Grass bent violently, pressed flat as if an invisible mountain had descended upon it.
The air above the road twisted.
Not like heat.
Heat shimmered.
This looked as if space itself were being folded inward by unseen fingers.
A thin crack appeared in the sky.
Then it widened.
Like glass splitting under pressure.
A jagged fracture stretched across the heavens.
Through it—
Light And a shadow.
The light gathered first.
Condensed.
Compressed.
Until a white-winged figure stepped out of the fracture. His armor was fractured along the chest and shoulder, glowing veins of divine radiance pulsing through the cracks. In his hand rested a silver reaper, its edge humming with restrained power.
Bright, luminous blood trickled from his temple.
Opposite him—
Flames ignited midair.
Crimson.
Violent.
Within them stood a horned silhouette. A deep scar carved across his chest, black energy leaking from it like smoke from a dying volcano.
Staring at one another.
No words.
No declaration.
They moved.
They collided.
The sound did not reach the ground.
But the impact did.
The plains convulsed.
Grass was uprooted. Soil lifted into the air before slamming back down.
Reha stumbled, nearly losing her footing.
Mr. Xu's ancient eyes narrowed slightly.
Kapi did not blink.
"An angel," Kapi muttered quietly.
His gaze shifted.
"And is that… a demon?"
"So it seems," the turtle replied calmly.
Boom.
A wave of violent qi crashed downward like a collapsing ocean.
Xu's pupils sharpened.
"…No. Not a demon."
Kapi's eyes moved again.
"A landhound?"
"A landhound."
"Dark spirit qi," Xu continued. "Earth-bound. Not infernal."
Above them, the angel roared and swept his blade outward.
Steel met steel.
Light clashed with flame.
The angel attacked fiercely, each strike descending like divine judgment. The landhound blocked with crossed blades, sparks exploding around him.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The angel's aggression was overwhelming—raw, explosive.
But the landhound endured.
He was enraged.
Yet far more experienced.
Every strike he deflected with minimal movement, conserving strength.
Frustration flickered across the angel's face.
He pulled back.
Distance widened between them.
Behind the angel—
Light gathered.
Condensed.
Multiplied.
Hundreds of spears formed in the fractured sky.
Each one radiating holy qi,
Each one humming with lethal intent,
Reha felt her chest tighten.
She could barely breathe.
With a single motion—
The angel lowered his hand.
They rained down.
The sky turned white.
The landhound roared and spun both blades. Crimson flames twisted violently around him, forming a spiraling barrier of fire and steel.
One spear shattered.
Two.
Ten.
Twenty.
Metal shrieked against metal.
The ground below cratered from stray impacts.
A hundred spears fell like divine punishment.
The sky burned.
Below—
Reha trembled openly now.
Mr. Xu's expression remained calm, but faint cracks spread beneath his feet from the pressure alone.
The landhound deflected most of the spears.
But in the chaos—
One shifted trajectory.
Not toward the landhound.
Toward the ground.
Toward them.
Even before it pierced the sound barrier—
Kapi moved and xu .
Mr. Xu reacted instantly, ancient qi surging outward as a translucent barrier formed around himself and Reha.
The air screamed.
Kapi stepped forward—
Then leapt.
The spear descended like a falling star.
He met it midair.
A single kick.
The impact shattered the holy spear into fragments of fading light.
The shockwave rippled outward.
Kapi landed lightly.
His eyes lifted.
He understood.
The angel had noticed them.
And yet had chosen not to withdraw the spear.
High above
The turtle felt it.
For thousands of years he had lived.
He had witnessed wars of gods.
Seen kingdoms rise and collapse.
When an angel's fury rained from the heavens.
None beneath it survived.
Death stood close.
Very close.
He knew this.
New he should fear the Angel and yet
What unsettled him—
Was not the angel.
It was the silent boy standing before him.
The air around Kapi had changed.
Not violently.
Not explosively.
But the space itself seemed… tense.
Like something immense was restraining itself.
"So long…" Kapi said quietly.
Above—
The landhound coughed blood.
"You tried to kill a young kid," he said, even as a long sword pierced through his chest. "You call yourself an angel—where is your holy justice your kind boasts about?"
Both of his arms had already been severed.
The angel stood behind him.
He had struck from the blind spot.
"Justice does not apply to demons who devour children," the angel replied coldly.
He twisted the blade inside the landhound's body.
"Aaah—!"
The landhound screamed.
The angel kicked him forward.
The sword remained lodged in his back as he began to fall.
The landhound, plummeting.
The angel, descending after him.
Then—
Both of them felt it.
A shift.
A pressure.
A presence.
From below.
The angel's eyes moved downward.
A barrier.
A giant turtle.
A trembling girl.
The monkey…?
Where is the monkey.
He sensed something.
Behind him—
A shadow fell across his wings.
Kapi stood atop a pillar of earth that had risen kilometers into the sky.
He had been there.
Now apologize Mr angel
To be continued.