Chapter 2

  Tian spun around, swinging his war-scythe into a ready position. He balked at what he saw.

  It was a pack of scaly beasts, à la man-sized lizards, but with thick torsos worthy of large bulls. They propelled themselves on two powerful, equine legs. A bony, black mask of squared spirals covered its elongated head. Two horns curved out from its temples, while two large eyes of ruby stared out of the mask on twin stalks. By far, its most terrifying feature was its mouth. A ring of razor-sharp fangs extended from its upper jaw. There was no lower jaw. A black tongue hung from an exposed esophagus as a constant stream of drool leaked out. Outside the tongue and the external skull, the rest of the creature was pure white, from scale to talon.

  “A G-,” his throat choked again. He coughed before amending to, “Taotie? Wait, I can say that name!?”

  In the Last World, the Taotie were infamous for their gory and horrifying attempts to eat their victims, slamming their heads down on people to stab and tear with their knife-like fangs. Death was rarely a quick event when the Taotie were involved. What was left afterwards was never a clean thing. Four of them bent their eyestalks toward him as they closed the distance.

  He tossed aside his confusion over the strange, multiversal gag rule. “This is the threat we were sent to stop?”

  The monsters roared as they neared. He slipped a hand around the beam of his weapon and aimed an open palm at the first one leaping down the mountain. With a casual bit of concentration, fire erupted from his palm. The elemental pillar slammed into the Taotie mid-jump. It fell hard onto a slope where it squealed in agony.

  He swung the fire-stream to smack a second one before the other two forced him to break off. He ducked beneath their powerful jumps as he struck upward with his war-scythe. He cut into it, but something felt strange about the sensation.

  No time to analyze as he stayed in motion and spun to attack. He buried his blade into a monster's flank. In spite of his enhanced strength, it wasn't enough to fling the Taotie into its companion—only to jar it.

  Resilient.

  A gurgling growl from behind was enough of a warning before he threw himself to one side. The monster slammed its fangs into the now-empty spot. He kept moving, transferring the momentum into a spin before cutting into its side. The other two spun around, leaving him two seconds to notice an unwanted surprise. The singular, black area of skin proved it was his second fire target. That wasn't what shocked him. It was the lack of damage. He saw his crescent blade lodged into the monster's thigh—halfway into the skin.

  Not one drop of blood.

  That in itself wasn't too surprising; monsters operated on different rules. The last race of monsters he fought bled black smoke, after all.

  But at least when he cut into them there was damage! Here, his war-scythe didn't leave a cut. Didn't slice open scales. Didn't expose muscle or bone. His scythe head was just phased into its leg. He would have believed it was incorporeal were it not for the familiar sensation of physical resistance.

  A Taotie, covered in black, tackled him in his shock. He could feel four knife-sized fangs bite into his shoulder as they tumbled to the ground. He looked over and could see the fangs piercing through his robes, well into his body.

  No blood.

  In fact, the pain was relatively mild. More like an enthusiastic punch than a true stabbing. Instead, he could feel this energy draining from him. That can only be bad. The Taotie lifted its head before chopping back down. He rolled away, only for a second one to leap on him. A third chomped on his legs. The fourth fought to get through the others to get to him without avail.

  Need room!

  Ignoring the blunted pain, he pictured fire coating his body. Actual fire covered him from head to toe. One Taotie with its foot on his ankle yelped but didn't cease its attack. The last two of them, including the first one he had blasted, whimpered but didn't cease their assaults. They could feel pain but no self-preservation instincts.

  That's familiar.

  “Hyah!” With a trigger of will, the armor of fire exploded. The blast was just strong enough to stun the monsters for a few seconds. He hopped up and sprinted to one side.

  Something strange happened.

  He aimed a parting swipe at one of the Taotie, expecting to do no more than a scratch. Forgetting that wasn't how it worked in this reality. The Taotie released a guttural roar as it spun in place. He turned around and watched as it flopped over.

  Dead.

  He blinked in surprise. “What kind of reality is this place?”

  The other three Taotie charged him. He backpedaled, lifting a fist. He targeted the one monster half-black from his first fire and gave it a second dose. It flinched, slowing as it moaned, until it suddenly wailed and toppled over. Only then did the flesh peel away, as the smell of burning beef filled the air.

  Even as he shifted his fire to a new target, he couldn't help but think: that weirdly smells delicious.

  He couldn't kill one more Taotie before he ran out of room to retreat. Their simplistic minds pushed them to chase after in a hurried row instead of surrounding him. He cut off the fire and dodged past the bestial duo, feeling their bodies narrowly brush past his. He delivered another opportunistic cut. No third death, but it was so much easier to juggle two opponents instead of three. He could do another fiery withdrawal. Instead, he opted for another sweeping slash.

  He almost missed when he spun around. A Taotie was still on fire. As in, there were half a dozen tongues just waving around on its body.; they weren’t consuming the monster. The skin around the fires blackened yet never suffered true burns. Were it not for the heat coming off of them, he would have betted on some kind of illusion. He wasn't even sure what the fire was feeding off since the Taotie had reptilian scales instead of fur or hair. Instincts kept his slash on point as he cut across its hindquarters. When it failed to die, he backed away and lifted his hand as they swung toward him.

  Which was when it died. It abruptly howled as it shuddered; the fires covering it now eating the flesh they were hovering above. It slumped over, leaving only one monster left.

  “...a video game world?” He muttered in disbelief. “Am I in a video game universe?”

  The last Taotie cared not for his confusion as it stampeded at him. It was the only one he had yet to strike. That said, he felt no tension as he battled it. As ferocious as it was, it was stupid, and he had a lot of experience fighting this kind of monster. He weaved around its rushes as he chipped away at it. He saw an opportunity here to learn, and he was going to take full advantage of it.

  How much damage am I doing with each hit? Is there such a thing as critical hits? Does it matter where I hit? Can I damage body parts? He focused on one of its legs and tried to lop it off. He stabbed the thigh, cut at the ankle, and even dragged his poor blade across the ground to slice off toes. All the damage he did was absorbed. No disabling strikes possible, he noted.

  But he did notice something else as he swiped through an eyestalk. He failed to decapitate it… however he did feel a mote of energy drop into him. It was a subtle thing; the only reason he noticed was because it was gathering in his core.

  Is it the energy I lost earlier? …no. They feel different. This energy feels wilder. He had no idea what to do with it. His study came to an end when a flick across the Taotie's skull killed it. Its external skull split in half in complete contrast to the amount of force he used. Make that both skulls as its head opened up to reveal… not a lot. While he received a bigger share of the wild energy, he quirked an eyebrow when he didn't see any brain matter. No blood either. Plenty of slobber, though. No nerves. Just a lot of muscle, bone, and mass arranged in the shape of the monster’s head.

  He poked at the fallen corpse. Is this a monster thing or is everything in this dimension like this? He looked back toward the burning corpse. The fire had run out of… whatever fuel it could find. The remaining meat smelled like a well-cooked steak. He couldn't stop himself from taking a big whiff before staring at the monster's corpse, his mouth subconsciously salivating.

  “...that has to be a trap or curse of some sort. No way that eating it will end well.” His stomach rumbled. “No! I'm not eating it!”

  He scanned the area, checking for more monsters. The mountain returned him to isolation. He peered up its flanks. The Taotie had charged down from higher up. A nest in the mountains? A rogue group?

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

  He glanced toward the southwest. He had a place to be at. He turned back to the mountain. If he could locate the threat that surely outweighed immediately heading for Luoyang. We need the intelligence.

  He could bestow a temporary blessing on his eyes to see through the mountain. It could be modified to see the Taotie, if there were more inside. Wouldn't be free though. I'd have to get a marker for them and then extend my range throughout the mountain, maybe farther. There could also be more monsters besides the Taotie I'd miss. He sighed. Emergency reserve. Need to do this the old-fashioned way. Well, as old-fashioned as someone with pyrokinesis.

  He considered the fire mark on the back of his hand. He had learned how to concentrate to the point where he could fly on jets of flame. It took a lot of focus, and he hadn't mastered take off yet. The theory was easy enough. Use his hands to launch himself up and either keep using his hands as thrusters or switch to his feet. The problem was…

  He glanced at the war-scythe in his hand. It was a good weapon. By trading some thrusting power of a spear, it could slash while maintaining the same reach. Unfortunately, it was a long weapon by that same measure. Not a lot of ways to transport it except by carrying. Could I slide it between me and my belt? Thrust would knock it down, might cut him and his new outfit. Balance the end on top of a foot. Not that stable but potentially doable?

  The sooner he started, the sooner he could get away from the smell. He glanced at the Taotie. Why can I think their names and not of the other G-? What is with this gag rule?

  It irritated him, but he had to stow that mystery away for later. The mission came first. And, if he could complete it today, then the gag wouldn't matter. He'd return to the Last World and be free of it.

  “Who are you?”

  He spun around, bringing his war-scythe up into a defensive stance. The figure behind him studied him with open confusion. The feeling was mutual. Wearing a peach-pink outer robe with oversized sleeves over a pure-white under-robe was a woman. A very beautiful woman. She possessed ivory skin and a waterfall of flowing, midnight hair down her back. Jade-green eyes peered out from an oval face above a small pair of lips and a comely nose. Lotus flowers wove themselves into her hair. Her hands were folded and hidden in the big sleeves. She was short, easily a foot less than his own five-ten.

  None of which put him at ease. Was I that distracted by the gag rule? I don't think so. The direction she's walking from is opposite to the desert. Could have been traveling around the mountain, plenty of blind spots, but why didn't hear anything?

  Adding to his unease was how casually she walked past the monstrous corpses. She didn't spare a glance at them. Didn't seem to notice the smell. Showed not a hint of fear or anxiety. Are they common here?

  What really weirded him out was her face. He could not shake the feeling that there was something familiar about it. It confused him to no end, since, with his memory problems, he knew several varieties of deja vu. There was the common one that affected everyone. The emotional twist over someone he once knew from his first world, Adamah. The mental ache when he had forgotten something important but which had no emotional ties to his past. In spite of all that, this sensation was new. Some kind of hybrid of all three with the emotional part once removed.

  No idea how that made sense, but it was the best way he could interpret it.

  He broke the staring contest when he asked, “How did you get here?”

  Her brows furrowed further. “What? How do you speak that way?” Her voice was soft and spoke with a casual confidence. She stepped toward him. Her eyes dug into his face. “Are you wearing an illusion spell?”

  Translation side effect observed.

  He took a step back. Magic exists here? “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  She tilted an ear to him. “What is that language? It's a Western tongue of sorts but not Latin. Yet, with my other ear, you speak like my slaves. Is this a new spell?” She advanced on him with slow steps. “Your eyes. In one moment, you look like one of my own. In another, a Roman.”

  What's a Roman? What kind of side effect is she talking about? Another hundred questions banged at his mind. There was so much he didn't know. His foot slipped as he reached the edge of his little plateau. He caught himself and threw out the first question he could. “Ma'am, wh-?”

  “Ma'am?” She scowled at him with regal indignity. “You cannot be one of mine. You would know to address me as Immortal He Xiangu. If I were lenient, perhaps Immortal He, but you have not earned such a privilege. Thus, if you are not one of mine, then you must be a Roman. Last I knew, they no longer had the sorcerers capable of such an intricate spell. Who are you? Why do you come to my lands? Why did you stray from the traders’ paths?”

  It was an aggressive move, but he wanted the space. He shifted the head of his war-scythe to point right at her chest in a slow yet unmistakable warning. “I am…” He paused for a moment to remember his new name for this universe. “Tian Long, Sentinel name, Ying Huo.”

  Finally answering one of her questions only made her angrier. “As if I needed proof you are not one of my people! Only a fool or a foreigner doesn't know the difference between a Sentinel name and his old one. And you disrespect me by not using my title and name! I will allow this disrespect no more! You will use it, or I will kill you here at the foot of the Tian mountains. Though, your name, what a grandiose and arrogant one it is. To call yourself after one of the celestial titans no less,” she said as she looked up at the morning sky.

  And froze on the spot.

  He couldn't help but glance skyward but couldn't see what alarmed her. That only put him more on edge. Her head snapped back down, her face cleansed of all emotion. “Why are you here?”

  Spoken in a deadly whisper.

  His grip tightened on his war-scythe. “I'm here to save millions of lives.”

  “From what?”

  He realized he had forgotten to use her address. More unnerving, she didn't care anymore. Have I found my target? “A being of great evil.”

  Her lips pulled back in a silent snarl. “Who sent you?”

  He shook his head. “That's enough. I’ve answered several of your questions. I want some answers.”

  She stepped toward him. Into his war-scythe. He watched as his blade sunk into her robes, well past the point of piercing flesh. Just like the Taotie, not a hint of blood. He could feel another mote of that wild energy enter him, but it was a mild point to the woman stabbing herself on his weapon. He was half-surprised when he felt resistance when the bottom tip of the bladed head disappeared into her. She reached out and snapped a steel-strong grip around his wrist. He pulled and knew the tactical situation had completely reversed against him when he couldn't even budge her grip the smallest inch.

  He lifted his other hand and blasted fire straight into her face. She didn't scream. Her robes didn't catch fire. She didn't even flinch. She simply reached out with her other hand and forced him to drop his war-scythe. He wasn't sure why she prioritized disarming when he was literally engulfing her head in fire. After a beat, the confusion became mutual. I have to be doing damage. That attack energy is streaming into me. But it's not doing nearly enough if she is being this casual about it. Do I have to channel Vitalis this early? Is she my target?

  Her free hand grabbed his other wrist and forced his hand to aim toward himself. He stopped creating fire before he could hurt himself. Her face, unlike the Taotie, wasn't even singed. Just covered in bewilderment. “You can cast without a weapon?”

  He opened his mouth as he pictured more fire. He didn't need his hands either, it was just more convenient. Fire shot out from his open mouth. He had the satisfaction of seeing her balk before the flames washed over her head again.

  It didn't last nearly as long this time.

  He heard a hideous hiss first before his orange fire retreated. Vomiting out of her mouth was a bile of black fire that overpowered his flames. She was no longer confused or calm. She bore a visage of rage. He concentrated, reluctantly shrinking his awareness to increase the heat of his fire. For a moment, he slowed the onslaught. He struggled to increase his focus. He fought older instincts to be aware of his surroundings. Without time to undo those, he opted for another option. He kicked at her legs. His foot bounced off without affecting her balance as those black flames licked at his cheeks.

  A single tongue of black fire licked his cheek.

  He felt his defensive energy collapse.

  He dropped as his body gave out. It was the exact same feeling as it was on the Last World when he suffered an A- break. All of the damage this metaphysical shield had absorbed was dumped upon him in a single second. He almost blocked out but held on by the fingertips of his willpower.

  Then he burned.

  As he fumbled toward the ground as a living ragdoll, Xiangu didn't stop her dark flamethrower in time. In the split second between his shield energy vanishing and him falling to the ground, the black fire burned the top of his head off. He screamed as the tip of his scalp was scoured of hair, leaving charred and scarred skin in its wake. Most of the pain disappeared as nerves were burned away. Only a ring of intense pain cut around his head in a sloppy oval. Thoughts scrambled as he did his best to suppress the pain and focus on the fight. The smell of scorched human flesh wafted down into his nose. Somewhere behind the mental blockade of pain, a part of his mind was shocked to realize that he knew this smell.

  Intimately.

  A chill wind lingered at the back of his mind, considering.

  Above him, the black fire ceased. He would have fallen to the ground had she not kept him up with her iron grip around his wrists. She let go of one of his wrists and grabbed his neck, lifting him up to her face. The grip was loose, leaving him free to breathe and speak. Xiangu regarded him with a distasteful curl to her lips. “Who. Sent. You?”

  He suppressed a groan and glared back into her eyes. Gritting his teeth, he forced out, “A man named Sim did. He said he was given a vision by the Ancient-of-Days.”

  She opened her mouth and screamed. Not with one, but with four voices. She dropped him and leapt away from him, arms outward to ward him away. The back of his burnt head bounced against the ground, and he howled in fresh suffering. He couldn’t stop a few tears from doing a desperate job of relieving pain as he looked toward her.

  She hyperventilated as she stared at him, a frightened doe eyeing a crippled bear. The precious few seconds gave him time to think past the suffering and exhaustion. No choice.

  He lifted a shaky finger.

  Whatever she feared did not come to pass, and her fear quickly morphed into rage. Four voices clawed out of her throat to roar as she lifted her hands, “DIE!”