Outside of the outer walls of Jinsheng, there was a veiled man standing silently in the shade of trees. He felt a huge pressure and was fearful that he would be discovered by monsters that were definitely nearby, as the forest was full of them. He sneakily looked around again to ensure his safety and right when he wanted to do what he came here for, he heard a nearby shout.

"Have you pissed yourself or what?" His whole body jerked in surprise, doing the unthinkable.

"Pants stuck." He shouted while cursing his disruptive comrade under his breath.

"An idiot." He heard thunderous laughter of his mates. "We are starting the next round without you!"

"Wait! I will win this time!" In a hurry, he tried to make right everything that went wrong with his little break and missed a low growl of a beast nearby. When he finally turned around to join the game, a shadow rushed out of the bushes, slamming into his back.

  He felt the smooth pelt of a great cat pressing on his skin, while he had been thrown aside by a considerable force. Lying on the ground, the beast jumped over him and vanished in the bushes that led to one of the outer city gates. It took a few seconds for him to realize that he had not been injured at all by the carnivorous beast, something very strange for the aggressive predators of the forest.

  Before he had composed himself after the irregular encounter, he heard other beasts around him, branches cracking under their feet, their quickened breaths turning into desperate howls as if there were hunters following in their steps.

"What is going on?!" The soldier got up quickly and shouted while running to join his companions. "There are beasts everywhere! Run behind the wall!"

  When he entered a small clearing where they had made their camp, he found out that he was late and everyone was already fighting the bests that behaved like rabid dogs with no reason, scared and panicked.

"We have to sound the alarm!" He remembered the basic drills, but before he could ran towards the gates of Jinsheng, he took and arrow in the knee. Immobilized, he threw a look full of disbelief at the incompetent soldier that shot the stray arrow. Yet, his misfortune had not made the world stop spinning and another huge beast, a mutated bear, ran at him at full speed. This time, the beast did not shy away to use its claws and teeth and rolled over the unlucky soldier like a bulldozer.

  With his last breath, the man saw that what started as a mad run of a few beast was turning into an inconceivable migration wave of scared beasts of every kind. It was without doubt they were all running from something, but he would never see what it was.

* * * *

  Karl had a feeling that he could hear the sounds of battle despite being deep underground. He was unnerved by the lack of information and decided to at least have a small peak at what was happening outside. He had still access to his goblins that turned out to be the least conspicuous scouts. Through their big eyes, he saw soldiers rushing to the outer perimeter of the newly developing city districts under Lehaim's control. Despite not being able to see the other side of the robust stone wall, he knew what was on the other side.

"And it is only the beginning." Karl through heavily, remembering well what he had seen in Edo, feeling the pressure of countless beasts running alongside him through the forest as he rushed to the safety of the city wall. He understood that the tide of monsters he witnessed had decided to pour in the same direction as him, pushing countless beasts in front of them.

"No risks. Jinsheng has Immortals. It shall hold." Karl arrived to a conclusion after a while of pondering.

  Sitting on the forehead of his most powerful minion, Karl waited stoically for the commotion to end while watching the situation outside using his greenskin scouts.

* * * *

  A young woman fastened her long hair into a ponytail again, as the lace was too slippery, the knot keeping her hair bound slowly undoing as she worked the field.

Right, worked the field.

  She knew the slums would mean her doom sooner or later and jumped on the opportunity to work as a farmhand. The Water Dragon Sect had more land than it could encompass with their pompous houses and megalomaniac fortresses. Mei Gon had been hired, promised a portion of food the farm would yield in the future.

  Such a promise would normally be made with money, but the tools were expensive, leaving the owner with just promises. Mei Gon did not mind, she still held her secret fund given by The Black Emperor. She needed a stable place in society more than money and what she was afraid of were gangs and bandits that would be hesitant to mess with the property of a powerful sect.

She had safety and food with a roof above her head. That was all she needed, she just needed to keep her wealth and origin hidden.

"Why the hell is this rock hard?" She frowned why keeping working the field with her hoe. She had honestly little idea what she was doing, simply following the instructions of the farmer that owned the farm.

  His name was Huan Qi and he was quite handsome. She imagined an idyllic scenario of him falling in love with her. She surely would end up having family, husband, land, money, simply everything a simple woman could dream of.

  She was brought back into reality form her daydreaming by a great commotion originating from the road that led to the outer city gate. Usually, there was little traffic there, but today it was a completely different situation.Throngs of people streamed in the direction deeper into the city and files of soldiers and cultivators hurried in the opposite way.

  She tried to pay attention to her hoe again, but was soon disturbed by Huan Qi, who ran in panic towards her and another farmhand that worked with her, a simple boy of dubious origin. Well, she was not one to talk.

"Hurry! We have to retreat into the fortress! The ci- ." That was the last line of Mei Gon's future husband before he was turned into a porcupine by a volley of sharp bolts of unknown origin. Mei Gon stared at the picture of her employer falling to the ground with dozens of bloody wounds on his body and the hoe she held slipped out of her hand.

  She looked in the direction of the attack and saw a chaotic melee between beasts and the military that included even a few cultivators among them. One of the beasts looked like an overgrown honey badger with a long tail that was armed with sharp spikes, the same ones stuck in the body of unlucky Huan Qi.

  Before her brain could process the situation, her legs were carrying her away from the danger, a habit gained during her long stay in the slums. She was unconsciously dragging her coworker along, as he was still unable to react and behaved like her trained pet, obediently following her steps.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  They ran for a while, escaping the rampaging beasts that were for some reason running wild behind the border wall. The great pride of the Water Dragon Sect proved to be insufficient when tested by the rampaging beasts. After some time, Mei Gon could not continue running anymore, her lungs burning with exhaustion and both of them collapsed on a large stone that was present on the clearing they had reached after their escape.

  An unexpected, loud screech nearly deafened them both, a powerful gust of wind pushing them back from the stone, throwing their backs against the ground. An overgrown eagle landed on the stone, his talons touching the place where just a second ago their palms were touching the cold stone's surface.

  They tried to stand up, but the giant bird flapped his wings again, making them fall over again, his expression that of a cruel predator playing with its prey before deciding to end the prey's suffering.

  Disoriented by the actions of the arrogant bird, Mei Gon struggled with the wind for control over her body and when she finally regained her bearings and was ready to escape, she saw a sharp talon reaching for her neck, its size comparable to a small dagger. She panicked and swung her hoe with all she had in an attempt to ward off the beast's strike.

The bird screeched and quickly took of into the air, his feathers stained with blood, while Mei Gon looked at her hands, mesmerized.

Rightfully so, because she had lost her hoe a long time ago and she had been actually using just her bare hand.

In retrospect, she understood what had happened and swung her hand in the direction of the airborne bird again, trying to remember the exact feeling she had when she had struck before.

  A small blade made of wind left her palm and struck the bird's chest, forcing the feathered aggressor to leave them alone, flying noisily away. Mei Gon just stared at her hand and a few strands of her green hair that escaped from the lazily tied lace.

"I did it, I finally did it!" She could not believe what had happened, her bloodline heritage finally showing its worth. "I will make it through this! I have not gained this strength just to die here!"

Yet, when she looked around, she found out that the beasts were all around them, their brief encounter with the bird delaying them enough for the tide of beasts to reach their position.

* * * *

"Desertification!" The Water Dragon Lehaim, the leader of the Water Dragon Sect and the lord of the Orlov region, used his signature mass destruction move while pointing outside of the city walls with his hand.

  All water started to evaporate quickly in a vast region in front of the outer city wall of Jinsheng. Beasts, trees and even a few unlucky runaways that had not made it in time began drying up, the structural integrity of their bodies failing as they were becoming more frail and brittle. Along with water, their life was slipping away and all life turned into dust.

"Seal the breach! Defend the wall at all costs!" Roaring, Lehaim suppressed his exhaustion caused by the immense scale of the power he had used and left the wall, quickly making his way deeper inland where a large mob of beasts disappeared. He did not know how the bests managed to breach the wall, but someone had to deal with them before they destroyed what he had built in their new home.

  He decided against using flight or any other means to artificially increase his speed. He felt that he should keep his fatigue at minimum, as the crisis had not yet reached its peak. He had a premonition that on this day, he would need all the power he had to defend what was his.

  When he was already far away from the gate, his attention was captured by an ominous sound that originated from where he had just departed. He turned around in time to see the large steel gate of the outer wall of Jinsheng falling inwards, as if torn from its hinges by a battering ram. Yet, there was not a battering ram entering the breached gate, but a few massive figures of flesh.

"What by the Ninth Heaven is this?" Lehaim was shocked by what he saw. More and more creatures that usually existed only in the worst nightmares poured through the unhinged gate, scaling the wall as well.

  With his right hand, Lehaim touched his eyelids as if to check his eyes, unwilling to believe what he saw. His forces were falling like flies and whatever damage they did to the terrifying enemy was irrelevant, the number of the horrors coming out of the dense forest having no end.

"You will all dies!" Lehaim shrieked, enraged. His eyes focused on one of the hideous creatures that seemed to be stronger than the others, preparing to cast a large scale attack. His forces were mostly dead anyway, there was no reason to hold back.

  The creature that had a bunch of tentacles instead of its one arm lifted a knife, as if in challenge to him and Lehaim sneered in disdain. Was the disgusting thing trying to fight him with a knife?

"Desertif-" Lehaim extended his hand to unleash his deadly power, but suddenly felt being paralyzed. It was a strange feeling, like something was observing him. His instinct was to hide from it whatever the cost, but it was not possible. He heard voices in his head while he saw images that disgusted him to the point his mind wanted to just cease to function.

"Do not look! Eyes deceive! Only listen!"

Lehaim's eyes widened and turned dull, the clarity in them no longer present. An insidious voice growing louder in his head.

"Do it! Free us! Free yourself! Liberate!"

And thus he did, his liberated soul leaving his body and his body turned into an empty vessel which hit the ground a second later.

* * * *

  With stoic indifference, a black stone glimmered at the top of the head with five eyes. His senses wandering the surface, his minions feeding him information from above. He observed the beginning of a slaughter, knowing it was only a mild prelude for what was to come, as the minions of chaos were yet to reach the walls of Jinsheng.

"Not my business." Karl thought while observing one of his minions trying to juggle with a few pebbles.

However, an itch inside of him overcame his lethargy, as he again focused his attention on the events above.

"This would be too pathetic." Karl grumbled when he looked at the few large stones high above his head through the eyes of a goblin. He knew that Mei Gon was about to die if he left everything to its natural course. "Whatever, my minions are cheaper than water in the oceans."

"Hurry up to the surface! There are some beasts to kill!" Karl gave a mental command to his minions of chaos that were hiding along with him underground.

  Karl himself commanded the Prophet of N'Ri that carried him to stand up and go closer to the surface. Deep inside he knew that he would not be able to stand on the sidelines during the incoming battle even if he wanted.

  Lifting the layer of soil and grass that covered the entrance into Karl's dungeon, his minions poured out like a tide, assaulting the bests that were in the process of encircling the survivors that were using the ruins of Fort Orlov to aid in their defense. Even though the Fort had been long destroyed, it was still much better than being encircled by the wild beasts in the open.

  Humans and bests alike halted their steps when they saw the new forces entering the struggle and after a few second understood their allegiance. The beasts began to growl and took a few steps back while the few surviving humans did not know whether to cheer or despair when faced with the minions of chaos' terrifying appearance.

  However, Karl's forces did not care for the reluctance of both sides and began aggressively attacking the hesitating beasts that mainly consisted of wolves and stray dogs that mutated and could not be called simple dogs any longer.

* * * *

  Eight Heavens higher, above the desperate struggle of Jinsheng, there was a golden throne with a man dressed in black seated on its grandeur, an ominous aura of his corrupted soul scaring anyone who might dare confront him. His large, black wings were half-spread, his back resting against the cold, golden surface and his hands had long, black claws instead of nails.

"Look up, reach the Heavens! Ever higher! Above anyone and anything!"

  A voice in his head sounded, promising him power and he embraced it. Those were not just empty promises of his former teachers he had killed in his pursuit of strength, words of praise that yielded him nothing, or schemes of those trying to parasite on his genius. No, this was a voice of the true god that granted him the strength to finally defeat the arrogant, lazy emperor and throw him down from his throne, hurl him into the depth of existence.

"I am the emperor of the Ninth Heaven now, of all of the Heavens! It will be my will that dictates the fate of all existence!" He growled with a smirk and cackled like a mad man.

  He looked at the empty space in front of him, where the huge golden door were being repaired by his servants who trembled with his every breath and felt the nearing presence of his true master. He looked down with his demonic eyes with vertical pupils and saw the tear there to enlarge to accommodate his mentor's large size.

"Come master, show them what true power means!" The dark figure laughed thunderously, unaware of much that was happening to him. His old friends would not have recognize him in appearance, nor behavior. Despite his increased power, his body looked more and more unhealthy, lean and malnourished. There was puss on the skin of his back and his eyes were turning cloudy, tiny worms swimming behind the white sclera of his eyes.

However, he was not aware, he listened to the voice that permeated his all being. The voice that had shattered his old weak self and filled him with purpose.

An agent of corruption who was unaware of his own true identity.