Jigsaw Puzzle

Xilian raised the Jet Revolver.

A gunshot thundered through the gloom. Air swept across the chamber, stirring a gust of wind.

Xilian could not tell whether the Soul Marrow round had hit, but he saw a searing fireball erupt at the far end of the darkness. In seconds, it swelled and burst with a deafening roar.

Explosions and flames raged through the cramped space, boiling away the moisture as the temperature soared.

There was no need to hide anymore. Xilian strode into enemy territory.

A blood-red design had been drawn on the ground. At its center lay a woman whose belly had been slit open. No flesh showed inside the ghastly wound, only wildly spreading mycelium. She was not dead, either. Her breathing remained steady, as though she were a living culture dish.

The pain from the Ouroboros Mark reached its peak. It screamed and howled.

A terrible fury urged him to destroy everything.

Within the disrupted ritual circle, a robed figure drew a crooked dagger.

Steel flashed.

Xilian drove his sword clean through the figure's throat, twisted his wrist to sever the spine, then kicked the man, still not quite dead, into the rushing underground River.

More figures rose, chanting words he could not understand.

Ten of them? Or more?

It was too dark for Xilian to see clearly, but he was certain at least one enemy was a Transcendent. During his surprise attack, he had distinctly sensed a Source Energy reaction.

Which Fated Path did that person follow? What rank was he?

Xilian had acted recklessly, attacking without knowing what he faced.

But... but...

Xilian was furious. He loathed them.

His hatred was so pure that even killing every enemy before him would only ease it a little, never quench it.

"Come on!"

Xilian growled and surged forward, dragging his palm across the blade and smearing it with blood.

Flames erupted!

The blazing Fire Sword lit up the darkness once more. It struck the first enemy, hacking brutally into his waist and straight through his torso.

Xilian did not pause. He wrenched the Boiling Sword free and brought it down again, splitting the enemy's skull wide open.

The creak of breaking bone and tearing flesh echoed around him.

Xilian savored the resistance as his blade sank into flesh and listened to the sizzle of meat roasting in the heat.

In a daze, Xilian realized he was feeling a strange pleasure in the bloody slaughter.

Once, Xilian would have wondered whether he was bloodthirsty by nature, or whether the burning Ouroboros Mark had given him some pathological addiction.

But since the day White Cliff Town was destroyed, since he had confessed to Tim how he felt when he first killed someone, Xilian had stopped worrying about such trifles.

Xilian admitted he was a killer.

Xilian liked himself this way.

When hatred and fury reached their peak...

All that remained was revelry!

The glow of Source Energy lit up beside Xilian. The hidden Transcendent could finally hold back no longer.

"Done hiding?"

Xilian fired toward the rising Source Energy.

Furious flames erupted from thin air. The blast hurled the standing figures in every direction, and even Xilian stumbled backward.

The flames died in an instant. Xilian steadied himself.

By then, most of the enemies had fallen. As ordinary people, they had suffered extensive burns, and the lingering power of Chaos within them had been suppressed to its limit by the Soul Marrow Flame.

The only one still standing before Xilian was their sole Transcendent.

He was a tall man, packed with powerful muscle. Even a direct hit from a Soul Marrow round had left only a small burn on his chest.

Judging by the strength of his Source Energy reaction, Xilian knew the man was Rank One, just like him. His different Fated Path was what gave him such formidable defenses.

The man drew a deep breath and charged Xilian like a bull.

Xilian slipped aside and swung the Boiling Sword in a wide arc toward the back of the man's neck.

Metal rang against metal. The Boiling Sword, which should have taken off the man's head, bounced off his skin. A faint iron-colored gleam shimmered where it had struck his neck.

"I see. You're an Iron Guard."

Xilian withdrew his sword and retreated, putting distance between them.

The man followed the Throne Fated Path. A Rank One Iron Guard could use Source Energy to harden his body briefly, gaining formidable defense and an overall boost to his physical abilities.

Xilian had learned the details of an Iron Guard's abilities from Dailin, who also followed the Throne Fated Path and had reached Rank Two.

Xilian raised the Jet Revolver and fired his last Soul Marrow round.

As the brilliant fireball spread, the man emerged from it, his whole body shimmering with a faint iron glow. He swung a heavy fist.

Steel rang out.

Xilian raised his sword to block, but the force of the blow still drove him back into the wall with a crash.

"Whew. That's not the strength a Rank One should have."

A metallic taste rose in Xilian's throat. His arm had gone numb from the impact.

He looked at the man again. The man's knuckles bore only a shallow white mark. Slowly, blood began to seep from it.

Xilian laughed hoarsely. "Do you know a woman named Tania? She's blind in one eye and missing a hand. Should be easy to recognize."

The man clenched his fists. Source Energy rippled over his body, but he said nothing.

"Oh? Looks like you do know her."

Xilian went on, "But I'm guessing that even if I cut off your head, you wouldn't tell me where she is... That's fine."

"My brother Mick loved jigsaw puzzles. He often asked us to draw complicated pictures, cut them into pieces, and let him put them back together."

"Once, a puzzle stumped him. He spent a whole week on it and still couldn't make any headway."

Xilian straightened, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "We were going to help him, but he refused."

"Mick told me the fun of a jigsaw puzzle wasn't the moment the picture was finished. It was feeling your way through it, piece by piece, and watching it slowly come together.

If someone handed him the answer, it would be boring. Just repetitive work."

The man charged in fury, and Xilian raised his sword again.

"I didn't understand him then. If you had the answer, you could finish it in half an hour. Why go to all that trouble?"

Source Energy clashed with a shriek as Xilian burst out laughing.

"Now I think I understand, at least a little."

Xilian's cheeks flushed.

"If I found my enemy right away and cut off her head, it would feel empty. Where would the satisfaction be?

So I'm going to endure every obstacle and hardship, kill one nuisance after another, and when I finally find her with a blood-soaked sword in my hand, that will be the start of a whole new kind of bliss."

Xilian's words were so twisted that even the man's punches slowed.

He began to wonder which of them was really the Chaos Follower.

"You... madman."

The man finally spoke, and the power of Chaos surged.

The surrounding mycelium writhed wildly and climbed onto Xilian, eating into his skin and leaving it raw and bloody.

Xilian ignited the Source Energy within him. His Soul Marrow began to smolder.

In an instant, Xilian's body temperature shot up. Wisps of white steam rose from his skin, and pure white flames flickered from his bleeding wounds.

The man's iron fist slammed into Xilian's abdomen, breaking several bones.

Xilian sucked in a sharp breath and fought through the pain. The Boiling Sword swept across the man's left eye, sending blood streaming down his face.

Enraged beyond reason, the man roared. Gray-black spore mist poured from his mouth, and wherever it passed, mycelium sprouted like countless tendrils.

Transcendents who were Chaos Followers possessed not only the power of their own Fated Paths, but also power drawn from Chaos.

The mycelium wrapped around the corpses nearby. In seconds, it drained them of blood and left behind withered husks.

If Xilian were caught, he would become another husk in less than half a minute.

As the power of Chaos swelled, the Blessing of vengeance surged to meet it.

Soul Marrow formed rapidly within Xilian, and his spent Source Energy recovered just as fast. Pain and exhaustion vanished. All he felt was the joy of killing Chaos.

Blessing: Hatred and Malice.

A scarlet tide swept toward him. Xilian carved a path through it with fire.

Reload. Fire!

The Jet Revolver barked three times, emptying its cylinder without restraint.

Three Soul Marrow rounds struck the man in succession. In the narrow space, expanding bursts of flame burned away the rampant mycelium and scorched through most of the spore mist.

The man coughed twice in pain. He had expelled every spore in his body.

Suddenly, countless flecks of ash drifting through the air curled in a strange way. A powerful current of air was moving through them.

The Fire Sword came hurtling through the air.

Its tip did not aim for the man's eye or throat. It shattered his teeth and drove into his mouth, but could go no farther.

The man gripped the Boiling Sword with both hands, holding it so tightly that it could not advance another inch.

The Boiling Sword had failed to pierce his skull, but it had cut the inside of his mouth. Blood streamed from the corners of his lips.

The defense formed by Source Energy could only cling to the surface of his skin. Anywhere skin did not cover him was a weak point.

"I can tell you..."

The man's voice was hoarse. He tried to buy time and look for a chance to strike back.

"I don't think a Chaos Follower I can kill this easily knows any earth-shattering secrets."

Xilian shook his head. "Besides, even if you did know something, I wouldn't want to hear it. I'll find it myself."

"After all, our jigsaw puzzle has only just begun."

The man froze. Helplessness and fear filled him.

Only then did he realize Xilian's hatred had gone beyond simple revenge. Xilian wanted to torment his enemies through a long, complicated process before finally destroying them.

He did not care how much time or effort it would take. He even enjoyed the pain and struggle along the way.

Dear God...

The Jet Revolver snapped up and slid along the blade into the man's throat.

Three pulls of the trigger.

The last three Soul Marrow rounds slammed into the man's mouth, blasting his head into a cloud of blood. Flames surged outward in every direction, burning away the remaining spore mist.

The headless body slowly sank to its knees. The surrounding mycelium stopped thrashing, curling in on itself where it clung to the walls.

The Blessing's power gradually faded. Xilian felt a wave of satisfaction. Refined by his enemy's blood, the Soul Marrow within him had increased by a small percentage.

"Whew..."

Xilian let out a long breath. He was about to investigate the place further when faint footsteps came from deeper within, followed by a rapidly rising Source Energy reaction.

Rank One, Rank Two... Its strength climbed all the way to Rank Three before finally stopping.

A heavy gunshot rang out.

Empowered by Source Energy, the bullet flashed like lightning and struck Xilian's left shoulder. It tore clean through the flesh and buried itself in the wall beside him.

Xilian's mind went blank. Blood poured from the hole in his left shoulder.

The footsteps drew closer.

Clutching his wound, Xilian turned and plunged into the rushing underground River, letting the current carry him away.