There were years of experience in the one warrior known as Xiaojun. Years of slashing weapons into bodies and heads. Years of throwing men from their horses and stabbing them into the ground. Years of killing men and creatures alike. He does not fear his enemies. His enemies fear him instead.
Standing in the throne room, the enemy soldiers stood around him as their lord continued to snort his orders. “Attack him! Kill him and put his head his head on a spike!” For a moment, the soldiers hesitated. Compared to the warrior before them, they looked like mere toys standing before a complete titan. “He’s huge!” they thought amongst themselves. “His weapon’s blade is as big as a torso! And his muscles look like complete machines of destruction!” But the time for hesitation ended as the lord gave his order. “Kill him! Now!”
They charged at the same time, yelling as adrenaline filled their blood. But Xiaojun already had his plan. He fought like a mechanism as he committed the actions he had done many times over. The warrior charged at an individual soldier and used his weapon to sweep the soldier onto the ground. There, Xiaojun slammed his weapon downwards and cut straight through the armor. The soldier was sliced in half as the others could only watch with fear.
“Y-you’ll pay for that!” one of the soldiers screamed as he charged forward. With his polearm aimed right for Xiaojun, the soldier charged like an insect without a plan or rationale. Xiaojun, without even a smile, punished this. He grabbed the polearm and tugged the soldier to him. Afterwards, he grabbed the soldier and threw him over his shoulder. The soldier’s head slammed into the ground like a drill as an audible crack could be heard. “Oops,” Xiaojun taunted. “I must’ve snapped his neck.”
At this point, the remainder of the soldiers threw down their weapons as they turned and ran. “How dare you!” the lord demanded. “Are you running from a mere man?” But the soldiers didn’t even give a response as their bodies became overwhelmed by fear and terror. What they were fighting was not a man. What they were fighting was Xiaojun.
As the soldiers opened the door to escape, they were met with a large company instead of an exit. Wearing black armor, the army walked inside and cut the soldiers right where they were. Their heads rolled right towards the smiling lord as he began to laugh. “The cowardice set of rabble was here when this kingdom was controlled by a weakling. As a result, I managed to train a new set of soldiers.”
Xiaojun gave a good look at them. They were strong and well equipped. They looked experienced too. “Mercenaries?” he asked. The lord smiled as he answered. “Criminals,” he said. “It is a complete waste to disallow those hungry for power to not have their fair share. All I have to do is let them feast when they do my bidding. So if I let them roll into an enemy town, I’ll give them the complete liberty to take what and who they want.”
“Pillage and rape?” Xiaojun scoffed. “That just sounds like a normal army but put into worse proportions.” He stood straight as Hua got behind him. “I was hoping I’d get to see the Beast of Lust here, but it’s clear that you’re just a vassal of him. You can’t even compare yourself to the evils capable of the four beasts.” He readied his weapon. “Well then. Call your dogs. I’m bored.”
The crowd of criminals began to charge as they all had the fox girl in mind. “If I get to kill him, that girl is mine!” They jeered and laughed as Hua backed herself behind Xiaojun. “Can you take on all of them?” The warrior gave a sly smile as he gently pushed her back. “We’ll see if I can together.”
With a swipe, blood spewed onto the floor and walls as a group of criminals crumbled to the floor. Xiaojun had aimed for their necks, easily tearing through the slight amounts of armor present there. Arrows and bolts began to fly as archers and crossbowmen fired upon the warrior. Quickly, Xiaojun responded by grabbing a corpse and using it as a shield. With a body in his lift hand and his weapon in his right, he continued to strike and swipe against the crowd before him.
More and more bodies piled around as Xiaojun ruthlessly dealt with them. He swung his large weapon in ways that instantly cut through the tough armor of the warriors. Xiaojun would even grab arrows midair and stab the things into the eyes of charging soldiers. As they would writhe on the ground, he would stomp the arrows deeper into their brain, leading to a sudden and fast kill.
Hua watched it all. With her back against the wall, blood flowed from the battle before her like a river of sin. But even at this moment, she knew that Xiaojun was far from giving it his all. She had seen him fight before, and she knew that the ceiling for this god of a man was far higher than anything these mere criminals could offer. One thing she knew was that the warrior hadn’t even begun to smile yet.
A downward strike to split a head in two like a logger hacking wood. A strike from the side to rip into multiple throats like a gatherer harvesting fruit. An elbow right through into the skull like a worker slamming a nail. In the end, it was bloody carnage that left bodies and blood around. In a moment, only the archers were left. With sweat on their foreheads and fear in their bones, they shakily fired their weapons. They missed.
Xiaojun grabbed a polearm and vaulted it right into one of them, skewering the criminal to the wall. The man screamed as blood coughed from his body. Walking towards him and stepping over bodies, Xiaojun was almost unopposed as he looked the man in the eyes and slammed his head into the wall. Blood flowed from the helmet as the body dangled without life.
“If anyone else would like to throw their lives away, loose your arrows now.” To his dismay, a few arrows flew into the air and hit his body. With a scoff, he pulled them out of his body. “Very well.” He made sure they regretted their decisions. He lunged forward and the archers drew their swords. Compared to Xiaojun’s large weapon, these swords were nothing but toothpicks.
One of the criminals swung at the warrior. “Die!” he cried. Xiaojun moved to the side and grabbed the blade. He then slammed the blade with his knee and shattered it into metal fragments. With one of these fragments, he jammed it into the soldier’s throat. He then grabbed the next archer and threw him to the ground. With a vicious move, he stomped his head into a mere footprint as the body jolted before resting for eternity.
Hua’s eyes were stuck to watch the massacre unfold. More blood. More bodies. More sacrifices to Xiaojun’s journey. “These were tougher soldiers,” the warrior admitted. “They didn’t have the heart in them to run. I’m surprised that they’re criminals, since petty thieves would rather leave with their lives,” he added. “So, if it isn’t a bother, I’ll be having your head now.” He raised his weapon high.
Suddenly, the ceiling caved in as Xiaojun narrowly dodged to the side. Hua could see his sudden change in facial expression. What they were standing against wasn’t human, not like the last companies of soldiers. Standing before them were large monstrous beings who vaguely took the forms of humans. With disproportionate body parts, smiles that widened uncomfortably, and with chains and pins riddling their bodies, these were strange and unholy unions of man and monster.
“Did you want to fight demons?” the possessed lord asked. “These warriors here are my kin! My sons made from my own body!” Hua skittered back as she realized what these monsters were. Remembering the hall full of mutilated women, she realized that these were the godless creations of the Lord Luo and the women he had inhumanly used. “Oh my god…” she muttered. If she was slightly more unfortunate, she would’ve ended up as one of them.
The monsters darted explosively as even their slightest movements were made quickly. Wielding weapons and armors ranging from light cloaks and knives to heavy lamellar and longswords, these formidable enemies were much closer to Xiaojun’s level. In fact, they looked to be stronger. Immediately, they all charged towards the long warrior.
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Xiaojun was forced to jump to the side as his cheek was skimmed by a blade. If he was a moment late, he would’ve ended up more than dead. Before he could even take a breath, the monsters continued their attack as they charged for him further. Quickly, they had already formed a system. The heavier beasts would attack him head on as the smaller and lighter ones would attack him from the sides.
As Xiaojun blocked one attack, he would be hit with another. No amount of focus would be enough as he was constantly overwhelmed with enemies. He could barely even afford the time or attention to breath as his body began to bleed from his bruises and cuts. Suddenly, he was grabbed and thrown into the wall. With the wood cracking upon the force, he coughed blood as he immediately stood to his feet.
Already he was met with an even worse barrage of strikes as everywhere but the wall’s direction held threats. He moved frantically to block and deflect as many strikes as he could, but it was obvious that he was losing. It was his blood that began to spill the ground, mixing with the already drying blood of the enemies he had already slain.
“Yes! This is where you meet your end!” Lord Luo laughed. His body continued to change as he became more and more sickly and his stench being more and more foul. “One I kill you, I shall move my army of heirs outward to conquer parcels upon parcels of land! I’ll even be strong enough to contend against the four beasts! No, I’ll be strong enough to control the Beast of Corruption!”
For a moment, everything froze. For Xiaojun, it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. The strikes and swings of the monsters. The laughter of the possessed lord. Even the gasps of Hua looked to be in slow motion. “The Beast of Corruption,” he thought. One person popped into his mind. “Nina Wagner.”
The thought of her blonde hair. The thought of her smile. The thought of her incredible cunning. Everything circled back to her. “Don’t you get it Xiaojun?” he thought to himself, “she is now a pawn and puppet of the Beast of Corruption. All because you weren’t able to rescue her from the Diyu.” He gripped his weapon. “I will kill every last one of you damn demons!”
He pushed the large beasts back and quickly swatted the smaller monsters into the ground. It was a sudden explosion of violence from the man which shocked even the possessed lord. What was even more terrifying was the smile present on Xiaojun’s face. “You think you can win against the Beast of Corruption because you can fuck? You are delusional! Even for being a mere minion of the Beast of Lust, you are a fool!” He slashed another monster in pieces as he used his madness as his fuel.
“If I cannot defeat these abominations you call heirs, then I will be completely unable to kill the Beast of Corruption!” he laughed. “So I better get to killing!” As one of the monsters swung his mace in self defense, Xiaojun grabbed the base of it mid-swing and stuck his weapon into the beast’s chest. He then grabbed the mace right out of his hands and crushed the skull of the heir into a poor coalition of black bile and shattered bone. As the body fell to the ground, Xiaojun retrieved his weapon and continued his killing.
Hua recognized this madness. This was when Xiaojun was allowing his mind to accept insanity. To lose his constraints and lose the weight of his mind was to become free and strong. She watched as the monsters who were strong enough to topple armies fell at the crazed hand of Xiaojun.
Xiaojun finished the last monster by throwing the large being to the ground and launching his fist into the beast’s inhuman face. The monster gave deafening screams broken only by the contact with Xiaojun’s knuckles. “Keep screaming!” the warrior taunted. “Keep screaming! It’s like a symphony!” With each strike, the body of the monster would jolt as Xiaojun taught the overgrown child a lesson: how it feels to experience pain. “Do you want to die? Do you want to die?” Xiaojun asked.
The monster nodded as it continued to scream. A smile rose even higher on Xiaojun’s face. “Perfect!” He went to his feet and stomped the head into an explosive smear. “Hahaha!” he began to uncontrollably laugh, “did you think that because your daddy was a demon, that it meant you were strong?” The dead bodies gave no reply. “Good. I thought so as well,” Xiaojun said.
“You…” Lord Luo said. His voice was cold in comparison to his usual bestial countenance. “I know what you are,” the possessed lord said. “It was once prophesied amongst the demons that the God of Purity would capitulate into the Four Beasts and then transform into the Beast of Corruption. That was known. But what was also known was that humanity would send someone to recant the destruction caused by the fracture. Humanity would send an envoy.”
Xiaojun cleaned his blade as the smile disappeared from his face. With the air standing still, Lord Luo pointed his ghastly and disgusting finger at the warrior before him. “You are humanity’s envoy against this age of demons and monsters.” Xiaojun cracked his bones before giving his response. “You are completely right.”
The lord guffawed as he grabbed against his flesh. “Then that means I have no need to chase my desires when I must risk my life and being to fight the envoy of man.” He began to tear and tug at his flesh, pulling the thing apart and throwing it off of him. Skin and muscle alike fell from his body like tender and disgusting lumps of slime. Hua shrieked as she hid behind Xiaojun once more.
“You’re wounded, do you need any of my blood?” she asked the warrior. Xiaojun shook his head. “If I can’t fight against this demon in my current state, then I’ll be helpless to fight one of the four beasts.” At the end of this metamorphosis, Lord Luo presented his true form. “I am Siumeng, a demon once trapped in the Diyu. When the realm between man and beast opened, I was one of the first to take my chances.”
Hua’s eyes widened when she looked at the demon. It was an emaciated and chained concert of pins and needles, as if he were the victim of torture, pain, and forced restraint. Chains exited from his body, physically popping from his pale flesh as he began to hold them like whips. “I shall win the favor of the four beasts by eliminating the envoy of man right where he stands.”
Xiaojun quickly grabbed Hua and dodged to the side just as the metal whip slammed into the ground, cracking the wooden floor at its very seams. “He’s fast!” Hua gasped. Xiaojun pushed her out of the doors immediately. He then locked the door with a polearm, preventing her from returning back inside. “Get out of the castle while you still can.” Hua yelped and banged on the door. “But you need my blood!” Xiaojun chuckled in response. “No. I just need to send this beast back where he belongs.”
Xiaojun stood before the demon, readying his weapon as the demon readied his chains. “You managed to survive the trip to the Diyu,” the demon echoed. “That alone proves your worth as the envoy of man.” Siumeng released his whips forcing Xiaojun to slip and move. The demon followed with more strikes as the warrior was forced to erratically move in random directions in order to survive. The entire palace began to shake as the damage from this fight alone rocked the building to its core.
Suddenly, Xiaojun took his chance and lunged into the demon. But before he could thrust his guandao into the demon’s chest, needles began to fly out from the demon’s body. Being infinitesimally small, the needles went right through Xiaojun’s armor and dug into his flesh. Staggering back, the warrior was forced to return to his evasion methods.
“You’re getting slower,” the demon said. “My needles are laced with a poison only demons could possibly handle. Your constitution being strong, I’d be surprised if you last for even a few minutes.” Xiaojun grunted as the chains got closer and closer to hitting him. “A few minutes? That sounds like plenty of time.”
But he was getting slower, and the pain in his body began to swell. He had already fought through hordes of both men and monsters. The weakness of humans is the innate mortality of them, meaning that Xiaojun could only take so much before succumbing to the cold clutches of exhaustion and death. But as weak as humans were, that just meant that they were required to fight even harder. “You foolish demon! You must realize that I could care less about my own weakness!”
The chain was about to strike against the warrior, but Xiaojun just responded with a smile. “I shall teach you how it feels to die!” He grabbed the chain midair and pulled it tightly. As the demon was thrown face to face with the warrior, he launched a new volley of needles. Xiaojun moved his guandao into a circular motion to deflect as many of the needles as he could. As for the ones that went through, he simply smiled and allowed his body to simply eat the pain and poison alike. “Delicious,” he taunted with a grin.
With a swift motion, he sliced the head right off of the neck holding it. The body stood helpless as it eventually toppled to the floor. The head began to roll onto the ground as Xiaojun continued to smile. But even with the head severed, the demon continued to speak. “But… the… poison…” Xiaojun made sure the demon’s last memory would be seeing the warrior smile. “When you go to hell, tell them it was humanity’s envoy that sent you.” He grabbed the head and squeezed it. Like a fruit, it exploded as gibs and liquid spewed around. When a man was put to fight against a demon, the man was more than destined to win.