The dozen or so silhouettes — some remained where they were, while others vanished in an instant.

Above, the dark clouds churned down from the sky as if alive, rolling across the land and swallowing everything whole. Even the Eagle King, with its legendary vision, could not see its own hand in front of its face.

The countless beasts and residents who had barely survived the Black Sun’s Black Death Tide found themselves, in that razor-thin moment between death and survival, set upon by unseen attackers from within the smothering dark. In a world without a single thread of light, screams began to ring out — one after another, then all at once.

The Human-Faced Tiger hurled a pulse of energy outward.

The wave of light held for a few brief seconds, pushing back the darkness.

Then the Black Sun above released a massive black orb that swallowed the Human-Faced Tiger’s energy pulse whole.

The world went dark again.

In those few seconds of dim, murky light, Longma and the sickle weasel had moved fast — shepherding the rhinoceros, the Bobtail Cat, and a handful of others to the sides of the Human-Faced Tiger, Poison Wasp King, and Eagle King. In this moment, staying close to the three faction leaders was the only defensible position. Anyone isolated would last about as long as those already screaming in the dark.

“Move east!” The situation was dire. The Eagle King made the call without hesitation.

“I’ll cover the rear.” The Human-Faced Tiger and Poison Wasp King both agreed — east was the right direction.

Three thousand meters to the east lay a pond, kept full of clean water for the aquatic war beasts that needed moisture. The Black Sun was at its most devastating from altitude, raining death down on open ground — there was no way to resist it in the open.

The only possibility was water.

Any beam of light refracted when it entered water, its power drastically reduced. If they could reach that eastern pond and strip the Black Sun of its killing angles, survival became conceivable.

The Toad King had heard every word. He laughed with undisguised delight. “Wonderful! What a brilliant plan — truly, I could applaud! The question is whether you can actually make it three thousand meters to that pond. Under the Black Death Tide, under the Death Ray — you are all nothing but scraps! Ha! Run then, run! Flee with your pitiful cries and your desperate scrambling — the way out is right ahead of you, and I’ll be cheering you on! By the time I’ve finished off the stragglers, I do hope you’ve made it safely into the water!”

The Eagle King nearly choked on its own fury. But it had no answer to give.

It couldn’t see them yet — but it could feel them. Two presences of enormous power, somewhere directly ahead. They weren’t the Black Sun’s equal, but they were very far from ordinary. If its read was correct, they were the war beasts cultivated by the two Central Temple Hall Masters — Ranfeng’s Blazing Tyrant, and Wanmo’s Golden Parasite King. Both carried real intelligence, and both had reached Sky-rank tier six. The Eagle King knew with certainty that a one-on-one against either would be brutal. With both bearing down at once, the odds became grim.

The Human-Faced Tiger felt it too.

Covering the rear as it was, it sensed something worse — beyond the Blazing Tyrant and the Golden Parasite King, several more powerful war beasts were closing in from multiple directions, silent and unhurried. They weren’t the strongest threats individually, but stacked on top of the Black Sun, the Dark Cloud, and the two Hall Masters’ beasts already pressing from the front — the accumulation was crushing.

What could be done?

Someone had to plant their feet. Someone had to absorb the first wave of attacks, or there would be no survivors at all. If everyone leaned on everyone else, the result would be annihilation.

What worried the Human-Faced Tiger most was the Poison Wasp King — this silent, unpredictable variable. If pressed to name the most dangerous of the Five Beast Kings, the Human-Faced Tiger would not have chosen the Lion King, and not the Toad King. It would have chosen the Poison Wasp King without hesitation. She was the most ruthless, the most self-contained, the most fundamentally untrusting creature in all of Beast Valley. Even her own subordinates were barely loyal — she had never truly believed in anyone, and they knew it. For someone like her to have had absolutely no dealings with the Toad King over all these years — that the Human-Faced Tiger simply did not believe.

If the Poison Wasp King was a planted piece waiting to be played…

Then they were finished.

The Human-Faced Tiger could trust the Eagle King. It could extend a degree of trust to almost anyone here. But it dared not trust the Poison Wasp King.

“Right now, someone needs to stay and fight alongside me. Two or three from the beast-people and residents as well — we need the help.” The Human-Faced Tiger swallowed with difficulty, keeping one eye on the Poison Wasp King while laying out the tactical proposal. “Anyone with special abilities — step forward first.”

Silence.

Under normal circumstances, in an ordinary skirmish, there would have been volunteers. But this was not that. Staying behind to hold the line while everyone else ran was as good as a death sentence. The alternative — no one staying, everyone fleeing together — ended in total annihilation, which was worse.

The Eagle King’s throat moved.

Its mind told it to stay. Its body wanted nothing to do with the shadow of death gathering around them. Nobody wanted to die. In this moment, everyone — even the Eagle King itself — wanted to run.

Beast Valley had never been a place for heroism. It had always been a home for the self-serving. Nobody trusted anybody. Nobody was willing to die for anyone else.

The three faction leaders said nothing. Longma and the sickle weasel felt the silence press down like something heavier than death. The enemy was drawing closer. Out in the dark, the fleeing beasts and residents were dying — one after another claimed by the Black Sun, one after another swallowed by the darkness. Those who had broken away and run alone were probably nearly all dead already. When the Black Sun finished with them and turned back this way, that would be the end.

The Bobtail Cat, the rhinoceros, and the dozen or so other beasts and residents gathered close all held their tongues.

Not one of them found the courage to say: I’ll stay.

Then the Poison Wasp King gave a quiet, small cough.

“Someone has to stay. I’ll do it.”

“…What?” The Human-Faced Tiger was stunned. It had been waiting on the Eagle King — it had expected anything from the Poison Wasp King except this. In the back of its mind, it had been half-bracing for the Poison Wasp King to defect to the Toad King’s side and attack them from within. And instead — those words.

“Wasp — you’re serious? You’re actually staying?” The Eagle King’s shock was no less than the Human-Faced Tiger’s.

“I know what everyone thinks. You’ve all been worried I might be a spy, that I’d turn on you the moment it suited me. And maybe in the past, I haven’t always been… particular about my methods. But we are about to die. Any of us could be gone in the next moment — fed to someone else’s war beast to make it stronger. What exactly is the point of turning on each other now? Why am I staying? It’s not heroism. It’s not sacrifice. It’s just the most rational choice available. If I stay here and hold the line, I face the enemy’s attacks. If I retreat with you, I still face the enemy’s attacks — just closer to the pond. The difference is where I fight, not whether I fight. As for roles: Tiger knows water combat — Tiger will be far more effective at the pond. And the Golden Parasite King is a parasite-type beast — I have a natural advantage against it. If Tiger or Eagle faced it, you’d both struggle. Run the numbers any way you like, and I’m the one who stays.”

The Poison Wasp King’s calm, methodical words left both the Human-Faced Tiger and the Eagle King simultaneously speechless and moved.

Who could have predicted this — that at the edge of life and death, it would be the most self-interested of them all who stepped forward to stand for everyone?

While the Lion King — the one they had always looked to as their shelter — had vanished without a word.

The Human-Faced Tiger felt something sting at the corners of its eyes. “Wasp…”

It wanted to say sorry. If it had known the Poison Wasp King possessed this kind of courage and clarity, it would have extended genuine friendship long ago. Even now, minutes ago, it had been watching her with suspicion — half-ready to strike first if she made a wrong move. The shame of that comparison settled over the Human-Faced Tiger like a weight it didn’t know how to put down.

Some warrior I am. Unable to match even the most self-described selfish one among them.

The Eagle King felt it too — something hot rising in its chest — and before it could think, the words were already out: “Wasp, I’m staying too. With you. Let Tiger lead the others out. I’ll see this through beside you until the end — and if we survive, I want to be your friend. A real friend. No more watching each other from a distance. No more internal politics.”

The Poison Wasp King declined the offer, though not unkindly. “I understand what you mean, and I appreciate it. But the retreating group needs both a vanguard and a rearguard — and leaders of your caliber are the only ones suited for that. Stop wasting time and move. If anyone else is willing to stay, I could genuinely use two or three to help intercept the flanking war beasts. I can only hold the Golden Parasite King and the Blazing Tyrant in check for a limited time — I need someone to cut off the ones coming from behind.”

That was when the sickle weasel couldn’t contain it anymore.

Something volcanic had been building inside it, and it came out all at once: “Someone like me — I’ve been alive long enough. Early death or late death, it ends the same. Better to die fighting than live just long enough to be frightened to death. I’m staying — count me in!”

Longma had lived in Beast Valley for several thousand years, and this was the first time it had ever felt something like heat moving in its chest. An instant before the sickle weasel spoke, it had still been hesitating — it was still a resident, after all, still had a life to protect, still had a chance if it played things carefully. But the sickle weasel’s shout set something boiling in its blood, and it stepped forward without thinking, bellowing: “That’s right! Whether we live or die — leave that to heaven! You want my life? You’re welcome to try. But it’ll cost you.”

After Longma and the sickle weasel, the rhinoceros and the Bobtail Cat and several others started clamoring to stay as well.

For a moment, every single one of them seemed to forget Beast Valley’s cardinal rule: look after yourself above all else.

They seemed to forget that here, being killed meant dying for real.

After a brief and heated argument, the final arrangement was settled: the Poison Wasp King, Longma, and the sickle weasel would hold the line, while the remaining dozen or so beast-people followed the Eagle King and the Human-Faced Tiger in a fast break toward the pond. The moment the Human-Faced Tiger reached the water, it would use its Wave Slide and Vortex Return to pull the Poison Wasp King, Longma, and the sickle weasel out of danger.

The Toad King came sauntering back from his killing work, insufferably pleased with himself. “I already knew your escape plan — very creative, top marks! What I didn’t see coming was who you’d choose to stay and fight. Ha — actually, I did, I take it back, what a stupid question to wonder about. Everyone in Beast Valley knows these people are selfish to the bone and scared of everything. You know why I’m stronger than all of you? Why I can kill you while you just whimper and cower? Simple: I’m smart enough to build alliances, smart enough to find partners and cooperate. Not like you lot, every single one naively convinced that keeping to yourself is how you stay alive just a little bit longer. Isn’t it ironic — the ones who most desperately want to live, the ones who never trusted anybody, end up getting themselves killed precisely because they never had any friends!”

He had no idea what had happened in those few short minutes.

The Eagle King, the Human-Faced Tiger, the Poison Wasp King — along with every last beast-person and resident among them — had become something entirely different from what they had been.

Even if the Toad King had overheard every word, his accumulated experience in Beast Valley would probably have told him it was a trick. Were there really fools in this place willing to sacrifice themselves for others? If such creatures had ever existed, they had almost certainly been dead for thousands of years.