The Golden Flag planted on the high rock was not just a beacon; it was a curse. Its light cut through the jungle canopy, painting the leaves in eerie gold.
To the forty-seven remaining teams on Skull Island, it was irresistible bait.
"There!" a voice shouted from the brush. "Team Asura has a flag! Get them!"
Team Hyena—a group of five bandits wielding jagged sabers—burst out of the ferns. They were followed closely by Team Iron-Fist and Team Shadow-Walkers.
Greed. Pure, unadulterated greed. They didn't see the danger. They only saw the ticket to the finals.
"Here they come," Bo whimpered, loading three bolts into his crossbow at once. "Boss, there are at least thirty of them! We are going to be trampled!"
"Hold," Kaelen stood atop the rock, his arms crossed, his white mask reflecting the golden light. He looked like a deity judging mortals.
"Magnus," Kaelen commanded. "Open the gate."
Magnus stood at the base of the rock. He didn't have a weapon. He didn't need one.
"COME!" Magnus roared.
The sheer volume of his voice knocked the front line of Team Hyena off balance.
"Kill the giant!" The Hyena Leader screamed, jumping at Magnus.
Magnus caught the Hyena Leader mid-air. He didn't squeeze. He didn't throw. He simply... walked forward.
With the Hyena Leader struggling in one hand like a ragdoll, Magnus charged into the crowd. He was a battering ram.
BAM! THUD! CRACK!
Pirates flew into the air. Ribs were broken. Swords shattered against Magnus's Titan Skin. He wasn't killing them; he was dismantling them.
"Flank them!" The leader of Team Iron-Fist shouted. "Go for the fat one!"
Ten warriors circled around Magnus, aiming for Bo.
"Me? Why always me?!" Bo screeched.
He pulled a rope.
SNAP.
A net hidden under the leaves sprang up, hoisting four Iron-Fist members into the trees, where they dangled helplessly.
"Eat pepper!" Bo threw a clay pot.
POOF.
A cloud of Red Chili Powder exploded in the faces of the remaining six attackers. They dropped their weapons, clawing at their eyes, screaming.
"My eyes! It burns!"
"Amateurs," Bo sniffed, reloading his crossbow.
But more were coming. Team Shadow-Walkers—elite assassins—bypassed the chaos. They used stealth to climb the rock from behind, aiming directly for Kaelen's back.
"Die, Asura!" The assassin lunged, his dagger coated in poison.
Kaelen didn't turn.
Dragon Art: Omni-Directional Sense.
He sensed the disturbance in the air currents.
Shing.
Kaelen's Black Sword moved faster than the eye could follow. He didn't stab the assassin. He slashed the air above the assassin.
CRACK!
A heavy branch from the tree above, severed by the sword Qi, fell down.
BONK.
It hit the assassin squarely on the head. He collapsed instantly, sliding down the rock.
Kaelen finally turned. He looked at the chaos below. Thirty men were groaning in pain, beaten by a Giant and a Thief. None were dead yet.
"STOP!" Kaelen's voice was amplified by his Spirit Ocean, booming like thunder.
The fighting ceased. Even the pirates writhing in pepper pain looked up.
"Look at the sky," Kaelen pointed upward.
The contestants looked up.
The sky above the center of the island was no longer black. It was bleeding. A swirling vortex of crimson energy was gathering, sucking the life force out of the jungle. The trees near the center were withering, turning grey in seconds.
"What... what is that?" a pirate whispered.
"That," Kaelen said, "is your funeral."
He jumped down from the rock, landing softly among the defeated enemies.
"Prince Vane has betrayed you. There is no tournament. There are no winners. He is summoning the Blood Demon. That vortex needs souls to open. And you..."
Kaelen pointed at the crowd.
"...you are the fuel."
"Liar!" The Hyena Leader (still held by Magnus) shouted. "You just want to keep the flag!"
"Do I?"
Kaelen grabbed the Golden Flag.
SNAP.
He broke the flag in half.
The crowd gasped. He destroyed the ticket to victory?
"I don't care about the game," Kaelen said, tossing the broken pieces into the fire. "I care about survival. The Blood Demon will consume everyone on this island. Unless we stop it."
He drew his sword. The blade hummed with dark, abyssal energy.
"I am going to kill the Prince. I am going to kill the Demon. Who is with me?"
Silence.
The pirates looked at each other. They were criminals. They didn't trust easily.
"Why should we follow you?" a wounded Iron-Fist member asked. "You are just one man."
"I am one man who just defeated thirty of you without suffering a scratch," Kaelen replied coldly. "I have the Giant. I have the Strategist. And I have the power."
He unleashed his aura. Spirit Ocean + Dragon Fear.
The pressure forced them to their knees. It wasn't the pressure of a cultivator; it felt like a King looking down at his subjects.
Magnus dropped the Hyena Leader. "He... is... Strongest."
The Hyena Leader looked at the red sky, then at the monster standing before him.
He knelt.
"Team Hyena... pledges allegiance to Lord Asura."
One by one, the others knelt. Fear of the demon, combined with awe of Kaelen's power, broke their pride.
"Team Iron-Fist pledges!"
"Team Shadow-Walkers pledges!"
Within minutes, Kaelen had an army. Forty men. Rugged, desperate, and armed to the teeth.
"Bo," Kaelen ordered. "Distribute the healing potions. Get them fighting fit."
"But those are expensive!" Bo whined.
"Do it."
Kaelen looked toward the red vortex in the center of the island. It was growing larger. He could hear a heartbeat thumping across the miles.
Thump... Thump...
"Boss," Bo whispered, handing out potions. "Are we really going to fight a Demon?"
"No," Kaelen said, his eyes glowing with the vertical pupils of the Dragon. "We are going to hunt it."
Kaelen raised his sword.
"LISTEN TO ME!" he shouted to his new army.
"Tonight, we are not pirates! We are not scum! Tonight, we are the Slayers of Princes! We march to the center! We burn the ritual! And we take the Treasury for ourselves!"
"YEAHHH!" The army roared. The promise of loot and revenge ignited their blood.
"March!"
The army of the Lost moved out. Magnus led the vanguard like a bulldozer. Bo flanked the sides with traps. And Kaelen walked in the center, the General of a ragtag force that was about to shake the foundations of the Pirate World.
...
The Center of Skull Island. The Altar of Blood.
Prince Vane stood before a massive stone altar. He was laughing.
Surrounding him were the corpses of twenty contestants he had already sacrificed. Their blood flowed into runes carved on the floor, feeding the red vortex above.
"More!" Vane screamed. "I need more power! Come forth, Blood Demon! Grant me the strength to crush my father and rule the seas!"
Behind him, Jester sat on a pile of skulls, juggling daggers.
"Princey," Jester giggled. "You might want to speed it up. We have guests."
"Guests?" Vane turned.
From the jungle edge, a massive tree flew through the air.
CRASH!
It smashed into Vane's elite guards, crushing two of them instantly.
Magnus stepped out of the shadows, roaring.
Behind him, forty pirates charged, screaming war cries.
And above them all, gliding down from the canopy like a phantom, was Asura.
"Vane!" Kaelen's voice cut through the ritual chanting.
Vane looked up, his face twisting in shock. "How?! You should be dead! How did you unite the trash?"
Kaelen landed on the altar steps. He pointed his black sword at the Prince's throat.
"Trash?" Kaelen tilted his head. "One man's trash is another man's army."
"Attack!" Vane shrieked to his remaining guards. "Summon the Demon NOW!"
The vortex exploded. A massive, red claw emerged from the portal.
The Blood Demon was here.
Kaelen didn't flinch.
"Magnus! Take the guards! Bo! Blow up the runes! I will handle the Prince!"
The final battle of Skull Island had begun.
Author Note: "If you like the story, please vote with Power Stones! It helps me write faster."