Paths cross, and things often gain momentum unintended. It is just how life works. Like the roots of a tree, it is hard to understand why some roots grow faster, thicker, or longer than others. Life is a mystery that not even fate or karma can give reason to.

~Arianrhod, Goddess of Rebirth and Fate

A blood-red ax split his opponent’s skull, a sneer permanently etched on the man’s face. Bloodfire ignited his body and burned the soul within to ash. He climbed this mountain and chopped through the sect members like they were deadwood. The powerful bastards hid inside their formation, but even they were shaking and couldn’t stop staring at the river of blood flowing down the mountain.

There was enough resentment building up that Conall was sure this mountain would become a forbidden zone in the future. The amount of Ghost Mana released in the area had dropped the temperature a few degrees already. It wouldn’t surprise him if various spirits and undead creatures were circling the area.

Igniting Berserker Charge, Conall flashed toward the formation before leaping into the air. “Bloodfire Erosion!”

The two axes smashed into the barrier, which rippled under the impact. Blood-red fire spewed out across the barrier like water. As it flowed downward, everyone inside could hear the crackling sound of the barrier incinerating under Bloodfire’s corrosive power. A gap appeared large enough for Conall to enter, but the barrier started repairing itself to everyone’s shock and dismay. Until they shut the barrier down, they were all trapped inside with the Soul Reaper.

“Peace! We will give you all our treasures, money—whatever you want. Why do you have to slaughter the entire sect?”

“I want my wife back. I want to reunite with my son. I want you to take away the curse you put on him. Sadly, you can give me none of those things. I spared the youngsters and the women. Consider that my only mercy.”

Axes rained down like thunder. Limbs and blood flew everywhere, and before long, there was only utter silence. This branch of the Blood Ember Sect ceased to exist. Conall took all the treasures and mana crystals but left everything else. He emptied their libraries, intending to give all the books and vestiges to the Maddox clan in the future.

By the time he ransacked the place and set it on fire, the barrier had finally fallen. With no one to support it, it sputtered out of existence after about thirty minutes. At the bottom of the mountain, the city was in chaos.

Conall appeared among the city folk as if nothing had happened, and most didn’t even notice him appear among the crowd.

“…so much screaming…”

“…is it over?”

“…Soul Reaper appears once more…”

“…he’s cleansed thirty-four floors of the Blood Ember Sect…”

“…that man has balls of steel…”

“…look, is that blood? So much of it is flowing into the river…”

Conall looked over at the river, and it really had turned red. He hadn’t kept track of how many of those bastards he’d killed. At first, he only took out the elders and the most powerful people in each branch. That was until he’d heard what they’d done to Crow during the Hunt. After that, he gave no mercy except to the children, women, and mortal servants.

He left the city shortly after and walked toward the stairs leading to the thirty-fifth floor. He was systematically wiping out everyone associated with the Blood Ember Sect on his way up. There were portals, and he could have skipped to the upper floors since he’d already unlocked them previously, but he needed time to face Gideon. He needed more power, and to get it, he might have to bypass the floors where the Blood Ember’s main headquarters were. Gideon traversed the broken floors, and Conall wondered if those floors were whole but required insight into the truths related to space and the void.

“Sir?” A voice called from him behind him. Conall hadn’t sensed his approach, but when he turned and saw a scrawny-looking boy—one without a Source—he realized why.

“Yes?”

“Are you him?”

“Who?”

“Soul Reaper?”

Conall felt it odd that in his recent travels, this boy was the first to recognize him.

“How did you know?”

“I’m blind, so I picked up on your scent. I smell blood, and it is overpowering.”

“Alright, you got my attention. How can I help you?”

“Save my mother! The city lord locked her up. That vile man is also from the Blood Ember Sect, and he steals whatever woman he takes a fancy toward. My mom was someone he took off the street and didn’t even wait to get her alone privately before he raped her.”

“You heard all that?”

“My m-mom tried to muffle her screams, but my hearing is better than my sense of smell.”

“I can kill the city lord, but I can’t promise your mother is still alive,” Conall had become colder in the last year, and his manner of speaking was savagely blunt.

“That is enough. If my mother is dead, then hopefully she’ll suffer less knowing that the Soul Reaper destroyed the city lord’s soul!” The boy hissed. His hate and anger twisted his face into something sinister. Even Conall found the boy’s visage shocking.

“Lead the way,” Conall finally said, admiring the boy’s grit. Another bloodbath was about to start.

***

“Why are we doing this again?” Malcolm asked. “I thought we agreed to let this go.”

“You agreed to let it go!” Ness Rulaney hissed. “My clan was nearly destroyed because of that boy.”

“Wrong,” Malcolm snorted. “You used some foul method of bringing your ancestor back and attacked him first. The outcome was of your own stupidity. Cameron, do you really think it’s wise to heap all those duels on that boy? You don’t think that’s suspicious at all? Do none of you use your fucking brains?”

“If you want to leave, you may.” Kenneth Duncan said softly. “But we will remove you from the alliance if you do so.”

“Remove me? I’m the most powerful one here. My clan has suffered no major setbacks until we let Ness’s foolish husband make bold moves. It got him killed and most of their elders. All because of some debt he owed? None of us believed his bullshit story about a fated calamity but went along with this stupidity anyway. If anything, he was the fucking calamity!”

“Shut your damned mouth, or we will go to war with you,” Ness screamed, and Cameron stood at her shoulder, glaring.

“End this foolishness now. My clan can’t afford to make an enemy of the Maddox clan. Do you understand what that means?” Malcolm asked, his killing intent bared for just an instant, causing Ness and Cameron to back down.

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” Cameron said. “We have already sent the Honor by Combat summons. What is done is done.”

“Malcolm, leave. You’re compromised and outplayed by both sides,” Kenneth said.

“You all should be clear what happens next. If any of those curses activate, not only will my clan remove itself from this alliance, but we will stand in direct opposition to you all. We will be the Maddox clan’s shield. We have no choice.”

“It’ll be enough if you don’t interfere,” Kenneth said. “We will leave you be and won’t include you in any more of our planning. We even have a way to subdue Mugna—”

“Shut up!” Malcolm roared. “Don’t interfere? If my clan’s karma with the Maddox clan is bad enough that the curses are severe, what do you think we’ll do to balance those scales? You think we can afford to sit back and do nothing?”

Kenneth, Cameron, and Ness stopped for a moment, thinking about the Teonet clan’s perspective, and finally realized the situation in its entirety.

“Let me son marry Esme, and then we can cut all ties. I can protect her from your curse at the very least.”

Malcolm laughed and was nearly in hysterics. “I thought you were the smart one? Take her then, and the curses that follow her, you fucking idiot!”

Kenneth slapped Malcolm across the face. It happened so suddenly that he didn’t have time to react, but his Shield lit up, and he slammed his palm against Kenneth’s chest, knocking him back several meters. Both men glared angrily at each other.

“You lost your mind the moment that boy beat up your son. You became emotional and irrational. We both know Munro deserved that ass whipping. Your son is out of control, and you’re a monster for not raising him appropriately.”

Malcolm wanted to end this alliance and wanted out. The problem was they all harbored each other’s secrets. No one in this room was innocent of vile acts against the Druid Order. Beyond the fact that they consorted with outside influences, they all practiced various methods that required sacrificing their own people. The three clan heads in this room knew why Teonet had risen to power. It was because he had sacrificed hundreds of his younger generation to infuse their bloodlines with those that showed more promise. Because of his actions, he had a ten percent chance to awaken the latent power in the bloodline itself. While it wasn’t high, it was much higher than all the other clans combined.

Damn their stupidity! Malcolm practically screamed inside his head.

“You back?” Kenneth asked.

“I am,” Malcolm replied, biting back his sigh.

“Good. We understand your position now, and Cameron will stop with the duels. How many did you send?”

“I am not sure, a dozen? Maybe two dozen?”

“What!?” Kenneth’s shock couldn’t be faked. He’d never expected it to be that high. It was true he wanted to kill Crow and had killed more than a few talents that dared offend him. But he never expected it to be this difficult to deal with one boy. It was only now that he wished he’d listened to the warnings about dealing with an unfated.

***

Cia stepped out of the bath, and servants quickly dried her off while presenting her with a soft white robe. Her eyes were dead, not even paying attention to what was happening around her. She had lost the ability to see her son, and her imagination tried to fill in the blanks. None of the outcomes had a happy ending. Afterwhile she became numb.

Gideon forced her to dine with him, but the man talked, and Cia lost interest in listening. Even when he tried to beat her and force her to speak, she didn’t even feel anything. Didn’t even hear the man’s words. It only made the man even more furious. No amount of threats or rewards made any difference because his daughter refused to speak.

“What is wrong with her?” Gideon asked the latest doctor of many. It was now to the point he couldn’t find any doctors. They’d all gone into hiding to avoid him.

“S-s-sir! I-I am n-n-not a doctor of the mind. H-her body is f-fine. Either her mind broke, or her soul did. I-I can’t help.”

Gideon slammed his hand on the table, and it shuddered before exploding into slivers of wood that shot across the room. Two maids died instantly, and the doctor was grasping his throat, gagging and trying to heal the punctured artery in his neck, but it was futile.

Cia remained unscratched, her skin tougher than the average cultivator. She remained sitting there, lost in her own mind. Hoping to see her child within her Soulscape. In recent weeks, the only thing that sparked any type of life in her eyes was the mention of the Soul Reaper. Today, he took down another Blood Ember branch. Every day he was a little closer.

“Fine, you don’t want to speak, then you can live the rest of your days in the Blood Pit,” Gideon growled and left. The guards took her down into the depths of the sect’s stronghold. Down they went into the darkness until they crossed a bridge. The chasm they crossed was filled with the rich scent of blood. Hundreds of small cells floated above the viscous liquid. The guard gently led her inside the one that was only partially above the Blood Pit. From his Shield, he brought out her things and placed them in the cell to make her as comfortable as possible.

“I’m sorry, Lady Cia,” the guard whispered as he left.