The courtyard was a frozen tableau, every breath held as if the world itself feared to disturb the taut line between life and death. An ominous feeling built within the atmosphere, reaching a crescendo. Osborne's grip on Rita tightened, the air constrict shimmering against her skin like a blade of glass. Jeffery stood rigid, his fists trembling, his aura smoldering like a storm contained within a man's flesh.All the cops and bodyguards held their breaths as they watched the two advanced alchemists with fear in their eyes. Rita was not spared. She was just as terrified as they were, her eyes bulging out of their sockets. In fact, she was even more scared that they were because she was the target of the assassin.Jeffery had come to save them but Osborne was still holding them as captives in the air constructs which he had created. Any small mistake on his part and they would be killed like the bodyguard who had died just now.So their hearts were heavy with tension, beads of sweat tri

The atmosphere bled with silence. Dust and debris floated through the fractured courtyard like ghosts. The moonlight, fractured by smoke and flickering embers, shone weakly upon Jeffery—the man who now stood like a god reborn.The energy in his veins thrummed. It wasn't just Qi anymore but something else. It was something older, purer, and infinitely more terrifying. It seemed to be something which was more ancient than time itself.His aura hummed in the air like a living storm. The ground beneath him cracked into deep spiderwebs, unable to withstand the magnitude of his presence.Inside his Dantian, the final barrier had broken. The spiraling rivers of elemental essence had fused—fire into into water, earth into air—until the four merged into one seamless current. It wasn't chaos; it was equilibrium.This... he clenched his fists slowly. I've finally reached the peak of the advanced level. And with it came a new agility: matter transmutation.Well, he actually had this ability but i

The officers moved through the ruins like silent phantoms—disciplines, methodical, and numb to the carnage around them. Their flashlights cut pale tunnels through the smoke, beams gliding over shattered glass, cracked tiles, and the faint shimmer of blood frying under the cold night air. Radios whispered static. Cameras clicked. The sound of zipping body bags echoed like closing prayers.Raindrops fell from the cloudy sky, wetting the world below. Gusts of cold wind billowed through the environment, causing more haze to descend. Visibility became extremely low because of the weather. And this helped to cast a stygian look to the courtyard.What remained of it looked less like a battefield and more like a desecrated temple. The fountains had collapsed into itself, spilling water that mixed with soot. Charged petals from the flowerbeds drifted in the wind like ashes from a funeral pyre. The air carried the metallic scent of death, clinging to the tongue like rust. They found Dan Kimiko

The storm did not stop. It only deepened, becoming heavier with every second that passed.Rain lashed against the broken glass like claws, streaking the marble floor with veins of silver. The flames that had once burned with fury were now reduced to embers, their faint orange glow trembling against the gusts that slipped through the shattered panes. The air was think with the scent of wet ash, of burned paper and blood drying on stone.Jeffery stood near the window, silent as a monument. The dim lightning carved him into fragments—jaw tight, shoulders squared, his reflection a mosaic of conflicting faces. Every crack in the glass split him into another version of himself: the soldier, the savior, the executioner. And behind him all, something deeper—something hollow.The weight of everything pressed in. The silence. The storm. The truth.He breathed out, the sound low and harsh in the cold air. "Do you hate me now?"The words came slow, almost reluctant, like a confession rather than

The city was still miles away, but its glow already burned faintly across the horizon—an amber haze pulsing like a dying heart through the curtains of rain. Between Jeffery and that light stretched a long road, slick with water and shadow, lined with trees stripped bare by the wind.He walked it without a word. He was all by himself after all. And if there had been someone else, he wouldn't have said anything to the person. Nothing at all.The night pressed around him, whispering through branches. Puddles swallowed his footsteps; mud clung to his boots. The rain no longer felt cold—his body had gone numb long ago. His breath came out in faint clouds, vanishing almost as soon as they formed.Every now and then, lightning tore through the clouds, revealing flashes of the world he trudged through.Every now and then, lightning tore through the clouds, revealing flashes of the world he trudged through.Jeffery's coat dragged behind him, its edges darkened by rain and soot. He had picked i