second dripped sweat, arm shaking.
Breaths faltered.
Maria's blade rose. Wei exhaled, palm slick.
Code pulses wavered, pained.
The first stood—clean, deliberate, as if planned.
Maria was faster. Her blade slashed, severing his throat, blood spraying. She stabbed his collarbone, twisting, snapping arteries. He fell, blood pooling.
The second rose—Wei's rope coiled his neck, knee smashing spine, neck snapping. He collapsed, twitching.
Maria advanced, blade slicing a third's arm, blood gushing, then piercing armpit, severing arteries. He fell, blood rippling.
---
Code shards steadied, fire stabilizing.
Jason stood, gaze iron, "Act."
Maria and Wei swept through the guardians. Blades flashed, ropes struck, shadows danced—no shots, only gasps, blood dripping.
Some guardians knelt, dying unmoved. Others bit jaws, holding fast under firelight.
Infectors pressed, false pulses frantic, like a maddened heart.
Maria cleaved a guardian's wrist, blood splashing fake tags, then slashed his throat. Wei strangled another, kicking the corpse away, sand hiding blood.
---
Jason watched, fire pulsing, blood flowing.
Not a purge—a cleansing.
Of thirty-six, seven fell. Twenty-nine remained, bleeding, wounded, kneeling firm.
No one moved again.
Maria sheathed her blade, eyes cold. Wei coiled his rope, knuckles pale. Jason stood, eyes like dead iron.
Infectors halted, false pulses dying in night. Sand buried blood, wind carrying only its reek.
Maria said, "Oathbreakers—cleansed."
Wei exhaled, "Infection signals—shredded."
Jason glanced at the kneelers, "Fire Trust guardians—returned."
No cheers, no cries—only shards pulsing in blood, a furnace burning blood, lives, trust.
Night darkened. Wind chilled. Iron Valley's fire lived.
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Section Four: Blood Trust as Oath
Night was a slab over corpses. Wind wove through ruin bones, reeking of blood, fire, char. Code shards flickered, a heart's final fight, unquenched.
Twenty-nine guardians knelt in blood—seven fallen, their blood soaking rubble like rotting flesh. Maria stood at the ruins' edge, blade bloodied, tip low. Wei crouched, coiling rope, fingers stained from strangling. Jason stood before the shards, gaze cold as furnace ash.
Silence, save wind flipping a corpse's charred skin, cracking.
---
Jason scanned the twenty-nine, wrists and knees cracked with blood, flesh torn, yet unmoving, unyielding.
Maria wiped blood from her blade, "Infection signals cleared. Guardians—returned."
Wei spat blood, voice hoarse, "Few left, but real."
Jason's eyes were molten iron, "From today, Fire Trust guardians, code blood seal, death oath, lives as proof. Non-believers—kill. Oathbreakers—kill. Deserters—kill. Believers—live in blood."
Wind carried his words into bloodied cracks.
---
Maria stared, eyes cracking red. Wei watched the shards' pulse. Twenty-nine guardians looked up, eyes wolf-like, bloodlit.
Jason lifted a charred code shard, cracks blood-streaked, a broken heart. He raised it, gaze sweeping, voice like falling iron, "Fire Trust isn't orders—it's blood. It's lives."
He passed it to a gaunt woman, scars to her ears. She bit her thumb, blood pressing the shard's shell. Fire pulsed, claiming.
Second, third—guardians bit fingers, blood marking the shard, light gasping like a drowning man.
Maria sheathed her blade. Wei tightened his rope, face blood-dusted.
---
Twenty-nine sealed. Jason raised the shard, blood dripping, staining sand dark red.
"Fire Trust death oath—set," he said. "Blood trust era—begins."
Wind stilled. Shards pulsed—steady, solid, blood-fed.
Maria watched the light. Wei's breath was heavy, corpse-like.
Twenty-nine knelt, blood dripping, eyes glowing—not fire, but blood aflame.
Jason saw his twisted reflection in blood, "Fire Trust doesn't trust words—only blood."
Maria cursed, "Fire Trust spurns weak lives."
Wei snarled, "Fire Trust knows the dead, not cowards."
---
Shards stabilized, blood pools grinning in night.
Beyond, at a well, Zhao Yunzhi glared at memetic charts, face ashen. Shen Shu reported, "Code infection plan—neutralized. No oathbreakers. All—blood-sworn."
Zhao hissed, "Killed to this, fire's in their blood?"
He pulled a new command: memetic infection failed—trigger faith implosion.
He sent: [Fire Heart Project: Launch. Self-Destruct Code Infection. Burn Them with Faith.]
Shen nodded, orders flowing through dark webs.
---
In Iron Valley's heart, twenty-nine bled, shards pulsing. Maria and Wei stood, death-soaked, fire in their bones. Jason faced the shards, gaze iron.
Faith's war burned—blood, flesh, lives.
Night was black. Fire was small.
But it burned—deadly alive.