The wind brushing past the tip of his nose carried the scent of the apocalypse.
The acrid smell of sulfur and the fishy stench of rotting water.
It was a wind where two odors, which should never mix, were strangely intertwined.
atop a sheer cliff overlooking the Purgatory River.
One might expect him to be used to the murky air of the Demon Realm by now, but Sun Wukong pinched his nose in disgust.
"Ugh, shit. What the hell is up with the air here? One side's a sauna and the other's a sewer."
Beside him, a woman with a pale complexion slowly folded her two horribly charred wings and closed her eyes.
Unlike the one wing that retained some semblance of its shape, the other was nothing but a bony frame. Yet, from every blackened, burnt spot on that bone, faint silver feathers were sprouting like new buds.
It was the Fallen Angel, Lucifela.
She wasn't reading the scenery before her eyes, but the energy flowing beneath it.
"Space is... screaming."
Her voice was dry but trembled ever so slightly.
"To think three high-density
The two looked down the cliff.
Just as Lucifela said, a twisted hellscape lay spread out below.
The river, which must have originally been one, was torn in half.
The left had become a land of flame where crimson magma boiled, while the right had turned into a toxic green swamp, rotting away.
In the center of the river, where these two extreme attributes collided, a massive wall of white steam rose up, piercing the sky.
Sun Wukong pointed down the cliff with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.
"Let's see here. The board is set up quite interestingly."
His fingertip first pointed to the left riverbank, where magma flowed.
A fortress could be seen, perilously clinging to a sheer volcanic cliff.
"Look at those guys stuck to the cliff. I thought they were rats cornered on a precipice, but their eyes are alive. I have to admit, they've got guts. The fire energy there is unusual."
Lucifela gazed in that direction and analyzed.
"That is the power of the
"Then what about the other side?"
Sun Wukong's gaze turned to the right, toward the dark blue swamp.
On the water, bizarrely mutated lifeforms were swarming like ants.
"Those fish-heads have insane numbers. But look at them—aren't they all rotten fish? Just looking at them kills my appetite."
"That side feels like the
"Hmm."
Sun Wukong rubbed his chin, scanning the battlefield.
Fire and water, the few and the many.
It looked like an obvious fight.
But his gaze stopped not at the center of the battlefield, but elsewhere.
He pointed to a high hill across the river that had a clear view of the entire battlefield.
There, glittering golden structures and airships had set up camp.
"And that peak over there. That guy is the worst of the lot."
"Flashy gold... That's the power of the
When Lucifela asked in puzzlement, Sun Wukong clicked his tongue and answered.
"Look at the positioning. Everyone else is growling right in each other's faces, but he's the only one who set up base on a hill across the river."
Sun Wukong's eyes narrowed.
The senses of the 'Great Sage, Heaven's Equal,' honed over countless battlefields, pierced through their intentions.
"Plus, look closely at where the cannons are pointing. They aren't aiming at the front, but at the backs of both factions."
Lucifela's gaze finally turned to the turrets on the hill.
Indeed, their muzzles were aiming not at an enemy, but simultaneously at both forces facing off below.
"Ah... He has no intention of fighting directly, but when both sides are exhausted…"
"He plans to sweep everything up and take the profit. Doesn't want to join the fight but wants the gains? Cutting the throats of guys like that makes the board much cleaner."
Sun Wukong chuckled, but his eyes were cold.
He enjoyed fighting the strong, but he absolutely loathed those who used cowardly tricks.
The composition of the battlefield was clear.
The flame on the edge of a cliff, the predator of the swamp, and the hyena on the hill.
A tension like a bowstring pulled taut, ready to snap at any moment, hung in the air.
Lucifela scanned the battlefield coldly and asked.
"The balance is too precarious. If all three collide at once, the Shards won't be safe either... Should we intervene and retrieve them now?"
As always, she prioritized the mission. But Sun Wukong adjusted the staff on his shoulder and shook his head.
"No, wait. It's no fun if we butt in too early."
"Fun?"
"I don't usually side with the strong. Watching the weak turn the tables is what makes it worth watching. Let's see how long those guys holding the 'fire' can last."
It was at that moment.
Kabooooom―!
A massive explosion erupted from the quiet swamp side.
Black smoke soared from the center of Liu Biao's camp, and someone leaped into the sky, swinging a giant chain.
"Ptui! It smells so rotten I can't do this anymore!!"
A thunderous shout echoed all the way up to the cliff.
It was the moment the first crack appeared in the battlefield heavy with the clouds of war.
The corners of Sun Wukong's mouth stretched to his ears.
"Oho? It's started. It's party time."
* * *
A few moments ago.
The lower reaches of the Purgatory River, occupied by Liu Biao's Legion of Water Demons.
It was closer to a giant mass of filth than a river.
Dozens of turtle ships as large as houses floated like ghosts upon the water surface, entangled with damp moss and rotting seaweed.
Among them, from the flagship that was exceptionally large and grotesquely shaped—Liu Biao's main camp—spine-chilling sounds flowed incessantly.
Crunch, crack. Smack, slurp.
The sound of something chewing and crushing hard bone.
And the sound of coveting slimy flesh.
Over that gloomy deck, the loud clanking of chains rang out.
"Hehe! Old man! I'm here!"
It was Gan Ning, the Blue-faced Yaksha.
He walked onto the deck with long strides, shaking off his hair that was wet like soaked seaweed.
In one hand, he held a thick iron chain, and at the end of it, a bloodied captive was being dragged along.
It was a young Fire Demon who appeared to be a scout from the Sun family camp.
His body was a wreck, but the look in his eyes was alive and burning.
Gan Ning giggled as if he liked that look in the captive's eyes and tossed him right in front of Liu Biao.
"Look at this guy. His bones are really hard! I used some force to break one of his arms, but he didn't scream once!"
Gan Ning chattered excitedly.
To him, a battle maniac, this bold brat was an excellent trophy and a 'warrior' worthy of recognition.
"I'm thinking of using him as my deputy, what do you think? If I raise him right, he could be quite useful. He's got grit unlike the kids these days."
However, to this monster wriggling while fused with the deck, Gan Ning's words were of no concern.
Revealing only his upper body in human form above the ship, he flared his long nose, sniffing the captive.
"Sniff, sniff…"
Sticky saliva dripped from the corner of Liu Biao's mouth.
"The smell of fire is strong... The meat must be very chewy."
Gan Ning's eyebrow twitched.
"...Huh? Old man, didn't you hear me? I said I'm using him as a deputy."
"Silence."
Liu Biao waved his hand as if annoyed.
"Just in time, the 'babies' under the water were fussing about being hungry. Throw him in the water immediately. He will make a special treat."
Gan Ning's expression hardened.
Throw the opponent he recognized as a warrior to the fish as mere fodder?
"I don't want to."
Gan Ning tilted his head crookedly.
"I caught him, so I'll do what I want. And I don't have a hobby of using warriors as livestock feed."
In an instant, Liu Biao's eyes flashed a fluorescent color.
He threw the sharp fish bone he was holding straight at Gan Ning's face.
Slash―!
A red line was drawn across the cheek of Gan Ning, who didn't even think to dodge.
"How dare a lowly Yaksha talk back."
Liu Biao's voice was dripping with contempt.
"Do not be mistaken. To my eyes, both you and that prey are nothing but the same 'chunks of meat.'"
The fish-men soldiers lined up around them opened their wet gills and snickered.
Liu Biao thumped the deck floor—which was one with his own body—with his grotesquely writhing tentacles.
"Bark and bite as you are told. How dare a hunting dog try to teach its master?"
A hunting dog.
That single word triggered the detonator inside Gan Ning's head.
The sound of the skull bells ringing noisily at his waist came to a dead stop.
Silence.
Gan Ning wiped the blood flowing down his cheek with an indifferent hand.
Then, he made eye contact with the young captive collapsed on the floor.
Even facing death, the guy was glaring at Liu Biao.
Inside those eyes, there was an unextinguished 'flame.'
On the other hand, what about this place surrounding him?
Disgusting rot, servile submission, and a pig-like master who treated him like meat.
The corner of Gan Ning's mouth twisted.
"...A hunting dog."
He muttered low and gripped the chain.
"Yeah. A mad dog is better. Better than a mutt in rotten water."
Clang!
Gan Ning's hand snapped the chain binding the captive in a single stroke.
At the moment Liu Biao and the fish-men opened their eyes wide in panic, Gan Ning pulled a fist-sized lump of red ore from his chest.
It was a
"Hey, kid."
Gan Ning grinned at the dazed captive.
He bit down on the ignition ring attached to the charge and twisted it off as if tearing flesh.
Hiss―!
The sound of the charge's fuse burning down could be heard.
"Do you know how to swim? Swim for your life."
Without hesitation, Gan Ning shoved the incendiary charge into the crevice of the flesh that had grotesquely swollen where Liu Biao's waist fused with the deck.
"Eat this, you old geezer!!!"
Kabooooooom―!!!
With a massive explosion, the entire ship screamed.
The center of the deck, which was Liu Biao himself, erupted like a volcano.
"Aaaaaaaargh!!!"
Liu Biao's upper body bent grotesquely like an uprooted tree as he let out a desperate scream toward the sky.
Dark red blood and entrails shot up like a fountain from his flank that had been torn apart by the explosion.
"Keuk! My... My body...!!"
To him, who was one with the ship, the destruction of the deck was the pain of his own flesh being torn away.
Dozens of tentacles, having lost control, thrashed madly, striking the surrounding fish-men soldiers at random.
Using that chaos, Gan Ning tucked the captive under his arm like a sack of rice and dashed to the prow.
He stood on the railing and patted his buttocks toward Liu Biao, who was writhing in pain and twisting along with the ship.
"Farewell, you fish-stinking boomer! I'm moving to that hot sauna over there!"
Clank―!
Gan Ning threw the giant chain hook on his back with all his might toward the other side of the river.
The hook cut through the air and embedded itself deep into the rock face of the Sun family camp.
"Hold on tight! If you let go, you're roasted meat!"
Gan Ning glided over the boiling magma river on the chain, holding the captive.
Behind him, Liu Biao's roar, crazed with rage, burst forth.
"C-Catch that traitor!! Peel off his skin and kill him!!!"
But Gan Ning had already become a 'mad dog' and flown to the Red Forge.
It was a cheerful and brazen betrayal that signaled the prelude to a hellish war.