The smell of blood mixed with the pervasive dread in the air as I surveyed the area. The parking garage was empty and dark. A handful of cars spread throughout none of which looked like they had been turned on in the new world. I closed my eyes and strained my ears to pick up any signs of battle or screams of pain. Neither of those was what I heard—a demented laugh from somewhere below me. I ran into the closest stairway and leaped straight down the middle. Floors passed by in a blur until my instincts told me to stop. My hand shot forward like a viper, I grabbed the stone and used my momentum to land on the next level. It took me a second to process what I was seeing. When I did a calm fury spread through my entire body. A man in sanguine cultivator robes stood in front of a man. The man had been gagged and was bleeding from a wound on his head. He was still conscious but wasn't moving. I couldn't tell if that was due to fear or some ability.

The murderer turned me and flashed the most psychotic smile I had ever seen. It was like something out of a movie, his eyes were filled with a madness that made me take a half step back. When he spoke he half laughed. "You must be our venerable leader. The Lord has blessed you with much."

"I take it you are The System's Herald?" I asked while my mind rushed to come up with a plan. A plan that would let me capture one and save another.

"I am." The Herald drew a wicked blade that looked like it had been stained with the blood of hundreds of people. The blade was split in two with one half slightly shorter than the other. "Have you come to join me? We can punish the unfaithful together. You show them the light while I teach them the darkness."

Before I could answer Masquerade rushed up the stairs. I half expected them to hesitate when they saw the scene but Masquerade didn't. Instead, they drew their won dagger. "By the authority of the United World Government, I have come to bring you in."

"Another disappointment. A new world has been presented to us and you hide beneath the lie of the old one. Heaven has brought illumination and you cringe from it like the shadows before the dawn. You should do better."

"Is that what you are doing? God's work?" I spat the words at him as my killing intent fought against the locks I placed on it. This man no this monster was willing to hurt and kill people for some demented madness?

A cackling laughter filled the air as the monster stepped toward us. His blade danced in the air in front of him in a silent promise of violence. "Of course, Someone has to educate them. What else do you do with a wayward child but punish them?"

"You are killing innocent people," Masquerade replied.

"There is no greater crime than to lose the favor of Heaven. In this world, we have been given the chance to be greater. What worse crime can there be than to choose to be weak?"

I gritted my teeth and looked between the madman and his potential victim. I wasn't sure if the Herald had paralyzed him but he didn't move not even to ask for help. Despite that, there was something inside me that agreed with the herald. We had been given a literal reset or at least the closest we would ever come. This world wasn't fair by a long shot but it was closer. Hundreds of millions of us became cultivators overnight, even those who couldn't cultivate could gain levels. I shook the thought from my head and focused. Regardless this bastard was murdering people. Murdering them for not risking their lives to fight monsters. I wouldn't stand for that.

"Ah, but it looks like the time for conversation has ended. Perhaps you both will be the wake-up call this world needs. A call to follow the glories of the System."

In the next moment, The Herald disappeared and reappeared in front of me. His blade slammed into my tao field less than an inch from my throat. My eyes widened as I processed what just happened. There had been no warning, not even my danger sense it was as if he had always been standing in front of me. I lashed out on instinct with a right hook. My fist slammed into his jaw like a falling meteor. The blow launched him nearly ten feet away. I could tell it wouldn't be enough to kill him or even stop him for long. "Help the civilian," I spoke out loud while keeping my eyes trained on the System's Herald. He was slow to get back to his feet and I couldn't tell if that was because I had hurt him or if it was a part of his sick game.

"Get him to safety and then join me." I took a step and then another and another before I broke out into a sprint. The herald raised his blade and rushed toward me. His dagger moved like a snake on the hunt for every exposed part of my body. His dagger slammed into my field twice for every hit I landed. We continued like for less than a minute before he backed off and leaped out of the building. I leaped out after him, spiritual energy flowing into the sigil for **Psychic Blast** until I saw what was below us. A group of people were gawking up at us like we were a spectacle. As soon as they saw us falling toward them they attempted to move but it was too late. I abandoned the spell to avoid hitting them as the Herald landed on top of a woman. The sickening crunch of her neck was enough to tell me I couldn't save her.

"You hesitated." He cackled before sprinting down a side street. "You aren't going to catch me if you have to worry about the unclean."

"I am on my way," Masquerade said through our link as I crashed into the ground.

"Spread out. The longer we let this go on the more danger they will be in. Avoid the dagger I think it's coated in something." I dashed through the side street after side street as the panic screams filled the air. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what his next move would be. He wasn't fast enough to escape and he couldn't leave the city without opening himself up to an attack. I chased after him for another five minutes when Masquerade joined the battle. Their daggers flashed in deadly arc. I half expected the madman to lose his head but it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. He flipped backward narrowly avoiding the attack while positioning Masquerade between us.

My anger flared at the indignity of being led around like a dog. I felt the familiar gentle caress in the back of my mind as a new idea formed. Now that I had it I didn't understand why I hadn't tried it before. It seemed so easy, so obvious. I leaped into the air above Masquerade only to find the Herald waiting for me. This time his dagger glowed a dark emerald color that made me think of the depths of bog or swamp. The dagger sliced through my tao field as an indigo ball formed above my pointer finger. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as we sought each other's life. The defenses on my robe activated just as my tao field collapsed. His dagger was stopped less than an inch from my heart and unleashed Psychic Blast. The spell was compressed to a size barely bigger than my finger but that wasn't the truly magnificent part. Indigo light engulfed us both as a new sun was birthed in the middle of New York.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I closed my eyes mostly to protect them from the glow and waited for the kill confirmation but nothing came. When I accepted that he had somehow lived I couldn't help myself. I began to laugh. My vision returned just as the Herald retreated only this time he hadn't run away. We stared at each other in the middle of the street. His laughter joined my own and I wasn't sure which of us was mad anymore. Two psychic blades formed above me while I activated Psychic Aegis.

"Yes, yes so good. Show them. Show them what we should all strive to be. Show them what justice is in this new world."

I took a deep breath and calmed down. Part of me enjoyed the battle but the rational part of me knew this was bad. People were at risk and I couldn't let them think I was just as insane as him. Before I could decide how to proceed Masquerade joined us. They had a nasty wound on his right arm that looked wrong. It refused to stop bleeding despite the torn shirt that had been turned into a makeshift tourniquet. Furthermore, the blood was filled with black as if it were sick. "Are you alright? Do you have something for the wound?"

"My healing pills aren't working. The right arm is a bit tender but nothing major."

I shrugged and summoned one of the pills from the Primal Battlefield. "Try that one. It should be able to heal a tao-based injury. Though it might have a kick to it."

"That soft heart is going to get you in trouble." The Herald cackled before appearing in front of me. This time I was ready. Psychic Aegis blocked the dagger while both of my blades went for the kill. He avoided the first one and the second hit him square in the chest. The light in his eyes dimmed as realization hit him. My fist shot for his head, all pretense of capture gone as I went for the kill. I could practically feel his kill energy when a ring on his right hand shattered. The world seemed to pause as a scream of danger shot through me. I had leaped nearly ten feet away before I had processed what was going on. In the next moment, a sphere of utter darkness surrounded the Herald. I stared at it in utter confusion. The sphere lasted less than a minute before it a chunk of the street simply disappeared.

"Did you do that?" Masquerade asked.

"No, that wasn't an ability of mine." I pulled up the World Standing hoping that I wouldn't see his name but it was still there. Which meant whatever it was didn't kill him. "I think it was a protective item. He was about to die and the ring somehow defended him. It then teleported him somewhere else."

"Do you think something like that exists?"

I nodded. "My robes have a powerful shield. I don't see why someone couldn't create a teleportation shield kind of thing."

"So what do we do now? I doubt he is going to attack anyone again tonight."

"No, I don't think he could even if he wanted. His psyche shouldn't be strong enough to just shrug off my attack so he will have to recover. The question is where he went. If he is nearby we might be able to find him."

"I am going to assume you don't have a method to search for him." When I shook my head they sighed. "Keep overwatch from the roofs for a few more hours. I need to go and let my bosses know what happened. If we need to search for someone it's going to take all night and a lot of manpower."

"Let them know that either you or I have to face him. The others will just throw their lives away." We went over a few more things before they left. I considered calling some people from Amara but decided against it. I didn't want to put my people at risk nor did I think it would help. My gut told me that the ring would have sent him as far from me as it could. I wouldn't be surprised if he was days or even weeks away. On top of that the sphere had the same feeling as the System's teleporters. I wasn't sure if that meant the System created it or if all teleportation felt like that. I also didn't want to know. I made my way onto the parking garage and did two rotations around the city. After that, I sat in silent meditation for two hours and then returned to my room. Not only had Masquerade not sought me out but no one was on the streets anymore. Which made sense and I couldn't blame them but it ruined the atmosphere. We once again returned to the apocalypse.

The next day the city was somber. Everyone had either seen the battle or had heard about it by now. Eyes followed me as I walked down the street and I wasn't sure if they were afraid of me or thankful. It was probably a mix of the two which was understandable. The battle had caused something in the city to break. People no longer lingered in the streets nor did they seem happy. Many of them carried various weapons from baseball bats to two by fours which only made my mood worse. I still hadn't decided how I felt about the UWG but they had tried to bring peace to people. It wasn't enough and it was doomed to fail but the System's Herald had fucked things up. I stepped into the government's teleportation state and let out a sigh.

"You don't look happy to see us." Chang Yi said with a forced smile.

"Well, last time we spoke it got me involved in all this so..." I flashed him a smile and then nodded to three guards with him. "Is the government sure they don't want me around?"

"Yeah, you would be helpful but you are also a bit dangerous. You are a walking weapon and we would prefer to not have you around."

That made me chuckle. "Of course, so what will you do next? I don't think he will come back here again at least not in the short term."

"We agree it's likely that he will go and hunt somewhere else." He hesitated and I watched the inner war play out on his face. After a minute he sighed. "You will keep leveling up right?"

The unspoken words hung in the air between us and I didn't answer him. I was going to keep leveling but there was no guarantee that I would be here to defend them. That I could defend everyone. I wasn't even sure I wanted to do that. I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I can't let that guy be the first one to level 50." I offered a dry chuckle before walking up to the teleporter. "If you ever need anything Amara is open to you. Amara is open to everyone that needs a home."

The teleportation took over a second later. The darkness that greeted me was oddly calming. There was nothing else but me and my thoughts which was oddly calming. There was a lot I needed to get done. I hardened my heart and mentally prepared myself. The next time the Herald and I met would be the day one of us died. When the world came back into focus I felt a hundred times better. I gave the guard on duty a nod before activating Apportation. I didn't have the time to get distracted. The battle had brought something to the surface. Something that I had been waiting on forever. I stepped out of the portal and into my private cultivation chamber. The density of the spiritual energy hit me like a drug. I froze there for a moment and just let it flow over me.

When I was ready I took a seat and placed a 2nd realm stone into my rug and started to cultivate. The energy poured into me, slowly revitalizing my channels and draining dantian. It would be a while before I could hit the next level but that was fine. I just needed the calming effect. I wasn't sure how long I sat there before I turned my focus to my tao. The strand of adamance sat like unyielding steel in my mind. The strand of lucidity was closer to an ethereal wind. It had taken days before I understood what coherence meant and what lucidity was. My previous understanding had been well shallow for lack of a better word. That changed during the battle. Interestingly enough it wasn't the strand of lucidity that revealed but adamance.

I took a deep breath and let the last few weeks of battles flow over me. The puppets on the battlefield, the monster horde, even my sparing sessions. All of them held a bit of the truth that I wanted, that I needed. It wasn't a massive change, nor was it even noticeable at first. It was like a barely there whisper, a gentle caress that couldn't be bound or suppressed. It was the perfect opposite of the strand of adamance. I opened my eyes and pulled up the waiting notification. What I saw was enough to make me laugh.

Tao Strand of Lucidity — Comprehension: Middle. Perception +20, Wisdom +20

I pulled up the World Standing for the Tao and let out a disappointed sigh. This and the wealth list didn't have any signs of progress. It didn't tell me how many Tao I had or their levels which sucked but I should have just widened my lead. I could feel that I could create another tao strand but I wasn't sure which one it should be.