137
The Heart of the City — Collapse
In the city's core, within the smoke of a dawn that had not yet fully broken, Zhang Shicheng drove his soldiers forward.
"Push them back. This isn't over yet."
Before the shout finished, the formation split in a chain reaction.The first line opened.The second was forced back.The third collapsed with it.
From the smoke, nearly forty warriors emerged at once.
There was no exaggeration, no hesitation.The flow converged on the weakest seam.
Blades moved together.Spear shafts were severed.The joints of armor were torn apart.
Broken spears and shields spilled across the ground.
Each time a warrior swung his sword, two—sometimes three—fell along the same line.When one man pierced through, cuts followed that line without pause.
Blood spread into the smoke.
Their speed never changed.Their movements were exact.
The spacing of the guard around Zhang Shicheng tore open in an instant.Even the soldiers rushing in behind were cut down before they could take a step.
Murmurs turned into screams.
Space opened.
On a floor slick with pooled blood, the warriors advanced in a half-circle.No dust clung to their armor.Their breathing did not spill outward.
Only the steady sound of blades slicing the air remained.
Cutting through the smoke, Yi In-jung appeared.Sword in hand, he stepped forward before Zhang Shicheng.
"That's far enough."
Zhang Shicheng's gaze hardened.
He recognized it at once.These were Goryeo warriors—men who had held the northern lines.
The direction of the battle was now unmistakable.
Zhang Shicheng accepted the flow.
He turned his body, and the guards instantly formed a human screen.It was a movement meant to buy time.
Each passing blade took shield and arm together.The gaps were filled again just as quickly, and the pressure continued.
"Get him back!"
A deputy's shout burst out.
The title Emperor of Great Zhou scattered into the air.
Zhang Shicheng followed instinct.
Flames surged.Collapsed tiles shattered beneath his feet.
His breath grew short.Behind him, the presence of blades drew close.
The forty warriors pivoted at once toward the inner compound.There were no shouts, no calls.
The wind of their blades cut men down.Blood opened the path.
Before the great hall—the last stand of the inner guard—there was time for a single breath.
Steel flashed.Shields split.
Terror froze the soldiers' eyes.
In that instant, Zhang Shicheng hurled himself into the hall.
He ran for the hidden rear door.
His cloak was heavy with blood.Above the firelight, the shadows of pursuers stretched long.
The presence of death followed silently.
The Great Hall
The doors of the great hall burst apart, dust and ash exploding outward.
Park Seong-jin was the first to leap inside.
Shattered furnishings and the empty center of the audience chamber filled his vision at once—the place where the emperor had once sat.
Zhang Shicheng fled across the center, then turned.
Even in desperation, his face was calm.
"Why do you hunt me?""Why have Goryeo's warriors come this far?"
Park Seong-jin's hand trembled.
The sword point aimed at Zhang Shicheng.Their gazes locked.
That look seized him—the face of a man who had lived opposing injustice.
"Strike."
Yi In-jung's voice from behind was firm.
In the instant Park Seong-jin delayed by a single breath, the structure collapsed.
Blood splashed.Zhang Shicheng's body twisted.The floor of the great hall thundered.
"Fall back!"
With the shout, a pillar snapped.
Earthen walls poured down.Tiles and chunks of soil buried everything like a storm.
Vision vanished in dust.
"Brother—Zhang Shicheng—!""A passage—he went down!"
More debris crashed down, sealing the entrance.
On the collapsed dais, only traces of Zhang Shicheng remained.
The forty warriors arrived almost simultaneously.Their stride never broke.
"He—""A mechanism. He escaped below."
Park Seong-jin clenched his teeth.
A moment of decision flashed.
Then Song Yi-sul stepped forward.
Neither young nor old, his face was steady.
He drew a breath and sheathed his sword.
Crossing his arms, he drove his palms forward instead of a blade.
Pillar and earth wall shifted together.A boulder trembled.
Space opened sideways.
Below it, a black cavern revealed itself.
A hidden escape route.
From the front, guards rushed in again.
"Protect His Majesty!"
Three or four warriors swung their swords.
Silver straight lines cut the space.Before the shout finished, several fell.
"There!"
The warriors leapt into the tunnel at once.No hesitation.Light steps.
They vanished into the darkness like shadows.
Song Yi-sul remained behind and dropped heavily to the ground.
"Ah… damn… I'm done. Can't move anymore."
Park Seong-jin lowered his head.
A brief expression crossed his lips.
At that moment, dawn light spilled through the cracks of the ruined hall.
Light seeped into the dust.
The war was still going.
And the pursuit had already begun.