The wide plaza was a charnel house. Splintered stone and mangled corpses littered the ground. Blood painted a grim mosaic in every direction, a grim testament to the hundreds who had fallen. The survivors, their faces masks of pure terror, scrambled backward, swallowing hard against the bile rising in their throats. They clutched their weapons with white-knuckled grips, their eyes locked on the lone figure standing at the center of the carnage.
He was a titan, a demonic figure forged from living iron. Standing nearly ten feet tall, his body was a savage tapestry of muscle that rippled with explosive power, his skin gleaming with a metallic sheen. A mane of thick, black hair cascaded down his back. Across his arms, legs, and torso, a dense network of purplish-black veins snaked across his skin like grotesque tattoos. The air around him shimmered with a scorching heat, hot enough to singe hair, as if a furnace raged within his very core.
Fang Tianba, the gang's leader, arrived from the inner courtyard with his men and froze, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "It can't be... Jiang Dao?" he stammered, his voice laced with disbelief.
A terrifying smile stretched across Jiang Dao's face. "The one and only, boss. Miss me?"
Shock gave way to fury in Fang Tianba's eyes. "Jiang Dao, what is the meaning of this? This is insubordination! Are you trying to start a rebellion?"
Jiang Dao casually dug a thick finger in his ear. "Rebellion? You're overthinking things, boss. I'm not here to rebel. I'm just here to ask you to step aside. You know how it is—a changing of the guard. You're getting old. It's time for some new blood to take the lead."
"Insolence!"
"You've got a death wish, Jiang Dao!" Fang Tianba's personal guard roared, stepping forward.
"Hmm?" Jiang Dao's brow furrowed as he scanned the newcomers. "Don't recognize you. New faces?" he grunted, clearly unimpressed. "Who are all of you?"
"Jiang Dao, back down now, and I can forget this ever happened!" Fang Tianba commanded, his face a grim storm cloud.
"Not a chance," Jiang Dao said flatly. "I'm not leaving until I see you step down."
"So you've really chosen treason," Fang Tianba hissed, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
Jiang Dao's smile returned, colder this time. "My dear leader, I tried to be nice. Since you won't take the easy way out, don't blame me for what happens next."
"Kill him!" Fang Tianba shrieked.
Instantly, the elite guards moved as one. These were seasoned warriors, masters of their craft. They unleashed a volley of thick iron chains, each as thick as a man's arm, sending them whistling through the air toward Jiang Dao.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Jiang Dao stood there, unfazed, allowing the heavy chains to wrap around his limbs and torso. The moment he was bound, the warriors roared and pulled, straining to tear him apart. At the same time, a wave of gang members charged, thrusting hardened iron spears at his body.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Sparks flew in a blinding shower as the spear tips glanced off his metallic skin. The sound was deafening. Men cried out as the impact sent jarring vibrations up their arms, splitting their hands open.
"He's a monster!"
"Blades can't pierce him!"
"How is this possible?"
Jiang Dao threw his head back and let out a booming laugh. He looked down at the chains coiling around him, and with a single, violent flex of his muscles, power erupted from him like a volcano. With a deafening BOOM, every chain around him shattered into pieces.
The shrapnel flew like bullets, tearing through the air and slamming into the surrounding men. They were thrown backward, screaming as they vomited blood.
Then, Jiang Dao moved. He vanished, becoming an invisible, destructive force sweeping across the plaza. The stone beneath him cracked and exploded as if a great plow were tearing through the earth. He was a blur of motion, a phantom dragon of devastation.
Agonizing screams filled the air as bodies were tossed into the air like rag dolls. He tore through the crowd, and the men in his path were swatted aside like flies, utterly broken.
Rage burned in Fang Tianba's soul. Beside him, his elite guard—the Twelve Blood Eagles, the Three Jiao of Jiangnan, and the Twin Heroes of the North—watched in horror before leaping into the fray.
The Blood Eagles brandished massive, wicked-looking pipa hooks forged from solid iron. They swung them in deadly arcs, aiming for Jiang Dao's vital points. The hooks sank into his flesh with sickening thuds, and the twelve masters pulled with all their might, their muscles bulging as they tried to rip him to shreds.
At the same time, the Three Jiao of Jiangnan darted in close, each wielding a black, poison-tipped cone. They thrust their weapons at his pressure points, but just like the spears, their attacks were useless.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The cones struck his skin as if hitting solid steel, the impact jarring their hands. Their faces twisted in shock. He has no weak points?
Before they could react, Jiang Dao let out a savage grin. Ignoring the hooks embedded in his body, he charged forward like a meteor, aiming directly for the three of them. A wave of scorching, toxic air washed over them, leaving them dizzy and gasping for breath.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Their screams were cut short as their bodies exploded on impact like overripe fruit. A fine mist of blood and gore filled the air.
A cruel light danced in Jiang Dao's eyes. He grabbed the chains still attached to the hooks in his body and yanked. The Twelve Blood Eagles were dragged off their feet, pulled helplessly toward him. Jiang Dao met their charge with a single, contemptuous backhand sweep.
SPLAT!
A dozen crimson blossoms erupted in the air. Blood, bone, and flesh rained down. The mighty Blood Eagles were annihilated in an instant. They were simply not in his league.
The Twin Heroes of the North, who had been charging in to attack, skidded to a halt, their eyes wide with terror.
"He's a demon!"
"Fall back! Run!"
They turned to flee, but it was too late.
Fang Tianba could only watch, gritting his teeth as raw fear warred with his fury. The power Jiang Dao displayed was beyond comprehension. Not even a high-level Fierce Monstrosity was this terrifying.
A predatory grin spread across Jiang Dao's face as he watched the Twin Heroes run. He flickered and was gone.
"Little mice," his voice echoed across the plaza, "where do you think you can run?"
WHOOSH!
His massive hand swept toward them, trailing a wave of terrifying heat that whipped the air into a shrieking whirlwind. The two heroes spun around, desperately trying to block the attack.
BOOM!
They screamed as the blow sent them flying like broken dolls. They slammed into a distant wall with enough force to shatter every bone in their bodies, their forms reduced to a bloody paste, completely unrecognizable.
Jiang Dao slowly rolled his thick neck and turned his gaze back to Fang Tianba. "Well, my dear leader," he said, his smile returning, "I believe it's your turn."
Fang Tianba trembled, not from fear, but from pure, unadulterated rage. His eyes burned with hatred. Suddenly, a grotesque change came over him. The skin on his face began to ripple and writhe, sloshing like liquid as a horrifying grin stretched his features into an unnatural shape, as if his face were a mask of loose flesh.
"Hehehehe… HAHAHAHA!" his laughter echoed, distorted and inhuman. "Jiang Dao, you are full of surprises. So be it. I will risk tearing my old wounds wide open to erase you from this world personally!"
"Oh?" Jiang Dao watched with a flicker of genuine curiosity in his eyes.
The transformation was horrific. Fang Tianba's skin twisted and stretched as his body warped like soft clay. With a final, wet tear, his clothes—and his skin—burst apart. From the husk of the old man, a monster clawed its way out.
It stood over eight feet tall, a hulking mass of knotted muscle and dark, savage barbs that covered its joints, back, and head. Sickly purple veins pulsed across its body like worms under the skin. Its mouth was a nightmarish gash that split its face from ear to ear, filled with rows of needle-like teeth. But its greatest weakness was brutally exposed: a gruesome, unhealed wound from a blade that ran from its left shoulder to its right ribs. The gash wept black blood, and one could even see the slick, pulsating organs within. A truly terrifying aura rolled off him in waves.
Jiang Dao's curiosity turned to shock. "You're not human."
"You damn insect!" The monster's voice, once Fang Tianba's, was now a deep, guttural snarl. "I hid my true nature for years! Why did you have to force my hand? Now, even if it kills me, I will devour you piece by piece!"
BOOM!
The monster stomped, and the ground shattered. It vanished in a blur of motion too fast for the human eye to follow.
The next instant, Jiang Dao's hand shot out, clamping down on the air before him.
BOOM! A shockwave of scorching air erupted as his hand closed around a massive, barbed fist. Fang Tianba's monstrous form materialized behind it, his eyes burning with cold fury.
Jiang Dao just grinned. "Alright then, boss. Let's really cut loose. Let's see who's stronger. After all this time, you'll be the first to feel my true power."
RUMBLE!
His other fist shot out, warping the air as it flew toward the monster's chest. Fang Tianba roared, meeting the attack with his own fist. The two blows connected with a thunderous impact that shook the entire plaza.
Then, the world became a storm of violence.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The two titans clashed, their blows landing like artillery shells. The ground beneath them cracked and buckled. They were blurs of motion, each unleashing the absolute peak of their power, turning the courtyard into a wasteland of shattered stone and splintered wood.
Hundreds of blows were exchanged in mere seconds. Finally, they both gathered their strength for a final, decisive strike.
"Raging Flame Divine Gang!" Fang Tianba roared. His palms seemed to ignite, transforming into twin, searing suns that he blasted toward Jiang Dao.
Jiang Dao took the full force of the attack head-on. The scorching energy seared his flesh and rattled his organs, but he stood his ground, a defiant monolith.
"Mad Devil Chop!" he bellowed.
Channeling the full might of his internal energy, he turned his hands into living blades. A terrifying aura, humming with killing intent, enveloped his palms as he unleashed a relentless flurry of strikes—a whirlwind of phantom cuts, a storm of blade shadows that descended on Fang Tianba.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The monster roared in pain, crossing its arms to shield itself. Jiang Dao's technique was a devastating torrent of 365 consecutive strikes, each more powerful than the last. At first, Fang Tianba's monstrous body held up, but soon he felt his arms begin to splinter and crack. The agony of a thousand cuts spread through his body. Worse, Jiang Dao's strikes carried a potent poison that seeped into his system.
The new injuries, combined with the old, were too much. The great gash across his chest tore wide open, spewing black blood as his organs were churned into pulp. He let out a final, soul-shattering scream of pain.
RUMBLE!
As the final chop landed, Fang Tianba's body was sent hurtling backward. He crashed to the ground, a mangled wreck of torn muscle and shattered barbs, barely breathing and utterly defeated.
Jiang Dao stood panting, steam rising from his body. The Mad Devil Chop had consumed nearly all of his energy. But as he took a deep breath, he activated his Life-Nourishing Art. A warm, healing current flowed through his limbs, his exhaustion melting away as his strength returned at an impossible rate. Even the searing burns on his skin began to fade.
He smiled and walked toward the broken form of his former leader. "Looks like I'm the stronger one after all, boss."
The remaining gang members could only watch, trembling. They weren't men. Neither of them was. Their leader, their new leader... they were monsters. What had their world become?
"Cough... cough..." Fang Tianba lay in a pool of his own blood, his body destroyed. He looked up at Jiang Dao and managed a bloody, broken smile. "Well done... The new generation... washes away the old... I have no regrets..."
He lifted a trembling, mangled hand. In his palm was a black jade pendant.
"Jiang... Dao..." he rasped. "Take this... They... will come for you... hehehe..." He ended with a strange, gurgling laugh.
Jiang Dao frowned, confused.
Suddenly, a beam of black light shot from the pendant and struck him in the chest. He tried to block it with his energy, but it was too late. The light vanished, leaving behind a small, intricate marking on his skin: a black lotus tattoo.
"What did you do?" Jiang Dao demanded.
"You'll... find out... cough..." Fang Tianba choked on his own blood, a triumphant smirk on his face.
Jiang Dao's eyes went cold. He lifted his massive foot and brought it down on Fang Tianba's chest.
SQUELCH!
With a final, sickening crunch, Fang Tianba's body was crushed into the pavement. His life was extinguished. He couldn't be deader.
Jiang Dao looked down at the new tattoo on his chest. So he really was a Fierce Monstrosity, he thought. But what is this mark? What did he mean, 'they will come'? And who gave him that wound?
His eyes narrowed, his mind racing.
"It doesn't matter," he muttered to himself, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Let them come. I don't start fights, but I finish them. Whatever monster you are, if you come looking for me, I will grind your bones to dust and wipe you from existence."