Chapter 14: An Eye for an Eye
A thick, winding staircase of woven vines instantly grew from the top of the city wall down to the muddy battlefield.
Ye Chen walked down the steps with slow, deliberate grace. The refugees on the wall watched in silent awe as the formerly crippled young master approached the most feared man in the empire.
Xiao Tian looked at Ye Chen, his eyes darting frantically. "Ye Chen! Ye Chen, listen to me! Your family was loyal! I... I can reinstate your father! I can give you wealth! Women! Just tell this madwoman to let me go!"
Over in the distance, tied to a wooden post near the city gates where she had been left as punishment, Madam Ye began to shriek. "Your Highness! Save me! I am Prime Minister Ye's sister! Save me, and my brother will reward you!"
Xiao Tian glared at the filthy, raving old woman. "Shut up, you useless old hag! I'll have your entire family executed!"
Madam Ye went pale, her last delusion of aristocratic rescue shattering into a million pieces. She slumped against the post, finally broken beyond repair.
I turned my attention back to the Crown Prince. I flicked my wrist, and two thick, thorny vines shot out of the mud, wrapping around Xiao Tian’s arms and hoisting him into the air. He dangled helplessly, his legs kicking.
I looked at Ye Chen. I saw the ghost of the trauma in his eyes—the memory of the dark imperial dungeon, the sound of the warhammer shattering his bones, the months of agonizing pain, dragging himself through the dirt while being whipped by guards.
"He broke your legs, Ye Chen," I said softly, stepping back and conjuring a massive, heavy warhammer made of solid, unbreakable black ice. I let it fall with a heavy thud into the mud at Ye Chen's feet. "The ledger must be balanced. Do it."
Ye Chen stared at the ice hammer. He looked at his own perfectly healed legs. Then, he looked up at the Crown Prince.
"Wait! No! You wouldn't dare!" Xiao Tian screamed, thrashing violently against the vines. "I am royalty! My blood is sacred! If you touch me, the heavens will strike you down! Ah-Zhu! Ah-Zhu, please!"
"My name is not Ah-Zhu," I corrected him coldly. "It is Lin Xi. The Dragon Empress. And in my empire, heavens bow to me."
Ye Chen stooped down. His slender, elegant hands wrapped around the hilt of the black ice warhammer. He hoisted it onto his shoulder. The weight of it seemed to anchor him, completely washing away the last remnants of his gentle, submissive past.
He walked up to the dangling Crown Prince.
"You called me a crippled dog, Xiao Tian," Ye Chen said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Let's see how well you bark."
With a sudden, explosive burst of strength fueled by the vitality I had gifted him, Ye Chen swung the massive ice warhammer.
CRUNCH.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
The sickening sound of both of Xiao Tian’s kneecaps pulverizing simultaneously echoed across the silent, muddy battlefield. The Crown Prince's agonizing scream tore through the night, a sound of absolute, visceral destruction. His legs instantly folded backward at grotesque, unnatural angles.
[DING! Ultimate Vengeance Achieved! Ye Chen's loyalty is now Absolute! +50,000 Shock Points!]
Ye Chen dropped the hammer. He didn't smile, but a profound, heavy weight visibly lifted from his shoulders. He turned his back on the screaming, sobbing Crown Prince and knelt before me in the mud, bowing his head.
"The debt is paid, Your Majesty."
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