Hardened bone claws slashed down against the burnt wooden beam, sending a splintering crack through the air. Lianxue grunted, stumbling back from the force. Her cloth shoes were already singed, the fabric torn and curling at the edges, but she planted her feet once more into the stone and dirt beneath her, grounding herself.
The heat from the fire seared her skin, thickening the already humid air until it felt as though she were drowning in it. Her head throbbed, each pulse a hammering beat, her heart drumming in her chest as the sharp ringing from the explosion still lingered in her ears.
The demon shifted.
It moved slowly, methodically, its massive feet sinking into the earth with each step. Tremors rolled through the ground, reverberating into her bones. Dirt lifted in its wake, swirling like smoke around its legs, while the rustle of its wide, webbed wings filled the space between them—sharp and unnatural, like the sound of a plastic bag twisting in the wind.
With each step the beast took, Lianxue mirrored it. She tried to keep some distance between them. Sweat slid down her face, mixing with the soot and grime of the battle. The broken beam in her hands trembled, the weight of it shifting slightly as she gripped it, her fingers slick. Even though she had no skill in combat, she could sense this thing was playing with her.
The beast's mouth twisted into a grotesque smile, its limbs contorting in unnatural ways, snapping into place with a jerking motion. Its hollow, sunken eyes dilated with hunger, making the very air feel heavier.
Then… silence.
It wasn't the quiet of peace. It was suffocating—an unnatural stillness pressing down. The demon stood motionless, staring—watching—its gaze unblinking.
Lianxue's breath caught. She could feel her pulse thumping painfully in her throat, like a drumbeat. The world seemed to stretch, slow, her heartbeat echoing in her ears as the creature's gaze locked onto hers.
Then—
It lunged.
A blur of motion so fast it was as though the world warped around it.
The ground buckled under the weight of its sudden movement, rocks and dirt flying into the air as it surged forward, letting out a blood-curdling shriek that vibrated deep in her bones. Its arms shot upward, fingers elongating, curling into claws that gleamed—sharp and lethal.
Her heart stopped. Time seemed to still.
This beast was five times her size, its bulk like a monstrous bus, crushing everything beneath it. Yet here she was, standing in its path, a broken beam in her hands, sweat stinging her eyes, her breath stuck in her throat.
Could she do this?
Then instinct—raw and primal—kicked in.
She lunged forward just as the demon's claw ripped through the air and the rubble behind her. Barely missing her. Hitting the ground hard, she skidded over broken stone and charred earth. The burnt beam beneath her cracking in two with a sharp snap from her weight and the force of the push, one corner splintering into a crude stake.
With no time to think, She snatched the sharpened end, clutching it as she staggered to her feet. Dirt and blood mixed on her hands. Her breath came in gasps, searing her lungs with smoke and heat.
Only to turn just as the beast's thick, barbed tail crashed down behind her like a wrecking ball, shattering what remained of the street and sending dust skyward.
Her grip tightened on the stake, knuckles white as she hid behind an already more-than-half-destroyed stone wall. Lianxue panted heavily, listening to the shrieks and overlapping whispers of the demonic creature mere feet from her. Hidden in the dust cloud it had created.
It felt like everything else in the world was silent... The fire, the shouting in the distance, the sound of spirit masters attempting to fight back the surging forces. Lianxue couldn't think. Fear gripped her.
Her eyes closed. Her breaths coming out in shallow pants while her lips trembled, her hands twisting around the rough wooden stake. Her skin broke slightly against the burned wood.
Then the ground quaked.
In a split second, a claw burst through the crumbling wall beside her, dragging stone and mortar with it. She spun, shielding her face as best as she could with her arms while debris cut into her skin and what little remained of her dress. Her hair whipped around her, damp with sweat and ash.
The claw that burst through was met with a scream of her own—however, not of fear this time, Desperation. She spun, stake in hand, and with a cry that tore at her throat, drove the sharpened wood straight into the beast's claw!
The splintered point sank in with a wet crunch. The flesh there was thick, like old flesh from a body left to rot in the sun, but the wood pierced between the folds of its scaled joint.
She didn't stop.
She stabbed again, and again, screaming with each strike as blood—dark and viscous—splattered across her arms and chest. Her hair sticking to her skin while blood splatted the rubble and destroyed streets around her. She keep stabbing and stabbing as the beast flailed trying to get his hand out of the hole it had created.
The sickening crunch of its skin being ripped and torn each time over and over filled the air until her strength gave out and she gave another sharp tug of the stake, the beast finally getting his freedom. Lianxue, however, looked like she had been soaked in a bathe of almost black crimson.
The demon reeled back, its claws jerking away from the wall with a howl that shuddered the air. A tremor rolled through the ground, and for a single heartbeat, it wasn't invincible. It was wounded. Mortal.
Lianxue yanked the stake free, backing up with ragged gasps. Her chest heaved. Her arms burned from the effort.
Now!
She turned to flee, stumbling over broken stone—when it hit her.
White-hot agony tore through her side. The demon's claw slammed into her ribs, lifting her off the ground with a sickening crack. Bones fractured. Flesh split. She was thrown like a rag doll, hitting the dirt with brutal force, skidding across stone.
The stake remained in her hand, barely clutched.
Blood bubbled in her mouth, causing her breath to come out in a wet gasp. She couldn't scream.
The world tilted. Warped.
"No. Not yet..."
She rolled onto her stomach, dragging herself forward inch by inch, nails scraping against stone. Her legs didn't respond. Her arms barely obeyed. The stake was still clutched in her fist, and Lianxue almost used it like a climbing stake.
Footsteps behind her.
Slow. Heavy. Confident.
The demon approached—each step deliberate, savoring the moment. Its breath rasped like grinding stone. It was close. She could feel its presence pressing down like a weight on her spine.
She didn't have to look. She knew it was smiling.
A shadow fell over her.
She forced her head up.
It loomed.
Taller now. Stretched and bloated. Its limbs bent at angles no living thing should possess. Its body squirmed and pulsed. Faces writhed just beneath its skin—distorted, silent, screaming. Souls. Perhaps the bodies it had already consumed.
Its mouth began to open.
Too wide. Too slow. Strings of thick, translucent saliva drooled down in ropes, splattering across her shoulders. The stench hit her—meat left to rot, blood, sulfur. Something inside the mouth moved. Twitched.
Then—a whisper.
It wasn't language. Just sound. Static and breath. The dying sigh of a world too old to remember its name.
It didn't strike.
It just waited. Watching.
Her body shook violently. She could barely hold herself up. The stake in her hand wavered.
This was it.
And yet…
If this was her end…
"Let it be standing...!"
With the last of her strength, Lianxue raised the stake. Her hands trembled. Her arms burned. Blood spilled down her chin. But her eyes locked onto the demon's wide open mouth.
She slammed the wooden stake into the demon's gaping maw. Its pain-filled shriek echoed, filling the air so loudly that other demons suddenly took to the sky like scattering birds.
The demon reeled. Four of its many arms clutched its bloated head, the stake buried deep in its skull. Screams of agony and yells of fury filled the space as the demon swore vengeance, cursed her, and named her many sickening names.
With a crunch, one of its hands slowly began to reach into its maw. Lianxue struggled to stay awake as she tried to force herself to stand, looking like a newborn deer for a moment.
She watched through tangled hair and burning eyes, sweat streaking her ash-covered skin. Her robes hung in shreds, leaving only her underclothes intact—exposed, battered, but still standing.
However, as the creature attempted to remove the stake, its hand suddenly started to smoke! The stake inside its skull pulsed with radiant light, as if a shield had been placed over it—preventing the demon from removing the painful stake now lodged within it.
As Lianxue tried to stand, the demon roaring and shrieking in pain, its heavy wings flapping, sending dirt and stone into the air, she fell to her knees. Worn out, her right eye black and bruised, right cheek swollen, and large gashes from the demon now on her body, Lianxue was tired. Too tired to fear. Too tired to care.
But as she began to fall forward, ready to hit the hard ground, she found herself falling into a puddle of silken fabric and strong arms that wrapped around her protectively. Through blurring eyes, she tried to look up at the person, but the dust and dirt from the demon's destruction only made her eyes sting and caused her vision to blur.
"Told you, Princess Hau... not so useless after all."
The voice was a drawl—low, smug, and far too amused.
The stake still pulsed in the demon's skull behind her—burning like a second sun through the smoke. And in the arms of the one who saved her, she finally closed her eyes.
"Qian...shi..." she whispered, blood gurgling from her lips.