The shadow moved through Mei like ink in water, twisting through her veins with intimate familiarity. Frostbite's laughter echoed in her skull, colder and sharper than she remembered.
*"Did you think you could be rid of me so easily?"*
Mei's vision tunneled. The battlefield below the sect walls blurred into streaks of torchlight and spilled blood. Her body moved without her command—leaping from the watchtower, landing in a crouch that cracked the frozen earth. The Black Viper scouts nearest her barely had time to scream before her new ice-fire blade carved through them, their blood freezing black mid-spray.
She felt everything. The resistance of flesh parting under steel. The way their dying breath crystallized in the air. The exact moment their souls flickered out.
And she felt *nothing at all*.
---
**System Alert (Degraded Signal):**
**Shadow Synchronization:** 89%
**Host Integrity:** Compromised
**Warning:** Memory erosion detected (Recent events fading)
---
Somewhere beyond the blood haze, Zhang Wei shouted her name. Mei turned just in time to see a Black Viper elder's poisoned dagger arcing toward his back. Her body moved faster than thought—intercepting the blow, snapping the elder's wrist, driving her knee into his ribs with enough force to shatter stone.
The shadow purred in approval. *"Good vessel."*
Then it showed her *how to peel a man apart like overripe fruit*.
---
When consciousness returned, Mei was kneeling in the snow outside the ruined gates, vomiting black bile. Dawn's first light painted the battlefield in sickly gold. Corpses lay strewn like broken dolls—some frozen solid, others reduced to meaty chunks.
A water skin appeared in her peripheral vision. "Drink."
Zhang Wei's voice. His hand was bandaged, his robes stiff with dried blood.
Mei rinsed her mouth and spat. "How many did I—"
"Enough." He didn't meet her eyes. "The first wave is broken. They'll regroup by noon."
She tried to stand, but her legs buckled. The shadow had taken more than energy—it had scooped out memories like pumpkin seeds. She couldn't recall the last hour at all.
Nearby, Erhu sat rocking himself, muttering about missing teeth he'd never lost. Granny Hua moved among the other shadow-hosts, administering bitter tinctures that steamed in the morning air.
Xiao Ling jogged up, his talisman paper singed at the edges. "Bad news! Lady Bai's frost phoenix spotted the Abbot's envoy leaving. They know about our deal."
Jiang Chao kicked a frozen corpse. "So?"
"So now they'll *plan* for it." The boy pointed to the treeline, where dark shapes moved with un-natural coordination. "They're bringing their own surprises."
---
**Enemy Reinforcements Spotted:**
- **Black Viper Berserkers (x6):** Qi Condensation Layer 5+, Bloodrage Mutation
- **Lady Bai's Frostborn (x3):** Ice Golems with Cultivator Cores
- **Unknown Entity:** Massive heat signature (Core Formation?)
---
Zhang Wei studied the horizon, his jaw set. "We need to adjust tactics. Shadows only after midnight—that's when they're strongest."
"And until then?" Luo Yan asked.
A slow grin spread across Jiang Chao's soot-streaked face. "We give them a light show."
---
The second attack came at high noon, when the shadows within them slept.
Lady Bai led the charge atop her frost phoenix, her cryomantic qi forming a glittering tsunami ahead of the Black Viper forces. It would have shattered the gates outright if Jiang Chao hadn't unleashed his masterpiece—a spiritwood trebuchet loaded with fire cores.
The explosion lit up the mountainside.
---
**Combat Log:**
- **Frost Tsunami:** Neutralized (Fire Core AoE)
- **Lady Bai:** Forced to dismount (Phoenix scorched)
- **Morale Boost:** Sect defenders +25% combat efficiency
---
Mei fought on the walls with the others, her ice-fire blade carving through normal soldiers with ease. But when the first Berserker reached the gates, she understood their true danger.
The hulking cultivator took a spear through the gut and kept coming, his blood *boiling* off his skin in crimson steam. His fist shattered a defender's skull like an eggshell.
"Fall back!" Zhang Wei ordered. "Lure them into the killing zone!"
Mei barely dodged a Berserker's wild swing, feeling the wind of it ruffle her hair. Then the ground shook—not from enemy action, but from something *beneath* the sect.
The spirit vein they'd overloaded weeks ago? No—this was different. This was *alive*.
---
**System Alert (Critical):**
**Unknown Energy Surge Detected**
**Location:** Beneath Main Hall
**Analysis:** Ancient ward collapsing (Seal breaking?)
**Recommendation:** Evacuate immediately
---
Too late.
The courtyard stones erupted skyward as something massive and gleaming tore free from the earth. A serpent of living metal, its body etched with runes older than the sect itself. The Black Viper forces froze mid-charge, their faces slack with terror.
Lady Bai's scream was pure fury: "*You fools! You woke it!*"
The construct's eyes flared crimson. Then it *moved*.