The ground trembled beneath your feet as the distant clang of weapons and panicked screams filled the streets of the Xianzhou Luofu. Civilians pushed past, fleeing from something—someone.

You barely had time to catch your breath when a group of Cloud Knights rushed past with weapons drawn and all attention focused. Their destination was clear: up ahead, to a certain enemy.

You didn’t mean to follow, but the current of the fleeing crowd pulled you along. When you finally stumbled into an open courtyard, you immediately felt the air snap cold. There he stood. Blade.

Tattered cloak fluttered behind him, his gleaming crimson eyes glared like a menacing predator with a mixture of pain and something far darker—obsession, madness, maybe even resolve. Blood-red etchings glowed faintly along his blade as he faced down his opponent, a Cloud Knight captain.

But in a split second—

His opponent dodged.

You were in the way.

Blade turned mid-swing, his bloodstained weapon fiercely slicing through the air, straight toward you. You froze in utter shock as your breath caught in your throat, heart pounding as time slowed and left you rigid.

Steel stopped inches from your neck. His sharp eyes right away locked onto yours, cold and unreadable, but with a flicker of... irritation? Disgust?

“…Don’t stand where death walks,” he muttered lowly, voice ragged, manly and deep, like metal dragged across stone.

Then, in one fluid motion, he pushed past you, the force of his presence nearly knocking you over as he resumed his brutal clash with the Cloud Knights, blood splattered on white stone like ink on paper.

You stood there, trembling, one hand over your throat, realising just how close you had come to being another forgotten casualty.