The piercing wail of the city-wide emergency sirens echoed across the bright afternoon sky. It was a terrifying, unnatural sound that made the glass windows of the Valerius Tower rattle.
Caspian stood in the courtyard. He slowly pulled his cheap phone away from his ear and pressed the end button. The lazy, relaxed husband was completely gone. His dark eyes were cold, calculating, and fully awake.
The war had officially reached his front door.
Lyra ran out of the main doors of the tower. Her face was pale, but she was not crying. She looked up at the sky, listening to the screaming alarms.
"Caspian," Lyra said quickly. Her voice was tight with worry. "The city guards are yelling about an invasion at the main gates. What is happening?"
Caspian did not tell her to hide under a bed. He did not treat her like a weak child. He looked at his wife, seeing the strong Silver-tier leader she truly was.
"Master Goliath did not come alone," Caspian said. His voice was perfectly calm, which helped steady Lyra's racing heart. "He brought the entire Blood Shadow army. They are breaking into Oakhaven right now."
Lyra took a sharp breath, but she nodded her head. She did not panic. "What do we do?"
"You are going to lock down this tower," Caspian instructed smoothly. "Gather every single family guard. Barricade the heavy iron gates. Do not let anyone inside the courtyard. I am going out there to finish this."
Lyra reached out and grabbed his hand. She squeezed his fingers tightly. "Please be careful. Come back to me."
"I always do," Caspian promised softly.
He turned away from her and looked into the dark corner of the courtyard.
"Thorne," Caspian called out.
The shadows instantly shifted. Thorne stepped forward, already wearing his tactical combat gear. His twin obsidian blades rested on his back.
"Wake up the shadows, Thorne," Caspian ordered. "Tell the Obsidian Vault guards to flood the streets. And tell Vixen she is officially off the leash. I want her providing overwatch from the rooftops immediately."
"Vixen is already in position, Commander," Thorne confirmed with a sharp nod. "She has her rifle aimed at the main avenue. She is ready to rain fire on your command."
Caspian started to walk toward the broken front gates of the courtyard. But before he could leave, a shaking hand grabbed his arm.
It was Silas.
Silas was still covered in dark dirt and purple bruises from his kidnapping. He looked incredibly weak and battered. But he planted his feet firmly on the ground. He refused to let go of Caspian's arm.
"You promised me," Silas said. His voice cracked, but his eyes were completely serious. "You promised to teach me. Do not leave me here feeling useless while you go fight. I want to protect my home."
Caspian stopped walking. He looked at the bruised, terrified man. Caspian did not have time for a long, slow training montage. The city was burning.
"It is going to hurt, Silas," Caspian warned him.
"Do it," Silas demanded.
Caspian raised his right hand. He gathered a small, sharp point of his Sovereign energy into his index finger. He struck Silas directly in the center of his chest, hitting two hidden meridian points with pinpoint accuracy.
Silas gasped loudly. His eyes went completely wide. It felt like Caspian had just pushed a burning hot coal deep into his ribs. The pain was agonizing. But Silas bit his bleeding lip and refused to scream.
"I just forcefully opened your baseline meridians," Caspian explained quickly. "You are now at the bottom of the Mortal tier. Take slow, deep breaths. Pull the air down into your stomach, not your chest. Force the energy to harden your skin. It is a basic defense technique called the Iron Turtle Breath."
Silas closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe deeply. The burning pain in his chest slowly shifted, turning into a heavy, solid feeling under his skin.
Caspian picked up a heavy, solid steel pipe from the construction debris near the gate. He handed it to Silas.
"Go stand at the top of the basement stairs," Caspian ordered. "Plant your feet. Use the Iron Turtle Breath to take the hits, and swing that pipe at anyone trying to get past you. Do you understand?"
Silas gripped the heavy steel pipe tightly. His hands were still shaking, but a new, gritty fire burned in his eyes. "No one gets past me."
Caspian nodded his head in respect. He turned around and walked out into the chaotic city with Thorne right by his side.
Two miles away, the main avenue of Oakhaven was a complete war zone.
Civilians were screaming and running in pure terror. Cars were crashed into light poles. The beautiful storefronts were smashed into pieces.
Marching straight down the middle of the wide street was the vanguard of the Blood Shadow army. Hundreds of outcast killers wearing dark red masks moved like a swarm of violent locusts.
Leading them was General Iron Skin.
He was a terrifying monster of a man. He stood over seven feet tall. He did not wear a shirt. His massive, bulging muscles were covered in a pale, thick gray skin that looked like solid concrete. He was a pure Gold-tier brute.
A group of local city police officers bravely stood behind a barricade of patrol cars. They raised their rifles and fired directly at the giant general.
The loud gunshots echoed down the street. The bullets hit Iron Skin squarely in his massive chest.
But there was no blood. The hot bullets simply flattened against his gray skin and bounced off, falling harmlessly to the asphalt with a metallic clatter. Iron Skin did not even flinch. His Gold-tier physical defense was completely unbreakable by normal mortal weapons.
Iron Skin let out a deep, booming laugh that shook the street windows.
He walked forward, reached out his massive hands, and grabbed the front bumper of a heavy police patrol car. With a loud roar, he lifted the entire car off the ground and flipped it completely upside down. The police officers screamed and scattered as the car crashed onto the pavement.
"Where are you hiding, Shadow Commander," Iron Skin roared at the top of his lungs. "Come out and face the Blood Shadow. Or I will crush this entire city into dust."
Suddenly, all the streetlights on the avenue flickered violently. The glass bulbs popped and shattered one by one. A dark, heavy tension rolled over the street, chilling the air.
The army of killers stopped marching. They felt the heavy pressure.
Walking slowly through the smoke and dust of the ruined avenue was Caspian.
He was completely alone. He wore his simple gray pants and a plain white shirt. He did not glow with bright lights. He simply looked like a man taking a quiet afternoon walk. But the air around him felt so dense and heavy that the broken asphalt crunched loudly under his shoes.
Thorne stepped out of an alleyway to Caspian's right. He held his twin obsidian blades, keeping a close eye on the hundreds of enemy guards.
"Commander," Thorne whispered quickly. "That is General Iron Skin. He is a peak Gold-tier physical cultivator. My daggers cannot pierce his hardened skin. The Obsidian Style is meant for assassination, not breaking down brick walls. I cannot fight him directly."
"I know, Thorne," Caspian said calmly. He did not stop walking. "To break iron, you need a much heavier hammer. Keep the foot soldiers busy. The general belongs to me."
Iron Skin saw Caspian walking toward him. The giant general smiled an incredibly ugly smile. He cracked his thick knuckles.
"So, the little rat finally comes out of his hole," Iron Skin mocked loudly. "You look very soft, Sovereign. I am going to rip your head off your shoulders and present it to Master Goliath."
Caspian stopped walking. He stood ten feet away from the towering, gray-skinned monster. Caspian looked down at his own hands. He let out a long, tired sigh.
His core was completely healed, but the Nine Dragon Lock was still suppressing his full power to keep him stable. He could not fight a Gold-tier brute with just physical martial arts.
He needed to bend the rules of his own body.
"You think your skin is tough because it stops cheap bullets," Caspian said. His voice was flat and entirely human. "Let me show you what true density feels like."
Caspian closed his eyes. He took a single, deep breath. Deep inside his chest, he grabbed hold of the ancient, golden chains binding his power.
First Seal. Open.
Caspian's eyes snapped open. For one brief, terrifying second, bright golden lines flared like molten lava beneath the skin of his arms and chest. The heavy, crushing weight of his aura doubled instantly. The air around him distorted wildly from the sheer physical pressure he was generating.
Iron Skin felt the sudden change in the air, but he was too proud and arrogant to back down. He was a Gold-tier master. Nobody could break his defense.
With a deafening roar, Iron Skin charged forward. Each heavy step cracked the street. He pulled his massive, gray fist back. His arm looked like a solid pillar of concrete swinging through the air. He threw a punch directly at Caspian's face with enough pure force to completely shatter a bank vault.
Caspian did not dodge. He did not step back.
Caspian raised his right hand and casually caught the incoming punch.
BOOM.
A massive shockwave of displaced air exploded outward from the impact, shattering the glass windows of every store on the block. The street beneath Caspian's feet caved in, creating a spiderweb of deep cracks in the asphalt.
The hundreds of Blood Shadow killers cheered, expecting Caspian to be instantly crushed into a bloody mess.
But when the dust cleared, the cheering stopped immediately.
Caspian was still standing in the exact same spot. He had not moved a single inch. His feet were planted firmly. He was holding Iron Skin's massive, gray fist directly in the palm of his hand.
Iron Skin's ugly smile vanished completely. His dark eyes widened in absolute shock and pure terror. He tried to pull his fist back, but Caspian's grip was like an unbreakable steel vise.
"Is this all the strength a Gold-tier dog can manage," Caspian asked quietly.
Caspian squeezed his hand.
The sound of shattering bone echoed louder than the sirens. Iron Skin let out a high-pitched, agonizing scream. The supposedly unbreakable gray skin on his arm cracked and splintered like cheap porcelain. Blood burst from his forearm as the bones inside completely snapped under the crushing force of Caspian's grip.
Iron Skin fell heavily to his knees, clutching his ruined arm. The invincible brute was completely broken by a single touch.
Caspian looked up at the terrified army of killers watching their general fall.
"Thorne," Caspian said, his voice cold and commanding. "Kill them all."