Western Demon Realm, Hagon's Terrace.
This place was originally considered one of the most beautiful sights in the Western Demon Realm.
Thousands of terraced paddies carved from the roots of a giant Spirit Tree.
Normally, as twilight fell, the land should have been mysteriously dyed like the Milky Way with the blue phosphorescence emitted by the roots of the ancient tree and the glowing moss.
But now, what covered the terraced paddies was not a peaceful blue light.
It was only crimson flames burning as if to swallow everything, and the stench of fishy blood stinging the nose.
"Kieeeek-!!"
"Grrr... Light... More light...!"
With eerie metallic screams that seemed to tear eardrums, a swarm of monsters clad in golden carapaces attacked the forest.
Their appearance looked like a hideous mix of grasshoppers and praying mantises.
Monsters with muscles abnormally swollen, spilling flashing golden energy like lava from the cracks where their skin had torn.
They were living disasters that had swallowed fragments of the scripture and lost their reason, the 'Golden Predators.'
Crunch-! Crack!
Every time a predator's massive jaws chewed up the embankments of the paddies, mana-laden soil and screaming demons were crushed together.
"Run! Fall behind and you die!"
"Aaaagh! Help me! My leg, my leg...!"
Hundreds of demons were running along the terraced paddies, screaming.
Their appearances were all wretched.
Some had their horns cut off, and others were born without horns.
The bottom of the Demon Realm, abandoned because their mana circuits were deformed or they had no power.
They were the powerless and pitiful 'Hornless Demons.'
At the very rear of that chaos, guarding the most dangerous tail end where the predators' maws were almost touching, was a man.
"Send the children first! Stick behind my back!"
Pale white skin, and a smooth face with not a single horn on his forehead.
A man wearing green leather light armor over a worn white robe patched in places, Liu Bei.
Thwack!
Liu Bei swung the Twin Swords of Male and Female in his hand to parry the foreleg of a lunging predator.
However, they were old twin swords with blades so chipped it was embarrassing to call them swords. Golden sword energy and silver sword energy crossed and tore the monster's hide, but the monsters rampaged even more ferociously as if they didn't even feel pain.
Liu Bei's palm was torn by the shock of bouncing off the predator's carapace, which was harder than steel.
"Kuaagh!"
Red blood splattered as Liu Bei's shoulder grazed the predator's claw.
Cold sweat poured like rain at the pain of flesh being torn away.
But he did not retreat.
No, he couldn't retreat.
Because he knew painfully well that if he took one step back, the elderly and weak behind him would be torn apart.
"Just a little... just a little further is the 'Valley of Light'! It's safe there! Don't give up!"
Liu Bei shouted until his throat burst, biting his bleeding lip.
But unlike his encouragement, deep despair lingered in the depths of his eyes.
The enemies in front numbered in the thousands.
His strength was hitting rock bottom.
A desperate moment where the word hope felt like a luxury.
And there was a gaze looking down on that desperate escape from the branches of a giant ancient tree on a cliff overlooking this battlefield of chaos.
"Tsk."
Sun Wukong, the Great Sage equal to Heaven, sat crookedly on a branch and clicked his tongue.
He scratched his muscular body revealed through his torn leather vest and pointed downward with his chin.
"Hey, Bird. Look at that."
"..."
"It's swarming with guys who have no horns and mana the size of a rat's tail. Just looking at them, they're a ragtag bunch. They can't even protect their own bodies but form groups like that. Even if we save them, it's obvious they'll get eaten again tomorrow."
Sun Wukong's golden eyes were filled only with cynicism.
Survival of the fittest.
It was the only providence of the Demon Realm that hadn't changed, 500 years ago or now.
The weak getting eaten was not a sad thing, but a natural thing.
But the reaction of Lucifella, who was leaning heavily against the tree trunk next to him, was different.
"No... They are not a ragtag bunch."
Lucifella's faded gray eyes followed Liu Bei.
A man wielding a tattered sword while carrying a fallen child on his back, dripping blood from his own injuries.
"They... are not abandoning each other. Because they are the weakest, they are relying on each other."
Lucifella flinched her wings, which remained only as gaunt bones.
She felt like jumping down and helping them right away, but her burnt wings did not follow her will.
She bit her lip and looked at Sun Wukong.
"You have to help them, Wukong. You know too. Ignoring the screams of the powerless... is something only those guys in Heaven you despise so much would do."
Sun Wukong's eyebrow twitched.
"Ha! Are you comparing me to those hypocrites right now?"
"If not, prove it. That you are different."
He tapped the Golden Headband on his head as if annoyed.
"You speak well, really. ...Huh?"
It was then.
A massive tremor arose from below the terraced paddies.
Breaking all the trees in the forest, a 'Boss Predator' the size of a house appeared.
It blocked the retreat path for Liu Bei and the children and opened its massive maw wide.
"Kieeeeeeek-!!!"
A sharp shriek that seemed to tear eardrums shook the forest.
"Damn it."
Sun Wukong ruffled his hair nervously.
He dug into his sensitive ear and crumpled his face.
"Ah, seriously! Those bug bastards have been so damn noisy since a while ago!"
Zip-!
Sun Wukong's figure vanished from the branch.
*
"N-No...!"
Liu Bei despaired.
A massive shadow blocking the front.
Golden energy was boiling inside the Boss Predator's mouth.
It was a Breath.
He couldn't block it.
He couldn't dodge it either.
Liu Bei instinctively wrapped his arms around the children behind his back and squeezed his eyes shut.
'Is this the end?'
At that moment.
Kwa-a-a-ang-!!!
Along with a roar that sounded like the sky collapsing, the ground right in front of Liu Bei exploded.
A massive shockwave spread in all directions, and the Boss Predator, about to fire its Breath, was bounced away helplessly like a sandcastle.
"K-Kugh?!"
Liu Bei was swept up in the storm and rolled on the ground.
A thick dust cloud blocked his vision. Through the dust, someone's silhouette slowly stood up.
A man holding a black iron rod engraved with a red dragon pattern in one hand.
A demon wearing leopard print pants, standing arrogantly with his weight on one leg.
"Whew, dust. Do you guys live without cleaning?"
It was Sun Wukong.
He draped Ruyi Jingu Bang over his shoulder and didn't even glance at the corpses of the predators scattered around.
His gaze was fixed only on Liu Bei, who was trembling but still not letting go of the children.
Thud, thud.
Sun Wukong approached Liu Bei.
Overwhelming intimidation.
Liu Bei couldn't even breathe. It was the aura of a 'real predator,' on a different dimension from the monsters just now.
Sun Wukong grabbed Liu Bei's collar with a rough hand and lifted him with one hand.
It was a light movement as if lifting a feather, but the strength felt from it had the weight of lifting an entire mountain.
Liu Bei's feet floated in the air.
"Kugh, huff...!"
"Hey, hornless guy."
Sun Wukong's face came right up to Liu Bei's nose.
His vertically slit golden pupils glistened as if piercing through to Liu Bei's soul.
"That thing shining in your bosom. Hand it over."
Sun Wukong knew.
That this guy was hiding a
And that the fragment's energy was attracting those things.
"You wanna die? Is that stone more important than your life? This mess happened because of that, you know?"
Sun Wukong growled, emitting killing intent.
It was a fear that would have made an ordinary demon's heart stop and faint just from that gaze.
Liu Bei's entire body trembled like an aspen tree. The urge to collapse as strength left his legs rose.
But.
"...I can't give it to you."
Held by the collar, Liu Bei hugged his chest tighter instead of opening the hand holding the fragment.
Despite tears welling up in fear, his emerald eyes were staring straight at Sun Wukong.
"This is... not my power."
"What?"
"I didn't keep it just to save myself...! This is... the last hope of those poor people."
Liu Bei's voice cracked.
But it did not break.
"Whoever you are, no matter how strong you are! This... I can absolutely never give it to you!"
In an instant, Sun Wukong's expression changed strangely.
It wasn't mockery, nor was it anger.
It was the curiosity of a child who found an unexpected toy, or perhaps commendation.
'Ha? Look at this guy?'
To think he says everything he wants to say while trembling like that.
In Liu Bei's eyes, Sun Wukong saw a kind of 'madness' similar to what he had harbored when fighting against Heaven 500 years ago. It was not power, but guts.
Thud.
Sun Wukong let go of the collar he was holding.
Liu Bei landed on his buttocks and gasped for breath.
"Ha, what a headache of a guy."
Sun Wukong smirked and spun Ruyi Jingu Bang, planting it in the ground.
"Fine. Let's see how long you can last with that great 'hope' of yours."
Sun Wukong turned his head and met eyes with Lucifella, who was looking down worriedly from the cliff.
A mischievous smile hung on his lips.
"Since I'll set the stage for you."