As I lay on the ground, my vision a blurry mess and my body screaming in protest, a shadowy figure flickered at the edge of my sight.
Before I could even register a coherent thought, the figure executed an impossible leap, soaring high into the ravaged sky and vanishing as quickly as it appeared. I blinked, wondering if the brutal beating had finally pushed me into hallucination. A split second later, the same figure reappeared, locked in a furious ballet of blows with the monstrous Sin Maiden.
My eyes widened in astonishment, the sheer intensity of their battle momentarily eclipsing my own pain.
The unknown warrior vanished once more, a teleportation that defied logic, and then materialized directly before me. "I am Liu Gao," he announced, his voice calm amidst the chaos. "A Chinese martial artist who has mastered all Chinese martial arts and perfected Qi control."
To demonstrate his seemingly limitless power, Liu Gao took a poised stance and roared, "Hēi'àn èzhì!" (Dark Containment). Instantly, a shimmering forcefield materialized around the Sin Maiden, trapping him within its ethereal confines. The Sin Maiden let out a furious, guttural scream, summoning a massive, chaotic sphere of pure darkness before hurling it with every ounce of his monstrous strength towards Liu Gao and me.
But before the devastating attack could reach us, the Sin Maiden's gaze locked onto mine, his sinister eyes burning with the sudden, malevolent glow of his Shogitan—a special ocular ability that promised unimaginable pain.
I found myself trapped in his gaze, and without warning, a long-buried memory ripped its way to the surface of my consciousness: the brutal, senseless death of my older sister.
My body froze, paralyzed by the resurfacing trauma. My mind spiraled into the familiar abyss of grief and rage. Darkness consumed me, a suffocating wave threatening to pull me under. Then—
I collapsed, my broken body hitting the ruined earth with a dull thud.
Liu Gao immediately moved to shield me, his movements lightning-fast, but a moment later, I was standing again.
My stance felt alien, unnatural, my posture rigid, like a marionette controlled by unseen strings.
Slowly, my hand rose, and a blade of pure energy materialized within it—conjured by my Teikkin, the power that now flowed through me with a terrifying intensity.
Without conscious thought, I slashed at the air, sending a shockwave of cutting force hurtling towards the trapped Sin Maiden, severing a large chunk of his arm as easily as cutting through butter.
I dashed forward, my own speed now inhuman, a terrifying echo of the Sin Maiden's earlier blitz. With another ruthless strike, I severed his entire arm, the severed limb falling to the ground with a wet, sickening thud.
"FUCK!!!!" The Sin Maiden bellowed in agony, his monstrous form contorting in pain.
My lips curled into a twisted, mirthless grin as I continued my relentless assault—slashing, slashing, slashing, over and over, each strike more savage, more brutal than the last. Blood sprayed through the air, painting the ruined landscape in shades of crimson.
My energy blade carved through flesh, bone, and muscle with horrifying ease until I reached his still-beating heart. With a grotesque leap, I grasped the Sin Maiden's head, my fingers digging into his grotesque features, and plunged my energy blade deep into his eye.
The Sin Maiden shrieked, clutching his face in unimaginable torment. My expression remained cold, unchanging, as I slowly twisted my weapon, then drove it deep into his chest and extracted his still-pulsating heart. The agony etched on his monstrous face was a perverse satisfaction.
Liu Gao, seizing the opportune moment, summoned an immense sphere of crackling energy and hurled it at our weakened foe. The Sin Maiden, despite his grievous injuries, fought desperately to hold the sphere back, his remaining arm trembling with the effort, his teeth gritted in furious determination.
But Liu Gao raised his arms, channeling more power into his attack, and roared, "Lái ba, liúxiáng de shōugē zhě!" (Come forth, Reaper of Liu Shiang!).
From within the swirling energy sphere, a monstrous hand burst forth, followed by another. Limbs, one after another, emerged from the light, until a colossal, skeletal Reaper stood tall, its form radiating an ancient, terrifying power.
It unleashed a deafening roar that shook the very air, then lunged at the Sin Maiden with massive, grasping hands.
But the Sin Maiden, even in his death throes, was not yet defeated.
With blinding speed, he dashed up the Reaper's massive arm, his movements fluid and unnervingly precise despite his injuries. The Reaper, undeterred by his desperate climb, floated higher into the air before crashing down with a mountain-shattering force.
The battlefield trembled under the immense impact.
And then, the Sin Maiden unleashed his ultimate, desperate attack—"The Unforgivable Sin."
A surge of unfathomable, chaotic power erupted from his broken body, obliterating the colossal Reaper in a blinding flash of destructive energy.
Liu Gao staggered backward, disbelief etched across his usually composed face. "Impossible... How can a mere mortal destroy the Reaper passed down for generations?"
Before Liu Gao could recover from his shock, the Sin Maiden launched himself forward, a final act of defiance, delivering a devastating punch that sent the powerful martial artist crashing through a ruined building, embedding him into the ground with a crater-forming impact.
Now, the Sin Maiden turned his attention to me, a final, sinister grin stretching across his bloodied face.
He lunged, seizing me by the throat with surprising strength and lifting me off the ground. He leaned in close, his breath hot and fetid against my face, whispering words that chilled me to the very core.
"Did you know? It was I who ordered the Yakuza to kill your sister."
My body trembled violently, a cold fury boiling within me, threatening to consume what little sanity I had left.
My fingers clenched around the Sin Maiden's arm, my grip tightening with a desperate, primal rage.
Then—
Something inside me finally snapped.
A suffocating black smoke oozed from my body, swirling and coiling around me like living shadows, obscuring the ruined world. I levitated, rising slowly into the air, my hair disheveled, my eyes shifting, the whites now completely black, a single, malevolent white slit piercing the center of each pupil, glowing with an ominous light.
Black veins, tinged with an unnatural green, spread across my shoulders and arms, marking a transformation that felt both terrifying and inevitable.
I was no longer merely human.
I had ascended to something darker, something powerful—a transformation that felt akin to the realm of Demigods.
With a single, contemptuous punch, I sent the Sin Maiden hurtling backward, the force of the blow causing him to spit a torrent of blood mid-air.
The Sin Maiden, finally realizing the true extent of his miscalculation, reached into his tattered robes and produced a tiny, fingernail-sized orb, its surface shimmering with an arcane energy. He threw it skyward and chanted in a guttural tongue, "Nan Gul Lankriel... Kompachi!"
The sky above us split apart with a sound like tearing fabric. From the tiny orb emerged a colossal dragon, its scales like molten onyx, its massive maw expelling torrents of searing, black fire that scorched the already ruined landscape.
Liu Gao, despite his injuries, struggled to reengage, attempting another Dark Containment, but the sheer, overwhelming force of the dragon's malevolent aura fought back against his control, the energy shield flickering and failing.
Meanwhile, I moved—no, vanished—blitzing into the chaotic battle sphere with such impossible speed that I seized the Sin Maiden before he could even react.
I yanked him out of the dragon's fiery breath with raw, terrifying force, but the Sin Maiden, his resilience horrifying, broke free and attempted another desperate attack.
I dodged his clumsy lunge, countered with a brutal strike of my own, and sent him flying into the shattered remains of a demolished building.
And then, the sky darkened further, the oppressive atmosphere intensifying.
A gaping rift tore open in the heavens above us, unleashing a writhing, endless horde of shadow-like creatures, their grotesque forms spilling forth like a nightmare made real.
They descended upon Liu Gao and me, their sheer numbers overwhelming us.
Liu Gao fought back valiantly, his martial arts a whirlwind of motion, but he was soon overrun, his movements slowing, his strength depleted. He collapsed, his body battered and broken beyond its limits.
I, too, was overwhelmed by the sheer mass of the shadowy onslaught, pummeled into submission by their relentless attacks. Before I could even register the pain, the Sin Maiden struck, slamming his head against mine with sickening force, sending a sharp, agonizing shock through my skull.
The impact rattled my brain, the darkness threatening to claim me once more—
Everything faded to black.
Hours later, as I clung precariously to the last fragile threads of consciousness, a new, terrifying presence arrived. A towering, shadowy figure, larger than any I had yet encountered, emerged from what appeared to be a swirling portal in the sky, but something far, far worse accompanied it.
A monstrous, titan-sized bat-like beast, its leathery wings casting an oppressive shadow over the ruined city, loomed over the battlefield, its crimson eyes, burning with an ancient malice, locked onto my broken form and the still figure of Liu Gao.
It growled, a low, guttural sound that vibrated through the very ground.
And in that moment, I knew with chilling certainty that the nightmare I had been living was far from over. It had only just begun.