Hunter and hunted.

In life, there are rare and raw moments where the delicate line between hunter and hunted blurred. These encounters hold existential weight, greater than the bodies involved.

What marks a predator, and what marks prey?

Each sees themselves as the survivor, as the one who would outlast all others. Yet who is right? Which one's belief is true?

The answer lies in the nature of roles.

Roles are always cast, yet constantly subject to changes that both parties cannot expect, drawing all involved toward something larger—a rule etched deeper than instinct, as old as the first chase beneath a darkened sky.

Predator and prey.

The roles give each other meaning, with one breathing definition into the other. Neither can exist without its counterpart. Ecosystems would collapse, nature would fail, and the world would draw nearer to its end should one role simply… stop. Rarely do the roles of hunter and hunted shift like seasons. Yet when they did, it was often sparked by a catalyst.

Hatred. Love. Fear. Grief. Pride. Desire. Ambition. Empathy.

Any number of reasons can lead to disruption. When the hunter becomes the hunted and the prey finds strength untapped, abandoning its role. Alex stood on the cusp of such a moment, before the dust-filled, jagged, fractured wall of rock filled with segmented earth and magma rising like a dead titan’s spine, forever still.

And the giant flaming tiger he had failed to kill, standing at its base in a cloud of dust and exploded rock.

The ground trembled as her paws pressed into the basalt, the dust swirled around her like a veil peeled back to reveal judgment. Parts of her flesh were gone, large chunks and small divots with wounds seared shut, organs pulsing beneath thin sheets of broken muscle. Her front paw was missing, her bones broken, and her flesh removed in places. Yet her gait never wavered. Flames curled from her fur, but it was her gaze that held the true heat, fierce and unwavering, embodying an ancient rule that no predator or prey could defy.

His choices, his boldness, they mocked what she was born to enforce.

Alex watched her approach, unblinking.

How is she still standing? He felt as though she looked more like a corpse than a living beast, with her form so eviscerated by his marriage of skill and technique.

But still she moved as though uninjured, vast quantities of Qi infusing her every step as she moved with a single purpose.

To kill him.

Alex didn’t want to die, neither was he resigned; he hadn’t embraced any kind of end. He simply saw what it meant to face something powerful and unchangeable—beyond his will or intentions. He remained stood before her not seeking danger, but submerged in knowing there was simply no way out.

No way except through her.

A truth beyond words passed between them, and he knew that in her eyes, he was still just one thing.

“You still breathe… Human.”

Or perhaps not.

***

Hers was a fury not born of betrayal of trust, for none had existed between them. It was of betrayal of purpose, a wound dealt to the order that shaped all wild things. She was both the storm and the calm within, a force unyielding in its path. Predatory. As relentless as the sun’s rising.

For Alex, the sight brought more than trepidation; it was the recognition of the role she attempted to force upon him. It triggered instinctive defiance against the mortal law of predation she upheld.

For the Mother, It was knowing the human had, in his actions, twisted the natural lines—daring to step where even gods would have tread carefully.

The twisting of heavenly laws.

The human was unaware of the larger eternal forces at play that guided both of their steps within the cavern. If he had been aware, perhaps he would have stepped in the direction of the great Dao.

But he was ignorant, simply laying a wound to the order that shaped all wild things.

"It is recognised… that the Hunter fulfils a necessary… function,"

As the voice rumbled within the swirling maelstrom of dust and embers, her colossal form emerged and the ground shook as she stepped forward, glowing embers swirling around her like fireflies witnessing Alex’s judgement. Flames curled from her fur as she took another deliberate step forward, the ground beneath her feet blackened and cracked, tendrils of smoke rising from the scorched earth and her voice carrying the weight of the wild as she spoke further.

"I have… no illusions about my role. I was born to hunt… to protect. To embody the purpose of my… existence… in a way that extends… beyond mortal contemplation," she declared, her voice reverberating through the air like the tolling of a distant bell.

Flames coiled around her fur like serpents of fire, snapping at Alex as she took a single step to her right, intent on prowling around his still form As she moved forward, the temperature escalated and the ground cracked beneath her paws, molten veins of lava seeping up in her wake. Stone debris in the periphery ignited spontaneously, their broken parts clawing at the sky in fiery agony.

A predator's ritual.

"I bear no personal spite… only the resentment… of every law you tried to twist," she continued, each word dripping with the weight of an ancient decree. It was evident that even after the death of her cubs, to her, this wasn’t a clash of pride or vendetta; but the fulfilment of order.

"What you've done is… far more personal. Far more…primal. You have disregarded what it means… to be prey… Resisted the inevitability of it… As if your path could bend… The arc… of what it is to be hunted.” She drew nearer, and with her single step, the environment recoiled. Rocks melted into pools of magma and basalt curled into ash that drifted away on unseen currents.

“And in that… resistance, I find offence— a truth… that needs correction.”

As she drew even closer, her eyes conveyed more than any words could. Each measured step she took was both a sentence and a question, testing him, assessing if he understood what awaited. He had treaded on purpose, she felt, by standing before her as though fate had no claim over him. The silence was profound, broken only by the crackling of distant fires.

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But Alex still watched her approach, unblinking.

"Every false move… you've made… has brought you here. And you see now.. how little room… you have left to escape," She crouched as she circled him, flames surged along her spine, casting her in a halo of searing light before she resumed her prowl. Her voice then came low and rumbling, breaking the silence between them while carrying the weight of a force that knew only one way forward. “So you would stand… here… still… as if your fate… is yours to decide?”

She paused, watching him closely, waiting for some signal, some final confirmation of the role he had chosen to embody.

Alex took in the depth of her form, the exactness of each of her wounded steps as a strange acceptance settled over him. Even as sweat evaporated the instant it formed on his skin. He had tried everything in his power to battle the futility of her existence. He had pushed against the boundaries of possibility, merging skills, increasing their grade, manipulating mana and Qi, and inventing techniques and skills to forge new paths where none existed. He had stretched his knowledge of the system. All for nothing. Every strategy had led him back to this immutable point. Their confrontation had been inevitable, a law of nature. A heavenly decree.

Prey must face predator.

Predator must face prey.

His mind quieted, the storm of thoughts giving way to a serene clarity. The futility of his struggles unfurled before him, and a wry smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He chuckled softly, the sound incongruous amidst the devastation.

"It's so stupid," he whispered, the words carried away by a scorching gust.

The answer had been simple all along.

If the only way forward and past the inevitability of their roles was through her, then rather than using convoluted methods, he simply had to move through her.

He laughed, loud and long, and the Mother pounced, assuming the madness of his role to have finally taken him. She leapt, a magnificent and terrifying sight, fire and Qi propelling her with unimaginable speed. The force of her launch shattered the earth, sending shards of rock and bursts of flame in all directions.

But Alex ran too— right at her. He sprinted forward to meet her, fully aware that this could be his end. Qi circulating with a breath, and his Qi-filled feet struck the ground with such force that shockwaves rippled outward as he Charged the Earth as a bull would, every muscle coiled like a tightened spring through the technique.

She reached him in an instant, closing the distance with terrifying speed and her jaws opened wide, aiming to sever and gulp his torso. But Alex wasn’t worried, he was prepared to face oblivion—this wouldn’t be their first meeting.

He dove forward into her open maw.

The jaws clamped down, impaling him in many places. Alex twisted, avoiding the most fatal parts of the blow, but his left arm still went flying, spiralling away in a trail of blood that sizzled upon hitting the burning rock. Clenching his teeth against the searing pain, he drove his sword, Eclipse, upward into the roof of her mouth with his right. The dark blade hungrily absorbed her fiery blood, pulsating with an ominous energy as it drank in her essence. Heat surged through the hilt, scorching his palm, but he held firm, leaving it there to let his blade drink as much of her fiery blood as possible.

But the mother hardly seemed to care.

"It matters not… your reasons, your desires," she said, her tone as indifferent as stone. "These… things… are irrelevant. There is only one truth. I… am the predator. You… are prey. These roles are written. They do not change."

Her gaze never wavered, fixed as though seeing not him, but an idea, a concept; something beyond individuality. Each word rumbled through his bones and brought intense pain, and Alex found himself tempted to use the Dao to try to cleave through her. Instead he held firm, applying the Dao’s healing to his body, reverting the damage in order to remain conscious. He would need her talking for what came next.

And plus, Eclipse’ll get much more of her blood this way, he thought through the pain.

"Resistance… it disrupts. It is a… a noise… where there should be silence," she murmured, as if the concept itself were faintly distasteful. "Your struggle… it lacks purpose. It defies the design. It… interferes."

With a resolute breath, Alex released his grip and unsummoned Eclipse, allowing the dark weapon to dissolve into shadows. Ignoring the agony that racked his body, he thrust his remaining hand deeper into her scorching maw. The heat was intense, searing his skin, but he pushed past the pain. He summoned a new blade from his soul armoury—a sword of pure, unadorned metal that materialised in his grasp with an instantly cool weight.

Then he triggered his final skill.

[Skill A̷̶̵̴̲̳̱l̸̢͉̗̣̑͐͛à̸̶̵̴̶̷̶̺̥̮̯͇̲̳̱̼̲͒̈́̈͛͋͐͋͂ͅͅ ̷̷̶̴̵̶̷̸̴̶̷̵̢̳̮̲̳̱͉̗̣̲̳̱̏̄̑͐͛͝͠Ω̴̵̶̷̲̳̱ ̶̶̯͇̼̲̈́̈͛͋͐͋͂ͅ ̷̷̶̴̵̶̷̴̶̷̵̳̮̲̳̱̲̳̱̏̄͝͠g̵̶̷̴̲̳̱e̸̪̟͇͕͂e̶̷̵̴̲̳̱E̵̴̶̷̶̵̴̶̷̷̸̸̢̲̳̱̼̲̲̳̱̟̮̙͚͉̗̣̺̥̮͋͐͋͂̔̑͐͛̀͒ͅͅ ̶̷̶̴̵̶̷̯͇̲̳̱̈́̈͛ ̷̸̴̶̷̵̳̮̪̟͇͕̲̳̱̏̄͂͝͠M̷̶̵̴̲̳̱m̸̵̴̶̷̸̷̸̴̶̷̵̢͉̗̣̲̳̱̪̟͇͕̟̮̙͚̺̥̮̲̳̱̑͐͛͂̔̀͒ͅ ̶̯͇̈́̈͛ ̷̸̶̢̳̮͉̗̣̼̲̏̄̑͐͛͋͐͋͂͝͠ͅO̷̟̮̙͚̔o̶̼̲͋͐͋͂ͅᾯ̴̵̶̷̵̴̶̷̷̸̸̸̢̲̳̱̲̳̱̟̮̙͚̪̟͇͕͉̗̣̺̥̮̑͐͛̀͒ ̶̯͇̈́̈͛ ̷̶͎̠̠̖̼̲̿́͋͐͋͂ͅ ̷̳̮̏̄͝͠ ̷̶̴̵̶̷̵̴̶̷̴̶̷̵̲̳̱̲̳̱̲̳̱Activated]

The energy surged from his dantian in a guided wellspring of raw power that erupted from his navel. It coursed through his body like liquid fire, each pathway straining under the torrential flow as its journey damaged mana channels it was never meant to traverse. His vision blurred as pain threatened to overwhelm him; veins bulged and muscles quivered under the immense pressure.

He funnelled every last fragment of his Qi into the blade and the sword responded immediately, beginning to vibrate at an unknowable frequency that caused his eyes to strain and tear with damage. The air around it distorted, waves of distortion rippling outward. A singular point of darkness formed at the tip of the blade, instantly consuming his blade, then his arm and the roof of the mother’s flesh and flame-filled mouth. It was small at first, then it rapidly expanded into a swirling vortex.

The vortex devoured everything it touched.

The Mother recoiled. Alex felt her form violently jerk before an eruption of searing heat and blinding light engulfed him, flooding the world in pure white.

***

He awoke in a crater.

Perfectly circular. The ground had been carved smooth as though shaped by some advanced machinery. A string of notifications greeted his rising but he waved them away, intent on moving to a safer location. Judging by the mother’s words at the end, it was safe to assume spirit beasts generally followed the laws of animals and nature, at least at this level of cultivation. With the territory’s Apex predator dead, others would quickly seek to take its place and seek its carcass. And the likelihood of more blood creatures appearing also held true. After all, this path was one that led not only to the blood phoenix but to their creator too.

That took far too long, he thought, reviewing the events that had led to his victory. He had been triggering each dormant skill during the end of her speech, receiving system cool-down messages each time. Having gathered so many skills both active and passive added another barrier to triggering his glitched skill, Omega. He had even resorted to slowing time to run through them all, dismissing the system messages of cool-downs each time they appeared. All for this moment.

Victory.

It tasted sweet, yet it presented challenges of its own. One day he would have to grow strong enough to face beings such as the Mistress Yan Hua and perhaps even Elder Zhen. Against them, his current skills couldn’t achieve what he had today.

In the grand scheme of the cosmos, he was still on the earliest steps.

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." He muttered, rising to his feet.

He couldn’t quite remember where he’d heard that, but it rang true. He would just have to seek to plough through them as he did with the mother tigress. Learning as many techniques and skills as he could. The void-web would not be his only tool against those who wanted him dead. And if his skills didn't work against them,

Then he would use Skill, or Technique instead.

He focused on reaching the tunnel the Tigress had blasted out of the wall with her escape and separated pieces of the now-dead cub she had laid at the tunnel entrance before storing its corpse in his inventory. With this, the exam had been passed. But he had no desire to turn back towards the test’s entrance.

Death lay further ahead, but turning back now wouldn’t prepare him for the greater death that awaited him on the outside. His bones ached with phantom pains and mental exhaustion finally set in. But he reached the tunnel entrance anyway, entering and walking some distance, intent on reaching the other side. It was large but soon became narrow, though navigable. He squeezed through, the rough rock scraping against his summoned blade.

The sounds of destruction faded slightly as he moved deeper and the temperature dropped marginally, offering a brief respite.

He glanced back once more. The cavern behind was unrecognisable—a void-ridden, collapsed nightmare.

He pushed forward.