The largest main building in Shifou City stood silent, its towering shadow cutting across the plaza like a blade.

Inside, behind the thick doors, a meeting was taking place—one that had already stretched on for three days and showed no sign of peace.

It was the meeting to decide the future layout of the Tenth-Floor City.

Around the enormous round table, ten figures sat—men and women, young and old.

All wore the same strained expression of pride and exhaustion.

Every day they argued.

Every night they scattered, unhappy.

And yet, every morning, they returned, pretending that words could make peace where ambition already ruled.

---

"Iliyi, you should withdraw from the council of the tenth floor."

The speaker, Waldo—the host of the first floor—spoke in his usual cold and measured tone.

His hair was as white as frost, his eyes dull as ash.

"Your Yi family no longer possesses a Tier Six powerhouse," he continued, voice calm but heavy. "It is no longer fitting for you to sit among us."

"Impossible!" Yi Liyi's voice trembled. "When the Tenth-Floor City was established, there was no such treaty!"

Her green eyes flashed with anger, but also something close to fear.

The Tenth-Floor City had been formed by the union of ten tribes, once equal, once cautious.

Each tribe had proposed its own treaty—to prevent any one from growing too strong.

But now?

Those treaties were like dust.

Words, long forgotten.

"There was no treaty," Waldo admitted, "but your Yi family is too weak now. Your presence damages the dignity of our tenth floor. You invite ideas that should not exist. We must preserve our authority."

He did not give her a chance to respond. His tone sliced through the silence like a decree.

"Moreover, it has already been decided—by everyone present—that you are to withdraw from the council."

---

Yi Liyi looked around the table.

Her eyes moved from face to face—faces she had once trusted, once called allies.

Now they met her gaze only with indifference.

That's when she understood.

They had already planned this together.

They wanted to swallow what remained of the Yi family's land—her ancestral plate, numbered 080.

The city was vast, but power had limits.

If one wanted to expand, one had to devour.

Her family had been fading for years.

Three years ago, her father—the original host of the Yi family—had vanished without a trace.

Everyone assumed him dead.

He left behind five sons and three daughters.

But the strange thing, the thing that haunted every whisper in the city, was that all eight of them—her brothers and sisters—had died, one after another, over the following three years.

No poison, no illness. Just… death.

Now, only Yi Liyi remained.

She was the strongest of them all, having reached the fifth rank, perhaps the only reason she still breathed.

Every day she woke numb.

Every day she fought to keep the family name alive.

Every day she stood against the other nine hosts—alone.

---

"Iliyi," Waldo said again, his voice sharp with tired patience. "Some things are better let go. You're the last of your bloodline. You should think about preserving it."

Three days.

Three days of arguing.

No one wanted to waste more time.

"I will not leave." Yi Liyi's voice was soft, but firm.

If she left, she knew what would come.

Her family's remaining lands would be seized, her people erased.

Even if she tried to flee the Tenth-Floor City, she would never make it out alive.

There were too many who wanted her dead before she crossed the gates.

---

Knock, knock.

The sudden sound cut through the suffocating air.

Waldo frowned. "Didn't I say not to disturb us unless it's important?"

A breathless voice came from beyond the door.

"It is important! Urgent!"

"It's Cheng Mao," someone murmured.

"Then let him in," Waldo said curtly.

Yi Liyi's heart leapt.

Perhaps, finally, a distraction.

The door creaked open.

Cheng Mao rushed in, his clothes dusty, his expression grim.

He had fought his way past the guards to reach this room.

"Hosts! Everyone—listen!" he shouted. "An ancient barbaric beast is coming toward the Tenth-Floor City!"

"What?"

"Another beast?"

The room erupted in disbelief.

Some turned suspicious eyes toward Yi Liyi, as if she had staged this to escape.

"It's true!" Cheng Mao roared. His voice cracked. "If we don't act, the ancient beast will reach the gates before sundown!"

---

Yi Liyi's breath caught.

The last time such beasts had appeared, entire settlements had vanished.

"Where is it now?" she demanded.

"Near the city already," Cheng Mao replied, his chest heaving.

"Then we must go!" Yi Liyi rose abruptly.

She thought—if the city fell into chaos, maybe she could use that moment to escape with her people.

Before the others realized what she was doing.

But Waldo moved first, blocking the doorway.

"You can't go," he said coldly.

The others were already whispering.

Was the beast real?

Or was it another of Yi Liyi's tricks, another excuse to leave the meeting?

She had tried before—sick relatives, supply shortages, sudden raids—all excuses to leave the room.

Was this another?

But Cheng Mao's eyes widened as he pointed toward the window.

"It's too late!" he cried.

They rushed to the balcony.

And there—far in the horizon—they saw it.

A shadow so vast it swallowed the earth.

The ground shook as it approached.

A monstrous tortoise of stone and sand, each step a quake.

"This city… it's going to be destroyed," one host whispered in horror.

Panic spread.

"Everyone—arm your people!" Waldo barked. "We have to stop it before it reaches the gate!"

He was already running, the others following close behind.

Yi Liyi tried to slip away in the confusion, but two hosts caught her arms.

"Come," they said, dragging her along.

---

The hosts and their guards poured out of the hall, gathering near the city's entrance.

The ground trembled as the ancient beast drew closer.

And then—

It stopped.

"What's happening? Why isn't it moving?" one of them asked.

"Look!" Cheng Mao pointed upward. "There are flags—on its back."

Flags.

Black, red, and gold—fluttering from tall poles planted on the creature's shell.

"There must be someone controlling it," Cheng Mao said grimly.

"I saw it too," Waldo muttered.

He'd noticed from the balcony before.

If the beast was under human control, this wasn't a random attack.

It was a message.

And if he hadn't seen those flags himself, perhaps he would've already taken the city's treasures and fled.

---

"What do we do?" someone asked.

"What's their purpose? What do they want?"

"Send someone to find out," Waldo replied after a long pause.

A cold silence followed.

No one moved.

"Who should go?" another asked, already stepping backward.

Waldo's eyes narrowed. Then, slowly, they turned toward Yi Liyi.

"Iliyi," he said quietly.

"If you handle this well, you won't need to withdraw from the council."

The words froze her in place.

A trap.

Her lips parted, but no words came.

Everyone's eyes were on her—expectant, relieved.

No one else wanted to go.

"I… I'll go," she said finally.

She had no choice.

If she refused, she would be branded a coward.

If she accepted, she might die.

But at least this way, she could still protect what remained of her family's name.

---

"Young host, I'll go with you," Cheng Mao said suddenly.

Yi Liyi shook her head. "No. You have a wife and children."

Her voice softened, almost breaking. "There's no need for you to risk—"

"As your retainer," Cheng Mao interrupted, "this is my duty."

She looked at him for a long time, then lowered her eyes.

Behind him, a group of thirty retainers pushed through the crowd, weapons in hand, ready to follow.

Her throat tightened.

This—

This was why she had endured all this time.

Because there were still people who believed in her.

The world might be cruel.

But loyalty—loyalty was still something pure.

---

"Then let's go," she said finally.

Her voice trembled, but her steps did not.

Cheng Mao gave a deep bow. "Young host, go forward boldly."

Yi Liyi nodded once.

She lifted her head and walked straight toward the monstrous silhouette that loomed outside the gate—

each step steady, each heartbeat louder than the last.

The others watched her go, whispering to themselves.

Some with pity.

Some with disdain.

Some, perhaps, with the faintest twinge of regret.

And as the wind howled through the broken streets, carrying the dust of the old world, Yi Liyi walked into it—

like a woman walking to her own funeral.

The sky above the Tenth-Floor City darkened.

The flags on the beast's back fluttered.

And in that eerie silence before the storm, something far older than hatred began to stir.

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