“I need you to defeat Hundun?” Viktor repeated, “Why do I need you when I have the 4 beasts on my side?” 

 

“Because the 4 beasts cannot defeat the 4 fiends. Both must exist in order for there to be balance. They will never win. It’ll be an endless battle….” Vikentiy explained.

 

“If you do what I tell you…You can keep all of my powers…but none of me. And with that…you can stop Hundun.”

 

“What’s the catch?” Viktor asked.

 

“…You already know.”

 

—-

 

Andrei, Elena, and Fei Xiang entered Malaysia on their own. Andrei expected to feel something but as he went through the barren land he didn’t feel anything at all. It felt completely normal.

 

There were no Hundun troops in Malaysia. It was completely empty. Not a single soul in sight.

 

Hundun—the being— was settled in the middle of mainland Malaysia. And as the three of them got closer to it they could see Zhao Zhihao there too.

 

—

 

Yue hated the memories this fight was bringing to him, it made it harder to fight him.

 

‘I can’t fight him like this.’ 

 

Time suddenly froze, Yue used the skill he had learned from Aethen and took a break mid-fight.

 

“This…might not work,” Yue murmured to himself and then he did a partial transformation.

 

His overcoat appeared and the mark on his forehead did too. The world faded to white for him after a second.

 

“What are you up to?” Yi asked as he suddenly found himself in front of Yue.

 

“…Take over for me,” Yue murmured.

 

“Oh…are you sure?” Yi murmured.

 

“Yes. As long as he looks like this…I can’t defeat him.” Yue sighed, his pride hurt as he said that but he just shoved the feelings away.

 

‘He is just another version of me. It’s all the same whether I defeat him or he does.’

 

The real world came back and Yue’s body started to change a little. Yue was kind of pushed to the back of his consciousness and Yi took control. It was like he couldn’t feel his body. It was a foreign feeling but Yue didn’t resist it. 

 

Yue’s body molded itself into Yi, 

taller and more muscular than Yue normally was and scales appeared throughout one side of his body. His eyes were still vibrant like Yue’s, Yi couldn’t use Yue’s prophetic ability during this but it was a sign that Yue was still in there, looking out from within.

 

Yi took over and took a deep breath. It was overwhelming. A feeling completely foreign to him rose up…the feeling that he was supposed to be here… in this world at this very moment.

 

Yi was almost moved to tears by the feeling. It wasn’t one he ever truly experienced in his own time as Azure Dragon.

 

“So this is what it’s like…? To be Azure Dragon?” He whispered.

 

Yue didn’t know how to respond, “…I guess so.”

 

He hadn’t really thought about it. How the world feels different to him than to incarnations…

 

Yi shook his head a little, stopping himself from getting too caught up in it all. 

 

“I’ll get started now,” Yi said and focused himself on the opponent in front of him.

 

Yue unfroze time and his opponent immediately noticed a change.

 

“who…are you?” The boy—now grown up and even more exactly resembling Guiren— jumped back quickly and asked.

 

Yi didn’t answer, he just immediately continued the fight.

—

Hundun was unmoving even as Elena and Fei Xiang approached.

 

Zha Zhihao turned to face them though.

 

“Finally we meet again.” Zhao Zhihao smiled.

 

Elena figured that was meant solely toward her, but as she glanced at Fei Xiang she knew it was not the case.

 

“…It seems to me that you’re wondering what you ever did to incur my—Our,” Zhao Zhihao spoke and then glanced at Hundun before correcting him, “Wrath.”

 

“No, I'm quite certain that I know.” Fei Xiang murmured.

 

“...” Zhao Zhihao went quiet, he knew?

 

“It was a mistake to think that Hundun hadn’t indoctrinated a villager by the time we tore down the mountain,” Elena murmured.

 

Zhao Zhihao was shaking with anger at this point—they purposely destroyed the mountain…to try and destroy Hundun?

 

Truthfully, part of the reason Elena tore down the mountain was actually that villagers had climbed over the mountain to Russia and started terrorizing the land near Elena’s southernmost temple. But there was no way that Elena and Fei Xiang couldn’t sense Hundun in the mountain. They had sensed that it got stronger and that is what led them to just destroy the mountain as a whole.

 

As such the rest of the four had justified Elena’s immense use of her power. Hundun wasn’t something they could let get out of hand.

 

“If you were a normal villager from that mountain town I would believe that you did this out of revenge for how the town quickly declined after the mountain was leveled but that clearly isn’t true.” Fei Xiang murmured.

 

“There were only two casualties the day of the leveling. Your parents and they were covered with Hundun’s energy.” Fei Xiang could sense Zhihao’s fury.

 

“You are just a kid who fell victim to Hundun’s brainwashing…” Elena murmured, she was clearly trying to seem calm but being near Hundun agitated her instincts, and being near Zhao Zhihao just reminded her of how she had let this person around Viktor. It filled her with fury and Andrei was the same.

 

Zhao Zhihao had no intention of listening to their heresy and began to attack, pushing forward so Hundun could expand.

 

—

 

Zhao Zhihao looked down at Viktor. He was calmly cultivating what he’d taught him. He was very young but he was learning very quickly, he wouldn’t be able to hide the demonic energy he was pushing into him for much longer.

 

Every time they would “cultivate together” as part of Viktor’s lessons he would actually be exuding his own demonic energy into the air around them—knowing that Viktor’s mana constitution would absorb it all. It was his intention to slowly kill Viktor to not only bring grief to Elena but also to destroy the mana constitution before it was passed down again.

 

He believed it was going well for a while, Viktor was easily attached to him and followed his instructions without question.  After a while though…Viktor began absorbing it all faster and faster yet at the same time— he wasn’t getting worse. He was in perfect health.

 

Zhao Zhihao was frustrated, there was plenty he didn’t know about the Ivanovs so maybe there was something else purifying him but he just didn’t know what.

 

One day while he was trying to continue adding to his corruption, however…Viktor suddenly opened his eyes and looked him in the eye… his golden eyes were now blue with blood-red pupils.

 

“Scram.”

—