A Miracle of Engineering Beyond This World

In the thick gray fog beneath the Blood Moon, Castian rode slowly along the edge of Blackiron Canyon.

For the past nine days, the Bishop of Ashen had led the Mobile Holy Knights in skirmishes around the outer Defense Zone, dragging the Blood Moon's offensive to a crawl.

It had been a bloodbath. By the end, even the white breath steaming from the horses' nostrils smelled of blood.

Yet Castian sat straight-backed in the saddle, his hand steady on the reins. The true sign of battle was his Holy Silver robe, once pure white.

The hem and cuffs were soaked with the black blood of High-Tier Demonic Beasts. When the wind blew, dark purple crusts of blood rasped against the cloth.

Castian raised his eyes toward the depths of the gray fog.

He had never doubted Shien's plan. If the boy dared to put the drawings before him, he could carry it out.

But faith was one thing. The time it would take was another.

To Castian, a month would have been fast. If the defenses could withstand the final Beast Tide of Blood Moon Season, the project would be a success. If Shien had managed even a rough outline in nine days, that alone would have shown remarkable leadership.

He was mainly passing through and wanted to check the progress. His horse carried him through the last bank of gray fog and onto the canyon heights.

But the instant he looked down, his pupils contracted. Blackiron Canyon was nothing like it had been nine days ago.

The western lowlands had once been a sprawl of mud and broken ditches. Now the ground had been leveled flat, and black water flowed slowly through straight drainage channels.

The channels emptied into one vast, deathly expanse that radiated cold. Pale gray mist