The Blood Moon rose like a wound over the horizon — a hanging, pulsing red mass, dull at its edges but glowing deep in the core. The trees didn't whisper. They held their breath. Even the winds stopped.
By the time the message hit the Sovereign channels, Riku had already armed his tribe.
[GLOBAL SYSTEM ALERT]
[BLOOD MOON WAVE I – INCOMING]
– Estimated Threat Class: Tier-1 to Tier-3
– Entry Points: Unknown
– Wave Duration: 8 Hours
– Rewards Scaled to Performance
Ranking Enabled: Top 1000 Displayed Publicly
– Metrics: Kill Count / Defensive Integrity / Tactical Events
– Hidden Metric: Casualty Efficiency Ratio
Riku read the notice as he stood above the war chamber platform, a spiraling ring of root and iron that overlooked the entire settlement from the canopy's second tier. Behind him, strategy boards glowed with real-time unit markers, and fireflies embedded in the bark lit up the defense grid.
The grove had been divided into six sectors, each linked by high platforms and bridged rootwalks. Two towers covered each entrance. Folded Emberfronts (x44) manned every quadrant, reinforced by a rotating pool of Emberwrights for flamecasting defense and trap activation.
Riku's own weapon was a folded obsidian dagger, belt-mounted and ghost-silent in draw. It had already proven itself once. Tonight, it might prove itself again.
Hour 1 – The Soundless Advance
The first enemy emerged without sound.
It was shaped like a beast — four legs, pale, fur like snow soaked in wine. But it didn't breathe. Didn't pant. Didn't snarl. It moved like it had never been alive.
Then came more. Two. Four. Nine.
By the time Riku blinked again, there were thirty-three, fanning across the southern ridge in perfect silence.
Riku raised his hand. "Do not fire."
He waited.
Not out of fear — but data.
Blood Moon entities didn't follow natural logic. He had to see what triggered aggression.
Then one of the beasts turned, looked up at the west tower — and charged.
"Loose!"
The archer unit fired bone bolts — half of them struck true. The creature collapsed, disintegrating into threads of red gas. The rest scattered, then regrouped in a curve.
They learned.
They calculated.
The defense line tightened.
Hour 2 – Kill Ratio Rising
For the next two hours, the beasts attacked in increasingly intelligent waves.
One group leaped, trying to land behind the archers.
Another tried to burrow under the barricades with hooked claws.
A third flung corpses of their own kind at wall pressure points.
Riku adapted. Every maneuver countered with controlled precision. Emberfronts moved with Folded coordination, rotating stances, exchanging forward shields without callouts.
[Tribe Kill Count: 191]
[Ranking: #3 Global]
[Riku's Score: 217 Points]
Then came the real threat.
A Tier-3 Bloodspawn, marked with five glowing nodes along its neck and ribs, crawled into view from the northern ridge.
It walked on hands made of bone rings. Its face was a single vertical slit.
And it spoke — in a mimicry of a Lorian child's voice.
"Soooooo-ver-eign. Helloooooo."
It lunged at the north tower.
Juran met it mid-air.
He didn't kill it — but he broke two of its limbs. The Emberfronts swarmed, and together they overwhelmed it. The final blow came from a flamespear driven through its eye slit.
Riku personally burned the corpse.
He earned +20 points.
Hour 4.5 – Fold Trigger
A sudden, fierce breach from the western edge — a pile of dead monsters erupted outward. They'd been hiding within the corpses. Ten seconds of chaos. Two Emberfronts down. One Emberwright crushed under a falling rootbeam.
Then—
[FOLD TRIGGERED – EMERGENCY STRUCTURE ADAPTATION]
Target: Guardpost Tower (West)
Fold Type: QUANTITY (x2)
– Duplicate tower grown and rooted adjacent
– Auto-lock targeting copied
– Dual coverage achieved
Bonus Passive: Sightline Overwatch (All ranged units within range gain +20% accuracy in fog/night)
A second tower emerged as if it had been sleeping underground, rising like a breathless twin beside the first.
Even the defenders looked confused.
But they obeyed orders.
Together, both towers blanketed the west sector with precision volleys, stopping the breach entirely.
Riku checked his HUD:
Current Score: 368 Points
Casualties: 3 Lost (Total)
Ranking: #2 Global
No one else knew how his towers multiplied. And no one would know.
Hour 7.5 – The Red Wall
The final enemy wave arrived just before the blood moon began to fade.
A living wall of stitched corpses and sinew. It moved in one mass, a thousand limbs crawling, screaming, tearing, dragging. No beast. No shape. Just pain made mobile.
The wall hit the southern perimeter — and broke through.
Riku dove personally into the breach. His dagger sliced through tendon after tendon. Every cut triggered Wound Echo — enemies dropped without ever being touched again.
When the breach was resealed, Riku collapsed, panting, covered in black-red fluid.
His screen lit one final time.
[BLOOD MOON SURVIVAL COMPLETE]
Riku's Tribe Ranking: #2 out of 2,319,704
Final Score: 504 Points
Reward Tier: GOLD
Received:
– 2x Feralcore Shards (use on elite troops to unlock advanced traits)
– 1x Territory Claim Token (next zone unlock: Sulfur Cliffs)
– 80x High-Yield Manaroots (used for crafting, healing, energy)
– 1x FOLD TICKET (Manual: Use to fold any owned item/unit at will)
Riku stared longest at the Fold Ticket.
One guaranteed Fold.
For any thing he owned.
And with five days until the next wave, he already knew exactly what needed to evolve next.