The Dying City’s Heart

(MC's POV)

The blood on my blade was already drying. The metallic scent clung to my hands, to my clothes, sinking into my skin like an old sin that refused to be washed away. Around us, the bodies of the thugs lay twisted and broken, steam rising from the warmth still in them.

Zhao Yue was still staring at her fingers, flexing them as if she expected the energy she had released to turn against her. I watched her for a moment. The world wouldn't wait for her to come to terms with her power.

Neither would I.

"We move," I said. "The bodies won't stay cold for long."

Chen Rui crouched beside one of the corpses, slipping a few knives free from the dead man's belt. "Won't be long before someone else comes sniffing around." His voice was light, but his grip on the blades was firm.

Yusheng rolled his shoulders, cracking his knuckles. "Let them."

"No." I met his gaze. "We're not here to start a war."

Lin Hua scoffed. "We just did."

I glanced at the alley where the others had run. Cowards lived longer in places like this, but their survival always came at someone else's cost. They wouldn't forget what we did here. Neither would the city.

Mei shifted beside me. She had barely spoken since we entered Iron Haven. Her fingers clenched around the strap of her bag, where her medical supplies were stashed, but she didn't reach for them. Her silence was heavier than the corpses.

I turned away. This city was already changing us. It was changing me.

The Beating Heart of Iron Haven

The deeper we went, the more Iron Haven revealed its sickness.

Towering above the slums, past the labyrinth of filth and despair, the fortress loomed. It was a grotesque thing of rusted steel and rotting banners, standing as a monument to those who had carved this city from the bones of the weak. The leaders of Iron Haven lived there, hidden behind walls while the rest of the city bled.

And if the rumors were true, they didn't just rule this place. They fed it.

"We need to reach the upper district," Lin Hua said, keeping her voice low as we approached the gates separating the lower slums from the market quarter.

Chen Rui grinned. "You planning to knock?"

I stepped forward, pressing my hand against the rusted metal. The Divine Crystal pulsed beneath my skin. A low hum stirred in my bones, something beneath the surface of my mind—an awareness that hadn't been there before.

[ System Notification ]

The gates before you are marked with blood and sacrifice.

The city watches. The gods whisper.

A familiar, cold weight settled in my chest.

The Outer Gods.

They weren't just watching.

They were waiting.

The Blood Toll

A voice rang out from the watchtower above. "State your business."

A guard leaned over the ledge, his armor a patchwork of salvaged metal and leather. The insignia of Iron Haven's ruling faction—a bleeding sun—was etched into his shoulder. His eyes were black.

Not the dull brown of rot and malnutrition. Not the milky white of disease.

Pure, ink-drenched black.

My grip on my blade tightened. The others noticed it too. Zhao Yue's breath hitched, and Yusheng's muscles tensed.

We had fought the desperate and the damned before. But this? This was something else.

"Passage is restricted," the guard said, his voice hollow, empty. "The toll must be paid."

Below the watchtower, a man was kneeling. Shackles bound his wrists and neck, his face bruised and swollen from repeated beatings. His clothes were torn, but I could tell from the remnants of fine fabric that he hadn't always been a beggar.

One of the other guards held a rusted dagger to his throat. The blade was already wet.

Yusheng exhaled slowly. "They want us to kill him."

A test.

Or a lesson.

The weak existed to serve as stepping stones. If we wanted to pass, we had to prove we understood that.

The prisoner looked up, blood dripping from his split lip. His gaze found mine. "Please," he croaked. "I just wanted to leave."

I didn't move.

I felt Zhao Yue's gaze on me, waiting. Mei's breath was barely audible behind me.

I had no intention of killing a man just because these bastards wanted me to.

But I also wasn't walking away.

"You need a sacrifice?" My voice was low, steady. I pulled the Divine Crystal from my chest and held it in my palm. "Then take this."

The guards above flinched. A murmur passed between them, uncertainty flickering in their blackened eyes.

I stepped forward. "You worship power. Here it is."

For a moment, nothing moved. Then—

[ System Notification ]

You have invoked an unspoken rule.

The city shifts. The fort watches.

The guard lowered his dagger.

"The path is open," he said.

The shackles fell away.

The prisoner sobbed, collapsing onto the dirt. The guards didn't touch him. They didn't even look at him. He was already beneath their notice.

I turned away before he could thank me.

Zhao Yue fell in beside me. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "That crystal… you knew they wouldn't take it."

I kept walking. "Did I?"

I had gambled.

And the city had played along.

For now.

The City's Hidden Rot

The market district of Iron Haven wasn't cleaner than the slums. The filth was just better dressed.

Merchants peddled weapons laced with poison. Courtesans whispered promises laced with venom. And in the back alleys, deals were made with forces that no longer remembered what it meant to be human.

We passed a group of men huddled in the shadow of a crumbling temple. A black symbol had been drawn onto the stone in something that looked too thick to be paint. The Outer Gods' mark.

Lin Hua tensed. "This city is a grave."

"No," I murmured. "A feast."

The Outer Gods didn't just take.

They fed.

Iron Haven had let them in.

And now, they were devouring it from the inside out.

A Step Toward the Truth

We had taken a step deeper into the city. Into the festering rot at its heart.

And we weren't leaving until I found out just how deep the sickness ran.

Until I found the Divine Crystal hidden in this place.

Until I tore out whatever filth was keeping this corpse of a city alive.

Iron Haven had been waiting for us.

But it had no idea what it had just let in.