Cypher's claws intercepted both strikes, its curved limbs forged from darkness locking against the glowing red blades. The creature twisted mid-air, flinging one attacker across the room like a lifeless doll, bones snapping as he struck a pillar. The second tried to backflip away—but didn't make it far. A claw like a reaper's scythe cut through his shoulder, sending blood and screams across the concrete.
From the rafters, three more ninjas dropped down in perfect silence.
Alex didn't flinch. He exhaled—and something in the air changed.
His skin darkened at the edges, ghostly cracks glowing with a faint, violet hue. From the center of his chest pulsed a warped sigil—a seal of demonic origin, His Ghastly Demonic Core stirred.
One ninja came swinging.
Alex moved fluidly—ducking under the blade, sweeping a leg glowing with ghastly flame. The attacker hit the floor hard. Another came from the right, only to catch a backhanded strike laced with cursed energy. When Alex's elbow slammed into the third, it wasn't just bone that shattered—his spirit was momentarily silenced, robbed of chi by the demonic aura.
Their corrupted chi began to recoil.
Cypher let out a soundless shriek, melting into Alex's shadow, becoming part of him—amplifying his otherworldly presence.
The floor trembled as an older ninja, pulsing with seething black-red chi, stepped forward. With a guttural warcry, he slashed his blade through the air, releasing a twisting wave of corrupted chi like a blood-soaked chain.
Alex didn't move.
Instead, he raised his hand, palm crackling with deathly light. The moment the wave struck, the cursed energies collided—and the chain of chi hissed, shuddered… and dissolved. Eaten whole by Alex's core.
"Your energy is weaker than mine" he said, voice like frost over obsidian.
Around him, the remaining ninjas formed a circle, weapons drawn. They chanted low, fingers weaving signs—corrupted chi forming a glowing sigil in the air, swirling like a vortex.
"They're trying to trap me?" Alex scoffed. "Cute."
He pressed two fingers to the seal on his chest. A red-black ripple burst outward from him, shattering the beginnings of their incantation. His demonic aura lashed the air, sharp as razors and cold as the void.
Cypher re-emerged behind him—more monstrous now, infused with the core's full power. Its tendrils coiled around Alex like armor, turning his silhouette into something ancient, war-born.
Then he moved.
With Cypher fused to his spine and arms, Alex tore into the formation. His strikes were silent, devastating. One claw tore through a blade mid-swing. Another swept across a ninja's throat. A ghastly pulse followed every motion—rotting chi, unraveling their corrupted power.
The lead ninja screamed and charged, blade engulfed in a dying-red inferno.
Alex caught it with his bare hand.
The corrupted blade hissed—but didn't cut. The demonic core pulsed again.
With a flick of his wrist, the blade shattered like glass, and Alex drove his palm into the man's chest.
Darkness surged through him.
The ninja's eyes rolled back, the light in them gone.
Silence followed.
Crimson mist hung over the warehouse, curling off Alex like smoke. His form slowly stabilized, the glow from the demonic core receding—but not gone.
He stood amidst the carnage, expression unreadable.
"Still not enough," he muttered. "Where's Sue?"
His voice echoed—and somewhere beyond the wreckage, Madam Gao watched from the shadows, no longer smiling.
From the far shadows, a slow clap echoed.
Madam Gao stepped into view, her form calm, composed—almost amused. Her old cane tapped gently on the ground as she walked, flanked now by two more silent figures cloaked in robes, their faces masked by jade carvings.
"Impressive, young one," she said, stopping just a few paces from the blood-stained floor. Her eyes shifted between Cypher's towering form and Alex's demon-infused cane. "You've bonded with something… ancient. Dangerous."
Alex didn't answer. He simply turned his eyes on her, cold and sharp.
Madam Gao tilted her head. "What kind of force are you wielding? It's not just demonic Chi. There's something more…" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "What sort of anomaly are you?"
Alex's eyes glinted faintly with infernal red. He said nothing.
She smiled, undeterred by his silence. "Mine," she said, lifting a hand that shimmered with a strange, smoky aura, "is the art of eaten chi. A corrupted form, harvested from many, refined through pain."
Alex replied at last, voice low:
"Where is Sue?"
Madam Gao's smile faded.
"She's alive—for now. But if you want to see her again…"
Alex lifted his cane. "That's the wrong answer."
Gao's eyes narrowed. She lifted her other hand, and the entire warehouse trembled.
From the shadows, pillars of chi rose like ghostly flames—drawn directly from the life force of the fallen ninjas. Their corpses disintegrated into powder, feeding her power. Her robes fluttered unnaturally as a dark violet aura wrapped around her limbs, crackling like dry lightning.
"You've forced my hand," she said coldly. "Let's see if that beast of yours can protect you from me."
She launched first.
In a blur, Madam Gao surged forward—faster than a woman her age should move, her palm glowing with cursed chi. Cypher intercepted, claws slashing—but she danced around them with fluid grace, striking pressure points on Cypher's outer shell that caused small ripples in its shadow form.
Alex moved, but Gao pivoted on her heel and slammed her cane down.
A burst of eaten chi exploded outward, knocking Alex back several feet. He landed hard but rolled to his feet, his cane braced before him.
"She's faster than expected," Alex muttered.
"She's even stronger than me," he mumbled under his breath.Hmm… and she hasn't even used her real power yet—telekinesis. That's what she's known for, Alex thought, realizing this fight was going to be a dangerous one.
As Alex stood at the back, watching, Cypher continued to clash with Madam Gao—blow for blow, slash for strike. But even as the shadow beast fought viciously, Alex could see it: her attacks were hurting Cypher. Deep cracks began to form across its dark armor. It wouldn't be long before she found a gap, and when that happened… Cypher would be decapitated.
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