The Seven Demon's Tamer

Zhou was running ahead while Ryder stayed close by, matching the pace with ease. The Luo techniques he had absorbed earlier were still flowing through his body like second nature, making movements feel even more effortless. They were heading west, particularly toward the Tian district, and it didn't take long for them to close in on the vicinity.

The floating buildings made it clear they were at their destination—massive structures suspended in the air like stagnant clouds against the sky. Several thuds and violent sounds could be heard resounding from various directions on the floating structure, clearly indicating that the Red Eastern members of the Tian were already putting up a fight.

*Crash!* *Boom!* *Roar!*

Flashes of light went on and off, glowing through the night as if it was fireworks.

"It's a good thing that they didn't falter, isn't it?" Ryder exclaimed, staring at the first building within his field of view.

"Not like I was expecting the entire guild to be taken down by just two hundred descending pods," Leo responded, his silver eyes scanning the floating structures carefully.

Zhou, on the other hand, kept his head up, but for his face that had been carrying seriousness throughout their journey, there was a change again. The mask was slipping, revealing what lay beneath—the crazy expression he had been suppressing, the face of bloodlust. He was craving for battle like a starved man craves food.

His steps became more bouncy, more eager. Where before he had been running with purpose, now he was practically vibrating with joy. The sounds of combat ahead weren't alarming him—they were calling to him.

"Hey," Zhou called out to Ryder, waving at him without taking his eyes off the floating building that had captured his attention. His voice carried a playful tone. "Black mark summoner."

Ryder turned to him, intently. There was something in Zhou's tone that made him pause, something that suggested this wasn't going to be a simple discussion about their intrusion against the intruder.

The crazy expression he had been masking, the face of bloodlust. He was craving for battle.

"Let's play a game," Zhou continued, his grin widening with each word. "Whoever kills the highest number of Falcon asses will get to ask the loser for one wish. Any wish at all."

He gestured toward Leo without looking away from Ryder. "The blue-silver eyed man beside you can partner with you to make it more fun if you want. Two against one? I like those odds."

"Are you ready?"

"I don't want to play," Ryder responded bluntly, earning him a chuckle from Zhou. It was the kind of laugh that belonged in a madhouse, not on a battlefield.

Zhou's head tilted slightly, like a predator sizing up prey. Then, slowly, he turned his eyes sideways, allowing the red glint in them at that moment to radiate and pierce through the darkness of the night. In that moment, he looked less like a guild member and more like something that had crawled out of the worst pit of chaos.

This was the kind of look that sent shivers down Ryder's spine.

"It wasn't a request," he spoke with finality, his voice dropping to a low guttural tone that somehow carried more menace than harsh words.

*Bwoom*

Before Ryder could respond, before Leo could even process what was happening, Zhou disappeared in a powerful explosive motion that left a small crater where he had been standing.

"Damn!" Ryder cursed, bending his knees slightly. He could feel the Luo techniques responding to him, his body automatically preparing for the kind of movement that would have been impossible just a while ago.

*Vwoom!*

He quickly made a leap, covering an abnormal distance in a single bound that carried him straight toward the particular building that had caught his eyes. Leo followed suit, finally deciding to speak.

"That guy is completely insane," Leo muttered as they soared through the air. "We're supposed to be helping guild members, not competing in some twisted death game."

"Yeah, well, tell that to Zhou," Ryder replied, his white hair fluttering in the wind as they approached the floating structure. "I get the feeling he's not really the type to take no for an answer."

All thanks to the gamma sense, he could already see the auras of the battling individuals above. On this particular building, there weren't many Falcon Guild intruders—just two from his rough estimation—but they had their familiars summoned out, making them four opponents total.

*Thud!*

His feet collided with the ground, emitting a loud sound that caused the battlefield to momentarily fall silent. The attackers and the defenders all turned to look at him, their faces showing puzzlement. Leo landed beside him a moment later, his expression calm.

Ryder opened his mouth to speak, not wanting to make the first offensive move. Even though he knew they most likely wouldn't listen to him, he still wanted to try to talk some sense into them. Maybe there was a way to resolve this without more bloodshed. Maybe—

He wanted to try negotiating, past tense, because the moment he opened his mouth to speak, the sight that befell him made him hold back whatever he had been about to say.

There, in the center of the floating structure's main platform, lay the bodies of three Red Eastern guild members. They weren't just unconscious—they were clearly dead, their bodies twisted in ways that suggested they had died in agony.

Their bodies, lying in a pool of blood. For some strange reason, this suddenly brought back memories he wanted to forget. Memories of how he saw his mother's corpse when he came home.

One of the Falcon Guild members, a woman with short black hair, was standing over the bodies with a satisfied smirk. "Oh, look," she called out to her partner, "more fresh meat for the slaughter."

Her familiar, a hyena beast creature, grunted in response.

Her companion, a burly man with scars covering his arms, laughed. "Three more bodies for the pile. Master Yuki will be pleased."

His familiar, a massive bear-like creature with orange fur, roared as if approving his summoner's words. The sound echoed off the floating building's walls, possibly trying to intimidate Ryder, Leo, and the other few bloodied surviving Red Eastern members around.

The part of him that wanted to find a peaceful solution to the current problem, that wanted to believe there was still goodness in these people, died in that moment along with the three guild members whose names he didn't even know.

That was when something inside Ryder snapped.

"You know what?" Ryder said, his voice carrying a coldness that made the temperature around them drop. "I changed my mind about Zhou's game."

*Explosive rush.*

The words left his mouth like a battle cry, and suddenly he was moving with a speed not even Leo could track. The Luo techniques weren't just flowing through him anymore—they were him. He was harnessing the technique at its peak.

*Fist fall.*

That was the last phrase Leo heard from Ryder, because what followed was pure violence.

*Boom!*

The first strike connected with the woman's face before she could even decipher that he had moved. Her head flung back with such force that her neck audibly cracked, and she crashed to the ground. She didn't stop upon collision; her body cratered the surface until she burst out from the ground of the floating building, heading for the ground.

*Boom!*

The second strike caught the burly man in the chest, shattering his ribs and sending him flying backward into the building's wall, crashing through it and further, not showing signs of slowing down even after he disappeared from their field of view.

They were dead, no question.