The Lotus yard was still scarred from yesterday's silence when the summons came again.
This time, it was not a bell. It was a scream.
A wolf staggered into the compound at dawn, his chest torn by chains, his mouth black with venom. He collapsed at the captains' feet and died, his last breath rattling like broken iron.
By noon, the thrones were filled.
* * * * * * * * *
Iron Veil stood in the center, his chains rattling like thunder. His wolves knelt behind him, branded necks bleeding as the bindings pulsed. His voice cracked across the yard, each word a chain snapping against stone.
"Widow!"
Ink Widow rose slowly, her black lips curving, her veil of silk trailing like shadows. She moved as if every step was a dance, poison glimmering faint at the edges of her robe.
Veil raised the corpse by its throat. The wolf's flesh peeled where his grip touched, chain-marks carved into skin. The veins were swollen, blackened.
"My wolf," Veil snarled, "choked on poison in his sleep. Your poison."
Widow's laugh slipped like venom into ears. "If a chained dog dies in its kennel, should I answer for it? Perhaps your leash strangled him too tightly."
Her wolves hissed laughter behind her, lips blackened with her kiss.
Veil's chains writhed louder, sparks leaping from stone. "Mock me again, whore, and your lips will choke on rust."
Widow tilted her head, smiling wider. "Better than choking on your chains."
* * * * * * * * *
The yard shivered. Wolves scattered back, though there was nowhere safe to run.
Veil roared. His chains exploded outward, a storm of iron serpents, each link thick as a man's wrist. They lashed stone, shattered the ground, split wolves screaming in half.
Widow raised her sleeve. Mist poured out, invisible at first, then shimmering faint green as it thickened. Wolves gagged, clutching throats, falling to knees as venom spread.
Chains rattled. Poison hissed. Wolves died.
The first battle between captains had begun.
* * * * * * * * *
The ground cracked under Veil's obsession. His chains gouged trenches, tearing through wolves who were too slow. A single strike split a branded wolf from chest to thigh, his body falling apart like butchered meat.
Widow danced through the storm, her robes untouched, her laughter high. With every step, venom trailed in her wake. Wolves who touched the mist clawed their throats until their nails split flesh. Their eyes bulged, tongues swelling until they burst.
Dozens fell within breaths.
* * * * * * * * *
Flame roared in delight from his throne. "Yes! Finally! No more whispers!"
His wolves howled, eager for chaos, some even throwing themselves into the fray to feed on burning corpses.
Iron Hand cracked his knuckles, muttering, "Pathetic chains. Watch him snap."
Silk Ghost only smiled behind her veil, her silver threads already drifting through the air, feeding on tension.
And Reed… Reed did not move. His silence pressed over all, but this time he did not use it. He simply watched.
* * * * * * * * *
My wolves pressed close around me.
Wei Lan's grin was too wide, her knives twitching in her hands. "Beautiful. Wolves choking on venom, chains ripping guts—Leader, let me in! Let me cut something!"
Qiao Han's face was pale, but his stance was iron. "No. We stay out. This isn't our fight. If we're caught in their storm, we'll be ground to nothing."
Shen Yu's quill scratched madly, blood and ink smearing together. His whispers rose high, panicked: "Storm chains! Venom rain! Wolves drown! Wolves drown in master's storm!"
But the storm didn't wait for our choice.
* * * * * * * * *
A section of Veil's chains snapped free, writhing like a hundred serpents. They lashed out, crushing pillars, collapsing a section of the yard. Stone and wolves alike shattered, bodies flung like dolls.
The collapse drove us forward, into the maelstrom.
There was no escape.
* * * * * * * * *
"Leader—!" Wei Lan's knives flashed, carving open a wolf rushing us with venom burning his lips.
Qiao Han met another head-on, saber grinding against chain-forged steel. Sparks lit his grim face as he forced the blade aside, then cut the wolf's throat clean.
Shen Yu crouched low, smearing blood sigils with his fingers, his voice high and breaking: "Chains crush! Poison drowns! Wolf bleeds red! Wolf strangles!"
And I—
I tore my palm open.
Crimson chains roared to life.
* * * * * * * * *
They hissed through the air, blood dripping with each lash. My arms burned, my veins tearing, but the obsession drowned it.
Ten breaths. Eleven. Twelve.
I lashed wolves aside, binding throats, snapping limbs. I wrapped chains around a collapsing pillar, dragging it aside before it crushed Wei Lan. I snarled as venom mist brushed my skin, the burn eating into flesh, but still I bled.
Thirteen. Fourteen.
A branded wolf caught me by the shoulder, his teeth black with Widow's kiss. I slammed chains into his chest until ribs snapped like dry twigs.
Fifteen.
A chain of Veil's storm came too close, nearly cleaving through me. My crimson chains caught it — just for a heartbeat — before shattering under its weight. The impact threw me back, blood spraying from my mouth.
Sixteen. Seventeen.
My vision blurred, crimson swimming in my eyes. But the chains still lived. They hissed, they bound, they bled.
Seventeen breaths.
* * * * * * * * *
Wei Lan screamed in laughter, carving through throats. Qiao Han's blade dripped steady, his arm trembling but unbroken. Shen Yu clawed at his parchment, his whispers growing louder, higher, breaking: "Seventeen breaths! Wolf bleeds seventeen! Wolf strangles captains soon!"
But the battlefield was collapsing around us.
Veil's chains coiled into towers of iron, slamming down like hammers. Widow's mist thickened, wolves choking and clawing at their own throats until their nails tore through flesh. The yard was no longer stone — it was a grave.
And we were in the middle of it.
* * * * * * * * *
For the first time, I understood the scale.
A captain was not a man.
A captain was a calamity.
But calamities could bleed.
I had seen it already in Veil's fury. His chains lashed too wide, too desperate, killing his own wolves as often as Widow's. Every strike that missed her poisoned another of his own. His obsession blinded him.
He was not invincible.
He was drowning in his own storm.
And Widow… Widow waited like a serpent in shadow.
* * * * * * * * *
The storm did not calm. It only deepened.
Iron Veil bellowed, and his chains rose higher, thicker, heavier. They tore stone from the yard and hurled it like boulders. Wolves scattered like ants, but many were too slow — crushed to pulp beneath his iron.
"Widow!" Veil roared, veins bursting crimson at his temples. "I'll chain your poison tongue to my throne!"
Ink Widow only laughed. Her mist thickened, a sickly green fog that turned screams wet and gurgling. Wolves stumbled blind, their flesh blistering, their eyes melting in their skulls. Her black lips curved as though she were dancing, not fighting.
"Chains," she purred, "always rust. And rust… breaks."
* * * * * * * * *
The clash escalated beyond wolves.
Chains smashed into poison clouds, hissing as venom corroded metal. The ground boiled with black slime, shattered links dissolving into bubbling pools. Wolves who stumbled into them shrieked as flesh sloughed off bone.
Veil waded into it, his own flesh burning, but his chains never stopped. His obsession was too deep. For every link that corroded, another bled from his skin. His arms tore open, his ribs cracked, but still he pulled more iron from his veins.
His wolves screamed encouragement, their branded throats raw. "Chain her! Chain her! Veil! Veil! Veil!"
Widow's wolves laughed in reply, their lips oozing black venom. "Kiss her! Kiss her! Widow! Widow!"
It was no longer a duel. It was war.
* * * * * * * * *
We were dragged deeper into it.
A branded wolf lunged at Wei Lan, his mouth frothing black. She slit his throat, her face painted with glee, licking the blood even as poison ate her lips raw.
Qiao Han fought grimly, cutting down two wolves who came at me while I bled chains. His breathing was ragged, his stance faltering, but he did not yield.
Shen Yu crouched in the blood and dirt, scrawling frantically, his voice cracking into shrieks. "Chains drown wolves! Poison drowns chains! Wolf bleeds seventeen! Wolf breaks storm! Wolf strangles storm!"
I could barely hear them. My own heart thundered louder, my veins screaming.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen breaths.
My chains burned brighter, sharper. I lashed them into the mist, trying to carve a path. Poison hissed against blood, corroding the links, but they held longer than ever. My obsession cut through the suffocating fog.
And then—
I saw it.
* * * * * * * * *
Veil staggered.
His chest heaved, his chains slowing. His wolves cried out, reaching for him, but he crushed them by accident — his bindings coiled wrong, snapping their spines as he thrashed.
Widow's laughter rose, high and sharp. She slipped closer, her mist coiling around his body.
"Too heavy," she whispered, her voice carrying even through the storm. "You choke on your own chains."
Veil roared and swung — but too slow. Widow was already there.
She raised her sleeve, and the mist poured directly into his face.
Veil's eyes bulged. His throat swelled. His scream choked halfway, turning into a wet gurgle. Black veins spread across his skin, his tongue swelling until it split. His chains writhed wildly, lashing in all directions. Wolves were torn apart, crushed into bloody heaps.
Then, slowly, his bindings cracked. Links shattered one by one, the sound like iron bones breaking.
Widow's lips curved as she leaned close. "Rust breaks all things."
Veil fell to his knees. His chains snapped apart. And Iron Veil — captain of one of the thirteen, master of storming chains — collapsed face-first into the poison-soaked yard.
Dead.
* * * * * * * * *
The silence after was broken only by screams.
Dozens of wolves wailed. Others fled. Some dropped to their knees before Widow at once, black venom already dripping from their lips in submission.
"Widow!" her wolves howled. "Widow reigns!"
But the others — Veil's survivors — clawed at their own chains, sobbing in rage. "Murderer! Poison witch!" They rushed at her wolves in fury, only to choke and collapse in the mist.
The yard became a slaughterhouse.
* * * * * * * * *
I forced myself upright, blood dripping from my mouth, my chains fading. My wolves gathered close, all cut, all trembling, but alive.
Wei Lan licked her knives, eyes bright. "A captain dead. Ha! Even storms drown."
Qiao Han's voice was ragged. "We shouldn't be here. We'll be buried in this war."
Shen Yu wept ink and blood, his whispers shaking. "Captain falls! Wolves howl! Widow drinks chain's blood!"
But I — I stared at Veil's corpse.
A captain. Dead. Not untouchable. Not immortal.
My blood boiled. My chains rattled faintly even without bleeding. If they can die… then they can all die. One by one. Until none remain.
* * * * * * * * *
The captains reacted in turn.
Crimson Flame roared with laughter, flames licking higher. "One falls! Let the others burn next!"
Iron Hand slammed his fist into stone, cracking it. "Weak! He chained himself to death!"
Silk Ghost only smiled faintly, her threads weaving tighter through the mist.
And Reed… Reed did not move. His silence deepened, suffocating, as though his stillness swallowed the truth of what had happened.
* * * * * * * * *
Then came the whispers.
Jian Yi.
He moved among the chaos, his face calm, his robe unmarked. Wolves clutched at him, demanding answers, and he whispered to each in turn.
"Did Widow kill him? Or was he already rotting?"
"He drowned in his own chains. But who rusted them first?"
"Black Vulture said the same thing. The night before he died."
Each whisper was a seed. Each seed sprouted doubt.
By the time he passed us, the yard was already splitting again — Widow's triumph poisoned by suspicion.
He leaned close as he walked past me, his voice low enough only I could hear.
"Another captain dead. But not by poison alone. Remember that."
Then he was gone.
* * * * * * * * *
Widow stood tall, venom dripping from her sleeve, her lips black and gleaming. She raised her arms as if to claim the yard itself.
"Chains break!" she cried. "My kiss binds truer than iron! Wolves who survive — kneel, or drown!"
Some wolves fell to their knees. Others spat blood and curses, swearing vengeance.
The Lotus was no longer one kennel. It was split. Broken.
War had truly begun.
* * * * * * * * *
That night, as we dragged ourselves back to the quarters, the whispers followed us.
Iron Veil was dead.
Ink Widow had risen.
But Jian Yi's shadow stretched over the corpse.
And in my chest, the chains rattled still.
Eighteen breaths.
One day… longer.
Long enough to strangle every storm.