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“Fia!”

No response.

My heart rose with uneasiness as I ran toward the lake, calling for her again and again.

“Fia…! Fia!”

Halfway down the hill, I sensed a presence come from behind me.

Before I could even react, something struck me hard in the back of my leg. I folded into a roll, tumbling down the hillside, but managed to grab my weapons as I sprang back to my feet, Phalanx Glaive and Axe in hand.

I looked left and right for my would-be attacker.

What the hell…?

A soft laughter then filled the air as Fia materialized before me in a flash of white light.

“Got you,” she said with a playful wink.

Relief and exasperation hit me all at once.

“Dang it, Fia. That was the worst timing for a joke,” I said. “We really need to talk.”

“What’s wrong?” Her smile faded as her brow creased with concern. “I thought we could have some fun before training. I need to reward you for your victory last night, after all.” She then grinned. “You were amazing by the way. That last push was—”

“You haven’t seen Hin Wu, have you?”

She furrowed her brow again. “Hin Wu? No. Why would I?”

I breathed another sigh of relief as I sheathed my weapons. “Good. I got to you in time then.”

“What’s going on? What are you talking about?”

I took a step back mentally. I had been running doomsday scenarios through my head all night, almost expecting everything to already be a disaster. But Fia was fine. We were fine. I had to slow down and bring her up to speed.

“Sorry,” I said and pulled her into an embrace for reassurance. “I’m all over the place, I know. I’m probably freaking you out. I’ve been up all night. There are some things we need to discuss that involve her.”

“You mean she’s here?” Fia said, pulling away. She looked up at me at arm’s length. “How?”

That was another good question. I didn’t want to make it seem like her efforts to protect me were in vain, but in the end that’s what it turned out to be. Still, I didn’t need to focus on that part so much.

“She gave your shadows the slip a while ago, apparently,” I said. “Used a disguise. She’s been here the whole time.”

“What? That’s impossible.”

I merely shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“So what happened?” Fia asked, sounding more concerned now. “Did she attack you after the match?”

“In a way…” I said, wobbling my head from side to side.

“What do you mean?”

I pondered how to how I could even describe what had taken place between us.

“She bought me a drink and kind of…propositioned me, I guess?”

Fia’s jaw just about hit the ground. “She did what?”

“I said no, of course,” I added quickly, sensing the anger sparking inside of her. “And it wasn’t about sex if that’s what you’re thinking… well… actually it was about sex, but more than that too.”

“WHAT?!”

Crap, this was going all wrong.

“Let me start over,” I said. “That’s not the main point I’m trying to make anyway. She kind of wanted me to marry her and then team up to kill her sect leader, Lo Feng. Or maybe the order was the other way around. Kill Lo Feng, then get married.”

Fia stared at me with a deadpan disbelief that reminded me of Kelsey.

“Marry her?” Her brows lowered with rage. “And what did you say, Max? Are you coming here to tell me that you—?”

“I told her no!” I said, suddenly realizing where her mind was going. “What else would I say? I’m in love with you, Fia. I’d never betray you like that.”

“Oh…” she said, seeming suddenly embarrassed about her outburst of insecurity. Her eyes then narrowed again as she stared off into the distance, focusing her rage on something else. “That damn hussy. I knew she wanted you from the first time we met. I have a mind to send her a message about trying to take what isn’t hers.”

“Okay, that’s not really the point of all this.”

“Then what is?”

“She got really pissed when I rejected her. And then she sort of figured out that we were seeing each other.”

“What? How?”

“She’s got like a 200 IQ or something, I don’t know.”

“A 200 what?”

“Nevermind. She just figured it all out is what’s important. She left last night threatening to expose us. To expose you. She said she would tell the Warden.”

Fia truly looked concerned now, perhaps connecting the dots for herself. “This can’t be real.” Then her eyes narrowed. “Actually, it isn’t real. You never admitted anything to her, did you?”

“No, I played it off.”

Fia smiled. “Good. Then we have nothing to worry about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hin Wu is a Fire Bird. She couldn’t simply approach the Warden with an outlandish claim like this. That would be tantamount to inciting an interclan war.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You’re saying what we’re doing now could lead to a war?”

She shrugged. “Probably. But it doesn’t matter because no one truly knows. And as long as neither you nor I say anything, it will remain so. Until you best me in the ring, that is. That’s why it’s important for us to both be giving it our all. When that day comes, you need to claim me in marriage as forfeit for my life, nothing less will do.”

The gravity of what she’d just said put a whole new context to our secret training session out in the wild. I knew it was dangerous for the both of us, but to hear it spelled out in detail caused a knot to form in my stomach.

“Hey,” Fia said, touching my arm to rouse me from my thoughts. “We’re going to be alright. She was only bluffing. She would need evidence to make such a claim and right now she has none.”

“Had none,” a voice said, and my blood ran cold.

Like a specter emerging from the plains of hell, Hin Wu stepped into existence from a pillar of flames. Panic-fueled adrenaline triggered my Frenzy, causing my Flame to surge. I glanced at Fia and her silver eyes were wide with shock.

Not good…

Hin Wu was dressed in her normal robes, her wild red hair flowing beneath her douli. She adjusted it slightly as she gave me a leer and from only fifty feet away, I was already expecting her to throw it at a moment’s notice.

“Thank you for being predictable, Brother Chun,” Hin Wu said. “I honestly was just taking a shot in the dark about you two, but I knew if it were true, you’d go rushing to meet with her right away. Nice to see you followed that script to a tee.”

My world fell apart as I felt like the biggest dumbass in the world.

I’d led her right to us!

I cursed out loud causing Fia to jump startled and Hin Wu to laugh.

Damn 200 IQ was right. Or maybe mine was just 50.

Probably the 50.

“And you, Silver Light,” she said. “Don’t look so surprised. You’re not the only one who has mastered a few Hidden Art techniques in her time.”

I furrowed my brow at that and wondered once again if Hin Wu followed the same demonic path as Hong Feng and his ilk. I hadn’t sensed her using any Dark Frenzy as yet, but she had obviously masked both her physical presence and her Qi just now. And those were both demonic techniques that Hong Feng’s guys employed. It’d also explain how she so easily got the drop in me last night.

“What are you going to do?” Fia said. “You still can’t prove anything.”

“I won’t have to,” Hin Wu said. “Because knowing for certain is all I need to get what I want from you. Or should I say, from him.”

She leered at me again, her eyes studying me hungrily.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Make no mistake, Bull Man,” she said, sauntering towards me. “You will be marrying one of us. But if you choose her, rest assured I’ll be revealing this little secret beforehand. After that, you’ll either prove the rumor by seeking marriage after your little duel, or you’ll be forced to stay apart forever. In either case it’s a lose-lose for the both of you. So you might as well give up on her and join me as planned.”

“As planned?” The woman was nuts. “There is no plan, lady. I told you that already.”

A sudden flare of anger exploded next to me, and I looked to see Fia boiling over with rage. Her teeth were grit, her eyes narrowed with hate and disdain.

“I’ve had enough of you!” Fia shouted, summoning her jian blades. The sword synched into formation, lining up in a tringle behind her back. “I’ve told you already to find your own damn man! This one is mine!”

A bolt of radiant light shot from between her blades, steaking towards Hin Wu.

The sect elder reacted swiftly, deflecting the attack with her douli.

She let out a cackle. “Ah, so you have chosen death instead. Interesting. I suppose it will make his decision for which one of us he shall marry even easier.”

Hin Wu took to the sky and Fia did the same.

Bolts of light and torrents of flame flew between them, both of them countering with precision and skill. I felt like a third wheel, or perhaps a steak caught between two hungry lionesses was more accurate. The way things had escalated was perplexing. The resentment and mutual disdain between them went far beyond just me. Or so it seemed. Fia had been itching for a fight with Hin Wu for ages, but to attack her outright put us on a whole new level of danger.

The laws of unsanctioned violence between sects still applied and with what Hin Wu knew now, there was no way we could allow her to leave the wild alive. Thankfully she had come alone, seeking to use her secrecy to blackmail us into doing her bidding.

But Fia clearly had other plans and I needed to back them up.

I summoned my Frenzy and bolstered myself with [Steel Skin].

Taking off, I chased after the clashing duo and added to the fray with [Lightning Arc Strikes] from my axe. Two of my bolts went wide, but one of them struck Hin Wu dead on, distracting her for a second. Fia quickly followed up with a close-ranged strike that knocked Hin Wu out of the sky and sent her crashing to the ground.

I wasted no time leaping to her position, raising my axe high.

“[Three Log Chop]!”

My axe hit her douli with a resounding gong! and then she flipped onto her feet, forcing me to duck under a cascade of flames as she executed a crescent kick aimed at my head. Fia then joined me at my side and together we pushed into Hin Wu with a series of martial forms. We’d never fought side by side like this before but after months of training together, I knew Fia’s movements nearly as well as my own. We played off one another—a parry forcing Hin Wu into a counter by Fia and vice versa.

To her credit, Hin Wu kept up with it all, even smiling with a sense of exhilaration as the confrontation grew more intense. I employed my dual weapon style, trying to lure her into a dodge with my axe that I could slap with my Phalanx Glaive, but her skill was beyond anything I had experienced in the ring before. Even with both of us going all out she was defending herself without taking a hit at all.

I thought we had a good chance against her, but now my doubts of success were slipping. I still wasn’t sure what cultivation level Hin Wu was. A half-step to Sacred Soul Realm probably, but beyond that her martial prowess was through the roof.

The [Odds were Against Us] for sure.

As my Frenzy surged with the technique, I threw caution to the wind and charged straight into her sweeping douli attacks, reinforcing my body with [Steel Lightning]. Searing pain coursed through my mind as the heat of her flames broke through even my strongest defensive technique. I screamed through it as I barreled in with a huge downward cleave using my Phalanx Glaive. The attack caught her mid-technique, and she was flatfooted to do anything about it as the blade crashed down upon her shoulder.

A startled cry escaped her lips, but the blade felt as if it had just struck a mountain. It bounced off her shoulder just as Fia tossed several quills in her direction, following up on the attack, but they too couldn’t pierce her skin.

Holy crap… I thought. If her casual defenses were this strong, there was no way we could defeat her without me resorting to using my true Berserker techniques.

Remnants of my battle with Li Gong Qui played through my mind. It was my reliance on [Mark of the Beast] and [Mark of the Demon] that had seen me though. The same had seen me through the last time I fought Hin Wu as well. But no way could I employ them now.

Not in front of Fia.

I raged with [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls] and spun with a combined Axe and Glaive technique. Fia took quick note of my attack and complemented it with a hail of golden quills from above as she flipped overhead. For the first time Hin Wu seemed truly overwhelmed and shielded herself in a torrent of flames.

“Enough!”

She retreated from us with a triple somersault, the towering flames following after her. She landed about a hundred feet away and the flames about her body began to take solid form.

Her spectral armor.

Shit…

“Impressive,” Hin Wu said with a hint of lemonade. “But you merely solidified my choice in you as our clan’s successor, Max Chun. And as much as I enjoy a good two-on-one, I can’t risk damaging you as my future husband any longer.” She gave me a wink as she summoned her Qi, forming a layer of translucent blue Flames around her douli. “[Fire of the Soul]!”

She flew towards me, and I braced myself for what would inevitably come next.

“[Soul Shield]!”

My annunciation did little to bolster my technique as Hin Wu threw her blazing douli towards me. Suddenly Fia appeared, blocking it with her jian blades formed in the shape of a triangle again.

“[Fifth Heaven! Triple Point Guard]!”

The flaming douli bounced off the translucent shield of Fia’s technique, but Hin Wu had advanced so quickly behind it that she flanked us and caught the thing in her hand. With a swift upward motion, she struck Fia with her douli, sending her careening through the air.

“Fia!”

She bounced across the ground and came to a stop, unmoving.

“Fia!” I yelled again.

But she still didn’t move.

Hin Wu’s douli struck yet again, but this time it was aimed at me. The blue flames cut through my [Steel Skin] and swarmed my Flame. My [Soul Shield] technique flickered for but a second before shattering under the immense power of her spiritual attack.

All my strength left me as I fell to my knees and Hin Wu followed up with another spiritual attack that snuffed out my Flame completely. I blacked out for a moment and then suddenly I was in that world between worlds again, my vision shrunk to but a window in the darkness of my own mind.

Through it I could see Hin Wu leering down at me.

“That’s it,” she said. “You rest now. Still defenseless in spirit but we will fix that in time. There is perhaps far too much Yang Qi in you.” She then grinned like a predator. “But I’ll enjoy draining it from your body drop by drop. As you will too, I’m sure.”

Damn, bitch…

I watched as she strolled towards Fia who was still prone on the ground.

“The game ends for you now, Silver Light. Master Lo Feng will be pleased to learn that all his loose ends will be dealt with after your demise.”

I railed against my prison of incapacitation, desperate to do something, anything, but just like when facing the Bloodmoon, my faculties simply wouldn’t respond.

Come on, Fia, get up…Get up!

And then suddenly like a phoenix she did.

My hope soared as she came to, shaking her head.

“A lucky shot,” Fia said as she rose from the ground. “But don’t think you’ve beaten me.” She held her side gingerly though. Wherever Hin Wu had struck her, it had caused some internal damage for sure. “[Tenth Heaven! Radiant Soul Blade]!”

Her three jian blades combined into one, forming a huge saber gleaming with golden light. Fia wielded it in both hands, going through her martial forms as she faced off against Hin Wu alone.

“You’re no match for me, girl,” Hin Wu said with a steady confidence as she strode forward, douli in hand. “You have no idea the true extent of my power.”

Fia charged at her and their weapons clashed, flames mixing with radiant golden light. I’d never seen Fia use such a technique before, but I guessed it had to be one of her ultimate forms. She was pulling out all the stops, but would it be enough?

We were barely able to hold her off with the two of us.

But now Fia was wounded and alone.

I watched powerless, trapped inside my own mind as they clashed over and over again, Fia growing visibly weaker with each bout.

I looked to my side and saw the blue-hued form of the Struggler sitting next to me—now the splitting image of myself. He jutted his chin at something across from him and I followed his gaze to see the Demon staring back at me hungrily—expectantly.

The message was clear.

I was going to have to embody my true inner demon to save her.

There was simply no other way now.

But I’d be revealing my secret to Fia in the worst way possible.

I could lose her like this, I thought. But to hell with it…

No way was I going to simply sit by and watch her die.

My Flame reignited with conviction and resolve.

“Make sure to grab the wheel before I lose full control,” I said, and the Struggler nodded in return. I ended the one-sided conversation with me, myself, and I and surged my consciousness into the body of the Demon.

I came to and the world exploded in a blur of rage, hate and pain.

I let out a primal howl as my body transformed, taking on the full form of the [Demon], [Giant], and [Beast] combined. My Flame erupted like a volcano, sending torrents of fresh Frenzy rushing through my soul. Through the small window of my tunneling vision, I strained to maintain focus as I charged at Hin Wu and literally tore her from out of the sky.

I vaguely heard Fia scream in terror, but my Frenzy-crazed mind was too focused on tearing Hin Wu apart. Claws and fangs ripped through her armored flames and punctured hardened flesh beneath. She cried out as I gored her with my horns and then again as I threw her forcefully into the ground with both hands.

She skidded across the hard-packed earth, crashing into a nearby tree with a bang.

My [Bloodlust] surged wanting more and my window to reality began to shrink even further. I was about to go after her, but the gentle touch of the Struggler’s hand upon my shoulder pulled me back from the brink. The Demon inside me fought against him, wanting to throw it all away for another chance to tear flesh and draw blood.

But then like remembering a dream, I came to myself.

Recalling everything I was fighting for.

Everything that was important to me.

My people…

The Earth…

Fia…

The world returned to full focus as all three forms dropped, collapsing me to my knees. A deathly silence filled the space that was once a battle ground of roaring flames and clashing steel. Now only the sound of my heavy breathing remained.

I looked apprehensively over my shoulder and saw Fia standing there.

She was staring at me wide-eyed, mouth ajar, fear permeating her soul.

I slowly stood and turned. The pain of her confused and terrified stare was enough to tear my soul apart. I took a step forward and she jerked backwards, recoiling.

“Fia, it’s me,” I said. “It’s still Max.”

She shook her head slowly as if not wanting to believe it. “What just happened? W-what are you?”

There it was. No more secrets now.

“I’m a Berserker.”

“Don’t lie to me! Are you a demon? A monster? What are you?”

“I’m me, Fia,” I said. “I’m still the Max you know. The man who loves you. I just didn’t know how I was going to tell you any of this. Until now. Until I absolutely had to.”

“But what is this? What does Berserker even mean?”

It was no surprise she didn’t know—a stark reminder that what I was had been lost to history, perhaps purposefully so, our truth and legacy buried by the empire.

“It’s a Daoist form of cultivation, Fia. One outlawed by the empire. I learned it from a woman passing through here. I have a demon inside of me, the thing you saw. It allows me great power, but I have to struggle to control it. But it’s still all a part of me. This is the path I spoke of. It’s why I can’t just let go of my ambitions and marry into your family. Or can’t simply run away and have a life with you. This—my quest for retribution, to restore the Earth—this is literally who I am.”

She shook her head again, still looking perplexed and unconvinced. “I saw that power. You tore Hin Wu apart like she was nothing. You’re no ordinary man. Are you a fallen immortal? A saint reborn? Some atoned devil ascended from the hells?”

“Fia, I’m nothing of the sort. Come here, please.”

I took a step forward to reach her, but she flinched back again. Then to my surprise she fell to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground.

“Almighty lord,” she said with a reverent tone. “I know not what you are, but I thank you for finding favor in me. Forgive me for mistreating you when we first met. I had no idea who or what you truly were.”

It was my turn to be taken aback now.

Of all the reactions, this was one I was definitely not expecting.

And it broke my heart for her to see me in such a way.

I stooped down to her and lifted her head from the ground. “Fia, I’m no saint or devil. I’m a human. A cultivator just like you. Just merely a different kind.” I searched her eyes as they welled with tears. “I’m just dumb old Max. The guy that fell for a beautiful, pushy cultivator who turned out to have a heart of gold.”

She broke into a short laugh at that, choking back on tears.

“I know this changes everything,” I said. “But please know this doesn’t change how I feel about you. About us. I’m still the guy who wants to marry you, Fia. And I understand if you maybe want to—”

Fia suddenly threw her arms around me in an embrace. “I don’t care what you are. So long as you’re still Max.”

The warmth of her embrace soothed my soul and I sensed the door inside my spirit fly wide open with acceptance and relief. Another huge burden had been lifted from my spirit.

We stood together and then she took a step back, looking at me with new eyes.

“I still don’t understand everything,” she said, her heart slowly filling with lemonade. “But I know with certainty now that whatever happens, you can protect me. I think you are the strongest cultivator I have ever met.”

“Then you’ve not met many…” a voice said, and we both turned to see Hin Wu leaning against the tree I had thrown her into.

Her robes were torn and covered in blood, and it seemed her arm was broken, dangling at the side. Her crimson eyes narrowed as she turned to me. “It seems I’ve underestimated you yet again, Bull Man…you were far more rare than I even realized. And dangerous.”

Dark Frenzy filled the air as her eyes shifted from red to a blazing incandescent glow.

“She may not understand what you are…” The flames about Hin Wu’s body began to shift and grow. “…but I do. You are a fire that cannot be contained. A fire far too dangerous to be left alone to spread and consume this world.”

As she said the words her body transformed, blending into the dark red flames surrounding her. Fia stepped back, summoning her three blades that had fallen to the ground.

“Max, what’s happening?”

I steeled myself as the Dark Frenzy pressed against my soul and then like an instinct my [Soul Shield] technique took hold. The Dark Frenzy was repelled, the technique forming a solid luminescent barrier around my Flame.

It worked. It was actually working!

A new confidence filled me as I retrieved my own weapons from the ground.

“She’s a demonic cultivator,” I said. “Like a twisted version of me.”

“You are the one who is twisted, brother,” Hin Wu said, her body now completely consumed in flames. Slowly the flames contorted taking on a new form, consuming the tree behind her as she grew in size. Wings spread outward, flames forming a beak and a flared peacock-like tail. A powerful screech filled the air as the transformation completed—a true Phoenix risen from the ashes of Hin Wu’s broken form.

The fiery beast looked down at me and I could sense the resentment and longing still present in her soul. She then spoke, her voice magnified and reverberated like a god’s.

“As much as I would have you for my own…you are a fire that must be snuffed out, Bull Man.” The heat of her flames intensified as the Dark Frenzy surged. “There will be no wedding plans for either of us, Silver Light…for neither of you shall be leaving this place alive.”