Chapter 113 - Chapter 113: Clash of Two Principles

The snow descending upon Northveil no longer carried the pristine, cold touch of winter. It had been desecrated, transmuted into a gray sludge by the black soot of burning tenements and the thick, oily exhaust vomited by the steam-engines of the Iron Empire. Near the fractured remains of the Northern Bastion's main gate, the air itself seemed to shudder. This vibration wasn't merely the distant thunder of artillery; it was a localized distortion of reality caused by the presence of a gargantuan figure standing dead center in the middle of the cobblestone boulevard.