In Dalton's twelfth year, the imperial court holds a tournament to choose the greatest martial champion. General Liam York gives his heirloom Star Blade to his adopted son, Trevor York, leaving his own son, Cyrus York, with a broken wooden sword. Betrayed, humiliated, poisoned, and robbed of love, Cyrus endures years of suffering—until, on the eve of the tournament, his body finally gives out, and he bleeds to death.
