Ember Legion

The night the swarm broke the harbor, the Star-Ring Council's evacuationfleet didn't even slow down. 110,000 soldiers and civilians—crossed offthe list, left to die.Chen Jin, a third-class trooper hauling ammo on the wall, should havedied with them. Instead, a voice like cold machinery went off in his skull:[Soul remnant seated. Brand matched.][Identity confirmed: Your Majesty.]Kills earn Embers. So do rescues. One enhancement, one thermal lance,one suit of power armor, one barracks at a time—the lowest-ranked nobodyon the wall is taking back a seven-hundred-year-old inheritance, pieceby piece.No one knows who he is.But out past the walls, the beast that blacked out the entire harborgrid with its first roar catches a familiar scent in the dark. Sevenhundred years ago, that name made a sea of stars kneel."The Council's list wrote off every one of us.""From tonight on, this harbor has no list."—First Edict of the Sovereign: Mankind shall not go extinct.—Second Edict: Every human life is worth saving.