Dungeon Break Chapter 3 Trouble in China (Patreon)

Shanghai, China

Morning sunlight spilled into the narrow courtyard between apartment buildings. Laundry lines swayed gently above. The scent of street food drifted from the corner stall as shop owners prepared for the day. In the center of the courtyard, a thirteen-year-old girl moved through a series of kicks with sharp focus.

Brown hair tied into twin buns bounced slightly with each turn of her head. Her stance was firm. Her breathing steady as her feet pressed against cool concrete. Chun-Li exhaled and snapped her leg upward in a clean vertical kick. “Again,” she muttered to herself. “Higher.” She reset her stance and drove her heel upward once more.

But then the ground shifted. At first, she thought she had misstepped. Then the concrete beneath her feet trembled violently. The tremor turned into a violent shake that knocked her balance away. Chun-Li dropped to one knee, palms slamming against the ground to steady herself.

“What is this?!” Someone screamed from a balcony above as windows shattered. Glass rained down in sharp bursts. A parked car rolled forward, its brakes screaming uselessly before it slammed into a wall. Dust exploded into the air.

The earthquake didn’t stop as buildings groaned with metal twisting. The air filled with the sound of collapsing bricks somewhere down the street as people poured out of their homes.

“Get outside now!” Someone shouted as a woman clutched her baby and stumbled into the courtyard, face pale. An elderly man fell and was dragged upright by two teenagers.

Chun-Li forced herself to stand despite her shaking legs. ‘Stay balanced and calm.’ The tremors continued for several long minutes. The apartment building beside her cracked along one side. A section of outer wall split and crumbled down into the alley. Her heart pounded so hard she felt it in her throat. ‘Is this how it ends?’

Then it finally stopped as the shaking faded into silence broken only by distant alarms and the sound of crying with people beginning to breathe again.

Until then the sky tore open and a red fracture split the air above the nearby street.

Everyone stopped running and continued to stare in disbelief until something crawled out. It was low to the ground. Its limbs were long and twisted at wrong angles. Its jaw hung open, unhinged. Its body scraped against the edges of the fracture as it dropped onto the asphalt below and the impact cracked the road.

A man froze in the middle of the street, staring at it, unable to move.

Then the creature’s head snapped toward him and began to sprint in his direction.

Chun-Li didn’t think as she ran to help. “Move!” She shouted, grabbing the man by his collar and yanking him sideways just as the creature’s claws tore into the pavement where he had been standing a second earlier with concrete splitting under its force.

The rescued man then collapsed to the ground, gasping as Chun-Li stepped between him and the creature without realizing she had done it with her breathing coming fast as she looked at the monster. ‘It’s not an animal. What is that thing?’

The creature’s eyes then locked on her stance and it lunged. 

Chun-Li quickly pivoted on instinct and drove a kick into its jaw and as it connected, pain shot up her leg immediately as her bones rattled from the impact but the creature barely flinched causing her eyes to widen. ‘It didn’t move. It didn’t even react.’

The Spinecrawler then swung a clawed limb at her head, which she quickly ducked under it and rolled to the side, grabbing the stunned man’s sleeve and dragging him with her. “Come on! Let’s run!” she shouted.

The man scrambled to his feet, finally moving.

And as the monster was about to give chase, gunshots erupted from down the street as Police officers advanced in formation, firing in coordinated bursts. The cracks of gunfire echoed sharply between the ruined buildings as the creature jerked as bullets tore into its torso. Dark fluid sprayed across the asphalt. It staggered, shrieked in a high-pitched, broken sound, and tried to keep moving.

“Keep firing!” an officer shouted. The creature lunged one last time before collapsing in the middle of the road.

Silence fell again, heavy and wrong.

Chun-Li stood frozen, chest heaving. Her leg throbbed from the kick and an officer ran toward her, face tight with adrenaline. “Get inside! Now!” he barked.

She nodded once, but her eyes stayed on the portal still glowing above as more shapes moved within it. Her fists clenched at her sides. ‘That thing wasn’t alone.’ Her mind raced. ‘It didn’t react to my kick. It didn’t move like any opponent I’ve faced and it didn’t hesitate.’ Fear settled in her stomach, but something else did too, resolve.

“I’m not staying inside,” she whispered under her breath.

Another scream echoed from farther down the block and Chun-Li turned toward it. She didn’t understand what was happening. She didn’t understand what that fracture in the sky meant.

But she understood this: If those things kept coming, someone had to stand between them and the people who couldn’t fight back.

And she had already stepped forward once.

—--------------------------------------------

Crow City, Mount Tai, China

Crow City had not existed on any mortal map for centuries.

Hidden within the folds of Mount Tai, shielded by layered formations and ancestral barriers, it was a realm reserved for cultivators who had long abandoned the mundane world. Spiritual energy flowed through the stone streets. Formation arrays hummed softly beneath tiled courtyards. The air carried the scent of incense and discipline.

Inside the Xiao Clan compound, a traditional robe wearing thirteen-year-old boy stood alone in the courtyard. Long black hair tied behind his back, and his sleeves rolled up. Xiao Yan exhaled slowly and circulated his Qi through his meridians. Again he attempted to condense it at his core.

But once again nothing as the energy dispersed before it could stabilize and his teeth ground together. ‘Why… why won’t it gather?’ He forced the circulation harder but instantly pain sparked in his chest and the Qi slipped from his control and dissolved uselessly. Seeing his efforts go in vain his fist slammed into the ground in anger.

“Damn it!” The word echoed sharply in the quiet courtyard as he stood there breathing hard, anger rising in his chest like a fire he could not extinguish.

During his childhood, he had been called a genius. Now they called him trash and he could still hear the whispers.

“Fallen Genius.”

“With a broken foundation, he is now mortal."

“He became useless after the tournament.”

His jaw clenched as Luo Hao’s face flashed in his mind from her calm eyes to her overwhelming power and to the moment his cultivation was shattered in front of the entire city.

He spat the name under his breath. “Luo Hao…” Humiliation burned hotter than any flame he could summon.

But before he could be consumed by anger the ground trembled causing Xiao Yan to stagger as the courtyard tiles cracked beneath his feet.

But this was impossible as the protective barrier surrounding Crow City should have absorbed any disturbance from the mortal realm.

The tremor didn’t care as it intensified with incense burners toppled. Stone lanterns shattered. A crack raced across the courtyard wall. Elders could be seen bursting from nearby halls.

“Brace yourselves!” One shouted. “Stabilize the formations!”

Xiao Yan pushed himself up, heart racing. “What’s happening?” He demanded, looking toward the elders.

Before anyone could answer, the air above the outer walls distorted as the sky split and a jagged tear formed in the barrier itself with the protective formation flickered, lines of spiritual light sputtering and failing one by one.

The elders seeing this improbable sight froze as the energy causing this phenomenon was alien. “That is not Qi…” One of them muttered, eyes wide.

The tear then widened violently as something dropped from it. A scaled creature, hunched and muscular, crashed into the street outside the clan gates. The impact cracked stone and sent dust rising in thick waves as it rose slowly. Its body radiating foreign energy that did not belong to this world and then roared.

The sound rolled through Crow City like a physical force as multiple roars were heard throughout the city.

Civilians screamed, Cultivators brought out weapons and prepared to fight. While in the Xiao clan, Clan guards rushed forward. “Form ranks!” an elder shouted. “Protect the inner district!”

The massive gates of the Xiao clan shuddered as the creature slammed into them and on the third impact, the wood splintered as the gates burst inward.

Guards met it with Qi-infused blades. Their strikes landed cleanly, slicing scales and drawing dark blood.

But the creature did not fall as its hide resisted more than expected and later swung one arm. A guard was launched into a wall hard enough to crack brick and later he slid down, unmoving.

Xiao Yan’s pulse hammered in his ears. ‘What is happening? What kind of beast is that?’ He felt heat stir in his chest as he bravely stepped forward.

“Stay back!” An elder barked at him.

But the creature turned toward the fallen genius and felt the killer intent from the creature, causing Xiao Yan’s mind to go blank as he thrust his palm forward and Flame burst out. It was wild and uneven, lacking the refinement he once possessed but he could finally cultivate Qi. The fire struck the creature’s face and the scales blackened causing the creature to roar.

But it did not stop as it charged through the flames.

Xiao Yan froze as he saw how useless he was. ‘It didn’t even slow down…’

The creature then raised its clawed hand toward him but before it could touch him, an elder appeared beside him in a blur with a blade infused with dense Qi that drove deep into the creature’s neck. The elder then twisted the sword and forced the energy forward. The creature convulsed violently before collapsing at Xiao Yan’s feet and silence fell in the courtyard.

Xiao Yan stared down at the fallen beast realizing that his flames had done nothing meaningful.

The elder then pulled his blade free and turned sharply toward him. “You would have died,” the elder said coldly.

But Xiao Yan wasn’t listening as his hands trembled and anger flooded him. ‘I couldn’t even stop it for a second.’

The sky above tore open again and more shapes moved within the fracture with more roars echoed across Crow City.

An elder shouted from the outer wall. “There are more! The barrier is failing!”

Xiao Yan clenched his fists so hard his nails bit into his palms. “I’m not staying behind,” he said.

“You will obey orders,” the elder snapped.

Xiao Yan lifted his head, eyes burning. “I refuse.”

The elder stepped toward him. “Your cultivation is unstable. You are a liability.”

The words struck harder than any blow.

Xiao Yan’s chest tightened. “I will not hide,” he said, voice low but firm. “Not again.”

Another explosion rocked the outer district as screams followed. Xiao Yan turned and ran toward the sound.

“Xiao Yan!” the elder shouted.

He didn’t stop. The humiliation from the tournament, the whispers, his shattered cultivation. All of it burned inside him. ‘If I stay weak, I deserve the name they gave me.’ He vaulted over cracked stone and sprinted toward the breach.

Ahead, another monster climbed through the torn barrier.

Xiao Yan drew in a sharp breath and forced his Qi to circulate. It felt unstable but it moved. “This time,” He muttered to himself, eyes locked on the creature. “I won’t fail.” And he charged toward the chaos.

—------------------------------------------

Beijing, China

As the wind moved lightly across the rooftop. An eighteen year old black haired man, Hei lay prone behind a low concrete structure, one eye pressed to the scope of his sniper rifle. His breathing was slow and controlled. The world inside the lens was quiet, contained and manageable.

Across the street, inside a glass-walled office high in a skyscraper, a politician laughed at something said by an aide as he poured himself a drink.

Hei meanwhile adjusted the focus of the scope while at the same time calculating the distance, making sure that the wind was minimal,  and that his escape routes were ready. He then exhaled slowly. ‘Wait for a clear line. I only have one shot.’

But just as he was ready to fire the ground shifted. At first, he ignored it but then the entire rooftop jolted violently as the building beneath him shuddered as if struck from below causing the scope to jerk off the target.

Windows across the city burst in cascading waves as the earthquake intensified. Concrete cracked beneath his elbows. A ventilation unit slid several inches toward the edge. Hei rolled instantly, firing his wire into a steel beam near the center of the roof and wrapping it tight around his wrist and making sure to anchor himself low, unfortunately he was unable to save his gun as it fell to the ground below.

As the city roared, buildings groaned under stress. One tower two blocks away tilted visibly before collapsing sideways in a plume of dust and debris. The sound hit seconds later causing even more screams to rise from every direction.

But Hei didn’t panic as he tightened his grip and waited. ‘The structural integrity of this building seems to be holding.’ Luckily the building he was on remained standing. Across the street, the skyscraper containing his target shuddered once, then violently split near its center. Floors pancaked downward in a chain reaction. Glass and steel folded in on themselves. The politician never had a chance.

Hei, seeing this, thanked his good fortune for the success. ‘Mission complete.’

The earthquake gradually faded, leaving ringing silence and distant cries.

Hei, noticing that the danger had passed, released his wires and pushed himself upright then scanned the horizon.

Hei then quickly realized that the sky was cracked open as a dark red fracture tore across the air above Beijing, pulsing and widening unnaturally. Hei’s expression did not change, but his eyes sharpened. ‘What is going on?’

The fracture then glowed as various heavy things dropped from it and landed on the city below. The closest impact smashed into a nearby street, crushing two parked cars instantly. The shockwave rolled outward, knocking over pedestrians who had just begun to stand.

More screams followed and Hei coiled the wire tighter around his hand. ‘An enemy? They seem to possess unknown physiology.’ He thought as he watched the monster as it rose slowly from the crater.

It was large with an armored hide covering its torso and limbs. Clawed appendages flexed against broken asphalt. Its head turned in short, deliberate movements.

It is then that police sirens wailed from down the block as officers poured out of patrol cars and opened fire with the bullets striking the creature’s chest and sparked uselessly. Some flattened, while others ricocheted elsewhere.

The creature ignoring the noise advanced to eat as it moved toward the nearest cluster of civilians.

Hei quickly turned around and began moving across the rooftop, light on his feet. ‘This is not in my contract.’ He thought as he leapt across to the adjacent building and landed on a lower ledge without sound.

Below, chaos unfolded as the creature grabbed a woman and lifted her easily off the ground. Her legs kicked uselessly as she screamed and a child broke free from the crowd. “Mom!” she screamed. “Mom!”

Hearing the cry caused Hei to pause mid-step as his jaw tightened. ‘This is irrelevant.’ He thought as he resumed walking.

But then the child screamed again as her mother got ever closer to the monster's mouth. “Mom!” The sound cut through the noise of gunfire and breaking glass.

Hei stopped as his fingers tightened slightly around his wires and then turned back. ‘One strike. Then I’ll leave.’ He thought as he sprinted and leapt off the ledge. Quickly gaining momentum as he dropped from above and wrapped his wire around the creature’s throat mid-fall. His boots hit the pavement hard as he landed behind it and he pulled with full force.

The wire dug into the armored hide and then Hei revealed a second trick as the wire began to spark faintly as electricity coursed through it.

The creature feeling the electricity began to convulse and dropped the woman.

She quickly collapsed to the pavement, gasping and crawling away toward her child with officers rushing to pick her up.

The creature having enough roared and reached backward blindly, smashing its claws into storefront glass. Windows shattered around them.

But Hei pivoted to avoid the flailing limb and then drove a knife upward into the creature’s eye socket. The blade met resistance, then pierced through causing the creature to shriek, with its body twisting violently.

Hei then rolled under its arm and tightened the wire further. ‘Neck structure looks similar to mammals. And a Spinal column should be there.’

He shifted the angle slightly and increased the voltage causing the current to surge. The creature spasmed violently, limbs locking. Its claws scraped uselessly against the pavement before its body gave out and collapsed face-first into the street with dust rising around them.

Hei then quickly stepped back immediately, wire retracting into his sleeve with his breathing remaining steady as if this wasn’t difficult at all.

The police officers and crowd of civilians could only stare at him in disbelief.

The woman he had saved clutched her daughter tightly. Tears streamed down her face. “You, what are you?” She asked, voice trembling as no normal human could do what he did.

But Hei did not answer as he glanced once at the red fracture still hanging in the sky and saw more shapes moving inside it.

Sirens were then heard approaching from multiple directions.

Hei quickly turned and walked away, slipping into a side alley before the police could approach him. He then reached the shadow of another building and fired his wire upward, ascending without hesitation. As he disappeared across rooftops, the city below burned and the sky above pulsed again. But Hei did not look back.

—-----------------------

Beijing, China

In another district of Beijing, the earthquake had left the streets cracked and uneven. Market tents had fallen. Wooden carts lay overturned. Glass covered the pavement in sheets that reflected the red glow bleeding through the clouds.

A bat-like demon tore through what remained of the market. It was larger than any animal had the right to be, its wings half-folded as it moved on clawed feet. Its mouth opened wide, teeth jagged and wet. It ripped a stall apart with one swipe, sending fruit flying across the street. Vendors screamed and scattered, slipping on smashed produce and debris.

“We have to get away!” An old man shouted, trying to drag a child by the arm.

But this caused the demon’s head to snap toward the sound as it lunged at the pair, claws scraping sparks off the pavement as it accelerated. People seeing the approaching monster ran harder with some tripped and others not running away fast enough.

Until a tall figure stepped into the street and blocked the demon’s path. He was very muscular, his posture straight, long black hair tied into a single pigtail braid and his expression was without fear and instead with a deep interest. 

Retsu Eishuu walked forward calmly, ignoring the screaming crowd as his eyes traced the demon’s movement. The way its wings shifted, the way its left leg dragged slightly or how its breathing came in uneven bursts that forced its shoulders to rise more on one side.

Retsu’s lips parted in a slow exhale. ‘This is not a normal predator.’ He felt heat in his chest, not from terror, but from anticipation. ‘Good. Something to test my skills.’

A vendor stumbled past him and watched as the young man approached the beast and his face twisted in panic. “Are you insane?! Run!”

But Retsu didn’t even turn his head as he kept walking. “Move behind me.”

The man hesitated but the demon’s shriek cut through the air.

Retsu’s voice stayed calm. “Now.”

The vendor understood as he grabbed the nearest woman and pulled her away, stumbling behind a collapsed cart.

The bat demon stopped a few meters away from Retsu and raised itself higher, wings spreading wider. Its claws flexed, tearing grooves in the street as it understood one thing, this human was to fight. It opened its mouth and released a harsh screech that rattled the air and made nearby people clamp their hands over their ears.

Retsu didn’t flinch as he stepped into a fighting stance, feet grounded despite the broken pavement. ‘Uneven weight distribution. Its left leg appears to be slower. Its breathing irregularly and its throat is exposed when it screams.’ He then waited for the demon to have the first move.

Then the demon lunged as it moved fast, body low, claws reaching for Retsu’s chest. But Retsu quickly stepped inside its guard at the last moment as his palm drove into its throat with precise force with the impact landing a clean hit.

The demon quickly staggered back, choking, wings twitching violently but it did not fall.

Retsu’s eyes narrowed. ‘It has a strong cartilage with dense muscles much harder than human bone.’ But he didn’t feel worried even with this new information.

The demon then shook off the strike and swung its claws in a wide arc, aiming for his opponent’s head. Retsu instantly leaned back and rotated his shoulders, letting the claws pass inches from his face. The wind of the strike brushed his cheek and then he countered instantly as he landed a sharp strike to the side of the demon’s knee causing the joint to snap.

The demon collapsed to one side with a wet crunch, wings slamming into the ground and sending dust up in a cloud. It shrieked and thrashed at the pain, claws scraping at the pavement, trying to pull itself upright.

But Retsu closed the distance and seized its jaw with both hands. The demon quickly began to struggle, mouth snapping as its teeth clicking near his fingers. Retsu’s grip didn’t waver and his arms tightened then he twisted his arms until the neck broke and the demon went limp.

Silence spread across the market street, broken only by distant sirens and the sobbing of someone hiding behind a cart. A bystander stared from behind a fallen stall, face pale, voice barely working. “That thing… you fought it with your hands.”

Retsu exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as if he had just finished a sparring match. “Everything that moves has structure,” He said evenly. “Then it can be defeated with enough training.” His gaze then lifted toward the skyline as above the rooftops, the portal kept widening, pulsing red. More shapes moved inside it. Some larger. Some smaller. Some winged. Some crawling.

Retsu’s expression hardened. His pulse remained steady, but his mind sharpened. ‘If this is the world now, then my body must rise to meet it.’ His attention was already on what came next as he stepped forward, walking toward the sound of distant roars. Toward the next opponent.

—-------------------------------------------

Mount Huaguo, China

Hidden behind layered illusions and ancient formations, Mount Huaguo stood untouched by mortal maps. The forests were dense, the cliffs steep, and the air thick with youkai energy. Stone bridges carved by monkey hands connected peaks where entire villages of simian youkai lived freely under the protection of their king.

Today, the mountain shook as the trees were cracked and toppled as a hulking beast burst through the forest canopy. Its body was covered in jagged scales, its claws tearing trenches through the earth as it charged blindly through the territory of the Monkey King.

Variuos Youkai scattered with some screamed but most simply laughed and played along.

“Is that all?!” One monkey youkai shouted from a tree branch before diving onto a smaller creature and pummeling it into the dirt. Another flipped through the air and kicked a crawling monster straight off a cliff. They treated it must of the danger and chaos as a sport because this was Mount Huaguo and the invaders were the most entertaining event in a long time.

Between falling trees and shattered stone, a young monkey boy darted through the destruction with a wide grin across his face, Bikou, at Fifteen years old, his tail could be seen swaying behind him in joy with his staff balanced loosely in his hand.

He ducked under a falling trunk without breaking stride, flipped off a boulder, and landed on a higher branch just as a scaled monster charged through the space he had occupied. The creature then roared, spinning wildly in confusion as Bikou burst out laughing. “You missed!”

The monster quickly turned toward him and charged again, crushing shrubs and stone beneath its weight as Bikou leapt from the branch and landed behind it, tail flicking for balance as he pivoted.

“Too slow!” he shouted as he vaulted over the creature’s head, twisting midair until finally his staff came down hard against the creature’s skull and a loud crack echoed sharply through the forest causing the monster to stagger.

Bikou didn’t give it time to recover as he slammed the staff down again, channeling raw Qi through his arms as the head split open and the creature collapsed face-first into the dirt.

Bikou then landed lightly on its back and crouched there, resting the staff across his shoulders. “Was that supposed to be scary?” He muttered, glancing around.

Nearby, two older monkey youkai wrestled a different invader to the ground while laughing loudly.

“Hit it harder!” One shouted.

“I am hitting it!”

Another monster screeched somewhere uphill, only for a larger monkey warrior to leap down and kick it through a rock wall. The invasion felt less like a catastrophe here and more like an unexpected festival.

Bikou then hopped off the corpse and spun his staff idly. “Finally,” he muttered. “Something interesting.” He had grown bored in recent years especially with how peaceful life was in this part of the world.

Hell, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King and his old man was usually away from here as even he found it to boring.

Plus now that the barrier that surround this mountain and the rest of the world is down. This is the perfect chance to leave and see what the world had to offer. Maybe even make a name for himself and prove he was his own man.

A new roar then tore through the air causing Bikou’s ears twitched as he looked up. Above the treetops, the sky had remained fractured as the red tear pulsed unnaturally and larger shapes moved within it. Something heavier and powerful.

Bikou seeing the new opponent caused his grin to fade slightly. “That one looks strong.”

Then a senior monkey warrior landed beside him, arms crossed. “Try not to overextend yourself,” the older youkai warned. “These things aren’t normal and who knows how long we will have to fight.”

Bikou snorted. “Good. I was getting tired of this peace.”

The older warrior narrowed his eyes. “Remember that you are not the king and have limits.”

Bikou’s jaw tightened slightly at the words. “I know that,” He replied, voice sharper than before.

The roar echoed again, deeper this time.

Bikou’s eyes gleamed as he spun the staff once, gripping it tighter. “But this is perfect,” he said quietly.

The older monkey watched him carefully. “Perfect for what?”

Bikou didn’t look back. “For proving I’m not living in his shadow.” He then crouched low and launched forward. He bounded across branches, tail whipping behind him as he accelerated toward the sound of the stronger presence emerging beyond the ridge.

The forest shook again as something massive landed near the outer boundary of Mount Huaguo. Bikou felt the pressure in the air shift and his heart pounded harder from anticipation. “If I beat something like that,” He muttered under his breath as he sprinted toward the next roar, “no one will compare me again.”

And without waiting for permission he charged toward the strongest thing he could find.

—------------------------------------------------

Central China

Meanwhile in other parts of China, a small town had been broken by the earthquake and then to make matters worse the monster that came out of the portal above was not making their life easier as the outer walls that had stood for decades were split open, bricks scattered across the road. Cars sat abandoned at bad angles. Smoke drifted from a collapsed storefront where someone’s kitchen fire had caught and spread. Sirens wailed somewhere in the distance, then cut out as the power failed.

Finally the armored beast arrived tearing through the town’s damaged outer wall with brute force, shattering the last standing section in a storm of stone and dust. Its body was plated in black armor with chains coming from it’s arms. Each step cracked the pavement, carving footprints through the street.

Soldiers formed a shaky line, with their guns raised. 

“Open fire!” An officer shouted as gunshots erupted. Bullets sparked uselessly off the plating. Some ricocheted into broken buildings and one round struck a street sign and sent metal shrieking into the air.

“It’s not working!” A soldier yelled, voice cracking.

“Fall back! Fall—!”

The beast surged forward and swung its fist. The air itself felt pressured by the force of the motion. The front line scattered as boots slipped in rubble. Civilians meanwhile ran in blind panic, tripping over cracked asphalt. A woman dragged an elderly man by the arm, screaming for help as the beast closed in.

Then, in the middle of the street, someone stood still, a fifteen year old teen, with dark blue hair and sharp blue eyes. His posture was relaxed, almost careless. In his hand was a spear that carried a quiet pressure that made the air feel heavier around it.

Cao Cao had been walking without direction for days. He had left Indra’s court behind him, tired of the noise, tired of expectations, tired of being reminded that his life belonged to a destiny carved out by other hands. He had returned home, only to find the ashes of his parents’ choices. He quickly tried to act as this didn’t bother him as they had tried to sell him, they had betrayed him. And yet they were still his parents and now they were dead. He had felt no grief at first, only emptiness. Then anger came later because their death had taken even the chance to confront them properly.

Now he stood in the ruins of a town that wasn’t even his, watching the world break. And worse he still didn’t know what he was supposed to be. A hero, a weapon, a successor. Cao Cao, had been the descendant of a great warlord, wielder of True Longinus, the Spear of Destiny. A Sacred Gear meant to kill gods. He wondered just what was his purpose and what did the word hero mean.

With a thousand thoughts in his head, he simply stared at the armored beast as it advanced, watching how the soldiers stumbled backward and the civilians  ran away screaming.

‘If I walk away, they die. Should I help them?’ He thought as he hated the feeling of unsureness as his fingers shifted on the spear’s shaft with the holy weapon hummed faintly, responsive to his intent, and thoughts.

He finally exhaled once. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered to himself.

But then the armored beast turned toward him, recognizing the stillness as defiance. It roared, a deep, grinding sound that shook dust loose from the rooftops. But Cao Cao didn’t move.

A soldier seeing the incoming monster shouted at him from behind a broken car. “Kid! Get out of the street!”

Cao Cao didn’t even glance back as the distance closed fast with the monster right in front of him and was about to swing its massive arm. 

Cao Cao noting the danger simply stepped forward and thrusted his spear, piercing through the creature’s armor and out its back in a single clean motion. The spearpoint emerged with a burst light and dark blood. The beast froze mid-charge, its limbs falling with.Cao Cao pulling the spear free and let the body fall without looking down at it again.

For a moment, the street went quiet except for distant screams and crackling fire. Civilians stared, soldiers stared. Someone had dropped their weapon without realizing it.

A woman with a bleeding forehead stumbled toward him, voice shaking. “Y-you saved us…”

A man behind her fell to his knees. “Thank you! Thank you!”

More people rushed in, talking over one another.

“Please—my daughter—there’s another one near the school!”

“Sir, please, my wife—she’s trapped—”

“Are you military? Who are you?!”

Cao Cao’s eyes flicked across their faces, watching and noting their faces full of fear, relief and hope. The worst one was hope as he felt something unpleasant twist in his chest. He didn’t want those feelings directed at him but he also didn’t hate the way their voices changed when they spoke to him. He didn’t hate being seen as important. He hated that he liked it.

A soldier stepped forward cautiously, rifle lowered but not fully at ease. “Hey… kid… that spear. What are you?”

Cao Cao didn’t answer as his gaze slid to the sky watching as the portal pulsed, widening, its edges ripping the air apart with more shapes moved behind the veil.

He tightened his grip on True Longinus and felt the weapon respond, a subtle hum that ran up his arm. He looked back at the crowd, at the injured, at the trembling soldiers who had fired until their magazines ran dry and still tried to stand their ground.

He remembered Indra’s court. The constant talk about duty, order, fate. He remembered the way people looked at power and immediately wanted to claim it. He remembered the way he had walked away because he couldn’t breathe under that weight. And now, standing in a broken town with a widening portal overhead, he understood something with sudden clarity.

A hero wasn’t a title. A hero was a decision you made when you didn’t want to. He finally  clicked his tongue, annoyed with himself. “Fine,” he muttered. He turned toward the screams echoing deeper in the town. “I’ll handle it.”

The crowd’s voices rose again, louder, desperate.

“Please!”

“Over here!”

“Thank you!”

Cao Cao started walking toward the next fight as his eyes lifted once more to the portals.

—-----------------------------------------------------

Mount Huaguo, Peak of the Monkey King

High above the fractured forests and burning towns, on a jagged peak that pierced the clouds, Sun Wukong sat with one leg crossed over the other. A long pike rested across his shoulders. Smoke drifted lazily from it as he inhaled and exhaled without concern.

Below him, China was in chaos. Valleys split open from the quake. Forests burned where foreign beasts had torn through. Hidden sect barriers flickered and failed. Mortal cities screamed under red-lit skies.

Monsters crawled across farmland and highways alike. Humans fought, some ran while others stood their ground. Cultivators mobilized, formations lighting up across mountain ranges. Sacred Gears flared in distant regions, their divine signatures cutting sharply through the distorted air.

Wukong watched it all without blinking. He leaned his chin against his knuckles, elbow resting on his knee as his golden eyes moved lazily across the landscape.

“There it is,” He murmured, voice low and amused. “The sound of something breaking.” A creature tore through a provincial town wall as Wukong’s gaze shifted slightly watching as a spear flashed revealing it to be the brat with True Longinus piercing  cleanly through beasts. While Cao Cao stood alone in the ruined street with civilians crowding around him. Wukong’s lips twitched as his eyes followed the brat as he moved toward the next fight. 

His gaze then drifted westward to Crow City, the barrier ruptured as monsters poured in. A boy with long black hair forced an unstable flame from his palm. But Xiao Yan charged again despite being outmatched.

Wukong snorted softly. “How stubborn.”

Below, Mount Huaguo trembled. Bikou leapt from tree to tree, laughing as he cracked a monster’s skull open with his staff. He paused only briefly when something larger moved beyond the ridge.

Wukong’s eyes sharpened slightly and then softened. “Still reckless,” he said under his breath.

The smoke from his pike curled upward and vanished into the fractured sky. Above the clouds, the red tear widened. Something heavier pressed against the edge of reality. Something that had not yet descended.

Wukong’s fingers tapped lightly against his cheek. He could feel it. The real monsters had not stepped through.

He chuckled quietly. “Well now,” he muttered, adjusting his grip on the pike. “It’s nice to know that the world is finally growing teeth again.”

He could descend. He could end half of this invasion in a single afternoon. He could split the  portals, crush the beasts, and send the rest fleeing back into whatever void birthed them.

But he didn’t as his eyes moved down again.

Cao Cao standing alone under a widening gate. Xiao Yan forcing his broken cultivation to move. Bikou charging toward something larger than himself. Humans with guns refusing to kneel and others using their martial  skills to help and fight. Cultivators who had hidden for centuries stepping into open battle.

Wukong’s grin widened. “This is interesting.” For too long, the world had grown comfortable. Now everything was breaking. And from broken things, strength emerged.

He lifted the pike slightly and rested it more firmly across his shoulders. “If the next ones are weak,” he said calmly, “I’ll stay seated.” His gaze lifted toward the largest distortion forming within the fracture. “And if they’re strong…” His eyes gleamed. “Then I’ll decide whether I’m entertained.”

The wind shifted across the peak. Below, another roar shook the valleys but Wukong did not move. Not yet. Because this was no longer about protecting territory. It was about watching a new age begin and he intended to see who survived it.

Done. Tell me what you think and if I made any mistakes. Comment as this helps me know if I’m going in a direction that my audience enjoys.