CHAPTER 174 — DAY ONE — SHE MOVES
The countdown did not wait for sunrise.
It began at midnight.
The golden lattice across the sky did not dim when the world slept. It brightened.
Seven.
The number remained suspended across the firmament, faint but undeniable to anyone who could sense law. Most civilians did not understand what they were seeing. To them, it was a strange aurora-like shimmer.
To Long Hao—
It was pressure.
He stood at the highest terrace of the Azure Dragon forward command post, overlooking the city below. The desert wind carried tension instead of sand.
Behind him, the Vice Dean spoke quietly.
"She hasn't moved yet."
Long Hao did not turn.
"She will."
The fragment inside him was not restless.
It was listening.
Heaven had declared Convergence Protocol.
That meant Zehell would not remain passive.
She never reacted.
She forced.
And as if the thought itself triggered fate—
The sky trembled.
Not above Ruinsand.
Far to the west.
