Alex pierced the air, the friction crackling around him like invisible flames. He remembered the first encounter with a phoenix—Miles of death, rebirth, and wrath. He wasn’t entirely unafraid of what lay ahead. A hopeful dread smoldered beneath the surface, deep within him. If he missed, he’d die. If he hesitated, he’d die. If he struck too slowly, he’d die.

The Blood Phoenix noticed his descent first, but it was far too late.

He had summoned hundreds of blades to spring into existence between him and them, connected by threads of mana, moving at speeds that defied reason. The fallen blades of dead sacrifices trembled and rose, no longer forgotten, joining the web of death that covered the sky above. Some of them held Qi.

The phoenix opened its mouth and covered the web in flames.

The web cleaved through the Phoenix's flame and shredded the rapidly evading phoenix to pieces in an instant, a spattering of bright flesh, feathers, flame, blood, and burning liquid. Even in slowed time, Alex found himself shocked at the creatures majestic speed, reaction, and decision making. The instant it had seen its flames fail, it had moved to escape the wide net he had set. But it had been far too late, his web appearing as an unavoidable vista. The Little Demon’s laughter was abruptly cut off as the rain of blades fell. “What—” he gasped, eyes barely catching the sharp steel whirling down. The demonic cultivator lunged, desperately aiming for a gap in the web, the concentration of blades and threads of void inches from eviscerating him. It diced through him without resistance, his body sliced into three pieces by the web: a torso, an arm, and legs.

The void web carved deep into the ground, severing its vast pattern into rock and earth and shattering blood pillars, destroying the ritual entirely.

Alex crashed into the ground a second later.

***

The weight and speed of his impact collided with the ground like thunder.

The ground cracked in sharp, spreading lines beneath his form. Dust lifted into the air, the remnants of shattered stone, earth, and blood pillars falling into the abyss of broken earth. The scent of scorched blood and iron filled his lungs, sharp and acrid.

Alex crashed into the debris, muscles screaming. He pushed himself upright, gaze fixing on disarray. The Phoenix's remains lay smoldering—torn fragments radiating a dull glow.

Alex had felt the defence offered to him by Thanatos's sovereign strain but hold firm, though weakened. He found himself grateful that both the undead revenant and the fragment of the dragon stored within him could withstand a fall from that height and speed. It still hurt, though.

He rose to his feet with a groan and viewed the surrounding devastation.

The ground around him in a large space had been sliced to pieces, a network of lines and large circles cutting deep into the ground in places where there should have been rock. The rest of the environment remained static, it's like a crop circle, he thought idly as he turned to regard the remains of the blood phoenix. Fire flesh and blood, that was all he saw, a small mound of perfectly diced flesh, steaming. He supposed it would rise in temperature until it burst into flames and unbearable heat, birthing the phoenix anew. But for now, it smouldered, harmless.

A guttural, rasping sound sliced through the destruction.

Alex heard a tumble of rock and listened to a noise behind him.

From the ruin, blood pulled inward, limbs piecing themselves back together.

He spun and summoned his blade into his outstretched palm.

“You,” the demon hissed, a grin splitting his blood-streaked face. “You brought down the Phoenix?” He glanced at the steaming mound of remains and chuckled, a sound that grated like splintering bone. “And here I thought today would be boring.”

“You don’t look like much from down here,” he said, his voice low, cutting through the silence. “I expected more from someone who could bring down that thing.” His gaze flicked to the Phoenix’s remains, a smirk playing on his lips.

The demon's eyes pursed as he took another step forward, studying Alex. “I should thank you,” he continued, voice filled with a mocking edge. “I was getting tired of that beast's screeching.” He flexed his fingers, crimson shards knitting into sharp, claw-like extensions. “But I wonder, kid,” he took a half-step back, eyes scanning Alex warily, “do you have another one of those tricks up your sleeve, or was that your one and only miracle?”

Alex held his ground, blade steady, eyes cold.

“Not the talkative type, I see,” the demon continued, taking a step forward. The ground shivered beneath his feet. “Fine by me. I’ve heard enough bravado for one lifetime.

Phoenix Cascade. Eternal Shroud of Disarray.

Alex lunged forward and swung, his blade vanishing from sight and his world a blur of stretching colors. The demon paused, observing his approach, then effortlessly dodged in a way that resembled an adult evading an unruly child.

“Too slow,” the demon said, moving forward. Blood dripped, curving into hardened, lethal edges.

Mana Burn. Allocation.

[Please select focus of Allocation]

[Strength / Dexterity / Endurance / Intelligence

Wisdom]

[Dexterity Allocated.]

[Dexterity: 1886 > 2535]

He viewed his Status in an instant, his eyes flashing to the affected stat,

[...Dexterity: 13,564 (2535)... ]

A combination of feats, Mana Burn, and the reallocation of his stats had increased his speed by over four hundred and fifty percent. Twenty panels of densely packed mana ignited in response to his will, a cascade of momentum that exploded the air around Alex. The world stretched into a series of lines as he became engulfed in pure movement. He swung again, faster this time, intent clear in every twitch of muscle.

The Little Demon sidestepped, his eyes cautious yet filled with incredulity. His brow quirked as he stepped back, arms folded.

“Slow. Weak. How did you do it?” The Little Demon took another step back, observing Alex with a mixture of frustration and calculation.

Alex shifted forward, fingers wrapped around the hilt, the blade unwavering. Steel met crystal with a shriek. Sparks leapt and scattered, flaring against the uneven ground, a sharp note erupting as it met the demon’s defense. The fading sparks splayed across the ground, bright and fleeting.

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His sword had completely failed to pierce the Little Demon's shoulder, but Alex suspected as much.

The Demonic cultivator of winding bloods had risen, his clawed red fingers holding Eclipse in its crystal grip. The demon laughed, a harsh, ragged sound. “You tried that already.” He pushed back, twisting his body to knock Alex’s attack aside. The blow was absorbed by Thanatos' Sovereign, yet the force still nearly sent Alex skidding back, only the sheer force of his will allowing him to hold on, his palms bleeding from his refusal to release Eclipse. “You’re not going to win like that, you know?”

“The bird lies in pieces, my ritual broken—all by you. A weak Scion.” The demon’s voice, low and serrated, lingered as Alex's blood dripped, the droplets hardened into sharp points that angled to face him, ready to strike. "That net... Who taught you that technique? Which family do you belong to?"

The demon’s smirk faltered for a split second as the blade embedded in his palm began to hum, dark energy pulsing outward in erratic waves.“What’s this?” the demon said, tapping the blade again. The vibration increased, small cracks appearing on the surface of his blood-crystal skin. “Oh, you clever—”

The words cut off as the blade erupted with power. The blade twisted, the metal erupting into the demonic form of the Sovereign Clone, Eclipses horns, blade, and tail lashing out against the demonic cultivator in a whirl of feral fury.

The demon’s eyes went wide, surprise flaring before being swallowed by a grin.

Eclipses form was still stuck within his iron grasp.

The Little demon studied the humanoid blades wrist in his grip, tapping the dark material of its hard flesh lightly. The metallic hum resonated, deep and rhythmic as Eclipse violently struggled against his grasp. “Cute trick,” he said. “But what now, hero? Your toy’s stuck, and I’m still standing.” His voice softened to a dark murmur as he brushed off the many attacks from the still-struggling demonic blade.

Alex gripped his blade, eyeing the little demon with a faint but rising frustration. The demon had strength, sure, but there wasn’t much else to admire in his technique. He felt quite clearly that if their power was on equal footing, he’d have the upper hand, and likely without much effort. He’d seen it time and time again with almost everyone he encountered in these new worlds, save for one person. The only thing giving this demon an edge was the sheer gap in their power levels.

The demon’s movements were flashy, marked by traditional martial arts techniques that Alex found unnecessarily elaborate. All that effort spent on broad, exaggerated forms to showcase raw strength, endurance, or flexibility, yet lacking real impact in a fight. To Alex, these methods looked impressive but left their users exposed, openings wide enough to exploit. The focus on grand displays ignored fundamentals—effective spacing, positioning, strategem and efficiency of movement, to confuse and keep the enemy out of reach while staying close enough to strike. To have no weaknesses.

Instead of layering defenses or setting up clear paths for counters and follow-up attacks, these styles seemed to care more about aesthetics than function. Their complex forms sacrificed adaptability for showmanship, creating a look of strength without real substance. These cultivators… they're incredibly inneficient, relying on brute strength and their powers to bridge and fill gaps that should not even exist in the first place, he observed. Their supernatural strength alone didn’t impress him, he could see that it had formed in them a kind of weakness.

Alex didn’t respond, his focus unwavering. He pivoted, striking low, aiming for the gaps between the demon’s armor-like limbs.

“Persistent bastard,” the little demon muttered, voice laced with annoyance. His foot connected with the ground, the force sending a shockwave through the fractured earth as he struck out, knocking Eclipse into the distance. Alex staggered but kept his balance, eyes never leaving his opponent. "You're lucky i need you alive," The Demon said. "You'll have to teach me the secrets of your Web technique. After the experiments, that is."

Alex's blood turned to ice at the words. "You're much weaker than the tigress, i'll kill you like i killed her. I'll shatter your spirit beast core before that will ever happen- finish the job the sect started." He spoke words as cold as the blood that ran through his veins, his stance rigid as stone and as flowing as the wind.

“Hey, don’t bring up the dantian. Sensitive subject.” The Little Demon’s smirk only widened as he met the Alex's cool, probing gaze.

Alex was out of options. His stats wouldn't work- he was too slow. His skills wouldn't work either- the gaps in their strength was too wide.

The only thing he had left was the Dao.

The Dao existed for all, everywhere at once. It was an arbiter, altering reality. It didn't belong to Alex or the demon- there was no hierarchy with the Dao, only progress. It existed in many pieces, for many things, a resource for anyone brave enough to face the endless madness of its depths and tap into its truths.

It was the universal equaliser, but one that could destroy those who wielded it without care.

Alex’s breath slowed, a single heartbeat vibrating in the marrow of his bones like a drum as he channeled the Dao of true immortality into every cell of his being. A pulse of understanding washed over him, sharp and cold, as if light split into a thousand shards within his mind. The ideal was a single, invisible thread- only centimetres long- taut and humming, he could not see where the thread lead to. He could only see that it was connected to him. A single thread that led to a place that existed beyond mere vision. He studied the tiny thread.

It spoke of time and space.

The interconnectedness of all things, how all things and all possibilities existed in the present. It was beyond mere flux, it was a glimpse of reality itself. The weight of existence coalesced into the moment, pressing into his skin, a million voices whispering in the pulse of his blood. A million possibilities of what he could do next. He felt the current of being stretched beyond the present, where the truth wove through the fabric of all he perceived.

The sense of movement without motion pulled at him.

An epiphany unfurling before the tips of his fingers. His step, deliberate, traced not a path across stone, but a shift across possibility. That's what the thread connects to, he realised. It's flux. Possibility. Whatever lay at the end of the thread was something immutable, something beyond reality.

The illusion of time’s rigid flow weakened and split apart. He saw that time was fluid, and not fixed. For a heartbeat, Alex became both the warrior who had travelled worlds to stand on the broken ritual, and the old man walking into a dark alley on earth, unaware of the wider universe.

Alex felt that same universe flow through him, the interconnectedness of all things, the present nature of all moments, all paths made clear. If all possibilities existed in the present moment, all at once,

He simply needed to step into a possibility that favoured him.

Though he could only see one outcome and not much more beyond that, to attempt to look at more than one strained his Dao dangerously. Still, Alex moved, satisfied with his next action. His single step moved him, not through space, but through possibility, transitioning from one state of being to the other. A metaphysical transition that rewrote reality itself.

[Dao: ‘True Immortality’ - Progress 1.2 > 1.99%]

To all present, it appeared as though Alex had simply ceased to exist in one place, and now existed in another.

His blade appeared within the little Demon's eye.

But to the left, a little. The demon had dodged the instant he appeared, causing the blow to shear off a part of his face, sparks flying from the impact. The little demon's body went limp, before a smile appeared on his rapidly regenerating face and he held Eclipse in a vice grip, a mountain of strength holding a blade. "Like i said, cute trick. It should be impossible. You'll have to teach me that, too."

"But regeneration is one of the first things I learned from the Dao. Your net technique won't work against me." The Demonic cultivator uttered with utter confidence. "Your Dao's pretty good, though. I'll give you that."

Alex knew that was a lie. He simply needed to target the cultivators Dantian-or in this case his beast core, his lifeforce, or even just his heart or brain in order to kill him. But that didn't matter, because without a blade enchanted with Qi, utilising the Void Web technique would be impossible.

"But it's Dao vs Dao, and only the one with the most understanding wins, kid." The little Demon smiled with a grin that suggested he believed his progress far exceeded Alex's gains.

"My Dao is blood, by the way, and blood is eternal." He pulled Alex closer with crystalline fingers, a wave of blood rising to engulf them both.

"What's yours?"

Alex braced, rechannelling his Dao with everything he had, a low hum of pain rising in the back of his skull. He would have to target the mans spirit beast core with an explosive strike, end this in one blow. He prepared himself to move.

Then an impact sent him airborne.

A form crashed into them both, sending them skidding in separate directions. The Little Demon stumbled back in surprise, both eyeing the one who had interrupted them. Alex spun in the air to land firmly on his feet, his eyes never leaving the new arrival. Before Alex stood a fellow disciple wielding an enchanted Axe of Qi, a crimson weapon filled with so much energy it was nearly blinding.

"You're right, Alex. I guess I didn't need a pact after all." The disciple said, turning slightly.

Alex rose to stand beside the youth, a metal sword manifesting in his palm as Eclipse's metal form raced to join the battle from a distance.

He turned to regard the youth as the little demon rose, recovering from the impact.

It was Jin.

I guess Jin isn't so bad after all, he thought.