Months after their first encounter, a new terror was sweeping through the heart of the Demon Realm. Dong Zhuo, the self-proclaimed Demon King, and his adoptive son, Lu Bu. In the wake of this catastrophic duo, only ruins and corpses remained.
The victim of that day was the "Iron-Black Fortress," a massive citadel reputed to be impregnable even within the central Demon Realm.
"Aaaargh!"
"Run! This isn't a war! It's a calamity!"
Black smoke choked the city, turning high noon into a pitch-black night. Amidst that ink-like darkness, the only things that flickered were the banners of Dong Zhuo's army and a streak of crimson lightning tearing across the battlefield.
"Stop him! He's coming for the walls!"
The Lord of the Iron-Black Fortress roared, his veins bulging. He placed his faith in the fortress's defense systems. A ten-fold gravity field surrounded the walls, grounding even winged demons, while thousands of archers stood atop, notched with mana-suppressing arrows.
"Activate Gravity Field! Fire!"
Swoosh—!
A rain of arrows blotted out the sky at the Lord's command. Simultaneously, a crushing gravitational pressure slammed into the ground below the walls. Yet, the knight atop the crimson horse did not slow down.
Crackle!
"...?!"
The Lord's eyes widened in shock. As the Red Hare, ridden by Lu Bu, became shrouded in crimson lightning, the incoming mana-suppressing arrows crumbled into ash before even touching him. But what happened next was even more staggering.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
The horse was running up the wall. It wasn't flat ground. It was a 50-meter vertical fortress wall, and he was galloping up as if gravity itself did not exist. Even the powerful gravity field was shredded like paper before the Red Hare's momentum.
"Impossible... What kind of horse is that!"
In an instant, Lu Bu breached the summit and soared into the air over the inner city. Seeing this, an enemy commander shrieked in desperation.
"He's falling! Defensive formation! Close ranks!"
Clank! Clank! Clank!
A thousand heavy infantrymen in the plaza moved with mechanical precision. They stacked steel shields into a dome and thrust thousands of long spears through the gaps, creating a literal forest of blades. Anyone landing on it would be skewered instantly.
From the air, Lu Bu looked down at the lethal forest and let out a thin, cruel smirk. He had no intention of dodging.
'I'll just crush it.'
Lu Bu and the Red Hare became a single crimson meteor, plunging toward the earth.
BOOM—!!
A thunderous roar that seemed to flip the very earth shook the plaza. The thousands of spears were snapped like toothpicks, and steel shields bent like taffy. The soldiers in formation didn't even have time to scream; though their armor remained intact, the internal vibrations ruptured their bodies, killing them instantly. A thousand elite troops turned into a bloody pulp in a single impact.
"He... he's alone! Do not be afraid!"
A knight captain crawled out from the dust cloud, gritting his teeth. He led the last 100 elite knights of the Iron-Black Fortress.
"Link your mana! Crush him!"
Whirrr—!
The knights cast "Mana Link," chaining their powers together. A massive "Mana Wall" formed, closing in on Lu Bu from all sides. Led by an A-rank demon, it was an absolute defense and crushing tactic that no one had ever breached.
But Lu Bu, sitting calmly atop the Red Hare, simply adjusted his grip on the Sky-Piercer Halberd as if annoyed.
"How bothersome."
Lu Bu's arm swung in a light but massive horizontal arc.
Thump—!
The moment the blade touched the Mana Wall, the mana circuits the knights had desperately linked overloaded and exploded.
"Gah...!"
Blood sprayed from the knight captain's mouth. But he didn't even have time to feel the pain. The high-pressure wind generated by the halberd's trajectory tore through the captain's defensive magic, his body, and the steel gate behind him in a straight line.
Whoosh—
It wasn't a simple slash. The thick smoke and storm clouds covering the battlefield were split to the left and right, like the Miracle of Moses, following the tip of Lu Bu's spear. Through the rift, a clear blue sky was revealed. The enemy's final resistance had been severed along with the heavens.
Blood splattered across his cheek, but Lu Bu didn't bother to wipe it. Instead, a look of pure, childlike joy spread across his face.
'This is it.'
The sense of unity with the Red Hare, who could fully endure his speed. And a battlefield where he could unleash his might to his heart's content.
"Run as you wish."
A deep sense of satisfaction toward his father, Dong Zhuo, who had provided this stage, welled up within him. Standing alone in the corpse-strewn plaza under the severed sky, Lu Bu thought:
'The place where I belong... is right here.'
In the wake of the storm, a bizarre silence remained. Beneath the split sky, a heavy vibration echoed over the crimson road paved with corpses.
Thump, thump, thump.
Through the horrific "Path of Corpses" Lu Bu had carved, a massive shadow advanced with majesty. Leading the way were hundreds of elite guards in golden helmets, shouting as they pushed aside bodies with their spear shafts.
"The Demon King approaches! Bow your heads!"
Following them, a beast of overwhelming grandeur revealed itself. Twice the size of a normal horse, covered in black scales, with a golden horn protruding from its forehead. It was the "Golden-Horned Beast," the legendary steed of the Demon Realm.
The man sitting atop that titan, Dong Zhuo, was the very image of a Conqueror. His golden armor shone brilliantly, looking out of place on the blood-soaked battlefield. He looked down arrogantly and spread his arms toward Lu Bu.
"Behold!"
Dong Zhuo's thunderous roar echoed through the ruined city. The tens of thousands of demons following him raised their spears in unison, cheering.
"Where my son goes, no enemy stands!"
"Waaaagh!! Long live Lord Dong Zhuo! Long live Lord Lu Bu!"
The roar of victory shook the fortress. Dong Zhuo gripped the reins of the Golden-Horned Beast loosely and declared to the cowering survivors and residents:
"Strip it all! Kill those who resist, and enslave those who submit!"
Dong Zhuo scanned the city with eyes glittering with greed. The ornate temples, the massive warehouses, the noble estates... all of it was now his.
"Every gold bar, every stray spoon in this city—everything belongs to me!"
"Hail! We obey your command!"
Soldiers stormed into the buildings. Plunder and arson began, but Dong Zhuo's expression remained calm—even jovial. At this point, he was merely a greedy monarch, not yet an irrational monster.
Dong Zhuo kicked the beast's flanks and pulled up beside Lu Bu, leaning over to clap him hard on his broad shoulder.
"Well done, my son."
Dong Zhuo smirked and gestured toward the royal palace.
"Come. I must be the one to taste the finest delicacies this fortress has to offer."
Dong Zhuo's gaze drifted toward the deepest part of the ruined palace, the massive underground vault. By a cruel twist of fate, the "Red Seed" that would lead to his ruin was waiting for him there.
Lu Bu silently turned the Red Hare and followed behind Dong Zhuo's Golden-Horned Beast. Little did they know that this would be the last time they would ever walk together as father and son.
Deep in the palace basement. As the heavy steel doors were ripped away, the vast treasures gathered by the Iron-Black Fortress over centuries were revealed. Mountains of gold coins, mana-infused artifacts, rare beast eggs... it was a wealth that would make any demon lord's eyes pop.
But Dong Zhuo didn't even spare a glance at the glittering mountain of gold.
"Move."
He marched straight inward, kicking aside piles of gold coins like a man possessed. His gaze was fixed on a small altar in the deepest, darkest corner of the vault.
Thump. Thump.
It was emitting an eerie pulsation, like a living heart. A gem the size of a fist, glowing red in the darkness. It was a fragment of the scattered Ancient Demon Buddha Scripture: the
"Ah..."
The moment he faced the gem, Dong Zhuo stopped. His pupils began to unfocus and dilate unnaturally. His mouth hung half-open, and uncontrollable drool trickled down.
It wasn't mere material greed. It was a primal temptation that stimulated a void deep within his soul and paralyzed his reason. The mind of the man once called the Demon King was being instantly consumed by the crimson light.
"This is it..."
Dong Zhuo muttered like a sleepwalker. He reached out with trembling hands, staggering forward as if grasping at the air.
"What I've been looking for... was right here..."
In his eyes, neither Lu Bu who followed nor the surrounding treasures existed anymore. Only that red gem was the entire world. The voice leaking from his lips trembled with a madness beyond joy.
"With this... not just this cramped Demon Realm..."
Dong Zhuo knelt before the gem and lifted the fragment carefully, as if handling a holy relic. The red light cast a grotesque glow on his greedy face.
"Even the world of the arrogant gods... above that sky... I can devour it all."
It was no longer a conqueror's ambition. It was the beginning of a hunger that knew no end.