The Dawn of the New World

While the cub freely fed on his blood and internal energy Hao Xuan made a small detour and returned back to the black mountain.

*Huff*Huff*

"Little monster, how can you eat so much?!" he commented upon seeing Baracus's notification pop up in the corner of his eye.

"Remaning Blood Energy: 30%"

He pulled the cub's teeth away out of his skin and it quietly curled up in a ball hugging its own tail.

"He will be digesting that for a while so it should be safe to leave him with you," Hao Xuan whispered while placing it next to Ma Jiang.

He took a couple of steps back before muttering under his breath, "You, don't bite her. And you, don't burn him up," before running back out.

Pushing against the ground he shot into the air like a cannonball straight towards the City of Argham.

Altough it was a shame to lose 28% of his internal energy reserves in one go, he wouldn't be feeling guilty all the time which was worth it. Stray thoughts only acted as a distraction and one needed to keep their mind as clear as possible.

A handful of jumps and Hao Xuan landed back on top of the city. Instead of things calming down there seemed to be even more of a commotion among the masses.

It looked like every single area was teeming with people save for a few strategically important locations.

"Now, where should I star-?!" before he could even ask the question the answer came to him in a streak of black light.

There were birds flying above the city but to his eyes they were just streaks of chaos energy taking the shape of swallows. And they were all connected to the same spot.

'I guess this one then,' he mused inwardly before jumping straight down. He made sure to avoid all the swallows and landed quietly just a few meters away.

It was a residential area surrounded by houses on all sides and with the lowest foot traffic. Hao Xuan jumped over a couple of walls landing right in the backyard of one of the houses.

There wasn't even a need to look for anything because the person in question was just sitting right out in the open like they owned the place.

Hao Xuan stretched his fingers as they turned into sharpened claws. Considering his bloodline purity this level of body modification was nothing to him.

Without making a single sound he walked forward waiting for the assailant to jump at him at any moment but even when he was standing in front of her she remained oblivious to his presence.

'What a carefree attitude,' he thought while examining her up and down.

She was giving off faint traces of chaotic energy but other than that looked completely normal. She was absolutely beautiful without any defect as if everything about her was sculpted by the gods themselves.

Her appearance was that of a human female in her early thirties but in Hao Xuan's eyes her skin looked brand new as if she had just been born in this form.

There was even a low-level spell cast upon her that changed her appearance but the truth could not be hidden from Hao Xuan.

To him the spell showed itself as a dark see-through cloak. He reached out and pulled at it lightly but it immediately popped which finally prompted her eyes to open.

As some semblance of recognition returned to her gaze the woman tried to jump to her feet but was kept in place by Hao Xuan's inhuman strength.

"Shhh, don't move and don't scream. You do anything suspicious and I will rip your throat out. Nod if you understand?"

Unable to budge even an inch in Hao Xuan's clutches the woman could only do as told.

"Good. Now, who are you?"

"Claudia. My name is Claudia." (First introduced around CH 1032 'She-Devil')

"What are you doing here Claudia? You are obviously not from here so I'm curious as to your intentions."

Her heart started beating faster and faster as her mind raced trying to come up with a good lie. But when she looked into Hao Xuan's eyes all her confidence went down the drain. She could tell he was not lying.

One wrong word and her head would be sent flying through the air. And with him this close there was nothing she could do even if she could use her magics, which were out of reach for now.

"I am looking for someone," so she told the truth, "The chosen one."

Hearing those words immediately reminded Hao Xuan of Eurig and his brow furrowed in disgust.

"You are with that Eurig guy then?"

Sensing the obvious hostility in his voice Claudia shook her head, "No! I mean not anymore. I came here with him but he tricked me. We are on different sides now."

"But you are both looking for the Chosen one right? To take him to the savior?"

"No that's what Eurig wants. I have never even seen this savior. I only want to meet the chosen one because my...'patron' wants to show him the truth of this world."

😉