The stars pull the tides, and the tides reflect the stars.
In the Tianji Empire, the Seven Great Families use magical power as a measure, dividing people into ranks. F-rank means a worthless body; S-rank means a god. Some clutch a fragment of magical ore deep in the mines, while others sip amber-colored wine atop the Heavenly Palace.
Ling Chen is the orphaned son of a branch of the Ling family. The year his parents died in battle, he and his younger sister were taken in by the main household. He thought they would be safe there.
At thirteen, a single false accusation.
Betraying his clan. Leaking secrets. Stripped of his family name.
At the trial, his sister kept her head down. He never saw her eyes.
Many years later.
He knocks on the gates of the Imperial Academy as an F-rank, while she receives the sword of a holy knight at a Senate investiture ceremony.
A demon-breaking physique beyond all measurement sleeps within his body. An artificial S-rank core beats in her chest.
The people of the Tianji Empire say the Ling family has produced two monsters.
One climbing up from the abyss.
The other looking down from the clouds.
They shared the same childhood, yet stand at opposite ends of an equation. The equation has no solution, unless the stars fall into the tide and the tide swallows the stars.
