Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

The group of seasoned Cultivators watched as Gerald flew off to meet the beasts head-on.

“That guy’s crazy! Does he think he can fight a horde all on his own?” One of the men said with a frown.

“Let him go. He might slow them down enough to give us a fighting chance. Also, don’t forget this is just the first wave. Save your energy and we just might live through this.” Another said and took out a fancy-looking metal spear.

“Whatever, I’m turning off this thing before it attracts more monsters.” A third guy said and reached for the beacon. Just as he was about to touch it, a barrier shimmered into existence and blocked his touch. At the same time, a small lightning bolt zapped his hand.

“Ow!” He yelped in surprise and retracted his fingers. The lightning could barely be considered an attack. It was more of a slap on the hand, telling him not to touch.

“This… prick! He set up a barrier around it.” The guy said, outraged, and went for the beacon with more force.

There was a sudden flash of light and an explosion, followed by a scream of pain from the same individual. As the dust cleared, they saw a great canyon on the ground where the Cultivator was lying, smoking from the impact.

[Hands off my stuff.] Came a booming voice, after which everything quieted down. Everyone turned towards the source just in time to see great flying beasts engage in a fight with the man.

“Ugh… My head. What in the Lower Planes was that?”

The guy climbed out of the hole and returned to the crowd. He was groaning in pain while massaging his chest where the impact happened.

“Haha, he got you good, huh? You are lucky he held back.” The Drow chuckled wickedly, clearly enjoying the show.

“Held back?!” The guy barked in anger and pulled the remains of something out of his robe. “Like hell he held back! See here? He was trying to kill me! If it wasn’t for this life-saving amulet, I would have been dead! Do you have any idea how much this cost me?!”

“Pfft.” Thalza crossed her arms around and turned, unwilling to engage in conversation with the human. “Weakling.” She said under her breath.

“What was that?!” The guy roared, his anger clearly redirected at the Drow.

Lee massaged his temples in frustration. Infighting was the last thing they needed. Luckily for him, before those two could take their argument any further, a great fiery explosion shook the air, the shockwave incredibly strong even at such a distance.

It was like the land was suddenly blessed by the sun, the light blinding even for the enhanced Cultivators. When the magic died down, they saw beasts with bodies as large as houses and a wingspan five times that, dropping from the sky, their limbs torn and wings broken.

Those massive bodies were like meteors, impacting the ground, killing some weaker beasts outright, and compelling others into a feeding frenzy.

The creatures were smart. Who in their right mind would let such an opportunity pass? They were all madly rushing towards the village in the first place because they detected a surge of Qi from there. They were all starving for energy, so when a feast fell from the sky, obviously they would jump at the chance to gorge themselves.

Roars and deep rumbles resounded when the beasts began tearing into carcasses, pushing and shoving each other out of the way. Quickly things escalated, the strongest beasts feasting while the weaker ones were forced away. They had no choice but to continue on their trek toward the original destination from where the surge originated.

Meanwhile, Gerald transformed into a Dragon, flaming wings flapping at a leisurely pace as he circled the skies, his massive form enough to blot out the sun, had there been any in the Lower Plane in the first place. Instead, he was the sun. The flaming wings and fiery breath burning all who came to challenge, the light alone from it enough to crisp up unguarded flesh.

“That’s so unfair.” Thalza said, to nobody in particular, with crossed arms as she watched the flaming dance across the sky. “This is supposed to be a prison, not a playground. Act like it!”

“Young lady, you seem to know him?” Thalza turned and saw the Enchanter standing behind her. “Is he your friend?” He asked.

The Drow snorted, almost insulted by his guess. “Friend. Hah! He’s the entire reason I’m here! This... bastard. You weaklings have no idea what you have done. That man is dangerous. You should have killed him while you had the chance. Now he’s just going to grow stronger…”

She gritted her teeth as she watched another winged creature, its size larger than a mansion, fall from the sky. “He will be the end of you all, mark my words.”

“Is he really that strong?” The disheveled man asked with some skepticism in his voice. Even as he saw the man fighting alone against hundreds of hungry beasts, he refused to believe it. “There is no way one guy is that strong, right? It has to be some relic of some kind.”

“Well…” The Enchanter guy wanted to say something, his mind going back to the piece of Celestial Metal he got handed so casually. The fact that they were in a barrier while they talked showed the man took great care of keeping certain things secret. Even if it was only for keeping up appearances. He doubted it was because he didn’t know the metal’s value. It was more likely he knew it even better than him, yet handed it over anyway.

The metal was pure, in any case. A bar of solid Celestial Metal. With it, he just might be able to create what the guy wanted.

In any case, he knew nobody could fight like that. Not even Lee could sustain that kind of energy expenditure for long. The only question was, could he hold on for long enough? Every man had limited energy stores, even if his appeared to be somewhat larger than was the norm.

Maybe the draconic form was his real body and the human one he showed was just a disguise. It would make sense that way, even if he had never seen or heard of a creature like that. Still, the world was full of surprises, so who was he to judge? In the end, he didn’t say anything.

“Yep. Definitely a relic. There’s no way he is doing that on his own. I once knew a guy who used similar magic, but the weapon chewed through dozens of Stones every second, and bla, bla, bla…” Some random guy started talking, spouting a bunch of garbage.

“Humans…” Thalza shook her head and turned away. She almost wanted to tell them how wrong they were, and how Gerald singlehandedly destroyed their army, killing hundreds, if not thousands all at once. Even if he was a human, that power alone deserved respect. But then she would be praising an enemy if she did that, so she remained quiet and let things play out as they should.

“Fun’s over.” Lee suddenly announced, and everyone tensed up.

Many beasts were busy fighting Gerald or stealing mouthfuls of food while they could from the victims of his success, but that still left a whole lot of them coming at them from all directions. The man himself took on maybe 10% of them, but that still left the remaining 90% for the fifty or so people gathered.

Soon that number increased by a few dozen as the teams that were out hunting flew back in a panic with all kinds of monsters on their tail.

“Oh, hey Sonic!” One of the gathered folk waved at a hunter known for his speed. “I know I said to bring me something as well, but this is too much! Haha!”

“Fuck off, Irit! What have you done, man, the beasts suddenly all went mad!” Sonic landed heavily on the ground and dusted himself off. “We were just about to kick a Gorut’s ass when we felt this huge surge of energy coming from the village. It made all the monsters in the area go into a frenzy and rush towards it. What happened? Are we under attack?”

“We are now.” Another guy said and pointed at the flaming sky. “But if you are looking for a culprit, it was that guy.”

“A Dragon?!” Sonic shouted, nearly in a panic as Gerald appeared on the horizon, spewing great plumes of fire from his mouth. Due to all the smoke and dust in the air, he was unable to see the fight previously.

“A shapeshifter, actually.” Irit, his friend, corrected him. “He arrived just hours ago and is already making a mess of things.”

“Yeah… That’s the thing that did it, by the way. His beacon. Don’t touch it. The first guy who tried it nearly got killed because of it. The guy broke his Arcane Aegis in a single shot.”

“You are kidding!” Sonic’s mouth gaped at the random Cultivator who joined the conversation. “One shot?”

He looked at the blazing fire in the distance again and then thought for a moment. “Well, if it’s a Senior in the Sky Realm, I can believe it. But why is he here? Why is he battling with those beasts, do we know?”

“Sky Realm?” The guys looked at each other and then back at Sonic. “No, that’s just some youngster at the Third Level of the Spirit Realm.”

“WHAT?!”

Almost to emphasize the unbelievable fact, Gerald suddenly roared, his voice alone making the ground quake, and then released a powerful blast of energy that evaporated every living being in his vicinity.

All who felt the shockwave instinctively knew his Realm and Level, yet few could accept it.

“That- That’s impossible! It must be a trick!” Sonic said. His mind could not grasp the depths of power that should by all rights be much weaker than his. And yet the vast ocean of energy that spilled out was undeniable.

The power was real, as real as the Lower Plane itself. And yet, despite the wasteful nature of the fight where it was used, nobody felt it was wrong. Instead, it felt right. A powerful being could waste energy as much as it wanted, for it commanded the power that gave it strength.

However, no matter how right it felt for it to be wasteful, a vortex still appeared above the Dragon, sucking all of that Qi back in. Every little piece that was not consumed by the everlasting void of the Lower Plane was attracted, gathered in one place, concentrated, and reabsorbed by him. By the beast of everlasting flames.

Some felt compelled to drop to their knees and pray to the almighty beast, a titan with seemingly unlimited power and strength, to bring them salvation. Yet there were others whose hearts instead gave birth to envy, cursing the strong and bullying the weak.

However, the world was fair, and in the Lower Plane, all were equal. All were trash. Insignificant insect compared to the eternity that was the gray wasteland. Specks of dust to be blown away by the wind. All destined to die.

“Stop gawking, you fools, fight!” Lee shouted and swung his blade, cleaving the first of many beasts in half. His weapon carried no glow of magic, no traces of Qi, only a dull shin of metal, with monstrous physical strength behind it.

An arrow flew as it answered his call, shot from a bow of significant value, forged of precious metals and powerful alloys, striking with the power of a cannonball, and burrowing itself into the eye of another monstrous creature.

More joined the fight, the chorus of battle growing louder as scales clashed with metal, and beasts fought with men.

In that land of eternal drought, in the gray, dusty place the world had forgotten, rivers flowed for the first time in a while. Rivers of blood and sorrow.