Li Wei opens his eyes and stares at the carnage. He’s pathetic. Wearing nothing but bed clothes, Li Wei can do nothing but watch. Two – maybe three – Wushi slaughter his family. One by one.

Li Wei’s father is stricken with a blade to the throat. His mother cries in agony. Blood splatters onto the Wushi’s mask. The Wushi looks straight at Li Wei. Slowly walking toward the teenager, the Wushi readies his hilt.

Li Wei’s mother jumps in the way. “Please! Don’t do this! I’ll do anythi—” The Wushi mercilessly stabs Li Wei’s mother in the chest. She falls to the floor.

The Wushi tries to strike Li Wei, but Li Wei is quick to dodge. He grabs a bow and quiver. He readies his arrow and holds his bow steady. His arms trembling with fear.

“There’s nowhere left to run. It’s over.” The Wushi grins. “If you think you can fight an A-Rank Wushi like me, you have another thing coming!”

Li Wei lets go of the arrow, letting it fly through the wind. The arrowhead is seconds away from piercing the Wushi’s eye, but the Wushi does nothing but laugh. All of the sudden, smoke encompasses the Wushi’s body, neglecting to leave a trace.

Li Wei pauses. He hears the faintest noises. Barely able to make them out, Li Wei waits for his inevitable fate. The smoke starts to clear. Li Wei’s body continues to tremble. Only laughter escapes the fog.

The Wushi leaps out of the dying fog and pounces on his prey. His body is lit with a silver aura. His left eye is blue, but his right eye is green. He grabs Li Wei’s throat and squeezes.

Li Wei can barely breathe. The entire world around him begins to fade. God dammit! he thinks to himself. There must be a way out of this situation – but Li Wei is too weak to find one. The world around Li Wei fades into oblivion.

Li Wei is trapped seeing nothingness. Not white, not black. Nothingness. He feels like he’s floating in mid-air. Above him, a great light flashes and sparkles. So… This must be death, huh? Li Wei thinks to himself. He relaxes his body, willing to let death take him.

Li Wei’s body rises, floating toward the light. He closes his eyes.

I’ve always been so… Weak.

I’ve never been strong.

In this world… A world where the strong is on top, and the weak is at the bottom…

What’s the point of living?

My life’s pointless…

I can never survive… Until I’m strong…

I want to be strong…

Li Wei’s eyes open. He returns to the real world. Black steam escapes his pores. “What in the hell?” The Wushi says.

Li Wei’s long, brown hair begins to slowly turn black. His muscles become more defined. He screams, pushing Wushi back. Li Wei, having escaped Wushi’s grasp, wipes blood from his nose.

“What – What is this?” The Wushi remarks. “The sheer force of his scream! Is he…?”

Li Wei’s body is lit with a fiery blue and white aura. Tiny pebbles raise in the air around him.

“His beast spirit… Is that???” The Wushi begins to question his opponent.

BEAST SPIRITS: Beast Spirits are sheer representations of a martial artist’s soul – their greatest example of power. They can either be classified as BERSERKER CLASS, meaning they specialize in close range techniques, or MYSTIC CASS, meaning they specialize in elemental techniques: Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, or Earth.

Beast Spirits’ power are ranked by three tiers: THE EARTH TIER (Ranked as “C”, “B”, or “A” Rank), THE SUPER TIER (Ranked as “S”, “SS”, or “SSS” Rank), or the HEAVENLY TIER (Ranked as “Z” Rank).

The Wushi doesn’t fear. In fact, he grins. “This might be a great fight. I’ll show you what an A Rank, Berserker Class Siberian-Cat Beast Spirit can do!!!!” The Wushi’s aura grows. The spirit of a silver feline appears behind him.

The Wushi’s hands are formed as claws. He leaps to Li Wei and attempts to deliver an ongoing combination of swift claw strikes, but Li Wei dodges them all. “You can’t dodge these techniques forever!”

Li Wei forms his hand a claw and strikes the Wushi in his chest. The Wushi leaps back. “Who the hell are you!”

Li Wei answers. “My name is Li Wei. My newly awakened beast spirit – well, he likes to be called Heihu. S Rank, Berserker Class.” Li Wei grins, cockily.

The Wushi laughs intensely. “YOU CAN’T BE KIDDING ME?! YOU JUST UNLOCKED YOU’RE BEAST SPIRIT – YOU CAN’T BE THAT STRONG ALREADY!!!! HAHAHAHA!”

“Would you like to test me new strength out?” Li Wei says.

“You cocky bastard! Now you’re making me mad!!!!” The Wushi exclaims. His blood starts to boil. “IT’S TIME TO GO ALL OUT!!”

The Wushi leaps at Li Wei and attempts several failed strikes. Li Wei tries to kick the Wushi, but the Wushi grabs his leg. Li Wei grins, rotating his body 360 degrees and kicking the Wushi with the other leg.

“Listen here, you twerp!! I won’t allow this kind of ridicule!!” The Wushi screams. “It’s time to end this!”

Li Wei and the Wushi brawl, but the Wushi is barely able to hit Li Wei. “SPECIAL TECHNIQUE: GREAT LION POUNCE!!” The Wushi’s hand is surrounded in white light. He tries to strike to Li Wei’s chest, but Li Wei blocks without a sweat. “B-B-BUT HOW?!”

Li Wei smirks. “Don’t overestimate your abilities. You may think you’re a lion, but in reality… You’re but a small kitten.” The spirit of a black tiger surrounds Li Wei’s body. Li Wei punches the Wushi into the air. “NOW IT’S TIME TO SHOW YOU THE POWER OF A REAL TIGER!!’

Li Wei leaps into the air, with the giant black tiger spirit surrounding him. He punches the Wushi repeatedly in mid-air with a chain punch, following it up with a spinning kick that pummels the Wushi into the ground.

“HEIHU – LET’S SETTLE THIS!! Art of the Wind and Thunder God!!” Li Wei thrusts his palm toward the Wushi. The black tiger spirit launches toward the Wushi and crashes into him. A giant explosion ensues, turning the environment near Li Wei into ruins.

Li Wei falls to the ground and passes out. He is too tired from breaking his limits. He leaves himself there to die.