"No enemy breached our gates. No sword split our walls. We were not conquered. We chose to bleed—so the war would end somewhere else."
— The Last Inscription, etched beneath the red stone of Karaveth
🏙️ Eastern Lowlands – The Ruined Walls of Karaveth
The city once glowed like a lantern between continents—a stronghold of trade, alchemy, and martial harmony.
Now it stood hollow.
No bodies.
No wreckage.
No signs of siege.
Just a vast basin where a city should be—flattened.
Stained crimson.
And eerily silent.
It wasn't just destroyed.
It was emptied.
As if every soul had decided, in one breath, to bleed out and disappear.
And yet… the wind still carried music.
Not a song.
But a chant.
🧭 Arrival – Jin Mu-Won and the Hollow-Bound Four
They stood on the ridge above the basin, where once a watchtower had protected travelers from Voidborn beasts. The tower was now a melted spine of rusted steel.
Jin frowned.
"It's not a curse," he said softly.
"It's a vow."
Su Ren narrowed her eyes.
"You're saying they… did this to themselves?"
Ash-Eye's voice was low:
"Karaveth was the only city-state that refused to pick a side during the Nine Pact Collapse. They believed neutrality would buy them peace."
Lin Xue stepped into the dust.
"They didn't buy peace. They bought silence."
"No," Jin corrected.
"They became the silence."
📜 Lore Entry – Karaveth's Final Doctrine: "The Red Breath"
A forbidden collective technique.
Rather than cultivate for strength, Karaveth's elite trained their qi in bloodsong harmonics—a way to link life essence between hundreds, even thousands of individuals.
When the threat of civil war reached their gates, the Grandmasters of Karaveth invoked the Red Breath:
A shared sacrifice.
Each cultivator dissolved their qi, their soul, and their memory into one chant.
The city didn't fall.
It bled itself empty.
Voluntarily.
To deny the world the satisfaction of conquest.
🌀 Echo Surge – Bloodsong Residue Detected
Warning: Harmonic Vow Field Detected – Entry May Trigger Forced Memory Fusion
Echo Memory Pulse Compatible – Hollow Core Threshold Sufficient
Chant Detected: "Let the war stop with us. Let the war stop with us."
Jin stepped into the basin first.
The others followed.
And the chanting grew louder.
Not from around them.
But from within.
🌪️ Trial of the Bloodsong Echo
The landscape shimmered—turning from broken city to whole memory.
They stood now in Karaveth Before the Silence.
Vibrant streets.
Sky lanterns.
Children learning fist forms under the red-roofed academy.
And before them: a woman in deep crimson robes, her eyes closed as she sang with thousands.
"Let the war stop with us…"
"Let the war stop with us…"
Lin Xue whispered, shaking:
"These aren't illusions."
Su Ren clutched her head.
"They're trying to pull us into their final decision."
"Then we answer with our own," Jin said.
He walked to the center of the courtyard where the chant echoed loudest—
—and sang back.
But not their song.
His own:
"Let the war stop… when the names are remembered."
"Let the silence hold… only what must be mourned."
⚔️ Echo Clash – Red Breath vs. Hollow Song
The basin erupted into crimson light.
Spirits of Karaveth emerged—not hostile, not lost, but caught in eternal choice.
Their song clashed with Jin's voice, each syllable a battle of philosophy.
Their chant: "Forget. Forgive. Fall away."
His chant: "Remember. Bear. Endure."
Each time they struck, echoes of the war they had sought to avoid rose around them—images of the Nine Pact generals, of sects burned, of cities screaming.
But Jin's flame held.
Not bright.
But constant.
🧠 Hollow Crown Surge – Mourner's Crown Reaches Deeper
Threshold Crossed: Mourner's Crown Awakened – 61%
New Trait: Burden of the Singing Dead
Jin can now channel the memory field of fallen cities into defensive spiritual fields or emotional mirroring barriers
Also grants temporary communion with mass-sacrifice remnants
Jin bowed to the central figure of Karaveth's bloodsong.
"You bled to spare the world your war."
"I remember you."
"So no one else has to die for silence again."
The woman opened her eyes.
Smiled.
And vanished.
📜 Echo Gained – Oath of the Bloodsong City
[You have gained: Harmonized Echo – Red Breath Core Fragment]
Effect: Passive resilience to mass trauma fields, illusion collapse, and blood-bond manipulations
Active Technique Unlocked: "Chant of Ended Wars" – Spiritual barrier that neutralizes rage-based qi within its radius
Compatible with Mourner's Crown: +7% Harmonization
Mourner's Crown Awakening: 68%
New Emotional Link Unlocked: Peace-Bearer Tier
🌍 World Response
In the archives of the Sect of Black Feathers, red ink spills from sealed scrolls.
Ten surviving Karaveth refugees—elder monks in hiding—wake simultaneously with tears in their eyes.
The capital of the Southern Alliance goes quiet for one hour. No law passed. No battle fought. No voices raised.
And on the wind, a whisper:
"They remembered us."
As Jin and his companions left the basin, the city remained empty.
But no longer lost.
Its name, once bled out into silence, had been restored.
And for the first time since the Pact Wars began, the winds carried not war—but a requiem.