The survivors stood in a half-circle, still blinking as if the battlefield might snap back into motion the mont they relaxed.
They stared at Lucien and Kaia the way people stared at a storm that had chosen to pass them by.
The woman with the broken spear swallowed once, then forced her voice to steady.
"Benefactors," she said carefully, "thank you for your help."
Kaia’s grin returned. "Do not ntion it."
Lucien did not answer.
His gaze had slid past them, locking onto the wreckage.
The ship’s torn belly gaped like a wound. The hull plating had been cut with brutal intent.
Then Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
There, scorched but unmistakable, an insignia was etched into a surviving panel.
His pupils dilated.
He looked back at the group.
"You," he said slowly, "are you from the Starforge Cartel?"
The survivors shifted as one. Their shoulders tightened, their hands moved closer to weapons, and the gratitude in their faces curdled into caution.
Lucien saw it and almost laughed.
He reached into his inventory and drew out a small piece of tal that caught the light.
The Starforge dal.
The one Lilith had gifted him after the Trial of Ascendancy.
The mont the woman with the spear saw it, her expression changed sharply.
The guarded line in her jaw loosened. Her eyes widened.
Then she clasped her hand toward Lucien with formal respect.
"A VIP of the Cartel. Apologies for not recognizing you, honored one."
The others followed, bowing or saluting in their own ways. Their posture turned warr by the second.
The tension did not vanish, but it moved. It reclassified him.
Kaia slid close to his side and leaned in like gossip was another type of Law.
"Brother," she whispered, "I know of the Starforge Cartel, but I did not know you had that dal. If I am right, it is only given to people with high status. Are you secretly a sect master?"
Lucien glanced at her with lazy calm.
"Do you believe if I say I got it because of my charm?"
Kaia’s eyelid twitched. "Can I hit you?"
"I charge a fee for that."
Kaia stared at him, speechless.
Before she could retaliate, the air shifted.
Three large ships approached from the distance, cutting through the sky in clean formation. Their hulls were plated with void tal. The fronts were shaped like hamrheads. The undersides were lined with glowing runes that stabilized their descent.
The Starforge survivors brightened instantly.
The woman with the broken spear raised her head with relief flashing across her face.
"Benefactors, no need to worry," she said quickly when Lucien and Kaia’s posture sharpened. "They are our allies."
Soon, the ships lowered, hovering like heavy moons. Dust rolled across the field in controlled waves as they touched down.
A ramp unfolded from the lead ship.
And then—
A figure strode out.
A Solhorn. She carried a hamr-polearm slung across one shoulder.
Lilith.
She scanned the scene in three breaths.
First the wounded. Then the fallen Alloykins. Then Lucien and Kaia.
Her gaze lingered.
The air around her carried the weight of a Celestial Realm expert.
She spoke without raising her voice, and yet the whole field seed to listen.
"Are any of you hurt?" she asked her people. "I received your distress signal, but it appears the danger has passed."
Her eyes cut to the corpses of Astrafer-bodied Alloykins.
"And these tal parasites are really bold enough to hunt us openly. Their arrogance grows faster than their brains."
The survivors bowed imdiately.
"Leader," the woman with the spear said, "it is thanks to these two benefactors that no casualty occurred."
Lilith’s expression softened by a fraction.
She turned back to Lucien and Kaia.
"Then I owe you," she said. "Starforge does not forget its debts."
The woman with the broken spear leaned close to Lilith and whispered sothing, gesturing subtly towards Lucien.
Lilith’s softened expression sharpened instantly.
Her eyes locked onto Lucien.
The temperature seed to drop.
"You," Lilith said.
Lucien blinked once.
Lilith’s voice beca flat, dangerous.
"I rember every person who holds a Starforge dal." Her gaze raked him from head to toe. "And you are not one of them."
Kaia covered her mouth as if swallowing laughter would keep her alive.
Then she leaned toward Lucien with fake sympathy.
"Oops," she whispered. "Brother, I see. You used your charm to steal a dal. No wonder, no wonder."
Lucien coughed as if clearing his throat would also clear this misunderstanding.
He lifted the dal slightly, very calmly.
"Sister," he said to Lilith, "have you forgotten? You gave this to yourself."
Lilith’s eyes narrowed.
"Lies." Her lip curled. "I gave a dal to only one man. And it was not you."
Her hand slid to her hamr-polearm.
Lucien’s instincts flared.
He recognized that look.
Lilith was not being reasonable right now.
The hamr-polearm ca off her shoulder in one smooth motion.
Then Lilith was in front of Lucien.
The weapon ca down like a verdict.
Lucien’s body moved on reflex. He stepped aside, and the hamr smashed into the ground where his spine had been.
The earth shuddered.
Stone fractured.
A shallow shockwave rolled outward and rattled the wreckage.
Lucien stared at the crater with amusent.
He glanced at her aura again.
Celestial Realm.
Lilith’s eyes glittered with satisfaction.
"You dodge nicely," she said.
"Sister Lilith," Lucien said quickly, "wait."
"Who allowed you to call that?" she replied, and swung again.
Lucien dodged again.
The hamr kissed empty air and still tore a line through the battlefield like an invisible blade had followed its path.
The Starforge survivors froze, caught between gratitude and loyalty.
A few shifted their weight, uncertain.
They had just been saved by these two.
But Lilith was their leader, and lately she had beco suspicious of everyone who breathed too close.
Nobody moved.
They watched instead.
And the watching beca its own disbelief.
Lucien was not counterattacking.
He was simply... not dying.
Lilith’s strikes were heavy enough to crack Celestial bodies.
Lucien kept sliding out of the way, as if he were avoiding a friend who insisted on hugging too hard.
Finally, Lucien raised his voice.
"Sister," he said, "have you forgotten ? I am Luc."
Lilith’s grin turned sharp.
"Ha." She lifted the weapon again. "So you admit it. You stole it from him. How dare you say his na with your mouth."
Lucien went silent.
That settled it.
She was not recognizing him because she could not.
His current form was different.
His face, his aura, even the shape of his presence.
Origin Rewrite was simply too perfect.
And he hated relying on it now while his spirit still felt held together by mysterious threads.
But he had no choice.
Lilith lunged again.
Lucien’s eyes cooled.
He whispered a single word into the air, and the Law of Stillness answered with him.
"Procrastinate."
Lilith’s weapon slowed for a heartbeat.
One heartbeat.
That was all Lucien needed.
Origin Rewrite activated.
His body unfolded into another truth.
He transford into Lootwell, the Wolf Beastman.
Lilith’s eyes widened.
The field went quiet enough that even the wounded held their breath.
Then Lilith’s expression cracked into sothing fierce and bright.
"It is you," she breathed, and there was sothing almost delighted in the disbelief. "So earlier was your true form..."
Lucien exhaled.
"I told you," he said. "You almost crushed ."
Lilith scoffed, leaning on her hamr-polearm as if she had not just tried to turn him into paste.
"If you are Wolf Brother, then you would not die so easily."
Lucien stared at her.
He had no words for that logic.
Lilith’s eyes narrowed, smugness and softness braided together the way only she could manage.
Then she smiled.
"So," she said, "you showing up here ans you finally chose my side, right?"
Lucien’s ears twitched.
Lilith continued, pleased with herself.
"That ans I won against the flower bitch this ti."
Lucien froze.
Lilith’s grin beca almost teasing.
Lucien recovered first and looked around.
The battlefield was still open. Corpses were fresh. Blood scent still hung in the air.
Presences might arrive.
He lowered his voice.
"Sister, let’s not talk here."
Lilith laughed softly.
"You are still good at changing the subject," she said, then turned to her subordinates. "Gather the bodies of those bastards. Do not waste their tal bodies."
Only now did the Starforge mbers fully relax.
Their leader knew him after all.
The dal was real.
Their benefactor was not a stranger.
They moved quickly, obeying.
Even Kaia looked mildly stunned.
She leaned toward Lucien and whispered, "So this is what you an by charm?"
Lucien ignored her. He had only ant it as a joke.
Lilith walked closer. Her gaze slid over the wreckage and the bodies with a craftsman’s hunger.
"Brother Wolf," she said, voice turning almost playful, "do you rember my greatest dream back in the ruins?"
Lucien thought for a mont, then nodded.
"You wanted to look for the strongest tal?"
Lilith’s smile widened.
"Yes." Her eyes glead as she looked at the fallen Alloykins. "And these walking annoyances... their coated bodies are interesting."
She tapped the Astrafer plating with the tip of her polearm, testing it like a blacksmith testing ore.
"My dream might co true earlier than expected."
Lucien’s mouth curved.
He knew exactly what she was thinking.
Astrafer.
The perfect tal for people who wanted to laugh at damage.
And Lucien owned a whole world threaded with its veins.
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