The dust had barely settled from the Wei clash when the next tremor hit.
From the northern hills came a rolling, steady thunder — not the random chaos of battle, but disciplined, measured, immense.
Banners.
Rows upon rows of them.
And armor that gleamed even from a distance.
Zhao.
Ren's jaw tightened as he scanned the horizon. It wasn't just a detachment.
It was an army.
And it wasn't alone.
Scouts returned moments later with confirmation: other banners were being spotted in the distance — Han, Yan, Chu, Wei.
A coalition. Not just of neighbors — of enemies.
Six kingdoms had signed their names to a single cause: the destruction of Qin.
Though diplomacy had miraculously kept Qi from participating directly, the rest of the continent had moved.
The Coalition Army had begun its march.
A silence hung over the Gu Ren Tai and Hi Shin Tai like a death shroud. Shin looked to Ren.
"We can't win this."
Ren didn't respond immediately. But then he gave a sharp nod.
"Fall back. Now."
Duke Hyou, after one last swing of his massive glaive, gave a booming laugh that masked the tension in the air.
"The real battle's begun!"
And so the retreat began — not a rout, but a controlled fallback, guiding the battered men westward. They had bought precious time... but barely.
Back in the capital, the streets of Kanyou erupted into chaos.
Messengers stormed through the corridors of the royal palace. Officials argued. Nobles panicked. The court, once composed and cold, had cracked.
King Ei Sei stood firm, but even his voice could not fully quiet the storm.
The Coalition Army, formed by six nations, had declared its intention: to erase Qin from the map.
Only the last-minute success of Chancellor Shou Hei Kun's negotiations had prevented Qi from marching as well. Without that, there would have been no hope at all.
War wasn't coming.
It had already arrived.
Within days, military leaders began calling every fighting unit that could be spared to the front.
The Gu Ren Tai and Hi Shin Tai, already blooded from the Wei battle, were summoned west alongside Duke Hyou's army.
Their destination: Kankoku Pass — the last great stronghold before the Qin heartland.
A fortress carved into the cliffs. A bottleneck. A final wall.
Ren rode in silence as the mountain air turned colder.
Below, they could see the vast walls of the Pass stretching like a beast's spine across the gorge. Torches were already lit. Banners snapped in the wind.
Ahead of them, other elite forces gathered — including the wild banners of Kanki's army and the silent march of Ousen's troops.
This was no longer just a war.
It was survival.
And the battle for Qin's future was about to begin.