The dunes blew open, and all man saw was horror.

  Waxen skin draped on gigantic limbs, some on three legs, some on eight, some on none at all. Misshapen skulls, hollowed-out eyes, and rows after row of drooling, gleaming teeth…

  That first wave almost broke them before the battle began.

  They hadn't been ready,bowed inward, nearly at blows—there was a great deal of cursing and shouting as they whirled around, struggling to brace against the threat.

  Then the Monster tide broke over the first human ranks, and all was lost in blood, screams, and whirling teeth.

  “Skyhammers, to me!” roared Kang. He thrust his hammer to the heavens, and it blazed with lightning—a beacon for all his men. A blaze of defiance.

  That jolted some life back into them. His chariots thundered back into action, bucking against the current. They swept into a counter-charge, driving a jagged white spike through the frothing dark.

  Just in time—Fairy Shi and her disciples had thrown up a crystalline shield, quickly buckling under Monster fangs. It was just about to shatter when the Skyhammers broke the line.

  Kang kept going, swiping furiously. His hammer bashed in the skull of a Core two-headed wolf-Monster, mowing down another.

  A scorpion tail screamed from behind, arching for the nape of his neck. A white sash held it back, glared frost-white—and shattered it.

  Kang grinned. “You take left, I’ll smash right!”

  The rivals went back-to-back and attacked.

  Overhead, Emperor Cloudless summoned a dome of thunderclouds; it was said Cloudless could fill oceans with his essence. Tornadoes sprung up at his fingertips, churning madly.

  Just in time. The skies were crowded with black: skeleton gargoyles, greater winged wyrms, spindly yellow-eyed dragons belching noxious fumes.

  Cloudless flung his disasters skyward.

  His fury washed out half the skies. Bloodied, shredded creatures crashed to earth, trailing rivers of blood.

  And like that—humanity began fighting back in earnest.

  In the distance, a bare-chested firebreather torched a giant spider.

  At the center of the battlefield, the Wandering Monk balanced his staff in his hands. And, in the midst of chaos, drew breath. Sought his center.

  “A grain of sand,” he whispered. “May find, in itself, a mountain.”

  As he spoke, the dunes began to tremble.

  “Please—accept this humble offering.”

  He planted his staff in the ground.

  Tremors wracked the battlefield.

  Fissures cracked across the dunes. The sands bowed in, sinking hordes of Monsters into the depths, clawing and howling.

  The forces of Monsters and men wrestled in a bloody drunken melee; back and forth they went. Here and there, the martial heroes would break through in pockets. But there were just too many Monsters, and more kept surging through; and they only seemed to grow bigger, grow nastier…

  To the right, there was the screech of a vermilion bird, the roar of the white tiger, and the foreigners held the flank.

  In the middle of the chaos—

  “Captain Shou!” Li Zhang burst up with his steed and saw his friend’s flag go down in a whirlpool of seething flesh.

  It was in the thickest of the fighting. Where the captain vanished, most of the loose cultivators—massed in their thousands—were vanishing too.

  If the Monsters broke through here, they’d split mankind’s forces. It didn’t take a general of Li’s caliber to know they were finished.

  Before him, a wall of broken shadow—more giant rotted muscle-bound bodies than the eye could see, than the mind could fathom, churning into each other.

  “Ninth cavalry!” he roared, hefting his spear. “To me!”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  His men answered his call.

  “You’re charging that?!”

  Even Skyhammer Kang looked stunned.

  Li Zhang just grinned.

  “The battle hangs in the balance. Here’s a moment, just one. But it means everything. Here’s where wars are won and lost. Here’s where men are made. Fate calls on us. How do we answer?!” Lines of Fate swirled around him as he spoke.

  His men roared.

  “Death or glory!”

  Li Zhang charged up the hill.

  A small force in red-and-gold uniform, a bright line streaking through the dark. It nearly shattered as it went, nearly flickered out. And yet the charge had an incredible momentum.

  It just kept going—breaking line after line—until it broke straight through the heart of the enemy line.

  “He actually did it,” said Kang, shaking his head, grinning too. “Godsdamned maniac.”

  To the north, the foreigners were a force unto themselves.

  Their airships had torn masts, but their cannons were manned and ready, blasting thick swathes of Monsters out of the skies. On the ground, the Prince and Princess were an army on their own.

  On one flank roared the avatar of a white tiger. It took on two Monster Lords at once. It slashed viciously at a wyvern Monster, seemingly at thin air; the echo of that slash faded away. Then it turned and engaged a serpent Monster.

  A second later, the wyvern fell out of the sky, both its wings seared off. Struck by a blow unseen—a blow out of time.

  The tiger pinned the serpent. More slashes—sent forward in time—dropped out of nowhere and carved through its neck.

  On the other flank, a Vermilion Bird scythed. As it flew, its feathers descended like a comet-storm, decimating the Monster ranks. The Princess was a bird of prey one moment, a woman the next, a spectacle of brilliant colors.

  At last, humanity fought as one.

  Then a long sigh rattled the ground.

  Humans…. Just a moment ago you were at each other's throats! I suppose you’re adaptable, if nothing else. And so very irritating.

  A seeping well of shadow opened up mid-air. A man stepped through.

  A beautiful man, pale as death, descending on giant tattered bat wings. His eyes were the color of blood.

  Lord Havoc, the Unmaker [Monster Prince]

  His aura unleashed.

  Ascendant.

  Shock rippled through the forces of man.

  “It can’t be…” whispered Fairy Shi.

  “The Lord of Horrors,” croaked a Firebreather. “How could he be here?!”

  Cloudless looked pale. Princess Saori cursed.

  No matter. sighed Lord Havoc. I’ll do the culling myself.

  His claws unsheathed.

  All the masters attacked at once.

  They knew the caliber of their foe. They knew they’d have just one chance.

  Skyhammer Kang charged in with a battle cry, hammers screaming with the weight of a half-dozen thunderbolts.

  Havoc didn’t even look at him. His wing cracked down, as though swatting a fly.

  Kang shattered like a doll.

  He went spiraling into the sands, shattered. He didn’t get back up.

  The Wandering Monk wasn’t far behind. “Spirits of Earth and Sky,” he prayed. “Grant me haste.”

  His staff extended until it became a pillar of earth, casting a long shadow down the horizon. It swung fast and furious.

  But Havoc simply glided out of the way. He made a gesture.

  A giant blood hand reached from nowhere and backhanded the Monk into oblivion.

  Cloudless managed to get in a thunderbolt. Havoc pointed.

  All of the Emperor’s shields shattered at once.

  A spear of blood erupted through his chest. He gasped, stared at it for a moment, uncomprehending, and fell.

  Below, a white tiger charged, building momentum. Prince Tatsuo unsheathed his claws, roaring. Li Zhang charged in too, bringing down a sunlight spear.

  Havoc made a fist. Blood tides erupted around them, and the moment the waves crashed over them—crashed through them—it was like all their powers just stopped working; the heroes went down spluttering and washed ashore broken.

  Is that all? sighed Havoc, like humanity’s best were mere child’s play.

  A proud, vicious cry. The battle cry of a legendary bird. A ray of light pierced the night—and Princess Saori attacked. Her eyes had gone pure white, and in that moment, under excruciating pressure, she unlocked the Sacred Talon, a power not seen in her family for a thousand years.

  She exchanged three moves with the Vampire Princes before a blood hand struck her so hard it forced her out of animal form. She went sprawling into the sands, spewing blood, and went still.

  Decent, sighed Havoc. But I suppose it’s all over now.

  He looked around at humanity’s broken heroes and found them wanting.

  So many lines of Fate. So many great destinies! Pity, pity… His lips split into a grin, full of teeth. He was enjoying himself a little too much.

  Let me give your pathetic little species the send-off it deserves.

  He drifted down and stomped on Saori’s chest.

  Good-night!

  Then a peculiar sensation touched his face. A warmth.

  He looked up. He seemed to find what he saw funny.

  Sunrise, he said. It’s almost poetic.

  Then—right in the middle of the battlefield, a portal opened up.

  The very same color as the Temple that had vanished just hours before.

  A man stumbled out.

  He looked around, blinking.

  “I get the sense I missed something,” he said.

  He was a well-built man. The most impressive specimen of man Havoc had seen. If you were a foreign species, just looking at him, you would assume he was their king.

  Something about this man irritated Havoc deeply, down to the bones, the soul.

  The Monster felt a primal urge to break him.

  Where'd you come from? said Havoc, cocking his head. Ah, yes. The Temple! You’re the cheater!

  He laughed. Some nerve you’ve got, coming back now…

  On the ground, the humans were trembling, trying to get to a knee. None could.

  Havoc drifted over leisurely.

  I do hope it was worth it. You stranded the very best of your kind to die while you gorged yourself on riches. All to end exactly where they are… isn’t Fate a funny thing?

  He leaned in close. Don’t be scared. Say something.

  “There’s been a misunderstanding,” said the man.

  Havoc’s grin widened. Truly? Do tell!

  The man looked at him funny. “You don’t seem to understand who you’re dealing with.”

  Havoc stared. Then he had to laugh. Really!

  He leaned in even closer—so close the man could smell the foul blood on his breath, so close they came eye to eye.

  Very well, he said. Enlighten me.

  “Sure thing.”

  Then Zane hit him.