*Chapter 47: The Serpent’s Feast**
The Sun Eaters descended like locusts, their banners—a serpent devouring a sun—casting jagged shadows over the canyon. Their war drums echoed through the narrow pass, a primal rhythm that shook the stones beneath the alliance's feet. Li Tian lay propped against a boulder, the Aeternum Core pulsing weakly at his chest, its light dimmed by his fraying lifeforce. Xiaoling's voice whispered through the artifact, taut with urgency: *"Gege, they're using the Sovereign's rites. Their qi… it's corrupted."*
Lady Ruolan's vines lashed the air, her blightbane spores wilting in the heat. "Form defensive lines! Verdant Lotus, poison the eastern ridge! Iron Citadel, hold the center!"
General Kael's mechanized legion roared to life, their artillery charging with a chorus of whines. "Eat fire, you sun-snuffing bastards!"
The canyon erupted in chaos.
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**The Sun Eaters' Onslaught**
The Sun Eaters fought with fanatical ferocity, their bodies sheathed in molten armor that dripped like lava. Their leader, a hulking figure crowned with obsidian horns, wielded a chainsword forged from a dying star's core. Each swing carved trenches into the earth, scattering Iron Citadel mechanoids like broken toys.
"Focus fire on the warlord!" Kael barked, his own cannon overheating as he blasted searing plasma.
The warlord laughed, absorbing the barrage into his armor. "Fleas. You dare challenge the Devourer's chosen?"
Ruolan's vines ensnared his legs, but his armor incinerated them. "We need the Core's power, Tian!"
Li Tian gripped the artifact, its energy searing his veins. "Xiaoling… now!"
The Core flared, releasing a wave of light that disintegrated a wave of Sun Eaters. But the backlash hurled Li Tian against the canyon wall, blood streaking his chin.
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**The Blood Moon's Gambit**
The Blood Moon assassins, reduced to a handful after the desert trials, struck from the shadows. Their leader, a wiry woman named Vela, plunged her dagger into the warlord's armor joint. "For Jiao Long!"
The warlord backhanded her into a boulder. "Traitorous vermin."
Vela's body crumpled, but her dagger's venom pulsed through his armor. He staggered, molten plates cooling to brittle slag.
"Now!" Ruolan hurled blightbane pods into the cracks. The warlord screamed as the spores devoured his qi from within.
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**The Tide Turns**
The alliance pressed the advantage, driving the Sun Eaters into the canyon's narrowest choke point. Kael's artillery pummeled them, while Ruolan's disciples seeded the air with paralytic pollen.
But the Sun Eaters' high priestess emerged, her skeletal hands weaving a sigil of voidfire. The canyon's walls trembled, disgorging serpentine constructs of living magma.
"Fall back!" Kael roared, but the retreat path was cut off by collapsing stone.
Li Tian struggled to his feet, the Core's light guttering. "Xiaoling… one more burst."
*"You'll die,"* she pleaded.
"Do it."
The Core detonated in a supernova of light, vaporizing the magma serpents. The high priestess shrieked as her voidfire imploded, consuming her.
Li Tian collapsed, the Core darkening.
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**The Cost**
Dawn revealed the canyon strewn with corpses—Sun Eater and alliance alike. Vela's body lay half-buried, her dagger still clutched in rigor. Ruolan knelt beside Li Tian, her vines feeding him meager qi.
"The Core's dormant," she said. "Whatever you did… it may never wake."
Kael kicked a Sun Eater banner. "They'll regroup. We need to move."
Li Tian's breath rattled. "North… to the Skybreaker Citadel. The Emperor's archives there… hold a way to reignite the Core."
Xiaoling's voice, faint as stardust, echoed: *"And if they don't?"*
He didn't answer.
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**End of Chapter 47**
*Preview of Chapter 48: Pursued by Sun Eater remnants, the alliance races to the Skybreaker Citadel. Li Tian deciphers the Emperor's cryptic archives, forging a weapon from the Core's ashes—but its power demands a sacrifice even he may refuse to pay.*
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