The sun was faintly visible through the floating clouds.
The wind blew strongly, whistling a strange and discordant melody among the destroyed structures. The shadows on the streets were long and menacing, forming grotesque figures.
In those streets, two men could be seen rushing forward at full speed through the debris blocking the road.
One wore a simple black Taoist robe, which fluttered behind him like a flag.
The other wore a simple white suit, stained with blood.
Behind them, a group of people was chasing them. Every step they took seemed to give them a slight advantage, but not enough.
They kept running at full speed, breathing calmly. Sweat clouded their vision. Their eyes darted around, looking for the path with the fewest obstacles in that street full of debris and corpses.
They couldn’t go on . They had to do something to get out of that city alive.
Kael noticed that his strength was beginning to wane, but he didn’t let panic take hold of him. Despite the situation, he remained calm, thinking about the best option for surviving this crisis.
The group of pursuers was incredibly fast and agile. They moved through the rubble with ease. They closed in, their elongated shadows looming over Kael and Michel like omens of death.
And then they saw an obstacle.
A collapsed three-story house blocked their path.
I can’t climb up there.
He was sure they would catch them if they tried to climb that pile. It would be the end of them.
He wasn’t careless or stupid enough to decide to climb. His gaze fixed on one of the destroyed houses, and a quick plan formed in his mind.
Without thinking twice, Kael headed for one of the houses, half in ruins but still standing, as the sound of panting reached his ears.
He quickly entered the house and jumped to one side, falling and rolling over the rotten wood. A growl sounded behind him.
He stood up with effort, dodging one of the pursuers who had caught up with him. With the same force, he rose again. A flame appeared in his hand.
He threw the flame at the beams. The fire devoured the rotten wood, filling the air with suffocating heat. The flames spread quickly, turning the house into a death trap.
Kael didn’t stop. With a quick movement, he jumped out the window and landed on the street with an impact that echoed in his bones.
He continued advancing, and shortly after, Michel caught up with him. With every passing minute, they were closer to leaving the city, approaching the wall of the ethereal cube where they had been sealed.
With the action he had taken a few moments ago, he had managed to reduce the number of pursuers.
Kael glanced at Michel. His tone was calm:
"You make good bait. Don’t die yet."
Michel, without missing a beat, smiled coldly:
"I don’t plan to. At least not before you do."
And they kept running.
After a few minutes, they reached the place where the wall of the ethereal cube rose before them.
Behind him, the screams grew louder and louder.
Michel stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the blocking formation that prevented his escape.
"Now what?" he asked in a neutral tone.
Kael also stopped. The essence of mana emanating from the formation was dense and vibrant.
"This is a blockade. We just need to create a small opening and get out."
Michel raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.
"Oh, it looks like you already have a plan. You’ve got it all figured out. How much time do you need?"
Kael looked away toward the remains of the city, where the sound of their pursuers was getting closer and closer.
Michel drew his sword and moved his mana essence toward his dantian, transforming that energy into aura.
"Then I don’t have to let them interrupt you."
A buzzing sound cut through the air.
The first figure appeared on the roof, and another on the left. Both men turned at the same time. Their bodies moved efficiently.
Kael moved his mana essence carefully, slowly piercing the blocking formation and creating a slight crack in the structure.
In seconds, the place turned into a battlefield.
Michel cut tendons and jugular veins with indifference. The floor was stained with blood.
When the last one fell, Kael took a few steps back.
"Retreat," he said to Michel, muttering a simple but powerful spell.
Michel took two steps back. He held his sword high, in case Kael tried to betray him.
"Are you sure this will work?"
Kael didn’t answer. He just glanced at him.
"If not, we’ll die here. That makes it pretty convincing, don’t you think?"
The magic circle glowed brightly, and a rainbow-colored mass emerged from it. A crack in the Ethereal Cube flickered, opening like a wound.
Kael was the first to move forward. Michel followed immediately.
They crossed the threshold without looking back.
Once out of reach of the blocking formation, silence enveloped them like a second skin.
Michel turned his head slightly without stopping, his steps firm and agile, as if the imminent danger did not weigh on them.
"Now what?" he said with a crooked smile. "Stick with your plan, or do we jump to our deaths more creatively?"
Kael didn’t respond. His gaze remained fixed ahead, penetrating, as if the future were already mapped out in his mind.
Michel let out a low laugh.
"Aren’t you going to say anything? Not even a hint?"
Kael paused for just a moment. The wind ruffled his hair, and his cloak billowed violently. Then he turned his face. His lips formed a faint smile, as cold as it was enigmatic.
"If I told you... It wouldn’t be any fun," he replied in a low voice, almost a whisper, before continuing on his way without looking back.
Michel narrowed his eyes, that spark of danger shining in them. And he smiled.
"I guess that makes it more interesting."
They both entered the forest without looking back. Their footsteps were light, silent. Like shadows that knew exactly where they were going.
Five days later... in the destroyed city.
The air still smelled of soot and death. The streets were littered with bloated corpses, and the buildings were nothing more than skeletons of stone and twisted metal.
A divine pheasant with multicolored feathers descended from the sky, its iridescent light contrasting with the grayness of the disaster.
Two figures descended from its back.
One was a man dressed in a purple and red suit, perfectly clean despite the surroundings. His face was a stone mask, and the aura surrounding him made the air vibrate softly as he passed.
It was Nahim, the Blood Whale of the Great Western Sea.
Walking beside him was a woman with white hair and gray eyes. She moved over the rubble with an inhuman lightness, as if she were floating, as if the world dared not touch her.
She was Vyreia, the Immortal Flower. One of the Thirteen Lilies of the Great Western Sea.
They didn’t exchange a word.
They walked among the remains of the Medici Clan, now reduced to dust and silence. But when they reached the center of the devastation, they both stopped. Something unexpected awaited them there.
He wasn’t dead. Barely. His body was a mass of charred flesh and hardened blood. A breathing corpse. His eyes were closed, his face unrecognizable. But his chest rose with effort.
He had survived. Against all logic. Against everything.
Nahim watched him silently, without emotion. Then, without saying a word, he bowed his head.
And they carried it away.
Towards one of the Five Regions.
Towards the Great Western Sea.
(End of Volume One—The Strayed Demon Leaves the Mountain)
Nta: I hope you enjoyed it. Although, honestly, I feel like I fell short at the end. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, and that frustrates me. I feel like I missed a lot of things and would have handled some situations differently. I’ll try to improve on that in the next volumes.
Thank you for your support in this first volume! (≽^•⩊•^≼)