Chapter 87: Shadows Beneath the Ice

The next dawn brought snow—and with it, silence. Lunaris always shimmered under snowfall, but this time, the frost whispered of something darker.

Shisui and Commander Ellyn led a covert squad through the lower districts of the capital. Using his heightened senses from the Cryo Sovereignty, Shisui detected fluctuations in spiritual energy hidden beneath layers of glamour and distortion seals.

They found their first clue in a ruined chapel—arcane sigils burned into the floor, forming an incomplete summoning circle. Ellyn crouched beside it, her expression hard.

"Voidwalkers," she muttered. "These aren't just traitors… they're summoning corrupted beasts."

Suddenly, one of the archways exploded in frost and flame. A hooded figure darted through the smoke, throwing a barrage of cursed kunai toward the squad. Shisui moved first, flickering through the air with Body Flicker speed and deflecting the weapons mid-flight.

"Alive," he snapped. "I want answers."

He launched Mirror Lotus Incarnate—an ice clone burst into existence, mimicked his own taijutsu form, and slammed the assassin into the stone wall. The clone shattered, impaling the enemy with tracking shards that froze the man's limbs.

"Talk," Shisui growled, frost forming around his eyes.

The captured rogue gasped, bleeding and panicked. "You… don't understand. Malgrith… was just a herald. The real masters—they dwell beneath the Obsidian Vale. They want the princess… her soul's resonance is key—"

Before he could finish, his body ignited from within and crumbled into ash.

"Curse seal," Ellyn spat. "Someone didn't want him talking."

Shisui stared at the remains, ice gathering around his boots unconsciously.

This wasn't just politics anymore.

It was war—spiritual, ancient, and tied to Irylia's very essence.

And Shisui, bearer of the Cryo Sovereignty, was now a key player in a game older than Lunaris itself.