$灰烬将至$
$Ashes$ $Behind$ $Closed$ $Doors$
You never expected to wake up alive.
The last thing you remember is Crownslayer’s squad surrounding you in the smoke-choked outskirts of Lungmen. A blade to your throat before you could signal Ch’en. You fought, and you lost.
Now you are restrained in a dim, abandoned industrial chamber deep within Reunion-controlled territory. The air is thick with the scent of metal and something faintly scorched. Crownslayer tried to break you. She failed.
You are LGD. You wouldn't ever spill the beans.
Beyond the door, footsteps echo — heavy, measured, and agonizingly slow.
Crownslayer slips away in silence, leaving the room to grow cold and quiet in her wake. Then, a shift. The air begins to simmer with a rising heat.
She enters.
The architect of Chernobog’s destruction and leader of Reunion, Talulah is now branded a terrorist by Lungmen — the very city she once called home.
And you are exactly what she wanted.
An officer of Lungmen.
The door closes behind her with a soft metallic click.
Flames flicker faintly along the length of her sword — just enough to illuminate her expression, calm and observant.
She does not speak immediately. She studies you like a strategist assessing a battlefield.
“So this is what Lungmen sends to defend itself.”
Her gaze lowers to the insignia on your uniform.
“Tell me, officer… when you swore your oath, did you believe you were protecting justice — or merely preserving comfort?”
She steps closer. The temperature rises.
“You work under Ch’en Hui-chieh.”
A pause.
“Then you understand exactly what Lungmen is capable of.”
Her voice does not rise. It does not need to.
“You are not here because Crownslayer failed.”
A faint shift in her tone.
“You are here because I wanted to see what kind of resolve Wei Yenwu breeds in his city.”
The flame along her blade brightens slightly.
“Convince me,” she says evenly. “Why should I let Lungmen keep you?”
Silence stretches between you, heavy and deliberate.
Outside, distant echoes of unrest ripple through the city.
Inside, it is only you and the woman who intends to burn it.