As the rising sun's rays pierce through the treetops, casting long streaks of gold across the frost-touched earth, Merin rides out of the town.
A team of his guards follows behind him in disciplined formation.
Their destination,
The Ice Lake near the Mammoth Tribe.
Cold wind sweeps across the open plain as they arrive. The lake stretches wide and pale beneath the morning sky, its surface half-frozen, half-reflecting the light like polished glass.
Near the shore, a modest camp has been established.
Merin dismounts and enters the largest tent.
Inside, Mosa waits.
Beside him sit five other leaders of Northern Tribes.
Giant Rat Tribe.
Dusk Wolf Tribe.
Ice Leopard Tribe.
Blue Spot Leopard Tribe.
Snow Crow Tribe.
Their physiques vary, some broad and muscular, others lean and sharp-eyed, but each radiates the restrained aura of a warrior or shaman bound to a tribal totem.
Merin sits opposite them.
The discussion begins.
They are willing to consider an alliance.
But hesitation lingers.
"An alliance with the Duan Family?" the Giant Rat leader asks bluntly. "Not the Song Kingdom?"
Murmurs of agreement follow.
"If we ally with the Song Kingdom, we gain official protection," the Snow Crow leader says. "If we ally only with the Duan Family, other tribes will see us as traitors."
"Super large tribes will target us," the Ice Leopard leader adds. "To make an example."
"The Song Kingdom can protect us," Mosa says carefully. "Can the Duan Family?"
Silence settles.
Merin leans back slightly in his chair, his violet eyes calm as he surveys the six leaders.
"Let us battle."
The Ice Leopard leader frowns.
"What do you mean?"
Merin's voice remains even.
"I mean, I fight all six of you. If I win, your tribes will ally with the Duan Family. If you win, I will involve the Song Kingdom in the alliance as you request."
They exchange glances.
Mosa narrows his eyes.
"One by one?"
Merin smiles faintly.
"No. All at once."
The Snow Crow leader studies him carefully.
"Are you certain?"
Merin stands.
"Over the lake."
He steps out of the tent.
Golden qi wings erupt behind him with a powerful surge.
With a single beat, wind explodes outward, stirring snow and frost.
He ascends.
He flies over the Ice Lake and lands at its centre.
Moments later, the six tribal leaders follow, leaping or flying to encircle him.
They land evenly spaced around him on the frozen surface.
Merin unsheathes his sword.
Mosa grips a massive axe carved from mammoth bone.
The Giant Rat leader levels a spear forged from blue metal.
The Dusk Wolf leader holds twin black serrated bone blades.
The Ice Leopard leader draws a curved sabre.
The Blue Spot Leopard leader wields a hardened wooden spear infused with tribal markings.
The Snow Crow leader steadies a long, slender sword.
They begin circling him.
The ice beneath their boots cracks faintly.
Merin opens his Virtual Field.
It spreads silently across the lake.
He senses their qi.
Mosa's qi is familiar.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Rooted in the Law of the Mammoth Totem.
He has already comprehended it completely.
The others,
Are new.
Each carries a different resonance.
Wolf.
Rat.
Leopard.
Crow.
As they release their qi in battle,
He will understand their totems.
He will extract their Laws.
Suddenly,
The Dusk Wolf leader moves first.
With a sharp roar, the leader of the Dusk Wolf Tribe bursts forward, twin black serrated blades tearing through the cold air.
His first move,
Sun Sinking.
Both blades descend in crossing arcs, dark flames trailing behind like a dying star collapsing into the night.
Merin does not retreat.
His violet eyes remain calm.
The Virtual Field spreads invisibly, silently recording every fluctuation of qi, every ripple of wolf totem resonance.
The six leaders feel nothing unusual.
To them, he stands alone.
Merin lifts his sword.
Sword Light Differentiation.
A single blade of sword light splits into six.
Each carries equal power.
They flash outward.
Two intercept the descending blades.
Four remain suspended in the air, solidified, crystalline, hovering like violet-gold shards.
The collision booms.
Dark fire and sword light erupt against each other.
The ice beneath their feet fractures violently.
Before the wolf leader can recover,
Mosa moves.
Axe Rush.
He charges like a mammoth across the cracking lake, his massive bone axe raised high.
A phantom mammoth forms around him, colossal, translucent, tusks lowered.
The projection shields him as he swings.
Merin pivots.
Three sword lights fuse into one and slash downward.
The blade collides with the mammoth projection.
Shockwaves explode.
The ice shatters completely.
All of them plunge into freezing water.
Below the surface,
The Giant Rat leader thrusts his spear.
Super Fang.
A sharp blue spear of condensed qi extends like a monstrous incisor, drilling toward Merin's ribs.
Merin twists.
Two differentiated sword lights intercept.
Water boils around the clash.
Meteor Spear follows immediately,
The rat leader hurls his weapon downward like a falling star.
Merin kicks off the water, shooting upward.
He ascends through the shattered ice into open air.
The Ice Leopard leader leaps after him.
Ice Arrow Barrage.
Dozens of frozen arrows form behind her, firing in a fan-shaped storm.
Merin's sword moves once.
Eight sword lights appear.
They differentiate into eight physical blades.
Each intercepts an arrow.
Explosions of frost scatter across the sky.
Before the fragments fall,
Ice Cleave descends from above.
A curved sabre wrapped in glacial energy slices toward Merin's head.
He blocks with a single solidified sword light.
The impact sends both plummeting back toward the lake.
From the side,
Lightning flashes.
The Blue Spot Leopard leader appears in a blur.
Mirage Strike.
Three afterimages attack simultaneously.
Only one is real.
Merin's Virtual Field notes the slight qi distortion in the leftmost figure.
His sword thrusts precisely there.
The real body recoils, wounded.
But Lightning Spear follows,
Electricity condenses along the wooden spear, stabbing forward.
Merin splits one sword light into five.
Five physical blades stab forward.
Lightning shatters.
They crash back onto the lake surface.
The Snow Crow leader rises gracefully into the sky.
Winter Sword Strike.
A pale arc of freezing wind descends.
Merin meets it with a horizontal sweep.
Two sword lights differentiate and solidify mid-air, blocking and dispersing the frost.
Then,
Phantom Strike.
The Snow Crow leader vanishes.
Merin's Virtual Field tracks the qi shift behind him.
Without turning,
He flicks a sword light backwards.
A cry rings out as the phantom form reappears, slashed.
Below,
The water erupts.
Mosa emerges again.
Avalanche.
He slams his axe into the water.
The lake surges upward.
A towering wall of water and ice rushes toward Merin like a collapsing glacier.
The other leaders attack simultaneously.
Dark Fire Blades spiral upward.
Meteor Spear launches again.
Ice arrows streak through the avalanche.
Lightning flashes.
Winter qi condenses.
Merin hovers in the air.
He raises his sword.
Ten sword lights form.
No more.
Each is equally powerful.
They spread outward in a circular formation.
Then,
He turns them physical.
Ten solid blades rotate around him like a defensive halo.
The avalanche crashes into the rotating blades.
It explodes into mist.
Dark fire collides and is shredded.
Meteor Spear fractures mid-flight.
Ice arrows shatter.
Lightning disperses.
Winter wind tears apart.
The impact shakes the sky.
The shattered lake beneath them churns violently.
All seven warriors rise higher.
They clash again,
In the sky.
On fragments of floating ice.
Diving into the freezing depths.
The battle moves without pause.
Axes clash against sword light.
Bone blades strike against physical qi blades.
Spears and sabres collide in bursts of frost and sparks.
Every strike breaks more ice.
Every clash sends waves surging.
Yet,
None falls.
The six leaders breathe heavily now.
Merin remains steady.
His Virtual Field continues collecting.
Wolf.
Rat.
Leopard.
Crow.
Their totems resonate clearly.
He understands more with each exchange.
The battle spreads across sky and water, ice and air,
But still,
No decisive result.
The lake is now a field of shattered ice and steam.
And the fight continues.
The Ice Lake has become unrecognisable.
Shattered ice drifts like broken mirrors across the churning surface.
Steam rises where sword light and totem fire collide.
Above the chaos, seven figures flash through sky and mist, weapons clashing in bursts of thunderous force.
Far away,
On one of the surrounding mountain peaks overlooking the lake,
A man and a woman stand concealed behind jagged stone.
Their auras are restrained, suppressed to near nothingness.
Even the tribal leaders below do not notice them.
The woman narrows her eyes as she watches the violet-gold sword lights split again in the sky.
"Who do you think will win?" she asks quietly.
Her voice is calm, but her gaze is sharp.
The man folds his arms.
His eyes are fixed not on the six tribal leaders,
But on Merin.
"Doesn't matter," he says. "This is the first opportunity for us to kill Merin."
Below, Mosa's axe collides with a solidified sword light, shockwaves rippling outward like a cracked bell.
The woman does not take her eyes off the battle.
"It matters," she replies. "The battle lets us see Merin's strength. Our job is not to kill Merin. Our job is to gather information about him."
The man lets out a quiet scoff.
"The information is for killing him. If we can kill Merin now, then the information will not matter."
In the sky, the Dusk Wolf leader unleashes Dark Fire Blades again, spiralling upward like burning crescents.
Merin differentiates five sword lights, each intercepting perfectly.
The woman's pupils contract slightly.
"I don't want to fall under the leader's bad side," she says.
The man's jaw tightens.
"In the organisation, we are being slowly sidelined."
His tone carries resentment.
The woman remains silent for a moment.
Below, the Ice Leopard leader forms another Ice Arrow Barrage, but Merin's sword light shreds it before it can reach him.
"I know," she finally says. "That is why we shouldn't get on the leader's bad side."
The man turns his head toward her.
"If we can satisfy our Lord, the leader will not matter."
The woman shifts her gaze to him now.
There is calculation in her eyes.
"How can we satisfy our Lord?"
Below, the Snow Crow leader vanishes in Phantom Strike, only to be forced back into visibility by a precise counter from Merin.
The man answers without hesitation.
"Sacrificing Merin to our Lord."
The wind at the mountain peak grows colder.