The monk approached again, smiling, rolling his neck as if he'd merely sat wrong in a chair. His eyes never left Kai.
"You know… any other monk would've died instantly," he said as his twisted neck cracked back into place. "But luckily for you, I can control every muscle in my body. Not a single fiber disobeys my will."
"My fortune…?" Kai muttered, not breaking eye contact.
The monk looked him over with a disturbing calm. Maddie, still on the ground, tried to push herself up with her good arm, but collapsed again, sobbing from the pain. The monk glanced at her briefly.
Then it happened.
A pressure — invisible yet suffocating — settled over everything. The air grew thicker, the sounds dimmed, and a strange warm breeze swept through the alley. Everyone felt it: a heavy, choking weight. For the first time, the monk's smile vanished. His face turned solemn — somehow even more terrifying — as he stared toward the street.
"I've lingered too long," he murmured, almost to himself. "I forgot you're not mine alone… other sinners must have sensed your pulse by now."
He spread his stance, assuming a martial pose straight out of a kung-fu film, his fingers stretched rigid like a blade. His gaze locked onto Kai's chest.
Kai didn't have time to ask anything.
He clenched his fist. If he'd broken the monk's neck once… maybe, with enough strength, he could take his head clean off — or at least knock him out long enough to grab Maddie and run. His hand trembled. Sweat slid down his neck. I have to do something.
Then, he felt it — a thread of energy running along his spine. The golden figure from before seemed to be standing behind him, watching, waiting for his next move. A rush of power flooded his body. For a moment, he thought he saw a faint golden aura rising from his skin. His eyes darted toward Maddie.
All right, let's play, you son of a bitch, he thought, tightening every muscle.
The monk took a step forward. The air tensed. Their gazes locked.
Kai struck first — pouring everything into one blow. The air exploded around him. The snow throughout the alley burst upward as if a hurricane had just ignited; even the pavement trembled, and a sound like a gunshot cracked the silence. It would've killed him — if it had connected.
The monk ducked, dodging by mere inches. For a split second, there was something close to worry in his eyes. Then he countered.
His expression darkened. His fingers flashed forward, sharp as a blade, and pierced straight through Kai's abdomen with a wet, horrific sound.
Blood splattered across the alley walls. The force destroyed everything inside him — organs torn apart, scattered like pulp. When the monk withdrew his arm, Kai dropped to his knees. His insides spilled from the wound, trembling in the freezing air. He couldn't think. He couldn't even feel pain. His nervous system had given up. Only a strangled breath escaped his throat as blood began to pour again — from his nose, his ears, his mouth. But this time, he felt nothing. Only the slow fading of life itself.
I'm dying, was his only thought, as his eyes fixed on the ground.
Maddie screamed with every bit of air in her lungs. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to crawl toward Kai. Her broken arm hung useless, but her other hand reached out desperately.
The monk turned to her, his smile widening — his face drenched in blood. Maddie was certain that was the look of a hunter who'd just brought down an albino rhino.
"You should've taken my offer, miss," he said, brushing the blood from his robe.
Maddie glared at him through pure terror. She screamed, cried, unable to stop.
"Stay away from me!" she pleaded, grabbing pieces of rubble and hurling them — they bounced harmlessly off his chest. "Help! Please, somebody help us!" she cried, her voice raw, while Kai struggled to move, to do anything.
Every sound seemed to irritate him more. The monk grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her back against the wall. She fought back weakly, her senses dulled by shock.
The monk raised the same hand that had torn through Kai. His fingers straightened, sharp as knives.
"It's time to be silent," he said with a sick grin. His eyes gleamed. "A reincarnation and a sacrifice for my lord — what a glorious day."
His gaze fixed on her neck. Maddie screamed even louder — as if the sheer force of her voice might summon help or tear time apart.
"Your head will serve as the sacrifice, I think. At least then you'll stop screaming."
"Don't—" Kai tried to shout, but his voice broke. His lips moved soundlessly; no air came out. His lungs emptied. His vision dimmed. All he could smell was iron.
The monk, trembling with delight, struck. Blood burst in every direction. The crying stopped.
But—
Maddie's head was still there. Her neck intact. Her face frozen in shock, drenched in blood. Her eyes wide open.
Then, the air temperature spiked. The falling snow turned to rain — then to steam — as if summer itself had crashed into winter.
The monk's smile faded just as his severed arm hit the ground with a dull, wet thud.
With a dull thud.
The monk let out a scream that surely echoed all the way to Kansas. His face grotesquely contorted as he tried to staunch the hemorrhage from his severed arm.
The howl snapped Maddie out of shock. Suddenly she was sweating. The air grew heavy and dense. A strong smell of sulfur flooded the street, and the temperature began to climb out of control.
Kai lifted his head with the little strength he had left. He didn't know what surprised him more:
that the person standing beside Maddie wore only an unbuttoned shirt in the middle of winter, that it was the same strange boy from that afternoon, or that he was literally wrapped in flames.
"Hello, monkey. Nice to see you again," the young man said, looking at Kai with a calm, confident voice and a barely contained smile.
Maddie was frozen. The boy looked like he'd stepped out of a comic: fair skin, sharp Asian features, a rebellious air. If she hadn't been covered in blood, with a broken arm and on the verge of a nervous collapse, she probably would've squealed like he'd ripped her anime crush from the page. Instead she could only tremble, fighting to stay conscious.
The young man scanned the scene. When he saw Kai dying and Maddie wounded, his smile disappeared — he genuinely hadn't noticed what had happened; he'd just arrived and mutilated whoever looked dangerous. His eyes ignited with fury.
"Sorry," he said, irritated and annoyed at himself. "I'm a little late."
He opened his hand. On his palm materialized a nearly two-meter spear. The steel was dark, but the blade was rimmed in gold, from which orange, incandescent flames licked.
"But don't worry, I'll make sure both of you walk out of here alive."
The monk backed away, pale.
"You… you can't be here. It's impossible…" his voice trembled. The bleeding from his stump had stopped, but his whole body shook. The young man smiled at his terrified face; there was no trace left of that macabre grin. Desperate, the monk threw a talisman scrawled with strange symbols. It burst in a golden flash.
The walls shuddered, the ground creaked. The monk exhaled in relief for a second—until he saw Maddie, who was shielded by an ethereal barrier that saved her from the blast… then her legs collapsed.
Her face smashed against the ground. He turned his head. Two flaming cuts blazed along his calves, fresh wounds; the blood that seeped from them boiled, almost vaporizing. And the young man was already in front of Kai.
Kai looked at him, confused. The young man's body burned from within, but the heat he gave off felt comforting. Familiar, even. That illusion vanished the moment he spoke.
"Wow, that was a clean hit. Is this what you call a quick lipo in America?" he said in a playful, childish tone that only made Kai raise an eyebrow — Kai wanted the strength to insult him for being such an asshole.
The boy pulled something from his pocket: a shard of amber-colored fruit, like a dried mango.
"I didn't expect you to end up so messed up against a simple monk," he said mockingly, bringing the fruit to Kai's mouth. "I shouldn't give you this in your transitional state, but you'll be dead in a minute at most and I don't have ibuprofen handy, so take it."
Kai didn't ask questions. He swallowed the fruit despite how irritating the man was. What did it matter? He was convinced he'd already lost his stomach — literally.
"That should be enough… even without a digestive system. Let's hope you don't burn out."
"YOU—!" the monk screamed, managing to rise. "You can't be on this plane!"
"Oh? Really?" the boy replied, turning slowly toward him. He lifted the spear, and his smile returned — now full of pure arrogance.
"Gods cannot be on this plane!" the monk spat, fumbling another talisman with shaking hands. "They're supposed to be in the celestial realm, you son of—!"
A flash of fire interrupted him. A blaze cut across the alley. The young man appeared on the other side.
"As if I were one of those useless ones," he whispered.
The monk's head fell to the ground with a face frozen in disbelief. Then the body collapsed.
The young man turned to Kai and Maddie with a relaxed smile.
"Well, at least neither of you was—" he said. Kai didn't know whether to thank him or tear the hairs out of his head. "—seriously hurt," he finished with a whistle, then kicked the monk's head, making it roll like a ball.
Then, with a friendly gesture, he offered his hand to Maddie. She, still trembling, took it carefully. She groaned in pain trying to rise; her arm hung at a crooked angle and her side burned. Tears welled up again, but there was no need to scream.
"You have several compromised internal organs. You'll die in a couple of days if we don't treat you," the young man said with a sigh. Maddie didn't seem to hear him clearly — she wore a look of confusion. "We must take you to the Mountain of Flowers. Only there can you heal properly."
He continued in a calm, steady voice — so serene that it somehow made Maddie feel safe.
"I'm sorry, but I can't give you the same thing I gave him. You're mortal, you know."
He touched her forehead lightly with two fingers, and she instantly collapsed, unconscious, eyes rolling back. The young man carefully laid her down, making sure her head was supported.
"Hey!" Kai shouted, alarmed — realizing he could speak again.
The young man turned to him with the same tranquility.
"Don't worry. She's just asleep. It's faster than letting her cry and explaining why we need to travel all the way to China," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"What!?" Kai tried to back away when the boy stepped closer. "Don't you dare knock me out, freak!"
The young man raised his hands in surrender, keeping his composure, and stepped back.
"I'm not going to force you," he said, "but I will tell you this — what I gave you is only temporary. Your body won't be able to handle the energy of a Peach of Immortality." His tone shifted, suddenly serious, in stark contrast to his earlier attitude. There was something oddly familiar about his words. "I can only treat you both somewhere with the proper resources. And just so you know, no mortal place can handle your condition. So…?"
Kai froze. His body felt fine — more than fine — but he couldn't ignore that his abdomen had been pierced clean through not long ago.
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked, wincing.
"Well… ugh, that monkey told me what to say if you asked that. Give me a second." He paused, thinking for a moment. "You've started having strange dreams, haven't you? A figure of a monkey in armor? Or visions of things that feel like memories?"
"Wait—there's no way you could…"
"Well, it happens every incarnation, so it'll be fun to see how you evolve," he said with a grin. "Aren't you curious what kind of reincarnation you are? Don't you want to know who you really are and what's going on?"
Kai fell silent. He hadn't really thought about it until now. But why was all this happening to him? Why did his body react this way? And why did this guy seem to know him better than he knew himself?
"Fine," he said, his voice trembling as he tried to sound confident, "but don't you dare knock me out."
The young man nodded. Then, with almost effortless strength, he lifted Maddie onto his shoulders. His expression turned distant, almost nihilistic, which only made his sharp features stand out even more.
He's so good-looking it's infuriating… thought Kai, gritting his teeth.
The boy pulled a talisman from his robes and placed it on the ground. Instantly, a glowing magic circle began to form around them, covered in Chinese characters Kai couldn't begin to read.
"What is this…?" Kai asked, confused, feeling a strange vibration run through him.
He looked down at his abdomen — the gaping hole was gone. The muscles were still exposed, but he could see the tissue knitting itself back together. Sensation was slowly returning to his skin.
"Don't panic. I'll explain everything at your home," said the young man, inspecting the markings on the talisman. Then he added casually, "Your spiritual home, not the mortal one."
Kai sighed, too drained to argue. He felt that if he said another word, he'd just faint on his own. Still, he forced one last question out.
"Why are you talking to me so casually if we just met? At least tell me… who are you?"
His body, though dizzy, felt strangely alive. Almost… new. The young man turned his head with a mischievous smile.
"I talk however I want. And as for the other thing — isn't it obvious?"
He straightened gracefully. The flaming spear in his free hand dissolved into sparks as the circle around them flared brighter and brighter.
"My name is Nezha, the Lotus Child."
End of Chapter.