Burned to Ashes

As the dragon moved forward, everyone stood upright, facing the dragon. With his claw held out, he reached for one of them and grabbed. As for the one he chose, It was Tian Zhui that he made a move for. But would this scholarly man accept his fate so easily.

"You bastards, I will not go down like this."

Tian Zhui scowled as he made for an escape. But there was no place to run, unless he planned on jumping into the sea. It seemed that he did have a plan however.

Wielding his white fan, he ran through the ship and towards the shields, tapping them in the center with it. The oval-shaped bulwarks hummed and floated from the ship deck before chasing after Tian Zhui.

No one realized what he was doing with them until he hopped off of the ship. The shields flew under him, banding together and combining into a small boat that he stood on. He looked back at the others before focusing on his escape. But escape was not so simple.

Under the eyes of Xiu Luo Yang, escape was nothing more than a false hope.

"Hmph, do you really think that you can use tricks in front of me? Get back here!"

He thrusted his claw forward where red energy emerged from his body and formed a large transparent claw. It towered over Tian Zhui who urged his boat forward. He turned around and attacked the claw with blasts of wind, waving his fan with power and grace. With each wave, the strength behind his attacks increased, pushing against this descending claw.

Even as he struggled, his attacks did nothing. In one fell swoop, the red claw grabbed both him and boat, bringing it back. Tian Zhui struggled, cursing and spouting all sorts of words.

Everyone looked at him disapprovingly, even Xiu Luo Yang looked at him with disdain. The Long siblings looked at him, distrust and anger were what filled their eyes. For a these two who showed little emotion, this was the first time they had felt such anger.

"Were you going to tell us about that function or were you going to keep it a secret, using it for yourself?" they asked.

"Hmph, what's the point of keeping it a secret now? Of course, I did it for myself! You are all idiots for not having personal safeguards! That's it, that is all I think of you people, idiots! My work is not for you to use to readily."

He enunciated those words, drawing fury within everyone. His appearance was no longer the scholarly man he once was but someone whose arrogance knew no bounds. Even under the pretense of death, his ego inflated. Perhaps it was fear that pushed him, with impending death, there was no point in hiding behind a facade.

"You scoundrel, if we had known of your true colors, we would've kicked you out of the Research District."

"What? You can't blame me for thinking ahead", He sneered at them, "You cannot blame me for making the choice when everyone else was dawdling around. You should've chosen the old hag or that stupid girl."

"You!" Long Wang stepped forward, her voice full of anger but a hand stopped her.

As for whose hand it was, Senior Bei was the one that stopped her from speaking. The old woman walked forward, her face was calm as she stared at Tian Zhui's expression of mockery.

"Tian Zhui, all of us had known of your prideful behavior but we endured it. As the one who recruited you and watched over you for the past years, I've watched your growth and believed that you would come to join us as comrades. You've certainly shown your dedication but you isolate yourself, going out on your own to gather materials when we have groups that you could join. Even with these shields, a project that required multiple people, you barely spoke and just tinkered away. You did not come to any of the gatherings. You just keep to yourself and now that you've revealed everything, I can see why you've chosen to live like this."

TIan Zhui looked at her, getting annoyed from her words.

"Are you done scolding me? Get to the point."

Senior Bei paused and stared at him before shaking your head.

"Your work is certainly a cut above the rest but your temperament is pure idiocy and utter trash. As the one who allowed you into the department, I will also be the one to expel you from it. Your life is no longer our concern."

Her words struck him with surprise but he shook it off.

"You can't do such a thing. You need me. This department needs me!"

"I'm sure they'll do fine without you. Let's get tot he next bit of business."

Xiu Luo Yang turned the bearded scholar around and locked eyes with him. He sharpened his gaze and began to laugh. yeh

"You know, I had planned on letting you all decide on who to sacrifice until I heard some very interesting words. Unlike the others, you followed your greed and continued to stab and cut into the flesh of my beloved's body. When everyone else had stopped, you went even further and left a blemish on her body. What more, it seems you cared little for what you've done. You foul excuse of a human, worse than the warriors who challenged our kin, worse than those who coveted our powers. You have no respect for your peers or for others. I won't give you a quick death."

As he spoke, Xiu Luo Yang's voice became calm and quiet but his body said differently. His whiskers quivered as the dragon energy welled up within the dragon. His piercing eyes turned murderous, an unspeakable aura came from him. It was the same lofty aura but it carried intense ferocity, igniting fear into everyone, especially Tian Zhui.

His body was turned over into the Xiu Luo Yang's real claws by the ones made of his energy.

Slowly, the claws tightened around both Tian Zhui and his little boat. The boat creaked and twisted before splitting back into the shields. They crumpled and fell into the sea, leaving their creator slowly suffering.

"I'm going to break your body before I incinerate you", menacingly, Xiu Luo Yang almost whispered those words into his ears.

Energy travelled through his body and into his claws, covering Tian Zhui and pushing him to the edge.

He struggled under the tightening grip. Twisting and turning, he tried his damnedest to break out as his body began to bend. Bones began to snap as he screamed out and tried everything to get out, even biting the claws that held him.

"I don't deserve this! I'm better than all of you! Gah!"

He yelled frantically, beating and hooting about. Everyone was silent and looked away as Xiu Luo Yang opened his mouth. Fire built up from his throat before he tossed Tian Zhui's broken body up in the air and bathed it in flames. When he was done, Tian Zhui's body was nothing more than ash scattered in the sea.

Xiu Luo Yang turned back to the body of his beloved and gazed at it. Within this nearly pure white body of hers was a small but noticeable scar on her body.

"Hmph, you probably wouldn't want me to kill them would you?"

Thinking to himself, he sat silently before twisting his head up, looking up at the sky in surprise. The sky seemed to have begun to shatter and break into pieces.

"How can this be?" he could not help to speak as the barrier was broken.

"You humans, when you spoke of those restless spirits, how many were there?" he looked back at the half-broken ship.

"There were hundreds where we were, there are probably thousands all over the sea. Has something happened?"

Long Wang looked at the great dragon with concern.

"Yes, the barrier that I created has been destroyed. Those spirits may be coming here now."