Bodies littered the concrete, their forms twisted and broken by The Alliance's brutal assault. Pools of blood streamed out of the corpses, dyeing the ground red. Dark plumes of smoke wafted off the electronics plant. From the looks of things, everyone who had been working at the factory was dead.

“We were too late,” Shawn said, clenching his fist so hard his knuckles turned white.

Underneath him, a body with a giant hole in its stomach groaned in pain. Shawn flinched, he thought the man had been dead. Immediately, he got to his knees and grabbed the man’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“No, Shawn I’m not okay, I have a fucking hole in my stomach,” the man said with great effort. He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Shawn recoiled in shock, he hadn’t recognized the man with all the damage he had sustained. However, after hearing his voice his identity was clear. It was Peng, the man who had tried so hard to help him fit in. The man who had first reached out to him and helped him make friends in the kitchen. Peng, his friend, was bleeding out on the floor.

Shawn’s heart clenched in pain and he found it hard to breathe. He didn’t like the feelings dancing in his chest, not one bit. “Can you save him?” Shawn asked.

Lin shook her head, this type of healing was beyond her. Basic healing pills weren’t able to save someone on the brink of death. “No, I’m sorry,” she said softly.

Tian patted him on the shoulder, finding the time to comfort a friend even though his face was pale in disgust. Tian looked like he was about to throw up.

Peng sighed a look of peace overcoming him, his usually fiery demeanor falling away. “Tell Saki I loved her.” He grabbed Shawn’s hand. “And one last thing, get revenge on those Crimson Lotus bastards. Don’t let them get away with this.”

“I will,” Shawn said, tears pooling in his eyes. Peng’s heart stopped beating. The scorpion necklace hanging around Peng’s neck glowed ever so slightly. Shawn took one last look at the medallion then climbed to his feet with a new determination. He would fulfill Peng's final request, no matter what it took.

“What do we do now?” Shawn asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a group of men carrying crates out of the back of the electronics plant. He vividly remembered Dorian's plan: they were going to use those materials to make bombs.

“It’s simple, we go in there and kick some ass,” Lin said, her voice unusually quiet. She walked forward, her Qi bubbling wildly as she passed the fallen bodies of her friends. With a slight grunt of exertion, she kicked down the front door of the building, revealing hundreds of people looting the place. Everyone froze at her sudden entrance.

Lin grinned, a palpable sense of bloodlust emanating from her. “Try not to break too quickly, I’m in a bad mood”. She rushed forward, burning through her Qi at a reckless pace. In a blink of an eye, a circle of carnage appeared, bodies flying through the air. After her initial attack, she slowed her pace.

A tall man with a purple headband charged her, taking her change in pace as a sign of weakness. Lin smiled, then with a single punch tore a hole in his chest. The member of the Crimson Lotus collapsed to the ground, unable to comprehend what had happened.

“We should help her. Take out the guys carrying the crates, I’ll handle the rest,” Tian said. Shawn nodded, together they charged into the building. Immediately, a group peeled off to stop him. The world split into four separate viewpoints as he activated [The Many Eyes of Infinite Reflection].

The chaotic battle slowed, his skill allowed him to see the conflict from every angle, nothing could surprise him. As if he was moving through molasses, a man threw a kick at Shawn. With ease, Shawn leaned out of the way.

Before the man could retract his leg, Shawn grabbed it. Pivoting his weight to his back leg, he threw the man into the crowd of enemies. He looked down at his hands for a moment, shocked at how easy beating that man had been. Did I use to be that slow?

Two men jumped forward, trying to tackle him, but with [The Many Eyes of Infinite Reflection], he saw the attack coming from a mile away. The wind bellowed, altering their courses, making them crash into the floor, their tackles unsuccessful. [Minor Aerokinesis] may not have a lot of stopping power, but it was good for throwing his opponents off balance.

Before the men could get up, Shawn kicked them, sending them smashing into the wall. Twenty more men charged him, but he wasn’t concerned, they were too weak to be a threat.

Bones shattered under his fists as he wove his way through the crowd, his job was to stop the men from escaping with the bomb-making materials. He grabbed a man by his headband and threw him into the crowd. As he was still overextended, hands grabbed onto his back, trying to pull him down.

Individually they were weak, but it was hard to fight so many opponents at once. He activated [Qi Enhancement] and burst out of their grasp. He punched the man closest to him, breaking his jaw in a single strike then leaped into the air.

He crashed into the ground next to a panicked man, shoving jade and wires into a box. Before he could react, Shawn hit him. The man collapsed to the ground lifeless. Like a farmer collecting his harvest, Shawn annihilated The Alliance Members with a flurry of strikes.

Blood dripped from his knuckles as he panted for air. His endurance was his only stat that was lacking.

“You’ve certainly changed, I don’t remember you being a cold-blooded killer,” Liu said from behind him, her blue hair wiggling unnaturally. His actions had drawn the attention of someone important. He vaguely remembered her being the leader of a gang, he wasn’t sure which one though.

“Those men were monsters hiding under the skin of humans. They got what they deserved.” Shawn meant what he said, he felt nothing but satisfaction as he killed them. The Crimson Lotus and the gangs they allied with had demonstrated multiple times that they were pure evil. He felt no remorse ridding the world of their existence. He was making Najian a better place.

Peng's death wouldn't go unavenged.

“I agree, they were a waste of space. People as weak as them shouldn’t be allowed to exist.” Qi gathered around her hair, lengthening and sharpening it. A veritable jungle of hair grew out of her head and hovered over him menacingly.

Shawn smiled. Now that he wasn’t weak, he would enjoy getting revenge on those who had wronged him in the past. “It’s about time I repaid you for what you did to me,” Shawn said as he dodged out of the way of a spike of hair. His eyes widened imperceptibly as he noticed it pierce a deep hole into the ground. Even with his improved resistance, getting hit by one of her attacks could be fatal.

Shawn leaped backward to create space. Hundreds of tentacle-like strands of hair protruded from Liu’s skull, ready to impale him. “I’ll enjoy stabbing you through the chest like I did to your friends outside,” she said with a smile.

Shawn saw red.

Throwing caution to the wind, Shawn charged directly at her. She whipped her strands of hair at him, cutting a thin line into his cheek. Shawn rolled with the blow, absorbing some of the impact, and continued forward. However, before he could reach her, she combined five of her strands of hair and used them like a club to smash him into the air.

His ribs groaned in protest, but he couldn’t afford to stop moving. Spear-like tentacles surrounded him on all sides. It would be impossible for a normal person to dodge this attack.

Shawn titled his head to the side, letting a sharp strand harmlessly pass by him. Another strand, this time coming from his blind spot attempted to harpoon him. However, he scrunched his body into a ball and was barely able to dodge it. It was only by using [The Many Eyes of Infinite Reflection] that he was able to avoid these attacks.

Unfortunately for him, he was still stuck in the air and Liu’s attack wasn’t done yet. This time she commanded multiple strands to attack him at once, making it impossible for him to shift out of the way. Shawn’s heart hammered in his chest as he activated [Minor Aerokinesis] to blow himself out of the way of the attack and into the ground.

Liu clapped, halting her attacks. “You’ve improved quite a bit, last time we fought you were barely able to move. Keep entertaining me,” she said as she smiled sadistically.

Shawn used the moment of respite to look around the building. Lin and Tian were engulfed in battle, fighting the other prominent leaders of The Alliance. All the key players other than Dorian had arrived on the battlefield. No one would be coming to help him in the short term, but the situation wasn’t hopeless. Reinforcements were beginning to arrive, the Scorpion’s Den was mobilizing its forces.

He stepped back to avoid a dangerous spike of hair. Small bits of stone bounced off his leg as the blue spear of hair destroyed the ground. It was rather easy to avoid her attacks from this distance where she couldn’t attack him from all sides. Her attacks were only a problem if he got close. Counterintuitively, he knew he would have to charge into the danger zone to have a chance at beating her. He had no long-range attacks, it was his only option.

Shawn sidestepped another spear of hair, he was about halfway out of Qi. He would have to end this quickly, without [Qi Enhancement] he wouldn’t stand a chance. Throwing caution to the wind, Shawn rushed Liu one final time.

Like last time, he was able to dodge the initial few attacks. Once he got close, the charge took on a new level of difficulty. She began attacking at multiple angles at once, delivering minor wounds onto his body. However, he ignored them and kept moving forward.

Surprise was clear in her eyes as he deftly moved forward, avoiding most of her attacks and minimizing the damage of those that hit him. Training with Lin was paying off. He batted a strand of hair out of the way and stepped into her guard, only an arm's length away.

She stepped backward, combining ten strands of hair into a massive spike to deter his advance. Shawn smiled, his torn-up body making him look like a madman. She had killed Peng, nothing could make him stop.

Shawn watched from four different perspectives as the spike launched itself at him, if it hit him he would surely die, but he didn’t care. He dove into the depths of his soul, reaching the tiny bridge that connected him to the Dao of the Wind. Time slowed as his peaceful image of a dandelion floating through the sky shattered. In its place, a violent image born of suffering arose.

Without having to activate [Minor Aerokinesis], cutting blades of wind exploded off him, completely slicing away the smaller strands of weaponized hair. Undeterred, the large spike continued on its path. Shawn didn’t back down, he wasn’t afraid.

The bridge in his mind widened significantly, he was the winds of change. Green’s wisp of consciousness activated, further boosting his connection. Time seemed to move at a crawl as the tip of the spike cut into the side of his stomach. The physical world didn’t matter at the moment. In his mind's eye, he was a train made out of wind progressing ever forward into the dangerous frontier.

He poured half of his remaining Qi into [Minor Aerokinesis]. Enhanced by the Dao of The Wind, invisible strands of air pooled around his fists, turning them into the ultimate cutting weapons. He took another step forward, not worried about the spear of hair digging into him. With a simple touch, the strand of hair cutting into him disintegrated.

The wind around his left hand disappeared. “What!” Liu screamed in shock.

This is for Peng.

Shawn strained his muscles, putting his full power into a punch to Liu’s face. At the last moment, her remaining strands of hair formed a shield stronger than steel, blocking the attack for a fraction of a second. However, that was all the time she needed. The wind-dispersed from his right hand, taking with it half of her hair.

Shawn’s unempowered fist smashed into her face, blooding her lip. Suddenly, he was struck by an intense sense of vertigo. His lungs struggled to pull in air. It felt like he had just lost something very important.

Liu took advantage of his distraction and kicked him away. He crashed to the ground in a painful heap. Utilizing the Dao of The Wind in such an advanced manner had severely drained him. He wanted nothing more than to sleep. His soul felt empty.

He rolled out of the way of a spear of hair. He wouldn’t be allowed to rest as long as Liu stood. He frowned as he climbed to his feet, his gambit hadn’t worked. Half of her hair had been erased and he even managed to injure her, but she was still standing and very much capable of fighting.

He, on the other hand, was on his last leg. He was tired, less than a quarter of his Qi supply remained and he had a litany of injuries. The most serious of which was a large cut on his stomach caused by her last attack.

Bloodstained his shirt as he climbed to his feet. “I’ve enjoyed playing with you, but it’s about time I put an end to this farce. You were a good toy while you lasted,” Liu said as she used her remaining hair to attack him.

Shawn stumbled backward, avoiding her attack, but bumping into a member of the Crimson Lotus in the process. The man’s eyes widened in shock. Seeing from his perspective with [The Many Eyes of Infinite Reflection], Shawn spotted a tendril of hair racing towards him.

In the nick of time, Shawn pulled the man into the way of the attack. The strand of hair burst through his chest, killing him in a single attack. The impact launched Shawn and the man into the air.

Shawn sighed as he felt his death approaching. There wasn’t much he could do to win the fight at this point, he simply wasn’t strong enough. All his improvement hadn’t been enough. He stood head and shoulders above the average person, but he wasn’t competing against the average. The pinnacle of power was still out of his reach.

He floated weightless at the peak of his arc for a moment, then gravity took its hold. He slowly watched as he fell towards a spike of hair placed underneath him. He would be impaled on it when he hit the ground. He reached out to use [Minor Aerokinesis] but found it unavailable. The skill wouldn’t activate.

His enhanced perception slowed the march of time, making the fall feel like an entirety. He looked around the room and noticed Tian and Lin winning their battles. More members of the Scorpion’s Den streamed into the building, pushing The Alliance back.

I hope they’ll be alright.

He shut his eyes, not at peace with his death, but not overly at odds with it. It was an end fitting for him, not exceptional, but average. Barely slowing down Liu enough for his friends to win the battle. He had never been one to excel. This was the best he could expect, even in a fantasy world he was still average.

A blue screen appeared in his mind's eye, interrupting his morbid thoughts.

Activate Devourer Y/N?