After a night of sweaty tossing and turning, along with a bout of horrifying nightmares, Min broke the news to the village the next day. Those three men who had disappeared were, indeed, without a doubt, dead.

Luckily, their families had a couple of extra fully-grown children on their hands to take their predecessor’s place on the fields (which most peasant families had). But when they requested the bodies of the deceased, Min had to vehemently refuse. He would very much like to never step foot in that forest again, thank you very much. If they desired to retrieve them for a proper funeral, then they would have to do so themselves - the village couldn’t depend on Min for everything. He was only human, after all. 

The next item on his mental to-do list (making a physical list was quite impossible, as he was illiterate) was to acquire bait a force of no less than a dozen men before checking if Seni had truly been possessed by some undead spirit or not.  

It was nowhere nearly as hard as convincing the dead men’s families that they were not entitled to have Min go back into the forest and single-handedly retrieve rotting corpses swarming with maggots and parasites and disease. Upon promising a visit to the beautiful Yue Seni along with a decent amount of coin as payment, Min had amassed 18 healthy young men before noon.

 

Seni hummed a relaxing melody and bent over, checking on his herb garden. The mandrakes weren’t infested with insects, the magical ginseng roots weren’t horribly deformed, the organic crystal fungi weren’t setting the ground on fire, and the blood lotus flowers hadn’t been rooted up by some kind of rodent. 

He opened his mouth and sang, filling the garden with his beautiful, soft voice and a wondrous tune. Perhaps music really didn’t help plants grow, but he performed this routine every day.

The song was cut short as he frowned. Normally, the small animals would have come out of their hiding spots and nuzzled around his feet at this point, and the birds should have flown out of their nests to perch on his slender finger.

“Fuck. Maybe something really is wrong with me ever since yesterday. It has to be that rock, right?” he muttered to himself.

Although the weather was mostly clear with a few clouds here and there, he felt that something was off. He just couldn’t place his finger on it. Everything was just so unnaturally still and silent - lifeless, even. The wind whistled between the trees ever-so-ominously while he looked around, feeling as if he would be ambushed by an unseen opponent at any moment.

It was an unfamiliar feeling in a familiar place. His treasured garden was where he always felt calm and safe, surrounded by magical and mystical flora. Now, he felt hopelessly exposed in the open, with only a flimsy stone wall between his garden and the brutal, unforgiving world.

Even the sun shining directly overhead was no longer providing him warmth. Instead, he was hopelessly cold and isolated. Goosebumps erupted over his arms and he hugged himself, shivering as if the sun had disappeared. He looked up, but nothing had changed. The light was still shining down from overhead. Sometimes, beams of sunlight pierced through the clouds like great spears from the heavens. 

Everything was normal, just as it had been a few minutes ago.

Until something in the sky caught his eye. A glint of light, perhaps, for a mere moment, before it disappeared in the endless blue sea above the clouds once more.

 

Min motioned for the rest of his squadron to stay back while he gradually approached the front door of the cottage. Indeed, it felt much too unnatural today. Too silent. Seni should have been singing a mesmerizingly beautiful song by now. Although he had barged into this very cottage multiple times, today it felt more menacing than ever.

A full view of the sky suddenly filled his eyes before he could react to the impact that had struck him down - or up, rather. He blinked, and it felt like the entire world was in stasis. 

Blistering heat came next, and pieces of stone and wood flew. It was during this time that Min finally noticed that he was falling when his body was thrown aside by a shockwave, turning his head towards the ground. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

 Some of the men who he’d brought with him held expressions of shock, paralyzed with fear. Some were already sprinting as fast as they could in the opposite direction, and some had been crushed by large boulders and wooden planks.

The ground rushed towards him and he planted his face into the grass, then skidded for a surprisingly long distance before coming to a complete stop.

He lay there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Eventually, he remembered that he had to breathe, and painfully pulled himself up, wiping the dirt off his stunned face.

 

Seni watched as his entire garden was burnt to the ground. One moment he was tending to his prized plants, the next moment a person wreathed in flames fell from the sky and demolished his entire house.

“...Now that’s going a bit too far, isn’t it?” he said, turning towards the man standing in the charred ruins of his cottage. “Couldn’t knock on the door? Have a nice chat over some green tea?”

The man was no longer on fire, and when those flames had subsided, it revealed an armored warrior carrying a glaive. A pair of wings with golden feathers were emerging from his back, and instead of feet, he had a set of deadly-looking talons.

He reached out to Seni with an open gauntlet and said, “Hand over the brain. Now.”

Upon realizing that he was dealing with an armed individual, Seni’s confidence fell drastically. “Erm, uh, what? I mean...”

“Dammit, Seni!” shouted a familiar voice running up to them. “Don’t give him the bloody rock! Wait, are those wings? Shit, it’s an immortal!”

“Min!? Min, what the fuck are you doing here!? Didn’t you just see this guy set everything on fire? How’d you know this guy wants the rock?”

“Well, if it isn’t the rock he wants, then whatever the hell could you have? He doesn’t look like he needs any money.”

“He says he wants a brain or someth-”

“Shut up,” the warrior growled. “You, the woman with the brown hair. You have the Librarian’s Brain. Hand it over, or else I might have to murder you lot and take it myself.” 

“Yeah, you’re definitely talking about that rock. And if I refuse - oh wait, you already said you were gonna kill me. Uh, you and what army?”

“Believe me, I am more than enough to deal with the likes of you. Don’t be unreasonable and-”

He suddenly paused when a meaty smack rang out through the air. A long, awkward silence filled the air with Min’s balled-up fist on the warrior’s face.

Time was frozen. 

From this distance, Min could feel the heat radiating from the immortal’s body. It was as if magma coursed through their veins, and their skin was made out of searing hot coals.

By definition, Immortals were technically monsters or magical organisms at the very least. In addition to a human form they could use to seamlessly blend into normal human society, they would often flaunt their half-monster true forms as well. If Min were to guess, then this one would have been part phoenix.

The warrior stumbled back, rubbing his spotless cheek in shock. “Never before, in my entire life, have I been shown such disrespect. A human. A mere mortal dares?”

He furiously stomped the ground, and a spear popped up from the earth. He caught it in the air and tossed the new weapon to Min, who was blowing on his knuckles. 

“Dude, please don’t.” Min pleaded while gripping the spear.

“My name!” roared the warrior. “Is Wei Fang! I challenge you to a duel!”

“Can I refuse?”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

Min sighed. “Very well. I swear on my great grandfather if Seni doesn’t escape while I sacrifice my bloody life...anyhow, en garde, fuckboy!”

Fang responded in kind. “Catch this fade, heathen!”

 

Seni clawed through the ruins of his house, searching for a precious heirloom. An item he couldn’t live without, one that had accompanied him throughout his hardest journeys.

He felt the familiar shape and ripped it out of the rubble. A sword hilt with a white gem set in its center. It didn’t have its blade, but it fit perfectly in his hand. He gripped it for courage and turned to the warrior distracted with Min.

 

The first strike sent a shock up Min’s well-muscled arms and numbed his hands. An overhead slash from Fang ripped through the air with a speed that Min could hardly track. Decades upon decades of experience in the harshest of battlefields somehow brought him to lift his spear in desperation, blocking the blow in the nick of time.

Ash and embers flew as they clashed, and Fang hit ten times harder than a warhammer. Min could feel the air pressure when the glaive’s blade dug into his spear’s handle. He struggled to remain standing as his knees buckled under the weight. The sweltering heat was already enough to soak his clothes with sweat, and the physical burden made it almost unbearable.

“In honor of my opponent’s weakness, I will not use my full power,” Fang declared.

“Oh, how kind of you,” Min grunted, twisting his body and shoving the glaive aside.

His opponent stepped back and thrust with superhuman speed.

To Min, it felt strong enough to rip through space and time, let alone a human body. Even so, he instinctively flung himself aside before his eyes noticed that Fang was launching another attack. 

Fang stabbed the spear into the ground and used it to pivot himself toward the rapidly retreating Min, and spun around to launch a kick.

By the time Min found himself to have dodged once again, he instantly realized he was too slow. He doubled over and clutched at a bloody wound on the side of his abdomen that had been mauled by Fang’s talons.

“Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit! This isn’t fair!” Min choked, collapsing to his knees.

The glaive was whipping towards Min’s neck, and the crazed yet relaxed smile on Fang’s face made it all too clear that this wasn’t a duel. Not when a human and an immortal were at odds.

The blade suddenly averted its course and found itself stabbed into the ground.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to murder my best friend,” said Seni, with his foot on the glaive. “Seriously, you’re a goddamn immortal, and he’s just a human. What the hell’s fair about this? You just want to make him an example.”

“Arrogant girl! What makes you have the right to preach to me?” Fang shot back, throwing a swift punch at the interloper.

To Min’s utter disbelief, Seni calmly dodged the skull-crushing blow and returned the favor.

Although Seni’s form and technique were horrible, even from Min’s perspective, the power behind his strike was devastating.

His small fist stopped short of making contact with Fang’s face, but the shockwave alone ripped the grass out of the ground. 

“Well, actually, I’m a guy. Not a girl.”

“...Oh,” Fang gasped, staring at Seni’s fist, then shoving it out of his face, which was now covered in his confident expression once more. “So you’re that person, huh? Abandoning your beloved Marquis like that?”

Seni instantly paled, and Fang advanced on him. 

“What’s that in your hand? A sword-hilt? Oh, of course! How could you ever let go? How far you’ve fallen, to growing cheap herbs in a filthy garden!” he sneered mockingly.

“How, how, h-how…” Seni stammered, having lost all of his confidence. “Who the fuck told you!? No, how the absolute fuck do you know that!?”

He suddenly realized how small he seemed in comparison to the winged warrior in front of him. Somehow, he had already stumbled dozens of steps back without even realizing it.

“A little puppy told me, my dear,” Fang answered. 

“W-wait, that woman? How, how, how do you know her!? What did you do!?

Fang sneered and shoved his face forward. “Come on. Hit me. For real this time.”

“I-I, I’ll…”

Seni’s face was streaming with tears as his hand shook, unable to form a fist. His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees, sobbing into his hands.

“All that power, and what do you do with it? Nothing. You're a coward. You can’t even stop me from killing your friend here.”

“Y-you!” Seni shouted, unable to form even a sentence. “Hold on!”

“I’m sorry, madame - or should I say, good sir? But this is just what happens when a mortal dares to fight with one of us. Blame his own overconfidence.”

The warrior picked up his glaive and strolled towards Min, who was now on the ground with his hand clutched over his heavily bleeding side, flickering in and out of consciousness.

“YOU! You, you, you-” Seni screamed and clutched at the ground while Fang hummed a lively tune, slowly raising his glaive above Min.

“I’m sorry, what?” Fang replied, cupping his hand over his ear. “What was that about me?”

“You truly are the lowest scum in history.”

“Huh?”

Fang whipped his head around, and his jaw dropped.

The entire field of grass had dried up and turned pure white, drained of color. A strong gust of wind blew, and it all began to disintegrate into dry flakes that flew like ashes. 

Trees had lost their leaves, flowers had withered, and shrubs had shriveled up. It was as if death had swung its mighty sickle and cursed the very land they stood upon.

Seni kicked off the ground, covering the distance before Fang could have the luxury to think. 

A heavy uppercut slammed into Fang’s jaw, creating a sonic boom that pierced his ears with a high-pitched ring. His helmet flew off and revealed a head of dyed red hair.

Vibrations trembled across his entire body as if an earthquake had rumbled his bones. The golden feathers on his wings found themselves suddenly detached and flying through the air.

“You’re useless. I didn’t know our race had sunk this low.”

The first attack was immediately followed up with a roundhouse that collided with Fang’s cheek, knocking dozens of teeth loose.

“Useless.”

Seni breathed in, then unleashed a storm of devastating punches.

Dirt scattered in all directions from the shockwaves.

Fang felt his body suspended in midair by a seemingly endless barrage as if thousands of clubs were being swung into his body every second. Blazing hot feathers flew everywhere as his wings folded grotesquely and spiderweb-shaped cracks formed on his chest-plate.

His ribs shattered after his armor was punched through. All the while, a reference to a popular Japanese cartoon filled his ringing ears.

“Useless! Useless! Useless, useless, useless-useless-useless-useless-”

With each punch, Seni repeated that word in a deep, unidentifiable voice.

Next, Fang felt his nose get crushed. Then his skull suffered the same treatment. 

“-useless-useless-useless-useless-useless-useless-useless-useless-”

Every bit of flesh on his body was tenderized, and the well-muscled arms that he had trained relentlessly every day had already been snapped before he realized it. His organs ruptured, and thick blood flowed out of his orifices.

“-useless-useless-useless-useless, useless!”

Gathering up his strength, he sent his final punch plunging through Fang’s chest. 

Scalding hot blood sprayed all over his body, and he tore his hand back, crushing the warrior’s heart.

He stepped back, letting the man fall and stain the uprooted ground with red.

“Uh...Arrivederci.”

 

AN: Tried going with a different writing style this time, more reminiscent of Maruyama’s, or Tolkien’s (sort of, I haven’t read anything Tolkien for a long time). Please point out any inconsistencies or bad delivery when it comes to writing action scenes, I like to think that I desperately need practice with these.