The Truth Behind the Attack

As the sun sank below the horizon, the White Demon Eagles burst from their Nest and poured out into the deepening dark, riding the night as it tightened its hold over the land.

The twilight sky filled with white feathers from edge to edge — a vast, roiling cloud of them, thick enough to blot out the heavens as it rolled inexorably forward. The swarm of White Demon Eagles advanced in breathtaking, terrible silence, magnificent in a way that left the blood cold.

This assault was more ferocious than anything that had come before. The pale birds multiplied upon themselves, swooping down like blood-drunk demons born of nightfall, as though they had caught the scent of the most irresistible feast imaginable. They swept over mountain ranges, over the forests to the west, bearing down with unstoppable momentum — yet the Western Fortress, the most critical line of defense on that flank, remained gripped by the terror of plague.

The Military Mages steeled themselves and took their positions along the long tower-line of the western wall. Against aerial creatures, Basic-Level and Intermediate-Level Mages could do little — and yet the Western Fortress drew the bulk of its fighting strength from exactly those ranks. Now, the Fortress could only send its absolute elite to stand at the sparse watchtowers. More than any formal defensive line, those towers were the true bulwark holding back the White Demon Eagle Legion.

A thin scattering of Mages floated above the Western Fortress, holding their ground with grim resolve. Without Celestial Eagles as mounts, even some High-Level Mages found themselves unable to enter the frontline. Every face among them was taut, bloodless. It would be a lie to say fear hadn't crept in as that vast white tide surged toward them — the White Demon Eagles were simply too many. Even a High-Level Mage could fall in a battle like this.

Humans and Demon-Beasts stood arrayed against each other, and the human side was desperately thin. It looked less like a battle and more like a slaughter already decided. Yet not one Mage dared retreat so much as a single step. Behind this line stood too many people who could not protect themselves. If the White Demon Eagles broke through, what followed would be the true massacre — blood enough to float a city.

In the Western Fortress strategic conference chamber, Councillor Zhu Meng stood before a window that looked out all the way to the horizon. His expression had never been so grave. He drew a long drag from his cigarette, then crushed it out immediately and turned to face the room.

"Wu Pinjing," he said. "Come with me to the front."

"Councillor, you cannot take the battlefield yourself," said Palace Guard Ah Li Jin.

"At a time like this, who has the luxury of standing back? If I don't act, who else is going to deal with that Sovereign-class beast?"

"Agreed," said Yun Feng, the Western Fortress's military advisor. "We need to handle both the full-scale assault by the White Demon Eagle Legion and find a way to stop that Sovereign-class eagle. Councillor, I suggest you, Wu Pinjing, Chief Adjudicator Tang Zhong, and Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian take on the Sovereign together."

All four nodded in unison. They were ready to fight the Sovereign creature to the death.

Ah Li Tian glanced at Councillor Zhu Meng, then at Yun Feng, and spoke.

"This swarm is bearing down on us with everything it has. Before anyone in this room charges out to fight — has anyone stopped to wonder why creatures that have lived quietly in Xi Ling for so long are suddenly throwing themselves at our city without restraint?"

"These beasts are cunning," said Yun Feng. "They saw an opening. With so many of our people struck down by the plague, our combat strength has taken a severe blow — of course they'd seize a chance like this. They've had designs on this city for a long time. The calm before this was only them lulling us into complacency."

Councillor Zhu Meng looked over at Ah Li Tian and asked, with quiet deliberateness: "Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian — it sounds like you know something."

"My subordinate Leng Qing has already uncovered the truth behind this plague, with the help of several capable young Mages." Ah Li Tian's voice was hard and certain. "The plague is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made one."

*The plague is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made one.*

The words rang through the conference chamber. Every face in the room shifted.

"Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian — what exactly do you mean by that?" Yun Feng asked, visibly shaken.

"By now, I expect everyone here is aware that the outbreak across the Western Fortress was triggered by the batch of Blood Serum delivered recently. That Blood Serum contained the infected blood of a creature called the Ling Claw Plague Rat. Once that diseased blood fully took hold within the human body, it manifested as this terrible plague..."

Before Ah Li Tian could finish, the goateed Councillor Luo Mian cut in sharply: "The most urgent matter right now is dealing with the White Demon Eagles. The plague can wait."

Ah Li Tian looked at him. It was the look of someone watching a guilty man perform innocence. A cold laugh escaped his lips, and he continued.

"What none of you realize is that the reason the White Demon Eagles have emptied their entire Nest is *because of the plague itself.*"

"The Ling Claw Plague Rat is the White Demon Eagle's most prized prey. More than that — the eagles can absorb the infected blood of plague rats and convert it into a source of power, strengthening themselves directly."

"So the moment a White Demon Eagle catches the scent of Ling Claw Plague Rat blood, it will throw itself after that scent without a second thought. Our entire city is full of infected people — and every drop of blood in their veins has been transformed into the same diseased blood as a Ling Claw Plague Rat."

Ah Li Tian paused there. His gaze had not left Luo Mian for a single moment. Every piece of this — the plague, the invasion, the carnage unfolding outside — had been wrought by Luo Mian's greed. And here that man sat in this conference chamber as though none of it had anything to do with him, having set up Deputy Chief Adjudicator Wang Yi as his scapegoat, letting the Totem Xuan Serpent — sacred guardian of the Totem clan — bear the weight of crimes it never committed. Such a human face hiding a beast's heart. Even Ah Li Tian, a Chief Adjudicator, could barely contain the urge to execute him on the spot.

"The reason the White Demon Eagles launched this assault on such a massive scale," Ah Li Tian said, and his voice blazed with barely leashed fury, "is that they have mistaken every infected person in this city for a Ling Claw Plague Rat — as food, as prey, as a resource to gorge themselves on and grow stronger!!"

The room fell utterly silent. No one could find words for what they had just heard.

"You're saying... the White Demon Eagles are attacking us *because of the plague victims*?" Councillor Zhu Meng said, disbelief written across his face.

"Exactly. Has no one noticed? Their target was never the Western Fortress itself. And now — now that we have transferred all the infected from Bai Town and the Western Fortress to Hangzhou — their target has already shifted. The White Demon Eagles are heading for Hangzhou!!"

Hangzhou was in danger. There was no room left for official courtesies. Ah Li Tian had come to this meeting for one purpose: to expose Councillor Luo Mian's wolfish ambitions before every person in this room, and to make unmistakably clear what had truly caused this Demon-Beast war.

As a Mage, Ah Li Tian believed it was every Mage's duty to lay down their life against Demon-Beast incursions. But that did not mean Mages were obligated to sacrifice their precious lives for a disaster entirely of human making.