Sky-road battlefield, moments before annihilation
Twenty-one neutral-path cultivators stood in perfect formation, weapons glowing, ready to delete three "arrogant demon brats."
Then the sky split open.
A living volcano descended.
Azrath Kain Veyl, First Prince of House Lust, peak Nascent-Soul demonic cultivator, landed with the force of a meteor strike. The entire sky-road cracked in a mile-wide radius.
His golden-core killing intent rolled out like a physical tsunami.
Every single cultivator except Captain Lian Wuxin instantly froze, statues of pure terror, unable even to twitch a finger. Some literally wet themselves on the spot.
Azrath ignored the twenty statues and locked eyes with Lian.
Two apex predators sizing each other up.
Then Azrath blinked.
"…Hold on."
He pulled out his communication jade, hit speed-dial, and put it on speaker without a care in the world.
Other end picked up instantly.
Background noise: loud wet slaps, feminine moans, a woman's voice screaming "Yes, baby boy, deeper in Mommy!"
Asmodeus Kain Veyl (the grandfather currently balls-deep in his own mother) answered mid-thrust, totally casual.
"Yo, son. Problem solved?"
Azrath scratched his cheek. "Quick question, Dad. The leader's name… Lian Wuxin. Ring any bells?"
A feminine squeal in the background, then Asmodeus's booming laugh.
"Ohhh, THAT kid! Yeah, his mom used to be one of my personal maids. Cute woman. Kid thought he had exclusive rights. I borrowed her for a weekend, turned her full succubus, and she never looked back. Poor boy's been salty ever since."
More wet slaps. "Harder, Mommy loves it!"
Azrath stared at the jade.
Then he started laughing.
Not a chuckle. Full-on, doubled-over, clutching-his-stomach, tears-in-eyes demonic laughter.
The frozen cultivators started twitching, some literally biting their own tongues to keep from laughing and dying at the same time.
One foundation-realm guy lost the battle completely, fell on his ass, and rolled around howling with laughter while still paralyzed from the neck down.
Lian Wuxin's face stayed perfectly flat, but a single vein throbbed in his forehead like it was trying to escape.
Azrath wiped a tear, still wheezing.
"So let me get this straight… you massacred two thousand of our people… because Grandpa cucked you two centuries ago?"
Lian's eyelid twitched.
Azrath turned to us (me, Kai, Riven) and the three succubi peeking out of the carriage.
"Guys, new plan. We're not killing them."
Kai blinked. "We're not?"
"Nope." Azrath grinned like a devil who just found a new toy.
"We're adopting them."
He snapped his fingers.
Every single cultivator (including the one still rolling on the ground laughing) was instantly bound in unbreakable infernal chains branded with the House of Lust crest.
Azrath leaned in close to Lian's ear and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear:
"Welcome to the family, little brother-in-law.
From now on you work for the guy who stole your mom.
Your new job title: Official Luggage Carrier & Emotional Support Cuck."
He patted Lian's cheek affectionately.
Somewhere in the Abyss Auction House skybox, Asmodeus sneezed mid-orgasm and laughed even harder.
Back on the sky-road, Azrath slung an arm around my and Kai's shoulders.
"Come on, babies. Let's go home.
Mommy's waiting with cookies… and Grandpa's still busy."
We left twenty-one legendary cultivators chained in the middle of the road, one of them still crying with laughter.
Best. Family reunion. Ever.
Inside the carriage, ten seconds earlier
Wet slaps, feminine moans, masculine grunts, the whole vehicle rocking like it was in an earthquake.
I had Liora folded in half, Kai was railing his succubus against the window, Riven had his pinned to the ceiling with water tendrils (don't ask).
Then,
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
A shockwave slammed the carriage sideways. The nightmare horses screamed. Silk curtains shredded. All six of us were thrown into a tangle of limbs and tails.
"What the fuck?!" Kai yelled, still inside his partner.
Outside the shattered window, two suns collided.
Azrath Kain Veyl and Lian Wuxin were no longer on the ground.
They were fighting in the sky itself.
Azrath's body ignited into living infernal armor, molten cracks spreading across his skin, six flaming wings of pure wrath flaring behind him. Every punch he threw birthed a volcanic explosion; the air itself screamed.
Lian Wuxin answered with cold, perfect precision. His blood-red halberd spun like a crimson storm, leaving after-images that sliced into the fabric of space. Golden-core runes rotated around him in perfect mandalas, turning every strike into a law of physics.
BOOM!
Azrath's fist met the halberd's shaft. Shockwave carved a mile-long canyon into the sky-road below.
CRACK!
Lian twisted the blade, turning defense into offense, blade edge screaming toward Azrath's throat. Azrath leaned back at impossible speed, the cut splitting only a single strand of hair that instantly burned to ash.
Azrath laughed, voice like erupting magma.
"Not bad for a cuck!"
Lian's face stayed flat, but his eyes blazed.
He stomped the air. Thousand sword shadows materialized behind him, each one a golden-core sword intent, and fired like a meteor shower.
Azrath roared. Both arms crossed, infernal runes spinning, forming a black-hole shield of flame that swallowed every sword, then spat them back as flaming dragons.
The twenty chained gang members watched from the ground, mouths open, forgotten.
One whispered, "Captain… is actually keeping up with a Nascent-Soul prince…"
Another: "They're not even using domains yet…"
Up in the storm of fire and steel:
Azrath spun mid-air, leg whipping in a blazing crescent that could bisect mountains.
Lian parried with the halberd shaft, redirected the force, and used the momentum to launch a thousand invisible blade waves that shredded the clouds.
Every clash birthed thunder that cracked the horizon.
Every step they took in the sky left burning or bleeding footprints in the void space.
Azrath cracked his neck, grin widening.
"Round two, mommy's boy?"
Lian spun the halberd once, golden-core aura detonating into a blood-red lotus beneath his feet.
Neither had even drawn their true weapons yet.
Far below, Thorne Varg (the grizzled incubus driver) floored the accelerator. Nightmare horses galloped across the burning sky-road like it was solid ground.
I poked my head out the window. "Old man, what the hell is going on?!"
Thorne didn't even look back, just cracked the reins harder.
"Some lunatic golden-core swordsman challenged the First Prince. Young Master Azrath told me to keep you three safe. So sit down, shut up, and let the adults flex."
Behind us, the sky turned into a painting of fire and blood.
Azrath and Lian charged again, fist and halberd colliding in a sphere of pure annihilation that swallowed all sound.
The fight was no longer about winning.
It was about who could look cooler while trying to murder the other.
The sky-road battlefield
For three straight hours the heavens had been on fire.
Mountains shattered.
Space cracked.
Two monsters danced at the edge of reality.
Then it happened.
Lian Wuxin overextended by half an inch on a halberd thrust.
Azrath saw it, slipped inside the guard like a phantom, and drove one casual palm into Lian's chest.
No explosion.
No blood.
Just pure, overwhelming force.
Lian flew backward a full kilometer, smashed through three floating boulders, and cratered into the road hard enough to spiderweb the obsidian for miles.
Silence.
Lian tried to stand.
His halberd clattered away, broken in half.
His golden-core aura flickered like a dying candle.
He pushed up on shaking arms… and his face crumpled.
Not rage.
Not defiance.
Pure, ugly, child-like breakdown.
Shoulders heaving.
Tears streaming.
Snot bubbling.
"I just… wanted my mom back…"
The words came out in broken sobs, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"I just wanted her to look at me again… not him… not anyone else… just me…"
He curled into a ball right there in the crater and cried like the world had ended.
Twenty hardened cultivators forgot how to breathe.
Azrath landed softly in front of the crater, flames dying down to embers.
He looked at the crying mess that had almost matched him blow for blow…
and something in his face softened.
He crouched, big hand surprisingly gentle on Lian's shaking shoulder.
"…Hey."
Lian flinched, tried to curl tighter.
Azrath sighed, sat cross-legged in the dirt, and pulled a jade flask from his ring.
Top-grade infernal whiskey. Burns going down, heals the soul coming back up.
He took a long swig, then offered it.
"Drink."
Lian stared at the flask like it might bite him.
Azrath shrugged and drank again. "Suit yourself."
A minute passed.
Then Lian's trembling hand reached out, grabbed the flask, and chugged half of it in one go.
He coughed, tears still flowing, but the sobs quieted to hiccups.
Azrath patted his back, awkward but sincere.
"Listen, man… I'm not gonna kill you. That was one of the best fights I've had in centuries. Would be a waste."
Lian sniffed. "…Really?"
"Yeah. And honestly?" Azrath scratched his horn. "Grandpa's a dick. He does this shit to everyone. You lasted longer than most."
Somewhere in the distance, Thorne Varg and the gang had already started a bonfire, hunting shadow boars and dragging them back. Succubi were setting up tables like this was a picnic.
Azrath hauled Lian up by the back of his torn robe and dragged him toward the fire.
"Come on, cuckboy. Meat's almost ready."
Lian stumbled after him, still sniffling, but didn't even protest the nickname.
Two hours later
The sky-road was quiet again, stars visible through the clearing smoke.
Twenty-one ex-enemies plus three succubi plus one grizzled incubus driver sat around a massive bonfire.
Lian, face puffy, eyes red, was on his eighth flask, laughing so hard he almost fell into the flames as Azrath retold (with dramatic gestures) how Grandpa once "borrowed" an entire angel's harem for a weekend.
Every time Lian hiccup-laughed, someone topped off his cup.
Kai raised his drink. "To the guy who made a Nascent-Soul prince sweat, and then cried like a baby!"
Cheers and roars.
Lian tried to look offended, failed, and just laughed harder.
Azrath slung a massive arm around his new drinking buddy.
"Welcome to the family, little brother-in-law. You carry the luggage, we'll find you a new mom— I mean girlfriend."
Lian groaned into his hands. Everyone lost it again.
Above them, the broken pieces of the sky slowly knit themselves back together.
And for the first time in centuries, Azrath Kain Veyl, terror of the nine realms, smiled without killing intent.