The envoy of man was someone marked by adversity, just as humanity has been marked by adversity. Ever since the creation of the first human, all man has known is suffering by the hands of gods. Plague. Disaster. Predators. War. All results from the hands of higher beings. In order to survive, humanity could only fight on.

The ground beneath Xiaojun and his group began to tremble. Hua panicked as Rina darted her gun about. In contrast, Xiaojun remained completely calm as he held onto his weapon. “I believe I understand what is happening,” he said. “It is not the people within the city that have become cursed. It is the city itself.” The ground collapsed as the group fell into the depths that the city had curated for them. Guancheng was a monster within itself.

Hua and Rina found themselves deprived and alone in the dark. “Hey! Are you okay?” Hua chirped. Rina groaned as she stood to her feet. “I’m alright. What happened?” Their voices echoed in the darkness like a volume without end. “Rina! Where’s Xiaojun?” Hua squealed.

“Don’t worry about him right now. I’m sure he’s fine. Right now, we have to find a way out of here.” Rina managed to find her soldierly calmness as she took good breaths. The only time she had ever frozen in fear was in the forest with the centipede. She wanted to keep it that way. “I’ll light ourselves a torch. Then we can try to navigate through.”

From her bag, she retrieved a stick and a rag. In the darkness, she wrapped the rag around the stick. Then, in the distance, the sound of tumbling rocks gently echoed throughout the catacomb. “I have a bad feeling Rina…” The soldier remained calm as she used flint and steel to light the torch. “Alright. We should be good,” she said. Rina picked the torch up to find a face in front of her.

“Shit!” Rina immediately struck at it. The face crumbled into dust as she struggled to regain her breath. It was just a mask, perhaps one that performers would use when the city wasn’t paused by siege. “Are you okay?” Hua asked. “Let me hold your torch so you can hold your gun, okay?” Rina, still panting and trying to return to being calm, nodded. “Sounds good.” The soldier handed over the torch and held her weapon. “Alright let’s…”

Hua couldn’t see it, since she was facing Rina, but the soldier saw the view. They were trapped in a valley of rubble as the walls seemed to move on their own. No, that wasn’t it. There were so many creatures on them that they gave the illusion that the walls, themselves were moving. It was like witnessing a cacophony of insects inflame a tree, only these insects were humanoid creatures who squealed like pigs. “Don’t turn.”

Elsewhere, Xiaojun awoke to find himself completely alone. No Hua. No Rina. Just him and his weapon. He marched on as he sharply inhaled and exhaled, preparing his body for the battles to come. The rubble of the ground creaked as his heavy body stomped about, for there was more than just the weight of his body and armor: there was the weight of all that he represented. It was the past, the present, and the future of humanity. The years of timeless struggle against titanic beings beyond their strength. Xiaojun, their envoy, would be humanity’s cry of rebellion against them.

Suddenly, there was a sudden cry. Surrounding the warrior and emerging from the rubble were strange humanoid beings. Their skin was pale and emaciated as they crept like ants in the rocks. Crawling on all fours, they were beings that seemed to make shame to the humans they once were.

They were jiangshi, but not restricted by stiffness. Indeed, they were mobile as they crept around like a mob of insects festering within the walls of the underground catacomb. Xiaojun understood where they had come from. Just as jiangshi originate from drought and famine, these creatures are the result of a long siege which deprived the city of Guancheng of food and water. The civilians, being poor and without the coffers to afford even rats to eat, ended up starving and transforming into these abominations of mankind.

Suddenly there was a shrill shriek akin to the sound of a war horn. Groups upon groups of the monsters charged toward the warrior, as if they had heard the signal to attack. Xiaojun, being as calm as ever, waited for them to come. Then, as soon as they stepped within his perimeter, he revealed his strength.

The blood splashed onto the walls.

There was a cry of pain that emanated from those that survived that one slash as dozens of bodies lay strewn about as if a giant had made a footstep. The jiangshi kept their distance from Xiaojun as he continued to walk forward, the monsters moving out of his way like a crowd of terrified sheep making way for a wolf.

It was like humans quaking in fear of a god. When humans were afraid of gods, they did the same thing: attempt to make way and avoid their wrath. Humans attempted sacrifice, self mutilation, wars, and countless sins in the name of appeasing the gods. But the gods, just like Xiaojun, had no care. For humans are insubstantial beings in the face of pure extremity.

Hua and Rina didn’t have such liberties. The jiangshi scampered towards them like a horde of starving rats as they continued to run. “Stay close to me!” Rina commanded. With her bayonet in front of her, she skewered through any of the deformed humans in her path. “Make a right!” Hua screamed.

They made the turn as a jiangshi lunged towards them. Rina thrust her bayonet into its chest as she threw it to the side. “The smell here is different! Keep going!” Hua added as she sniffed the air with her evolved sense. “Don’t stop! Go!”

They didn’t make a single stutter as they continued to sprint through. Right behind the range of their torch was the horde of scampering jiangshi which refused to let up. They climbed around rubble, hills, and even each other in order to try and lunge towards them.

“Hua, I think I see Xiaojun!” Rina yelled. “We have to get to him if we want to survive!” They sprinted towards him as the crowd continued to follow. “Are you sure that’s him?” Hua asked. “There’s something off about him. He doesn’t smell the same.” Even stranger was the reaction of the jiangshi as they got closer to the figure. They stopped chasing them. Instead, they were scampering away as if they had seen a ghost.

“Rina. That is not Xiaojun.” The figure began to step towards them, each stomp being akin to an earthquake. His body looked to be a strange unconnected coalition of smokey substance as it created a cursed and uncanny copy of Xiaojun’s frame. “That is not him…”

Rina acted fast as she aimed her gun. She cocked it and fired a round into one of the chinks of the armor. With that powerful gunshot, bile sputtered out as the figure looked at it with its ghastly eyes. Then, with a moment, the bleeding stopped. The bullet did absolutely nothing. “Hua. We have to run.”

The figure moved fast as he let loose a godly slash. Diving to the ground in barely good time, they narrowly avoided the strike. But the damage the figure was capable of was palpable, as the pillar it struck instead crumbled as it fell to the ground. “He’s just as strong as Xiaojun!” Rina grunted. “We have to move!”

She turned to move only to find the figure suddenly in front of her as if he teleported. “He’s fast!” Rina dug her bayonet into him, using all of her strength to skewer him. Bile spilled out, but the figure had only one reaction: laughter. It was the same kind of wrathful laughter that Xiaojun would exhibit.

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It grabbed Rina by the neck, lifted her off the ground as she left her weapon still stuck in his body. With this clear projection of power, the figure removed the bayonet from his body. The air in Rina’s body stagnated as the blood in her head rushed with pain. It was as if her head was being squeezed like a balloon.

“Get off of her!” Hua transformed into a fox and bit into his neck. Distracted by this, the figure dropped Rina to the ground, allowing her to finally cough and inhale some air. But the figure was not at all sullied as Hua attempted to truly injure him. The shadow just grabbed her by the mouth and tails before slamming the fox into his knee. With the audible sound of shattered bones, Hua tumbled to the ground and returned to her human form.

“Good god! Agh!” she screamed. She grabbed onto her back as she writhed in pain. The regeneration of her huli jing body already began as it started to fix back into place. The figure started to step towards her, smiling as it seemed ready to finish the job.

Another powerful gunshot roared throughout the catacombs as another bullet punctured into the figure’s armor. Rina was already reloading her gun as she watched the bile flow from the wound. “Over here…” she panted, her neck still reeling from the crushing experience.

The figure began to slowly walk towards her as Rina stood before it. She swallowed in her fear despite her hairs standing and freezing otherwise. “I’m not going to freeze. I’m not going to freeze.” Like a priestess, she repeated the same words over and over again in the hope that they would come true. “I’m not going to freeze.” The guandao swung down, ready to cut her in two.

Suddenly, the sound of clashing metal vibrated the air with its shrill and high pitched noise. Standing tall and proud was the true warrior that this shadow was merely mimicking. Standing there was Xiaojun, his weapon in hand as he stared at his own shadow.

Two warriors wielding the same type of blade. It was as if he were standing in front of a dark and sick reflection of himself. The shadow was grinning. Xiaojun was not. “It seems that this city wishes to mock me,” Xiaojun said. “If that’s true, that just means I have one thing to do. I must tear down this mockery by every brick.”

They charged at each other as the clangs of metal bounced throughout the air. Neither Hua nor Rina could have a proper view of what was happening because of the rapid speed of it all. The shadow swinging downwards as Xiaojun narrowly dodged it. Xiaojun thrusting his weapon as the shadow parried it. It was a pure melee of godly figures.

They moved about as the area wasn’t even close to being enough for their violence. Dashing about, Hua and Rina struggled to follow along. “We have to stay close to them,” Rina said, “or the creatures will be back for us.” Surely enough, the jiangshi crept forth, filling any part that wasn’t dominated by the aura and brutality of the battle.

As rubble crumbled for every missed strike, dust and debris sprinkled about as the explosive fighters continued to dart within the dimly illuminated darkness. “They’re fast! How the hell does someone get so powerful?” Rina noted.

“Xiaojun’s not fighting at his best,” Hua suddenly said. “He’s holding back.” Rina scoffed at this idea, considering that Xiaojun was already fighting in a manner no normal human could replicate. But as she looked on, she noticed that the shadow was subtly dominating within the fight.

Xiaojun maintained his straight face as he only used his mouth to give sharp exhales of exhausted air. Meanwhile, the shadow maintained a grin and even laughter as he maintained a continuous barrage of strikes and thrusts. “Xiaojun isn’t using his rage and emotions. He’s trying to resist the temptation of it,” Hua finally explained.

The shadow grabbed the warrior by his armor and began to twirl him in the air. With a momentous throw, he launched him into a stone wall. Blasting through like a cannonball, Xiaojun braced himself as he blasted through countless stone structures before finally stopping as he hit a marble pillar. But even with this devastating attack, he maintained the same straight and emotionless visage.

The shadow chuckled as it stepped through the hole it created. Crushing the rubble into sand with every one of its heavy steps, it approached the recovering warrior. Xiaojun got off of the pillar and dusted himself off as he got to his feet. This was a battle of emotionless stoicism against violent dudgeon.

No one could hear the voice, but the warrior could hear it emanate from the shadow like a nightmare. “Give in… give in… give in…” the hallucination droned. No doubt, the shadow was begging for Xiaojun to surrender to the temptations of wrath. Perhaps against a normal monster, he would be willing to give in. “You are a pawn of the Beast of Hate,” Xiaojun said. “I must resist your influence.”

The shadow charged once more, jumping into the air and slashing downwards. Xiaojun blocked the strike as the air seemed to clap with thunder. The warrior pushed the shadow off of him before thrusting his weapon. The shadow parried it and kicked the rubble into Xiaojun’s face. Refusing to blink despite the fine materials which festered into his eyes, Xiaojun was able to see the following attack and block it.

The warrior pushed the shadow away, creating more distance. With this slight of a break, he blinked and fixed his vision. “You even copy my dirty tactics. You truly are an effective apparition.” The shadow continued to laugh as its smile stretched from cheek to cheek. “I understand things now. You are the demon possessing this entire city.”

Though the shadow said nothing, the hallucinatory audition responded to Xiaojun. “That’s right,” he said with overlapping voices, “you are the envoy of humanity. That is why I wished to give you a proper introduction.” The warrior remained emotionless as he questioned the Demon of Guancheng. “Why do you tempt me to lose control?”

“Every demon in the Diyu has heard of the envoy of man and how he uses the emotions of wrath to punish demonkind. As a result, I wish to allow this wrath to corrupt you so that the Beast of Hate can easily harness your power.” Xiaojun scoffed as he readied his weapon. “Wrath or not, I shall destroy the likes of both you and the Beast of Hate.” Once more, they returned to a devastating duel.

Hua and Rina finally caught up to them as they watched from a slight distance. Panting as they had to climb through hills of rubble with the creatures of Guancheng following them, they watched the battle continue to unfold before them. “Xiaojun… you got this…” Hua muttered.

Meanwhile, the warrior was still in his pitched battle. He blocked a strike and immediately countered with a kick to the shadow’s skull. But this strike did absolutely nothing as the shadow remained still even as the heel struck into his temple. Still grinning, he stood like a complete statue before sweeping Xiaojun off of his feet. Xiaojun barely managed to move before the shadow slammed the ground with a godly thrust. The earth itself seemed to crack as the strike thunderously hit into the stone floor.

He jumped back to his feet, but the shadow didn’t give a second of reprieve as he immediately lunged forward. Put on the defensive, Xiaojun was forced to block or parry each and every strike. But for every ten that he would block, one strike would hit into his body. Moving like an unpredictable trickster, the shadow smiled as he watched trails of blood exit from the growing wounds on Xiaojun.

Hua watched in fear as she trembled in place. There were countless times where the warrior was brought to fight against a creature multiple times his size and strength, but it was this battle which sowed the trails towards death. “He’s refusing to use his rage. He might actually die,” she said with a tear. “Xiaojun! Fight!”

The warrior narrowly moved his head away from a thrust as he grabbed the shadow’s spear and pulled it towards him. Immediately, he followed with a downward strike. With that powerful motion, he put every ounce of his energy into his body like a kinetic chain of power. He struck into the shadow’s head, splitting it in two.

“He got him!” Hua yelped with joy. “I knew he had it in him!” But Rina didn’t have a single positive emotion. Watching with fear, she saw the head stitch itself back together as the bile adjusted to itself, regenerating. Xiaojun attempted to strike once more, but the shadow grabbed the blade with one hand. “Envoy of man, you are foolish. You had the option to bypass the city and reach closer to your quest, and yet you made a detour to your grave.” It grabbed Xiaojun once more, this time launching him into the surface.

Xiaojun exploded from the catacomb as he emerged from the ground. Blood drizzled from his hair as his head was filled with scratches from the debris. He drove his weapon into the ground as he attempted to try and return to his feet. With a powerful cough, more blood spilled from his face as he looked up.

The shadow leapt from the chasm to the surface. He was still smiling as he grabbed Xiaojun by the hair. “Envoy of man, your downfall is your own doing. Had you given in to the power of wrath, you would’ve won the battle.” The shadow readied his blade as if he were a mere executioner. “You were wrong to even begin to believe that a mere man was capable of winning against gods.”