The Sky Trembles
The beast's horns blazed like twin suns. Flame streamed upward, searing holes into the blackened sky. The earth around its hooves cracked and bled molten rock.
This was not an attack. This was a verdict.
The clearing, once a forest, once a battlefield, was now nothing more than a stage for annihilation. Every branch, every blade of grass, every lingering ember bent toward the coming inferno as though the world itself acknowledged the inevitability.
Ahmed, however, did not acknowledge inevitability. He screamed at it.
"Oh no, oh no oh no oh no. That's the biggest one! Why does it keep getting bigger?!" He dropped to his knees, throwing his hands to the sky as if bargaining with an uncaring universe. "There has to be a size limit! Where's the max cap?!"
🔊 [NOTICE: BEGINNER PACK FULL POWER AVAILABLE IN… 21 MINUTES.]
Ahmed clutched his chest, face pale. "Twenty-one minutes? Twenty-one heartbeats! You're mocking me! I'm gonna die, and you're mocking me!"
The beast's roar drowned him out, shaking the ground. It lowered its flaming horns, focusing annihilation into a single, unstoppable charge.
And Ahmed—tripped on the same cursed patch of mud.
The Mud, Eternal
His foot slid. His body pitched sideways. His arms pinwheeled so fast they looked like broken propellers.
And once again, the horns missed him by a breath. The beast's charge gouged a canyon into the earth where Ahmed's torso had been a second before.
Ahmed slammed into the ground with a splat. His face half-submerged in mud, he spat and shouted, "Why is this the only thing that saves me?!"
🔊 [FACT-CHECK: MUD IS RELIABLE. HOST IS NOT.]
Ahmed rolled over, hands clawing the air. "I swear to everything holy, when this is over I'm buying land and building a shrine to mud!"
Liuyue, The Calm Amid Chaos
Liuyue's blade cut arcs of silver across the flames. Each stroke precise, each step deliberate, she moved like a dancer in a storm. But even she felt the mounting pressure of the beast's fury.
The air around it burned. Every breath seared her lungs.
And yet, as she fought, her eyes kept flicking toward Ahmed—mud-streaked, flailing, screaming, and somehow… alive.
She thought:
I once believed skill was supreme. That technique and discipline could overcome any chaos. But now… I see chaos can create survival where skill cannot.
The thought unsettled her. To trust this fool was to accept madness.
And yet… she steadied her blade, her lips barely moving. "Survive, Ahmed. I will buy you the time you need."
Chaos vs. Vengeance
The Nightmare Beast tore itself free from the trench it had carved. Its eyes burned with personal hatred, fixed only on Ahmed.
🔊 [NOTICE: BEAST STATUS – Vengeance Incarnate, MAXIMUM RAGE.]
Ahmed flailed backward on his hands and knees. "Why does it only hate me?! She's the one with the sword! Look at her, not me! I'm innocent! I'm… a tourist!"
The beast snorted, flames bursting from its nostrils.
🔊 [FACT-CHECK: HOST HAS COMMITTED 9,217 COUNTS OF INSULT AGAINST BEAST.]
Ahmed screamed, "I WAS JUST BREATHING!"
Improvised Desperation
In his panic, Ahmed grabbed the nearest object he could find: a scorched tree stump. It was half-charred, brittle, and far too heavy for him to wield properly.
He lifted it overhead like a club, legs trembling. "Stay back! I've got… I've got wood!"
The beast paused for half a heartbeat. Then, with the dignity of a monarch swatting a fly, it backhanded the stump into splinters.
Ahmed yelped, arms vibrating from the recoil. "Okay, note to self: wood is not the answer!"
He scrambled to the next object—a half-melted boulder. "Maybe… stone!"
He tried to lift it. His back cracked audibly. "Nope! Definitely not stone! Why is everything in this forest so heavy?!"
The Beast's Counterstrike
The Nightmare Beast opened its maw. Inside glowed a miniature sun, coalescing flame and fury into a single sphere of pure devastation.
Ahmed froze. His throat clicked as he swallowed. "That's not a fireball. That's… that's a fire planet!"
🔊 [NOTICE: BEGINNER PACK FULL POWER AVAILABLE IN… 20 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS.]
Ahmed clawed at the sky. "Twenty minutes?! Do you not see what's happening here?!"
The System ignored him. The countdown ticked on.
The beast fired.
Coward's Salvation
The inferno surged forward, filling the world with light. Trees vaporized. The ground turned to glass. Even Liuyue, who stood firm, had to leap back to avoid being engulfed.
Ahmed, meanwhile, dove once again into his salvation.
"MUD STYLE: INFINITE COWARDICE!" he screamed, belly-flopping into the muck as the blast passed overhead.
The heat singed his back. The mud boiled around him. His hair smoked.
And yet… alive.
When the fire cleared, Ahmed's head popped out of the sludge. He was shaking, but breathing.
"I'm telling you," he panted, "mud is a miracle material! Forget swords! Forget qi! Mud is the future of cultivation!"
🔊 [NOTICE: NEW PATHWAY REGISTERED – Mud Cultivation.]🔊 [RANK: DISHONORABLE.]
Ahmed slapped the mud. "Stop ranking me dishonorable!"
Liuyue's Fury
Liuyue's patience cracked. She cut down a wall of flame, pivoted, and shouted across the battlefield.
"Ahmed! If you waste this time, if you surrender now, then all of this—the fire, the pain, my sword—means nothing!"
Her voice, sharp as steel, pierced through Ahmed's panic.
For once, he froze. For once, he listened.
And for the first time since the battle began… he clenched his fists.
He whispered to himself, barely audible: "…I don't want to die."
Destiny's Joke
The beast stomped forward, horn glowing brighter, preparing to end it all.
Ahmed stood shakily, fists trembling, mud dripping from his chin. "Okay. Fine. If destiny wants me dead… then I'll…"
He took a step forward.
Tripped.
Fell flat on his face.
The beast's charge missed him again by inches, gouging another canyon through the battlefield.
🔊 [NOTICE: HOST HAS SURVIVED AGAINST IMPOSSIBLE ODDS.]
🔊 [CHANCE OF SURVIVAL: STATISTICALLY INSULTING.]
Ahmed spat mud and shouted, "I'M TRYING TO BE DRAMATIC HERE! STOP RUINING IT!"
The Countdown's Cruelty
The System chimed again.
🔊 [BEGINNER PACK FULL POWER AVAILABLE IN… 19 MINUTES.]
Ahmed threw his hands up. "Nineteen minutes?! I don't even have nineteen bones left intact!"
Liuyue exhaled slowly, steadying her stance. She had committed herself now—not to victory, but to enduring the storm beside this man.
Order cannot exist without chaos. Perhaps chaos cannot exist without order. Together, maybe… survival is possible.
Epilogue Cliffhanger :– The Unseen Spark
The Nightmare Beast roared one final time, gathering all its flames into a singular cataclysm. Its horns burned brighter than the sun. The earth trembled like it would collapse.
Ahmed staggered upright. His body shook. His knees knocked. And yet, in his chest, something stirred.
A spark.
Not of fire. Not of mud. But something else.
Something the System did not announce.
Liuyue's eyes widened. For the first time, she sensed it—something awakening inside Ahmed, chaotic and raw.
And the beast, as if sensing the same, lowered its horns and charged.
[TO BE CONTINUED....]