Chapter 6

Rin staggers through Leiyang’s ashen fields, exhilarated by the slaughter she unleashed and disturbed by her own satisfaction. Search parties find more survivors than expected; the township is ruined, but the living are free and must join the march south. Rin visits the grievously burned Qinen, who reaffirms their resolve to fight.

With Leiyang’s command shattered, resistance cells across the Beehive rise. Cut off from support, scattered Mugenese units are overrun as Rin dispatches Zhuden’s troops to accelerate liberation. Over two weeks, executions and reprisals proliferate, targeting Mugenese and collaborators alike with gruesome ingenuity.

Witnessing public tortures, Rin wavers; Souji insists such vengeance is necessary healing. Kitay argues for trials and proportionality, citing coerced collaboration and chaos from rumor-driven killings. Souji counters with atrocities committed under occupation, and Rin ultimately lets the bloodletting proceed, recognizing the populace’s drive for catharsis even as the army grows exhausted.

On the road back, Venka arrives in disguise, fleeing the Republic after her cover was blown. She reports Nezha has been withdrawn from the field and appears seriously ill under Hesperian care, suggesting no immediate northern strike. Rin and Kitay conceal Nezha’s secret letter from Venka but take the respite.

Later, an old woman tries to sell two teenage sisters to Rin, mistaking the army’s need for recruits as a call for prostitutes. Rin stops the sale, learns their names—Pipaji and the mute Jiuto—and, after confirming they want food and shelter, directs them to the barracks, folding them into the Southern Army’s growing ranks.