“Sigils of blood and vengeance!”

“The gods are displeased, we must flee!”

Alex ignored the cries of dismay coming from the crowd. All his focus was on Dongfang Hong.

All traces of fatigue from swinging his dread blade were gone as if they had never been as his complexion took on a sunburnt hue, laughing like a madman as his limbs engorged with blood and power. Even his armor that had seemed almost ceremonial when he was presiding over the competition now glowed with crimson sigils the match of those now glowing upon the madly stirring sands. Sigils that left Alex feeling sickened if he stepped too close. And lamellar plates that had seemed little more than ceremonial armor now glowed with a fearsome potency that blew right past Silver, all the way to deepest Gold.

A man he had thought cloaked only in the power of his underlings, wearing the lightest of armaments and a weapon that had been so well cloaked in shadow was in fact a monster laughing at the world as he wielded weapons and armaments of Gold, with a physique now just as powerful as Alex’s own. Even if he had needed a blood ritual to do it, the end result was the same.

Alex had dared to challenge Dongfang Hong upon grounds the tactician had had countless months to prepare and make his own. Daring to take on a man who controlled the fate of billions.

Alex froze in horrified awe. Forced to accept that he truly had played the fool this time around, thinking he could get the best of a man ruthless, bloodthirsty, and powerful enough to command an entire nation. All the more so, if he must do it all behind a twisted Silver core.

The monster laughed as the skies turned the same hue as his skin, streaks of amber lightning washing the world in a hellish glow, his Gold tier armor stretching effortlessly to accommodate his blood-engorged body.

Making it damn clear that this wasn’t just a one-off, a singular moment of irredemable folly.

Oh no, the prince had done this before. Enough times that his armor fit to accompany his transformation. And the wicked polearm-length sword in his hand was one that the prince could now wield like a dao, sending it whirling and flashing in a dizzying series of moulinets through the air.

The worst thing was, Alex recognized the telltale marks left by the one who had granted Dongfang Hong his vile boon of consumption.

“And that explains why your Silver Foundation is so tarnished. You’re just another tool of a corrupted god, seeking power in consumption, even as your master slowly consumes you in turn,” Alex said as the Red Prince laughed aloud while members of the audience began to scream.

“No more artifice or pretense, bastard Ruidian! I will have your head and your talisman, and my mastery over this school will be complete! And my ascension to Gold costs me nothing, fool! It is only the city that would defy my authority that will pay the price!” He mocked Alex with cold, guttural laughter that sounded just like Shalu’s own as he jabbed his single blood engorged hand in the direction of Baidushi

Alex’s guts twisted with the awful sense of wrongness in the air as the six Deep Gold Wujen’s chant rose in a final awful crescendo when countless millions of screams crashed through Alex’s soul while Dongfang Hong continued to laugh, Alex frozen in momentary horror when he abruptly sensed the formation of a massive pitch black gate right before Baidushi’s walls.

The crowd began to grow restless, even panicked when the billowing cotton candy clouds overhead were quickly replaced by vermilion skies and sickly green lightning flashing through the air.

“Hell spawn, it must be! Demons are invading the Golden Realms!”

Summon Portal Skillcheck successful!

It was a desperate cry that came close to starting a panic. Yet even as Alex felt a lurch of genuine despair, he knew that panicked assumption wasn’t quite true. Because the hellish plains he could somehow sense abutting their own, filled with countless thousands of monstrosities and millions of screaming souls was no abyssal realm.

It was Shalu himself, daring to manifest. Or at least that portion of himself responsible for gating in endless troops on the battlefield in the countless wars that had first forged the Golden Realms. Or so Alex could only assume, so filled with horrified dismay at sensing countless covenants broken, his nemesis so filled with bitter hate that for a second it seemed he’d be willing to break every covenant imaginable, even destroy an entire world with his weight, so long as Alex perished along with everyone else.

Yet his enemy’s mocking laughter as the world filled with sudden blinding pain made it clear that the answer wasn’t so simple as that, even as he crashed to the ground. Because that, of course, was when his enemy struck, his enchanted blade flashing so fast that Alex barely stumbled back in time to prevent utter disembowelment.

As it was, his belly had been ruptured, tendrils of inky darkness even now flooding into Alex’s crumpling body.

13 Ranks of Transcendent Technique trump Corrupted Taint. Power Healing engaged!

“That’s right, fools! The cleansing of Baidushi is at hand!” Dongfang Hong mocked the crowd with his laughter, gazing hungrily at the wicked blade in his hand, now covered in blood. Alex’s blood. “For it is Lord Shalu’s will that you all pay the price for your stubborn recalcitrance, your unforgivable defiance against the natural order! Your crown princess has refused to submit to my authority, and you have all dared to host the fox’s get within the bosom of your city! Now you all shall all pay the price for your crimes as Shalu himself guides my hand!”

Alex gazed at the monster before him in horror, even he stunned by how far both prince and god had fallen. “You fools would doom your own empire. Shalu has just betrayed his own kin, and you, your emperor!”

Dongfang’s cruel lips stretched wide in an inhuman grin, showing scores of shark-like teeth before Alex’s horrified gaze, seeing so clearly the dismay in his own reflection in the monster’s eyes. “And that’s where you’re wrong, Ruidian worm. For it wasn’t I that opened a gate to the Jade Empire, flooding these lands adjoining my innocent nation with Seanchan invaders… but you!” He roared with laughter as the air filled with the screams of panicked spectators and the flash of plasma fire. “And that will be the account sworn by all those lesser Silver and Golds that will now give me their oaths to serve me body and soul for all time, this very instant, or die in the hell fire that shall soon be your own, Ruidian Worm!”

Alex’s eyes widened unspeakable horror as the monster before him rose his clenched fist, glaring at his six wujen who immediately began roaring for compliance in heavily accented voices, slamming inky black talismans against struggling foreheads, and shooting streams of obliterating fire against anyone who dared to run away.

The instant Dongfang Hong had his back turned, glorying at he sight of his minions shattering every covenant of trust within Risen Phoenix Academy with utter impunity, Alex spent did what he knew he must as the horrific incisions that had torn open his abdomen finally closed.

Hall of Doors successfully accessed!

You have closed all gates not connected to artifact or arena!

You have created six additional gates!

Enemy Wujen fail to counter your art!

And it said something about the way both hapless spectator and murderous Deep Gold Wujen froze at the sight of six mirror images of a magnificent palace of ivory and gold surrounded by fields of Silverbell blossoms and luscious groves of fruit trees heavy with nature’s bounty swaying in the breeze.

“The Fox offers his bounty to all who swear to do no harm to his people!” Alex screamed for all he was worth as he sprung back from the roaring death a furious Dongfang Hong’s lethal blade promised. “Jump through and start your life in a world free of the spite of bickering gods! Jump through now, for no one sworn to Dongfang Hong’s service will ever be allowed to follow!”

“You dare to interfere yet again, Ruidian scum?” Dongfang Hong roared, face twisting with a hate that was almost demonic, looking more like Shalu than ever as he roared and struck with a furious barrage of killing blows.

Alex’s heart began pounding with something beyond terror that he chose to call sweetest exhilaration as he danced upon the razor’s edge of oblivion, honing himself like never before as he pushed Golden Swan to the absolute limit, mitigating and deflecting the killing blows of a Gold Tier artifact so sharp that the air bled with its passing.

Shalu. His ultimate nemesis. A vile monster who served as the living emblem of insecurity, bitterness, and spite. An abomination that had savored destroying Alex’s life over countless incarnations, for the simple crime of existing. A tyrannical genocidal monster that was once more at the heart of unspeakable tragedy as the screams of an entire city began to fill the air.

And here he was once more, at least in the form of his latest lackey, already twisting into that vile god’s mirror image, forever mocking Alex with monstrous acts of depredation, slaughter and malice.

In those moments Alex wanted to howl with furious glee as terror turned to a wrath so potent that his fangtian ji became an extension of his will. A steel note ringing endlessly through the ehter, presaging the might of the flooding river that crashed through its banks to obliterate all that would stand in its way.

Cleaving through even the Gold tier defenses of a momentarily surprised Dongfang Hong as if it were no more than the most poorly made of damns, absolutely obliterated by the storms of Summer’s Wrath.

Nemesis Card in effect! You recognize your opponent as a tool of your ultimate foe!

All Body Cultivation Techniques, armor, and Qi Wards used by the target are nullified against host. All regeneration techniques are nullified against wounds caused by host.

Warning: Once in effect, this card cannot be revoked!

Never had Alex struck with such precision and grace, his weapon of choice weaving through the air in a series of crosscuts and winding thrusts that guarded his line even as he struck, giving his opponent no time to counter, only desperately evade as Alex’s fangtian ji tore through a full dozen Silver and Gold tier wards and enchantments as if they were no more than figments of delusion clung to by desperate fools about to taste oblivion.

Yet far from the cries of agony and despair Alex ached to hear from this bloated reflection of his nemesis, all he got for his efforts was mocking laughter, his dance now mirrored perfectly by the smirking prince before him.

Soul Sigh perception check made!

And that was when Alex spotted it, when he finally understood the horror he was facing, as a Deep Silver master of countless battlefields enhanced by Gold Tier artifacts made Alex bleed for every inch or advantage he could get over his foe, even with all the bastard’s weaknesses now unfolding before his eyes.

He was lashing out at what had once been a tarnished Silver who had been gifted the ability to ascend perpetually along his crooked path, so long as all his sacrifices were in Shalu’s name.

He was fighting a genuine avatar of his most hated foe, who now wore Dongfang Hong as the most casual of masks. Separated just enough for Shalu to recognize and strike at Alex in ways the bastard prince alone never could. A tarnished foundation perhaps the only remnant of the original prince that remained, and now there was only this monstrous avatar that seemed to be growing ever stronger with every exchange.

Time seemed to stretch and slow as Alex lost himself so deeply in the art he had forged by his master’s side, weaving and darting past an impossible barrage of attacks while lashing out in turn with the force and fury of the storm, that his body began to glow with spiritual energy. And still the monster he faced did nothing but laugh with bemused contempt when Alex lashed out, repeatedly, with the howling might of the storm, as if the monster before him was a massive block of ice aimed for the coast as inevitably as the tides, and all Alex’s pounding waves failed even to misdirect it, let alone shatter it to oblivion.

All of that changed, however, the instant Alex added lightning into the mix.

OR at least that was the case until Alex added lightning to the mix, his Nemesis card sensing exactly what was needed to earn a look of surprise and cautious calculation from his vile foe as the surviving spectators continued to dart madly for Alex’s gates, screaming out their allegiance to WiFu before jumping through the gates to their salvation… those that weren’t cut down by blinding light be fanatic Deep Gold wuen as they dove through. As horrific a sight as it was, at least with six spoke-like gates dividing the massive coliseum, most spectators were able to flee than were roasted to death under Gold tier spite. And if reflecting beams had cost at least one spectator their life, the cut-off scream of a Deep Gold and the potency now flooding Alex’s soul made it clear that at least one of his enemies had also paid for underestimating their opponent’s reflective gates.

39 Basic, 127 Bronze, 47 Silver, and 13 Gold cultivators have successfully made use of your gates! All are oath-bound to the codes of behavior all guests are expected to adhere to!

52 mortals have made use of your gates! Mortals are unable to make binding oaths. You have let them through regardless!

Seneschal is attempting to revive three cultivators cut in twain!

Enemy Deep Golds have FAILED to penetrate your gates!

Piercing strike has successfully penetrated Rank 1 Corrupted Gold wards!

You have successfully fused Storm Strike with Black Swan! There’s no hiding your identity now!

Dongfang Hong howled with fury when Alex’s final windmill strike wound past the man’s fearsome changdao, before wrenching the weapon completely off line and thrusting forward with every ounce of Gold tier strength he had, a heartbeat before the monstrosity was flung across the sands in a magnificent explosion of lightning.

“Lightning! He commands lightning! His victory against the Wei Gang was no trick! He must be one of the emperor’s hidden children, here to save us in our hour of need!”

Alex was surprised that there were any spectators left, yet those sections of the stadium seats that had been spared the presence of the Deep Golds were effectively surrounded by impervious walls that allowed them to witness the spectacle without having to commit to taking oaths and jumping through gates to alien realms, Alex’s own disciples and companions among their number.

Yet whatever hope Alex kept blazing in his breast after finally getting the better of this monster sputtered to dismay when Dongfang Hong seemed to melt into the sands… before exploding forward with his blade weaving through the air.

Alex’s heart raced with panic as he desperately strove to push aside not just his foe’s killing blade, but the space it occupied, long before it could touch him. It was his only hope of survival as death tore through the air.

He could see every twisted curve in his enemy’s face as he pounded Alex with absolutely monstrous killing intent. A hate-filled glare the echo Shalu’s soon turned to a look of surprised disbelief when Alex spat blood as folded space slammed into Dongfang Hong just as hard as his foe had tried to strike him, both of them flying apart and tumbling across the red-hot sands.

Silver Wing successfully parries Lesser Divine Blow! The echo of Shalu’s hate fails to destroy you!

You have suffered a backlash for daring to evade divine retribution!

You have taken 1 Medium Wound.

Silver Wing is now Rank 13 (18)!

Alex knew what the logical move was. The move that he felt all but compelled to do.

That was, until he looked into his enemies’ eyes. Twisted hour-glass orbs that had so much in common with Shalu that it utterly sickened him.

Schemes within schemes.

Plans within plans.

Claiming a school not just to steal resources, but to paralyze and entire Province’s golds from ever striking against him.

A province claimed not to be annexed to YanTu… but to serve as portals to the very enemies Silver Fox’s clan was so dead set on keeping away. Yet now that bloated bastard and his willing disciple would happily let an entire city fall, flooding these lands with countless troops from the Jade Emperor.

Why?

Dongfang Hong laughed in his face, readying his blade once more.

Plans within Plans.

Schemes within Schemes.

A gaze so like Shalu’s own.

Shalu, who knew the taste of Alex’s most devastating attack like no other.

Shalu, who had gone from bloated tyrannical monstrosity that could devour entire worlds, Alex suspected, to a shriveled wreck, little more than a living husk kept alive only by his hatred for Alex.

No foe, living or dead, knew the taste of Alex’s deadliest attack better than he.

Alex’s heart skipped a beat, suddenly sensing ultimate peril.

Even as his foe spread his twisted arms wide and roared, giving a primal roar of challenge no hero worth his salt would deny.

Not when such a vile foe was begging for death.

Begging for Alex to unleash his ultimate attack.

Which would effectively put a prince channeling an an empire’s worth of invaders into the River of Souls.

Alex froze, hands locked upon his weapon as the monstrous lead-faced monster mocked Alex with his smile.

“No matter what you do, I will see you crushed beneath my boots, Ruidian cur. Best you never forget that,” Dongfang Hong hissed.

Alex ignored the words. Now seeing the goading attempts so blatantly, it was obvious.

He had no idea how his enemy would achieve the feat he so clearly intended. For all that Alex shook with sudden revelation, sensing, thanks to his Nemesis Card, the way his enemy had organized a whole handful of cards behind his now trembling wasted limbs.

He knew not their meanings but he could sense the brilliant sharpness of their killing intent.

Sensing how they would allow countless millions to flood and destroy an empire.

Alex’s heart pounded with horrified awe as it suddenly clicked.

Those cards weren’t being arrayed against his clan’s opponents, the Jade Empire’s patron deities playing against them for the greatest stakes imaginable. Even if the cards were all, every single one, intimately tied to the fates of the countless hundreds of thousands of Seanchen soldiers that Alex could sense even now pouring from the massive rift just outside Baidushi’s walls.

They were arrayed against Alex himself.

Alex and his own priceless, fragile mystical realm.

He had absolutely no idea how that spite-filled god of gluttony who fancied himself a master tactician had managed to form a hand that would somehow doom Alex’s precious realm the moment he struck Dongfang Hong down with his deadliest attack.

Nonetheless, he was filled with a dread certainty that somehow that was exactly what would happen in some horrifically twisted way that would only be blindingly obvious after the fact.

Alex forced a smile. “Sorry, Shalu. I know how much you hate me, willing to betray your own pantheon for my sake. But it won’t work, asswipe! The attack you’re still bleeding from is the one maneuver Dongfang Hong will never suffer from me!”

Dongfang Hong’s monstrous face twisted in a caricature of hate that chilled Alex to see, the stamp of his nemesis’s features now unmistakably mirrored on the prince’s face, showing Alex like nothing else ever could that his worst fears had been right on the money. Shalu wasn’t just trying to take him out. He was eager to obliterate Alex’s entire realm while doing so, and had somehow found a way, despite all the cards now bound to Alex’s soul, to do just that.

“Then die, worm!”

“Alex, let us through!”

Hao Chan and Yinzi’s voices echoed through his party interface as Alex found himself frantically parrying and dodging back like never before.

Proving that Dongfang Hong had been holding back the entire time, just waiting for Alex to play the overconfident fool.

And now he was pressuring Alex like never before, his blinding series of faints, thrusts, and cleaving blows forcing Alex ever further back as his Dark Qi covered arms ached with countless blows that came so close to breaking through.

Until a single misplaced step spelled the beginning of the end.

All that was needed to send Alex flying through the air, changdao ripping free his fangtian ji in the bind as a massive foot slammed into his chest.

“Alex! Please!”

“No! He’ll kill you both!”