Was the commotion caused by waking up?

"How long has it been?" Bian found himself asking this question more often than he liked to admit. In a space with no day and night cycle, he had no way of keeping track of time. It felt like he had spent ages here, drifting between the soul and spirit pillars.

After an inconceivable amount of time, something happened. The desolate body pillar erupted with blue light from within. Chaotic space currents rushed out of every damaged portion of the pillar, leading to further damage but also expelling the currents from his system once and for all.

Then miraculously, the pillar began to fix itself. No, it didn't fix itself, rather it was repaired probably due to interference from the outside world. The body pillar and his body were in essence, one and the same. Any effect on his body would affect the pillar and vice versa.

Thanks to this development, Bian wasn't completely bored out of his mind as he observed the body pillar slowly repair itself until it looked mostly intact, but then it stopped getting better. He waited a few revolutions, but the body pillar ceased to improve, and the piston within it was still silent.

The time he spent observing the pillar felt as long as the time he spent before the chaotic space currents were expelled. He had made up his mind to do it. Removing his palm from the soul pillar, Bian made his way to the body pillar instead of the spirit pillar, his heart full of palpable tension.

He placed his palm on the body pillar, feeling the piston vibrate a little. If an electrocardiogram was attached to his body, it would have registered a single heartbeat at that moment.

"Come on!" Bian placed both palms on the pillar. The piston roared to life, pumping up and down. A repulsive force sent Bian away from the pillar, he felt like a balloon underwater constantly pushed upwards.

Bian opened his see to see an unfamiliar ceiling, he was lying on a hospital bed in an empty hospital room. He forced himself to speak, "What, no one to welcome me back to the land of the living"

Taking a closer look, he observed the machines strapped to his body. One machine supplied warm, oxygenated and nutrient filled blood into his system while another removed the cold, deoxygenated and insipid blood from his system. He was once again quite amazed with how far human technology had gone in the alliance.

He yanked the syringes and cables out of his system. Unable to find a power switch, he connected the syringes to each other to avoid unnecessary blood spill. He was in a classic hospital gown, and there was no trace of his clothes, or any other clothes for that matter.

Looking into the mirror, Bian had to admit he looked terrible. His body was ridiculed with scars and stitches, and a large stitch that travelled up from his eyebrow to his scalp. He didn't know how the doctors had managed to patch him up, but his physical condition was in the gutters.

"I need to get back to the sanctuaries" Bian resolved to do so as soon as possible. Evolving to become a surpasser was the only feasible way his body could return back to its peak condition.

Outside his room, two female nurses whispered as they drew closer.

"I'm just saying, why waste a room and so much money on a dead man. It could be used to save so many lives."

"Shh. I don't want to get in trouble again. Keep your thoughts to yourself," the nurse said as she opened the door.

"Ah!"

"Yin! What happened" The second nurse ran through the door. Yin was there, frozen in shock as she gazed at.. nothing?

The equipment was still there, almost everything looked normal, but the body they spent so much time preserving was gone. Yin dragged on her sleeves and pointed at the open window.

"That's impossible, we're on the thirty-second floor. Stay here, I'll go raise an alert." Yana, the second nurse, ran to the head of security as fast as she could. Soon a red alert rang through that section of the underground city.

"Where am I?" Bian couldn't help but wonder, he was in an underground city as vast as the eye could see. Hundreds of crystal pillars acted as supports and lighting for the system. Some shone blue, while others shone green.

Bian carefully navigated through the city as he made his way to the teleporters. He infiltrated a delivery team and managed to get himself some decent clothes. Then he climbed back to the top of the floating van, taking in the scenery.

Suddenly all the crystals gave off a red glow, and there was a huge panic. Several civilians scurried to the shelters, while those too far from one hid in their homes.

"I hope they didn't put up a red alert because I left abruptly" Bian said as he made his way to the teleporters. Becoming a surpasser and gaining a new body was his topmost priority right now, his weakness made him feel too insecure.

Bang!

The transport suddenly exploded sending Bian flying away from the teleporter. Screams could be heard as a group of people massacred the convoy. Upon closer inspection, Bian noticed that the group of six all had horns on their head.

"Five white horns and one golden-horned shura" Bian grimaced, such speed was way above evolver level. It left him wondering, what was a group of five, surpasser level shura doing here, what was going on in the alliance.

"You dare to invade" A voice came from above, golden lights surged forming a giant golden palm. The gravity was distorted and space shook wherever the palm passed.

The golden horned shura grunted, he brought out a black katana and with a single swing, he destroyed the giant palm falling from the sky.

"Wreak havoc!" The shura said, his face hidden behind a fearsome mask.

The five white-horned shura scattered in different direction each wielding their katana, exuding a large amount of bloodlust. One of the shura headed straight for Bian faster than a bullet.

The golden-horned shura jumped to engage the surpasser in battle, preventing him from hunting down the white horned shura who went around slaughtering every human they saw.

'This is bad.' The image of the lightning rune surfaced in Bian's mind, time slowed down to a crawl. He didn't plan to engage in combat, so he focused on the lightning rune in detail, greatly slowing down the time it took for the white-horned shura to reach him.

'I can't die, not again. How can I kill this guys in my condition?' Reinforcement didn't seem to be arriving soon, and Bian spotted plenty of children on his way to the teleporters. The murderous shura, were known for their cruelty, just thinking about what was going to happen was enough to make his blood boil.

He tried to think of something, but no art he practiced could save them. He couldn't even save himself. Desperately, he searched his sea of soul for a solution, any solution.

'What is that?' Bian's eye widened in shock, He looked at the mask of the white horned shura and grinned. Although he couldn't see under the mask, he knew the shura could see his face.

The shura seemed enraged by that gesture, His muscles swelled like a balloon and his speed soared to greater heights. Bian used his excess speed against him, by falling back. The edge of the black katana moved over his face giving him the chills of death.

The shura turned to strike again, but it was too late. A giant maw bit on his head, and with a little effort, it chewed off his head. He didn't even have time to scream before he died.

"Go! kill the others" Bian said

The creature stood at least two meters tall with the body of a lion, horns of a goat, wings of a bat and a snake for a tail. It took off like a rocket, the gusts of wind from its flight were strong enough to sweep Bian off his feet.

[Sacred-blood pet - King Chimera (Maturing)]

"The emperor manticore really struck gold with the green energy from that mountain. It became a third sanctuary sacred blood creature and is still being strengthened."

Bian stretched his abused body, he really couldn't take much more of being flung about. He relaxed his muscle as he walked towards the destroyed van, that served as the heart of the convoy.

"Are you going to come out, or should I force you out?" Bian said coldly, his usual friendly demeanor nowhere to be found.

The driver of the van crawled out, he began coughing while he bent weakly on one leg. "Friend, have the shura gone away?"

"Are you talking to me, scum?" Bian was enraged, the driver was only an evolver, but he was the one who caused all the damage and led the shura here.

Seeing that Bian was in no mood for conversation, the driver clicked his tongue and injected a serum into his veins. In an instant, a blood red horn sprouted from his head, filling him with power. He felt like he could topple a mountain with a single blow.

"You should have played nice while you had the chance." The driver said before rushing towards Bian, full of killing intent.