Alexis cocked an eyebrow at my question.

"That…might be difficult, but it should be possible near the end when we're all fighting against the remaining horde of demons, though I'm curious as to why you want to sneak in, no demons should be able to infiltrate the manor while we're fighting after all." She said. I nodded.

"At the end of the first try, before my body ran from the fight at the center city, it forced me to whip around and look at the city lord's manor, then it ran away from the center of the city with all of the speed I could muster. Even this past try, the explosion seemed to emanate from behind us, the only thing to our back at the time was the city lord's manor. I think that whatever is causing the explosion is located somewhere in the manor." I explained. Alexis got a contemplative look before suggesting an option.

"It could be some kind of bomb? Maybe someone on the demonic force's side will sneak a large bomb into the manor? It is the most central point of the city, so if you wanted to detonate a bomb to destroy the city, placing it within the city lord's manor would be the best." She said. Which made a lot of sense, though that didn't explain why I noticed it but no one else seemed to in the moment. Why would they use a bomb when it would destroy their army as well though? I put that question to the back of my mind. In the end, why the explosion happened wasn't important. What was important was that we needed to stop it from happening if we wanted to save Shironia.

With new purpose in mind, the rest of the day followed the same script as the previous try. We convinced Byron, Avarus, and Calius of the impending attack, though Alexis cautioned that we should keep our plan about stopping the explosion from the others. When we asked her why, she explained that Calius would stop at nothing to prevent anyone from entering the city lord's manor at all during the fight if we told him, if he did that, those trying to detonate the bomb might set it off somewhere else in the city instead, having found their route into the manor cut off. I supposed that made sense, but wouldn't Calius work with us if we explained that to him? Alexis looked a little conflicted before shaking her head.

"Calius… he wouldn't let even the slightest possibility of danger come to the manor. It's where his family is." She said, a sad look on her face. She refused to explain any further, saying that it's better to leave certain things where they were. Out of respect for what Alexis had done for me just today I stayed any further questions.

The next few days flew by, just like always, but this time, instead of a passive observing role like I took last time, I tried to participate more actively. While Rin accompanied Alexis and helped with all of the administrative parts of the preparations, I trained with the guild members, sparring with the much more experienced cultivators. I helped them prepare and evacuate the citizens, and prepare the palisades within the city streets we would be using as defensive fall back points.

As I worked, and interacted with the people of the city, I finally had the chance, and mindset, to marvel at how incredible this trial was. These people had been gone for an unknowable amount of years, but their memories, speech patterns, mannerisms, and even relationships were all perfectly preserved. But it also made me so sad. The trial existing meant that all of these kind people, had all died either to the demons, or the explosion afterwards. It made my heart clench and I redoubled my efforts to help prepare the city even a little bit more. If my efforts could help keep even one more cultivator alive in the city, it would be worth it, even if they weren't really real. Something within me revolted at the thought of them not being real but I didn't have the time to think through it, I put my nose to the grindstone and worked as hard as I could, even to the point of exhaustion.

I woke up from a fitful nap, having regained most of my strength despite the short duration of my sleep. It was finally the day of the invasion. I made my way to the ramparts where I rejoined Alexis and Rin as well as the two other city nobles, and Calius. We again watched as the demonic army crested the horizon and marched toward Shironia's doom. Huge swaths of the demons were again slaughtered by the stationary qi cannons and the devastating ballistae bolts, signaling the start of the siege once again.

Eventually, the walls fell, then the first defensive lines. People I had met, spoke with, and ate with died before my eyes. I bit back the salty tears of grief and sadness, relegating dealing with my emotions to after this was all over. I fought within smaller groups that traveled across the city, assisting the various cultivators I could despite my relative lack of strength. We fought for the whole day, again ending up grouped in the city center around the city lord's manor.

Partway through the fight, as was our plan, Alexis created a giant glacier in the midst of the demonic forces, giving Rin and I the chance to slip away in the chaos. We sneaked behind the line of fighting, and approached the city lord's manor from the side. Alexis had told us of a locked gate that normally had a security formation installed on it. It lead to the holding cells beneath the city lord's manor and would give us unfettered access to the main building as the guards were all embroiled in the fights outside.

I cut the lock on the gate, finding its formation lacking at stopping someone of my cultivation realm, and we quietly sneaked through it and into the depths beneath the manor.

We ran through the stone hallways, the formation powered lights sitting in the sconces on the walls causing our shadows to dance as we ran past. We were nearing the entrance to the main building from below when I noticed part of the wall was sticking out at a weird angle, as if a door was built directly out of the wall and was left ajar. I felt…something…from deep down the new corridor through the wall, something calling me. The door wasn't far from a set of polished stairs leading up into the city lord's manor proper.

"Rin, I'm sensing…something from through that door. Can I trust you to search the main building for the bomb?" I asked my companion. She smiled and nodded a simple 'Okay' her only response as she ran up the nearby stairs.

With a small sense of trepidation, I made my way through the stone door and down the pitch black corridor beyond.

I had been running for a few minutes, traveling back and forth through twisting tunnels, a maze with only a single path to navigate, when I passed through some unseen barrier. Right as I approached another corner in the corridor, a single voice audible as clear as day rang out through the tunnel.

"Ah…it seems we have a guest, Loran." The calm, sophisticated, voice said, before a man dressed in a solid black suit with pitch black eyes appeared in front of me. He grabbed me faster than I could react and before I knew it, I was standing in front of a single cell where a bedraggled skeleton of a man lay, a despondent look in his eyes. His overgrown beard, and stringy thin hair made it apparent he hadn't been able to take care of himself in years. He was extremely emaciated, to the point that you could see his bones through his skin clearly. He had deep bags under his eyes and didn't seem like he even recognized I was standing in front of him. On nearly every part of his exposed skin I could see scars in various states of healing. The sight of so much recently inflicted pain made me feel ill at the thought of what he had endured. Locked around his wrists were thick, metal, manacles with formations engraved into them that were glowing.

"Now, now, Loran, that's no way to treat a guest!" The man said from over my shoulder, his voice needling and worming into my ears. His tone was sickly sweet with a hint of malice dripping from every word. Most importantly, he felt just like Azoreth felt when he was close to me. I remembered the feeling vividly, and the memory curdled within my stomach.

"You see, young lady, I was just about to tell my old friend Loran here about what happened to his family. You see, he was once a faithful comrade, but betrayed us. As such, he needed to be punished. His family was ordered to be executed along with everyone they knew in their little village." He said, a sickly smile clear through his voice as he spoke.

At the mention of his family, the sickly man, Loran presumably, in the cell stirred.

"Me, the lucky man I am, was given the order to carry out this punishment, though I suppose I did pull some strings to be given the opportunity! So I went to that disgusting little village, and I rounded up all the puny little livestock living there. Then I found his family, and one-by-one killed all their little friends in front of them. I would pick up one of the livestock and then, squish! They'd explode and rain down blood and viscera all over the deliciously horrified faces of his wife and daughter." He continued. I listened in horror and watched as light once again appeared within Loran's eyes in his cell and his manacles clanged at his slight movements.

"Then finally, once I had slaughtered everyone they knew, I started with the daughter and popped off her digits one by one, all the while the muffled cries of her mother sang from the gag I had stuffed in her mouth." He said, smiling as though he was remembering a fond childhood memory.

"Once I finished with the daughter, I made her watch as I did the same to her mother, then, I took my time. I delicately flensed all of your wife's flesh, starting with the feet. I'll have you know I'm quite proud of how well I did. Keeping someone so weak alive while flensing them is incredibly difficult, but don't worry, I managed! Though all the screaming was a bit melodramatic.

After I had my fun, one stomp of my foot squished another fleshy melon and I got to do it all over again with your daughter! She was quite a bit more feisty. She only started screaming in pain once I reached her thighs. Oh, Loran you do not know how I reveled in the opportunity to do this." He finished. I felt bile rising through my throat at the description of the horrid act he had perpetrated.

Loran was in no better shape. He scrambled up to the bars of the cage, desperately struggling to reach even a little further to strangle the demonic cultivator. The man simply laughed.

"Oh how far you've fallen Loran. You were so upset when we told you they had been killed by Calius Shironia. You went off to take revenge so sweetly. I'm sure your wife and daughter would have been so grateful that you avenged them by killing the family of the man who had taken yours from you." He said, now nearly laughing with every word, a discordant, inappropriate, amount of glee in his voice.

"And now look at you! You're so pathetic, your cultivation has been suppressed by the manacles, you can't even put up a fight right now. Were you curious as to how a measly domain creation realm brat was able to beat you? Well, remember that elixir I gave you before you left to kill his family? Well truly that was a qi dispersing poison. I meant for that grief stricken old man to kill you while you were weakened, but it seems he wants you to suffer instead. Well you'll be happy to know you won't have to suffer much longer. I came down here because I felt someone familiar, and now I can't believe I'm being given the chance to kill you myself, after all this time!" He gloated.

"…why…?" Was the only thing Loran could ask, the sound the mere husk of a spoken word. The man stroked my neck, his overly sharp fingernails trailing painfully across my skin as he answered.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Why what? Do you want to know why I killed your family? Or maybe why am I here to kill you? Or why I framed you to get you punished so I could get permission to have you removed from your position? Well the answer to all that is simple. I loathe you. You let little rats escape from your clutches. You show that detestable mercy to those weaker than you. And the worst thing? You chose to fraternize with that mortal tramp." He said, his words no longer jovial but now replaced with a heartfelt hatred, and biting vitriol.

He paused for a second and then relaxed.

"Well, it seems the people of this city are more capable than I originally thought, though I don't know how they knew we were coming, I was sure our spies had told Calius that they were safe. Perhaps those three whelps were telling the truth? Well it's no matter, I must go out there to take care of the rest of the rabble, but first I should deal with you two." He said, walking up to the cage. Loran, seeming to know what was going to happen, stared down the man even as I felt a strange dissonance well up from within him.

The well dressed man recoiled at the sudden influx of energy exuding from Loran.

"You! You wouldn't! Domain shattering is one of the great taboos. You'll destroy your soul!" He said, a bargaining, almost pleading, tone in his voice.

"What's the use in a soul without them with me?" Loran said, a solemn, morose, response.

"At least this way I can avenge them." He said, and I felt more than saw the space around him crack. I watched as an energy condensed from where the man's dantian would have been located. The well dressed man tsk'd before disappearing from view, I wondered where he had gone but I didn't have time to be relieved. After a second of energy being drawn into Loran, with a serene look on his face, he smiled.

"Camille…Agnes…I'll be with you soon." He said before I was once again consumed by an all encompassing explosion.

This time when I came back to my senses in the middle of the street I didn't panic. We failed to save the city and stop the…explosion. But now we know what happened. And this time we might be able to stop it. I quickly moved to a nearby alley in time to wretch onto the ground. All of my feelings from the demonic cultivator's awful story coming back to me rapidly.

I heaved and coughed for a few minutes until I was able to take back control of my stomach. I needed to meet back with Rin and Alexis, and we needed to meet with the city lord.

I made my way to the White Forest guild as quick as I could and quickly explained to both Rin and Alexis everything after convincing Alexis we weren't crazy. After I finished my story I had to ask Alexis the question that had been tugging at my brain since I had heard the words.

"Alexis, what's domain shattering?" I asked. She scrunched her face up.

"I must admit, I do not know. You said the demonic cultivators called it a great taboo?" She asked, to which I nodded.

"I have heard of the great taboos before, in a book I think. They tend to be knowledge or techniques deemed too dangerous or volatile to be used. Those who use them, as well as everyone who ever knew them, are hunted down. It has only happened a few times throughout the history I know of, but each time they are, the number of lives snuffed out to prevent the spread of what the taboos are and how to use them, numbers in the billions." She said.

I shuddered at the sheer size of the number. Certainly any technique that resulted in wiping an entire city off the map should probably be a technique we wouldn't allow people to know about for fear of them using it.

We agreed to ask the other nobles and Calius about what domain shattering was in case they knew more than Alexis.

The meeting with Avarus and Byron went by with no issues and we managed to convince them we were truthful with Shimmer's help, though we had we agreed to omit what happened beneath the city lord's manor until we knew more about what domain shattering was.

I didn't know why Alexis didn't want me to immediately explain what had happened, but she just gave me a cryptic answer about it being complicated, especially with Calius. Finally, after we had finished the main discussion, I asked both Avarus and Byron if they knew what domain shattering was.

Avarus seemed puzzled but Byron stiffened before getting uncharacteristically severe.

"Is knowledge of domain shattering where you come from so common that they teach it to core formation realm cultivators? I understand you're nowhere close to being able to commit such an atrocity, but I would have hoped that knowledge of a great taboo would still be restricted, even after we were dead and gone." He said, shocking Rin and I, but Alexis was affected the most.

"Byron, you know what domain shattering is?" She asked, clearly taken aback by the sudden revelation.

"Yes, and the only reason I'm talking to any of you about this is because that lass mentioned it." He said pointing to me.

"Normally I would have to detain you all here until I could determine who had told you about one of the great taboos, but I suppose the fact the xingyao hasn't triggered and forced my hand is proof enough that you are telling the truth about being from the future. As if the fox wasn't proof enough." He said, flopping back against the back of his chair and sighing deeply.

"That doesn't explain what domain shattering is, but what's a xingyao?" I asked, having never heard of that before. To my surprise, Avarus was the one to explain.

"A xingyao, or more commonly known as a Star Pact for anyone who isn't obsessed with the ancient language, is an oath given directly to the heavens. Should anyone under the influence of a Star Pact contravene the terms of the given oath, they will be stripped of their entire cultivation and struck down by the heavenly thunder. I've been unlucky enough in my time as a merchant to see a Star Pact broken. It was…unpleasant." He said grimacing at the end.

That was…actually a really thorough explanation. I was starting to see him in a slightly better light, though I still thought he was the enemy of women.

"So you swore a Star Pact? What was it about?" I asked. Byron sighed.

"That's correct, lass. I forged a xingyao mengyue. I understand that some shun the old ways and the ancient history. But reducing the solemn and divine contract, known as a xingya0, down to being a simple pact lessens its gravity. A xingyao is no simple promise. And treating it as such would be great folly.

The xingyao I forged was broken into three parts.

Firstly, never speak of any of the great taboos with anyone who does not know about them already. This was fulfilled upon you mentioning the name of one.

Secondly, should I encounter someone who knows any of the great taboos and is not already binded by a xingyao, I am to investigate them. I am to find out all information about their knowledge of the great taboos and where they learned the information.

Lastly, I am to attempt to force them to forge this xingyao themselves, and should I be unable to, I am to eliminate them or bring them to the nearest Aurion sect branch location. I have a responsibility as a member of the sect's upper echelons." He finished, the last condition causing my breath to hitch in my throat. He must have noticed my expression because he laughed.

"Ha! Don't worry lass, I can tell that my xingyao isn't currently in effect for some reason. Had it been, I would have already been questioning you. This is the greatest evidence you could have given me that what you say is truth. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can dissolve a xingyao once sworn. It's an oath for life." He said, calming my now racing heart.

"Does that mean you can tell us about all of the great taboos?" I asked, half joking. The room went dead silent at my question.

"Err… sorry that was a bad joke." I said, regretting being born at the moment. Thankfully Byron saved me from further embarrassment by answering my joke as if it was a genuine question.

"While I may not be bound by my xingyao, I will not tell you anything about the other taboos, but I will explain domain shattering. Letting you go around asking random people about one of the great taboos would be contradictory to what I swore, trial or not.

Domain shattering is an ability every cultivator…unlocks, for lack of a better term, upon reaching the domain solidification realm. By voluntarily shattering your solidified domain, and sacrificing your life, and soul, you can gather your entire cultivation within your body and release it in a massive explosion." He explained. That sounded horrific, but if it was just an explosion, then maybe we could still deal with it?

"Is there any way to stop the domain shattering when it has started? Maybe by running away? If we just get out of the city then we won't die will we?" I asked, and Byron shook his head.

"I think you're misunderstanding something. The explosion from domain shattering is not restricted to the size of a city. It wouldn't be considered a taboo in that case. No. If a domain solidification cultivator uses that technique. This entire planet will be eradicated from existence within the universe. It only gets worse if someone in the transcencion or god realm uses the technique. Whole systems or galaxies, or worse, may be affected. We don't know exactly how wide spread the impact would be. We've only seen domain solidification realm uses of this technique, and that was enough to get it listed as a great taboo." He explained and the room went silent again.

The implications of this knowledge was…but wait.

"If this is so powerful, why don't we see this being used in things like wars?" I asked, unsure of why any force wouldn't use such a powerful technique against their enemies.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

"W-what?" I asked, now self conscious.

"Lass, what cultivator who made it to the domain solidification realm through their own efforts would willingly kill themselves, and forgo their soul moving on or reincarnating or whatever they believe in? It's much more effective for them to fight their enemies directly." Byron explained. But that still didn't make total sense.

"If no one would do it, then why is it a taboo and why do you need to restrict information about it? Who cares if people know, they won't do it anyways." I argued.

"It's not restricted because of normal cultivators. Too many times in the past have transcencion realm cultivators forcibly raised up slaves and pawns to the domain solidification realm, even artificially, to use as portable bombs. Even if they are only half as strong as a shattering from a true domain solidification realm cultivator, the damage, and wanton destruction, they're capable of effecting was enough to have the information restricted more than half a millenia ago." He said.

That…I didn't have anything to say to. I suppose if you could force people to reach that realm but not be strong enough to break free from your control, you could use them, and domain shattering, as a weapon against your enemies.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence after that before Avarus spoke up.

"Can we assume that the explosion that you mentioned that has foiled all previous attempts to save the city is due to domain shattering?"

I nodded.

"Yes. Even if we slay all the demons, the city, and presumably the whole planet, is destroyed by a domain shattering." I said. Both of the nobles frowned.

"But who is doing it? One of the demonic cultivators? That doesn't make sense, why would they waste one of their powerful cultivators to destroy this planet?" Avarus asked, confusion clear in his voice.

Alexis stepped forward at this point.

"I suppose it would be impossible to keep it a secret anymore with what Astra is about to reveal. Loran Dreev was not killed at Illithorim. Instead, Calius has imprisoned him beneath the manor, after that, I don't know what he's been doing to him, but based on what Astra has told me, he's been torturing him for months in revenge." She said. Byron immediately stood, his chair nearly falling over in the abruptness of the movement.

"He dares?! Calius is well aware of the accords! If the sect hears about this he'll be-" He started before Alexis held up a hand to stop him.

"I know Byron. That's the main reason we didn't tell either of you. We didn't want to put you in the position of needing to lie to an inquisitor, or worse, you telling the sect about it."

That information seemed to mollify Byron, though he and Avarus still didn't look happy about it. I couldn't really follow what was happening and apparently Rin couldn't either.

"Why does it matter if he's torturing the man? I mean yeah torture it bad and I would stop it if I saw someone being tortured. But I assume this cultivator wasn't a good person? So I'm not sure why it's a big deal." She said. Avarus was the one to explain this time as well.

"The Accords are a set of rules and customs we have all agreed to abide by in order to deal with the demonic threat to the universe. One of those rules is that torture is forbidden. Don't ask me why, I'm unsure of it myself, but regardless of my personal feelings, should anyone beholden to the Accords be found guilty of torture, even of a demonic cultivator, they will be exiled from the Alliance, in the best case. Worst case, they're imprisoned for the rest of their life." He said. That stopped anything Rin or I would say in response. That seemed like a strangely harsh punishment for the crime committed.

"All this to say, according to Astra, Loran shatters his domain, destroying Shironia, and all of us, in the process. We have a preliminary plan we think may save the city, but we're going to have to try and convince Calius of its value." She said, grimacing.

This seemed to end the conversation, and after discussions about how to prepare the city for an imminent invasion after getting the city lord's permission just like always, we went off to the city lord's manor to plead our case with Calius.

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