The wet, frantic gasping of Su Rou echoed across the high stone rafters, cutting through the thick sulfur smoke that filled the vaulted chamber.
She rolled across the cold basalt floorboards in hysterical agony, her left hand clutching the spurting, jagged stump where her right shoulder had been cleaved away.
Dark arterial blood pooled around her knees, soaking into her fine raven skin armor and staining her pale face with crimson smears.
"My shoulder... my arm..." Su Rou wailed, her voice breaking into a shrill, ragged sob that held no trace of her former noble dignity. "You cut off my arm... you filthy outer peak dog... you severed my arm..."
Ye Chen stood five paces away, his heavy rusted broadsword resting point down on the flagstones.
He did not look at her weeping face, nor did
