Deviant: No Longer Human

Somewhere deep inside a dark, narrow passage…

"What a grumpy-looking shithole…"

Heavy footsteps echoed down the narrow, damp passage. Wang Xiao didn't bother softening them, what was the point? Whoever was here already knew he'd arrived.

The walls was stale, covered with that underground rot only caves carried, like the earth itself had been sweating for centuries. Moss stuck to the jagged walls, and thin rivulets of water dripped in slow, mocking rhythm.

The deeper he went, the wider the cave became, splitting into a dozen winding veins like a diseased heart. He traced the faint aftertaste of power in the air, the kind only a strong Transcendent left behind.

One had just landed here...

From another universe.

He snorted. "Crash in a strange world, first thing you do is hide in a cave?.."

There were a thousand places they could've gone, cities to infiltrate, mountains to claim, oceans to vanish into. But here they were, rotting in the belly of the earth. Which meant… they weren't hiding.

Wang Xiao kept walking, letting the thought roll around in his head. "What are you looking for, stranger… or who?"

The space began to warp, subtle at first, then more pronounced, the lines of the cave walls bending in ways they shouldn't, like reality had been hammered too hard and started to dent.

Spatial distortions!

He flicked a sliver of his energy forward, like a fisherman testing the current. It threaded through one warped corridor, and a heartbeat later, he felt it drop into something far below, heading toward the planet's core.

He tilted his head. "Well… that's not ominous at all."

He followed anyway.

Path after path, until the distortions grew lazy, like they'd given up trying to hide their trickery. And then, the space spat him out into a cavern so massive the ceiling was lost in shadow.

The damp stone walls stretched upward like the ribs of some dead giant.

By all rights, it should've been sweltering this deep underground, molten breath rising from the earth's gut. But it wasn't. It was cold enough that each exhale left a faint white mist.

Only one thing burned.

A flame.

Small enough to cup in his palm, floating dead-center in the cavern. Not red. Not orange. But a cold, impossible blue, licking the space in slow, deliberate curls.

And the energy bleeding from it… was obscene. Not just power... want. The kind of want that crawled under your skin and whispered stupid ideas into your ear.

Even Wang Xiao wanted it.

He took a step forward, grin slow and sharp—

A mocking voice drifted from behind him, clear in the local tongue:

*"Guess I'm not the only one who's hungry."*

"!!"

Wang Xiao froze for half a breath. The accent was flawless. Which meant whatever had landed here had already sifted through this world's language and culture like it was skimming a book.

He turned his head.... nothing.

Then his gaze tilted upward.

A figure was walking across the cavern's ceiling as casually as one might stroll a garden path. She dropped without a sound, landing in a slow crouch that bled into a stand.

A woman, dark hair spilling loose, her body wrapped in what looked like a single oversized white shawl instead of proper clothes, the fabric draped to hide and reveal in equal measure. Her fair hands were marked with dark tattoos, curling like ancient script along her skin.

"You came here for this?" Wang Xiao asked, jerking his chin toward the blue flame behind him. "What the hell is it?"

Her lips curved. "We call it the Flame of the Sky. It's… not just fire. It has a will, a spirit. When it shows itself, destruction follows. A weak host burns from the inside out, possessed until nothing's left but ash. It's one of the ten deadliest weapons in the world." She tilted her head, eyes narrowing in something between pride and warning. "Never thought it would appear here. When I found it, others found it too. You know what I did to them before coming here?"

She made a small, deliberate gesture, the kind of motion that promised violence without needing words.

Wang Xiao nodded.

So she had come here for the flame. Fine. But he wasn't here for it, in fact, he'd never even heard of it before now.

"Can the flame kill me?" he asked plainly.

Her brow creased. "…What?"

"Simple question," he said, almost bored. "Can it, or can't it?"

"It can't kill me… or you," she admitted, a touch of unease slipping into her voice.

That was all he needed to hear.

He started walking toward the flame.

"Wait!"

She blurred. One moment she was standing still, the next she was right in front of him, body between him and the fire, the shawl shifting to reveal a bare white shoulder inked with another curling black mark.

Her voice was sharper now. "This is mine."

Wang Xiao didn't slow, his grin tilting.

"You *might* have to fight me for it… or," his eyes flicked to the flame and back, "you can hand me something in return, and I'll make sure no one bothers you while you… absorb it. Which might take, oh, a few hundred million years."

Her frown deepened. They were studying each other in the silence between words, both aware that if they fought here, the consequences wouldn't just level the cavern, the shockwave might decide whether this universe survived the day.

In the end, she drew a slow breath and stepped back half a pace. "I need the flame for a greater purpose. My name is Yang Yuhuan... Are you the lord of this world?"

Wang Xiao nodded once.

Her gaze sharpened. "What about the other one?" She could feel it, another presence, far away.

"He'll be dead soon." He shrugged like it was weather.

Yang Yuhuan's eyes narrowed. She closed them, feeling deeper… and then her eyes snapped open, her voice turning into a scream. "You! You don't belong here!"

Wang Xiao sighed. "Well, you're right. Also… those symbols of yours…" His grin widened. "I've seen them before. Infact... I have someone just like you."

With a casual wave, an image flared into being.

Hei Lian. Hanging in midair, bleeding, her body burning under a cruel, regenerating flame, skin melting off her bones, growing back, melting again. The screams were endless, echoing alongside another figure chained beside her, the Shura King.

Yang Yuhuan's face drained of color. "Release them!"

"Oh? So she is related to you. I gave her a new name, Hei Lian. Pretty, isn't it? My good little puppy…" Wang Xiao chuckled, enjoying the twist in her expression.

So the Yang Clan's reach went further than he thought.

Yang Yuhuan's body trembled, her form breaking into mist. She lunged, claws forming from vapor, slicing toward his throat.

She was an inch away when he spoke, voice cold:

"I can kill them with a snap."

Her strike froze midair.

"Even if you somehow subdued me," he continued, "my people would still finish them. You could try to protect her… but you already tried once, didn't you?"

She shivered.

She had tried. But something, some impossible force, had held her in place. Someone had trapped her in the future.

"Now," Wang Xiao said, tone shifting to businesslike mockery, "if you peacefully hand me the weapon that can kill a Lord-class being, we can call it a truce."

He hadn't expected her to hesitate for this long... Interesting.

Her eyes narrowed. "…A weapon that can kill a Lord-class being?"

"Yes," he said smoothly. "I only need it temporarily." Of course, he was lying. He'd never give it back.

She went quiet for a moment, then stared at him with something between suspicion and calculation. "What makes you think I have something like that?"

"Because," he said, "you killed a Lord-class being not long after?"

"If I had such a weapon, would I be wasting time negotiating with you?" she shot back.

His silence stretched, she sneered. "Only the Executioners can kill a Lord-class being. Not even the Great Lords can erase us permanently. Whoever fed you that story, scammed you."

Wang Xiao's brows knit. "…You didn't kill Aegis, then? …Then who did?"

"First, I don't know who Aegis is," she said coldly. "Second, release my daughter, or I won't hesitate to fight."

Her assumption made him blink. Daughter?They looked like sisters to him, but the power difference… yes, that explained it. Which meant..

Oh.

She was the wife of one of the Four Great Lords of the Netherworld.