> [System Notice: Confirmed Arrival – Tian Xue / Flamegate #47]
ETA: 36 Hours
Warning: Two Flame Scythe Assassins Assigned – Targets: Tian Xue, Escort Party]
Priority: Eliminate Hostile Agents Before Contact
---
Morning – Quiet Before the Storm
Jiang Han stood in front of the flameleaf tree, tracing sigils into the dirt with Emberfang's hilt. Ash swirled as runes of suppression, illusion, and burst flame slowly stitched together.
Tempest coiled above the ridge, watching the distant horizon. The Phoenix Hatchling sat on his shoulder, unusually still.
This wasn't just preparation.
It was defiance.
> "They think this is just another ambush," Jiang murmured, etching the final glyph.
"Let's show them what happens when you set foot on my path."
---
Noon – The Map of Death
Bo Ren returned, panting, holding a shredded cloak and an empty soul crystal.
> "Found one. Dead. Burnt through the chest—no soul core left."
Jiang's eyes narrowed.
> "Was he marked?"
Bo Ren dropped the cloak on the table. A familiar emblem shimmered briefly:
Three black slashes across a crimson sun.
> "That's three confirmed dead trialists this week," Bo Ren muttered. "You think they'll stop for her?"
> "No," Jiang said. "But I will."
He activated the Obsidian Archive Overlay, marking Flamegate #47 on his map.
He added seven glyph traps, linked into a rotating resonance chain.
> [Trap Array Initialized – Flame Pulse Web Active]
Effect: Captures and suppresses flame users below Sovereign rank within 6-meter radius. Activation threshold: 2 energy spikes within 10 seconds.
> "It's done," Jiang said. "We wait."
---
Evening – The Arrival
Flamegate #47 shimmered open in the distance like the eye of a sun.
Two escorts emerged first—both strong but unremarkable. Scanning. Watching.
Then Tian Xue stepped through.
Clad in simple traveler's armor. Twin flame rings orbiting her wrist.
Hair shorter.
Eyes… sharper.
She blinked in the unfamiliar sky—and then smiled when she saw the familiar figure waiting for her.
Jiang Han.
She ran to him.
> "You look like a sovereign who forgot to rest."
> "You look like someone who shouldn't have come alone," he said, smile fading.
He looked past her. Scanning.
Tension built.
> "Where are they?"
> "Who—?"
The trap activated.
---
The Scythe Strikes
Two figures materialized in mid-air, flame distorted like smoke across mirrors.
Disguise-type cloaks. Soul dampeners. Flame-weaving curved blades.
They dove.
Tian Xue reached for her weapon—but Jiang moved first.
> "Tempest. Pattern Sigma-Three."
The soul wyrmling roared into action.
The trap flared.
> [Trap Triggered – Dual Signatures Caught – Locking]
The assassins screamed, pinned mid-air by invisible threads of golden flame—binding wrists, legs, even the breath in their lungs.
Jiang stepped forward, Emberfang in hand, voice cold.
> "You touched the wrong name."
He slashed once.
The first Scythe agent crumbled to ash.
The second broke free—briefly—and lunged for Tian Xue's back.
But the Phoenix Hatchling had already moved.
It screamed—a note pure and wrathful—and engulfed the attacker in spiraling flame.
Only black feathers remained.
---
Aftermath – Reunion
Silence returned.
Tian Xue sat near the flameleaf tree, wide-eyed.
> "You knew they were coming?"
> "I knew the moment your name showed up in their files."
She looked at the traps. The runework. The burn marks on the ground.
> "You… planned for all of it."
> "I've been preparing since the moment I got here."
She stared at him.
> "You've changed."
Jiang smiled—tired, but real.
> "So have you."
She leaned into him, forehead against his shoulder.
> "Still you, though."
> "Still me," he whispered back.
Tempest curled protectively around them, and the Phoenix Hatchling finally relaxed, its ember-light flickering like a small campfire between friends.