Chapter 33 – The Beast that Shouldn't Exist
The air burned.
The mountain itself screamed.
From the shattered caverns below, the Crimson Revenant emerged — dragging molten Qi in its wake like chains. Its massive form rose through layers of stone and fire until it breached the surface, standing beneath a sky the color of blood.
Every heartbeat echoed through the land.
Every breath it took warped the horizon.
The ground around it was melting — stone turned to liquid glass beneath its feet.
Its eyes, blind yet all-seeing, turned toward the ridge where three small silhouettes stood against the burning wind.
Shin, Alicia, Vaibhav.
The Revenant's chest expanded once — and its roar shattered the air.
It wasn't sound. It was pressure — a tidal wave of raw resonance that flattened the landscape.
Shin's ears rang; Alicia's barrier fractured like glass.
Even Vaibhav's blade vibrated violently, his wrist numbing under the backlash.
The roar faded.
Vaibhav stepped forward.
His breath came heavy, but his eyes were sharp, focused.
His instincts screamed run, but something deeper whispered fight.
The Revenant moved first.
One moment it stood still, the next it was there — a blur of molten limbs cleaving through air.
A claw the size of a house swept across the ridge.
"MOVE!" Vaibhav shouted.
The impact was instant.
Stone exploded. Lava geysers erupted where the claw struck.
Shin grabbed Alicia and dove, rolling down the slope as crimson energy tore the ridge apart.
Vaibhav didn't retreat.
He jumped, flipping above the claw as it passed beneath him — his blade flashing blue-red arcs across the Revenant's wrist.
The strike landed. Sparks and Qi waves flared — but the blade didn't pierce deep.
The Revenant's flesh closed over the wound instantly, molten veins healing faster than he could cut.
It turned its head toward him — expressionless.
Then it struck again.
Each swing was faster than sight, yet Vaibhav's body moved on instinct — parrying, evading, the rhythm of the fight etching into his muscles.
Every impact sent ripples through his body. His Qi flowed irregularly, matching the Revenant's pulse despite his resistance.
He lunged forward, his blade clashing against the Revenant's arm.
The impact detonated a shockwave, sending molten shards in all directions.
Qi crackled through the battlefield like thunder trapped inside stone.
The Revenant's claw came down again — Vaibhav barely blocked, sliding backward, his feet carving trenches into molten ground.
The vibration crawled up his arm.
Then his vision blurred.
He looked down — black veins were spreading from the corner of his eyes, crawling along like creeping ink.
His heartbeat skipped.
The revenant swung again, faster — and Vaibhav blocked, countered, slashed, each movement ripping his body apart inside.
Blood dripped from his lips, steaming as it hit the ground.
The veins around his eyes deepened, flickering black and red. For a moment, his pupils turned void-like — but he screamed, forcing the transformation back.
The veins receded. His breathing turned ragged.
He stumbled. Coughing blood, he steadied his blade.
Shin rushed to his side, his hands igniting with bright blue flame as he struck the Revenant's flank.
The fire burst in a brilliant wave — but when the smoke cleared, the creature stood untouched.
Its molten hide shimmered, reflecting the flames like water rejecting oil.
The Revenant turned toward him.
Its head tilted, as if curious — then it stepped forward, crushing the ground underfoot.
Lava burst upward, coating the battlefield in molten spray.
Alicia extended her arms, layers of translucent crystal shields blooming outward to block the firestorm.
Her voice trembled. "It's rupturing the Qi veins themselves!"
The earth beneath them cracked. The crimson mist rose again, glowing brighter, forming spirals of energy that climbed toward the clouds.
The Revenant's presence grew heavier — like gravity itself bending around it.
Shin clenched his teeth. "We're not ready for this, Vyuk! That thing's beyond Tier— we can't—!"
The ground answered with another quake.
Crimson magma erupted from the fissures, flooding the battlefield.
Vaibhav looked back at his friends — Shin, standing with burns across his arms, and Alicia, her shield fracturing from the pressure.
His eyes softened.
He knew what came next.
"Run," he said, voice calm but absolute.
Alicia's head snapped toward him. "We won't leave you."
"You do now."
The Revenant's body expanded — its aura turning blinding white at the edges. Each pulse of energy stripped oxygen from the air.
Vaibhav's coat flapped wildly in the gale. His hair glowed faintly with reflected crimson light.
His expression hardened.
"If you stay— none of us leave."
Alicia stepped forward, tears glinting in the red light. "We can fight together—!"
He smiled faintly. Not the reckless grin Shin always teased him for — but something quieter, resolute.
The kind a warrior wears before a storm he knows he won't survive.
"Besides," he said, turning his head slightly toward them, his tone almost nostalgic,
"my master once told me—"
He raised his sword, its edge trembling with rising Qi. The crimson mist coiled toward him like drawn breath.
> "—the blood that runs in my veins exists to protect my loved ones,
even if I have to destroy everything, even myself."
Shin froze. Alicia's throat tightened.
The Revenant moved — and the world with it.
Its claw came down, a wall of molten death.
Vaibhav dashed forward to meet it, blade blazing with blue-crimson light.
The two forces collided.
The impact birthed a blinding explosion — flame, Qi, sound, and light imploding into a storm that swallowed everything.
From afar, the land looked like it was bleeding.
A column of crimson energy shot into the sky, splitting clouds and setting the heavens ablaze.
---
When the light dimmed, silence reigned again — broken only by the faint crackle of molten rivers.
Alicia and Shin stood at the ridge's edge, shielding their eyes from the heat.
The Revenant still stood — damaged, but alive.
Vaibhav knelt before it, panting, his body battered, his blade trembling in his grip.
But he was smiling through the blood.
The Revenant tilted its head — not in hatred, but almost in recognition.
Its molten veins dimmed slightly, flickering.
The beast that shouldn't exist had seen something familiar — something human.
And for the first time since its birth, it hesitated.
The air quivered as the Revenant withdrew one step.
Its massive form began to sink back into the crimson mist, fading into the burning horizon.
Vaibhav collapsed to one knee, his vision blurring.
Shin caught him before he fell completely, shouting his name.
Alicia dropped beside them, her hands glowing faint green as she poured what little healing energy she had left into his chest.
Vaibhav's lips moved faintly, barely audible.
> "It's not… over… yet."
The beast that shouldn't exist had awakened something far worse.