The jagged stump of iron slipped from Ye Chen's numb fingers, clattering uselessly against the broken marble.
He leaned his back against the shattered balustrade, drawing in ragged, shallow breaths that sent spikes of fiery agony through his fractured ribs.
Around him on the ruined terrace, the air smelled of scorched stone, sulfur, and copper, while fifty paces away, Su Rou stood bathed in the sickly crimson glare of the lunar eclipse.
"Look at you, Ye Chen," Su Rou spoke, her voice layered with that grating, multi tonal demonic echo that vibrated against the stone pillars. "No iron slab to hide behind, no commoner army to bail you out, and your dantian is running on dry fumes."
Ye Chen spat a thick mouthful of blood onto the gravel, his dark eyes looking directly into hers without a
