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Chapter 23 - Dusk Before Fire

The hours before the second Blood Moon stretched thin across Blackridge, as if the world itself were holding its breath. Pale morning light struggled through the ash clouds, giving the camp a strange hush. Riku stood at the center of it all, watching the forge's pulse steady like a waiting heart.

He barely slept the night before. Instead, he traced the perimeter alone, checking each defense. The obsidian-shard traps gleamed faintly in the dust, pressure triggers hidden beneath volcanic grit. The reinforced walls stood quiet but ready, their heat-sinks humming just below the threshold of visible light.

Above, the global system's latest pulse flickered across the sky like a dying star.

[Blood Moon: 1 Hour Until Rise.]

There were no rank notifications this time. No alliances declared. Just the countdown. The kind that wrapped itself around your chest and stayed there.

Riku stepped into the open training yard, where the core of AshEdge's fighters waited. Kael, already suited in his battle-worn armor, gave a sharp nod. Sira's patrol stood beside him, their drake-hide cloaks drawn close against the morning chill.

The camp was quiet. They didn't need a speech. But still, he spoke.

"Tonight, we don't defend a camp. We defend what we've made here. Every trap you laid, every beast you tamed, every blade you hammered—this is ours." His voice didn't rise, but the weight in it made men and women straighten their backs. "We fight. We endure. And when the Blood Moon fades, they'll know who we are."

There was no roar of approval. Just a quiet, unified nod. They understood.

He dismissed them to their stations and walked toward the seed chamber.

The fire-root sapling stood taller now, its leaves glowing faintly with veins of heat-light. It was small still, fragile, but alive—its pulse matching the forge. They'd planted it at the heart of Blackridge, fed it with ash-fertilizer and steam-heat, and in return, it had begun to radiate the steady warmth that powered their defenses.

The egg rested nearby, swaddled in the forge-cloth, still unhatched. Riku adjusted the heat coils surrounding it, maintaining its stability. No signs of movement yet, but it would hatch soon. He could feel it.

A quiet pulse flickered across his private system, brief and unnoticed by those outside.

[Resource Multiplied: Fire-root Seeds ×2 | Quantity Adjusted Automatically.]

He checked the nearby satchel where they'd stored the remaining seeds—what had been a dozen was now two dozen, each glowing faintly with latent heat.

He didn't comment on it aloud. Kael and Sira didn't need to know the details of how or why yet.

Outside, drills resumed. Elite fighters ran through defense formations, adjusting to the heavier glaives and fold-enhanced armor. The prototype glaives, now refined, moved smoother through the air. Ash drifted across the yard, soft as dust but sharp when inhaled.

Riku stood atop the south rampart as the sun fell behind the crater rim. Shadows stretched long across the basin.

He could feel them—out there. Sovereigns unknown, hidden behind mountain ridges and volcanic plains. Some preparing for war, others simply hoping to survive the night.

But none of them knew where AshEdge lay.

That was the difference.

They didn't know.

The final hour passed in silence.

At the edge of the basin, the sky burned crimson.

The Blood Moon rose—full and vast, a silent judge hanging above the cracked earth.

Blackridge's defenses powered up with a steady hum. Traps armed. Walls sealed. Sentinels took their posts, quiet but ready.

And Riku remained where he stood, watching, waiting.

Tonight would decide everything.

Not just survival.

Dominion.

And in the forge below, the egg shifted for the first time.

A faint crack split the obsidian shell.

And something ancient stirred.

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