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Not all assassins come to kill. Some come to test.
In the far edges of the Emberfield borderlands, a bitter wind carried ash instead of snow. Villagers called it the Hollow Sigh, but those who lived near Furnace Spire knew the truth — when the wind moaned, it meant someone had burned.
Someone… like Liu Yanyu.
Word of the Phoenix Spark had spread faster than wildfire. Some claimed she summoned flames that cried. Others said her fire could remember.
But one thing was certain:
> The Hunter had been dispatched.
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Scene: Soulsteel Cellar
The Ashglass Hunter was known by many names: Whisperbrand, Ember Chain, Soul Leech. But most feared to say anything at all. He was a myth that arrived when systems failed — a living eraser.
His weapons were binding threads woven from soulsteel — capable of suppressing awakened flames without extinguishing the user.
He didn't believe in mercy.
Only in balance.
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Current Target: Liu Yanyu
A low-level, unstable awakening. No training. No faction.
> "Eliminate or claim."
That was the mission. He chose claim.
> "Sometimes chaos burns brighter when allowed to fester."
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Scene: Ashgate Hollow - Nightfall
Yanyu sat inside a cracked stove shell behind the old bakery ruin. The girl she saved — Ruo'er — had fallen asleep, curled up with stale bread and burnt fingers.
Yanyu hadn't slept. The flame inside her refused to die. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard the chain snap. Saw fire spiral out. Felt power and guilt.
Suddenly, the temperature dropped. Not physically — emotionally.
The ember fog around her shimmered.
A man stood three meters away. Cloaked in soulsteel. Face hidden beneath a broken-ash mask. No sound. No aura. Just presence.
> "Liu Yanyu," he said. "You're awake."
She stood, shielding Ruo'er.
> "Who… who are you?"
> "The one sent to end your story early."
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First Clash: Flame vs. Thread
Without warning, he snapped his fingers. Soulsteel threads surged forward like vipers. Yanyu flared instinctively — the phoenix flame roared, wings unfurling.
But the threads weren't trying to kill. They danced with her flame — testing, reading, adapting.
She dodged one. Another coiled around her wrist. She screamed — not from pain, but recoil.
> "My fire… it's afraid?"
The Hunter's threads mirrored emotion. They struck at doubt. At shame. At any instability in her flame's will.
> "Fight me," he said. "Or fade."
Yanyu's phoenix flame twisted. And this time… spoke.
> "She won't fade. And neither will I."
The wings erupted.
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Ascension: Flame Memory Unlocked
Images flooded her mind:
Her mother, coughing fire into the pillow.
The night she buried half of herself under ash.
The scream that never left her throat.
Her flame remembered everything.
And used it.
The phoenix now circled her form — a spiraling storm of red-gold. She charged.
Soulsteel met memory.
And cracked.
> "Impossible," the Hunter whispered. "Soulsteel doesn't break."
> "Maybe not to swords," Yanyu growled. "But I cut with truth."
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Revelation: The Hunter's Test
He dropped his threads. Kneeled.
> "You pass."
Yanyu blinked.
> "What?"
> "They wanted you suppressed. I wanted to see. To know if fire ruled you — or if you ruled fire."
He removed his mask. Revealing… nothing. Just eyes. Empty, tired, and scarred with the echoes of too many flame-kills.
> "I was once like you. My flame died because I obeyed." "Yours lives because you rebelled."
He handed her a glowing ember token.
> "Furnace Spire will come for you. Next time, not alone." "Find the Burned Circle. They resist."
Then, he vanished — not in smoke, but memory.
Yanyu held the token. It pulsed. A map flared in her mind.
> "So I'm not alone."
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Aftermath: Ruo'er's Question
Ruo'er stirred, rubbing her eyes.
> "Who was that?"
Yanyu smiled.
> "A ghost with a test."
> "Did you win?"
> "I didn't lose."
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Foreshadowing: March of the Brands
At the border of the Hollow, five brand-bearing enforcers watched a rising phoenix flame curl above the slums.
One activated a long-range sigil.
> "Unauthorized flame resisted suppression. Hunter failed."
Another nodded.
> "Then we send the full chain."
> "Let her rise. We'll burn her again."
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