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  “Over-surge!” Came the panicked shriek from behind me. You probably know what that means, but at the time, I had no idea. My first thought was that it was some weird term for the murder I had just accidentally committed, but no, that isn’t what it meant at all.

  A wave of red energy similar to the ruby shades of blood cultivation techniques seemed to flow down through and then envelope one of the enormous metal and glass towers that loomed over the city street. The wave overrode the myriad of other lights that already lit the building.

  Even the ethereal giant that hovered before the tower flickered, turned the same shade of red, and then vanished in a shower of sparks. It had just occurred to me that the building through which the red energy was flowing was the very same one I had just left. Judging from the way the people on the street screamed and fled, perhaps it was good I had followed my instincts and left the ‘hospital’ as soon as I could have.

  That same enormous surge of Qi flowed down from the building out into the ground beyond. I dodged back to avoid its path, but several of the car-vehicles weren’t so lucky. They desperately collided with each other in efforts to escape the flowing red energy to no avail. Even the ones that could somehow fly weren’t safe. Despite their best efforts to angle upward and take to the air, the energy leaped from the odd grey street to meet them.

  Wherever that strange Qi touched, sparks flew, and the vehicles froze or fell back to the ground; strangely, the same thing happened to the people that it hit as well. Their limbs, chests, backs, or even heads would let out a violent shower of red sparks, and then that part of them would become useless.

  Perhaps whatever being was controlling the wave of energy knew what was good for it, as when I had dogged out of the way, it had not followed me. This wasn’t the case for those on the street who attempted to flee. While some made it beyond the reach of the red energy. Those that couldn’t, it pursued unerringly, turning and following their dodges or leaping to meet them as they tried to enter other buildings.

  I have to admit I was fascinated by the scene. I have borne witness to and even overcome techniques of enormous scope and power. No matter the wonders I witness, I shall never forget the tidal wave of ice Cao Cao was able to deploy when pushed to his limit. Yet this was somehow both more primal and more controlled, like a storm god descending from the heavens to unleash its wrath on a single man. Or in this case, I suppose the majority of a street.

  A few heartbeats later, the red energy contracted into a single point just outside the building it had flowed down, pulling all sorts of metal with it as it went. The cars had caught limbs, and other body parts that I now saw were artificial in nature. Various lights and boxes, along with chunks of the building itself, came smashing through the windows of the tower to join the congealing mass of steel and blood red energy.

  Despite the absence of the spirit speaking to me, the writing still appeared before my gaze. It marked the glowing mass of metal that was presently rearranging itself.

  At least it did for a few heartbeats. As I watched, the chunks of metal turned to an almost liquid form and flowed together into the vague shape of a large bipedal monster, at least five times the height of a man, and the width of multiple horses standing side by side. The form might be made up of steel, wire and sparking machines I had no context for; it evoked the sensation of looking at a reptilian beast.

  The red energy continued to condense until it was a blindingly bright orb of crimson light that locked itself into the chest of the monster, once that happened, it suddenly became far less fluid and somehow more real than it had been.

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  The creature let out a roar that threatened to deafen all present, and the glowing red core that I quickly realized was the metal creature’s Diantian was covered by layers of armor like hide that slid down in front of it. That same red light began to flow through the reptilian beast, running in lines along its non-flesh before bursting out as talons of red and orange energy from its fingers and toes, or shining like beacon fire from its artificial eyes.

  that had happened in a shockingly brief amount of time, and when it did the writing in front of me changed to.

  Obviously, I had no Idea what that was. In my experience, encountering a dragon had been nothing but a boon every time it had happened. Both the way the people nearby had desperately cleared the street, along with the word ‘calamity,’ suggested to me this might be an exception to the rule.

  The people hit by the initial wave of red energy were now the only ones still nearby, and the dragon got to work demonstrating how it had gotten such a name. It moved to eviscerate or impale the people who were still sparking and struggling pathetically to move away from the metal beast.

  They had no hope of such an escape, and very quickly it had slaughtered its way through twenty-five or more of the incapacitated humans. The monstrous creature took a moment to shake the corpses of the slain from its talons and then stomped over to attack one of the towers of steel and glass. I had gotten ready to defend myself, but the beast of metal walked right by me as though it couldn’t see me at all.

  Perhaps it couldn’t? The wave of red Qi that had so unerringly driven after the corpses before me hadn’t reacted the same to my presence at all, so it was possible its master was just as blind to me.

  Obviously, I was more than a little bewildered by what I had just witnessed, a sensation that only increased when a group of six people strong flew past above me. They were not mounted on flying swords, winged beasts, or even small dragons. They seemingly flew under their own power. I didn’t get a good look at them as they pursued the Calamity Dragon, but I could tell each was covered head to toe in ornate metal armor that glowed with lines of light blue energy.

  Each member of the crew was marked with

  The instruction to clear a path flashed between red and white, and seemed to reset as I looked between each of the flying soldiers. They all bore a marker of ‘level’ like the dragon had, though I still didn’t understand what that meant. The lowest level soldier was listed as

  The highest being

  While the other four were all identically marked as

  Without hesitation, the group of flying warriors began to launch various techniques at the calamity dragon. Beams of blue or red energy flew from scorching the steel hide of the monster. Others launched attacks with shockingly rapid metal projectiles or flew in close to attack it with blades of Qi that suddenly ignited in their hands.

  “Spirit,” I demanded aloud. “Come back out here and explain to me what I am looking at before I find you and crush your skull.” Apparently, that wasn’t an enticing enough order for the being that had previously refused to leave me alone.

  “Spirit!” I yelled. “ Dammit, where are you hiding?!”

  This also did not get the spirit to remurge, proving as I had first suspected that it was an utterly useless servant, and deserved nothing but my contempt. Shaking my head, I was about to continue my search for somewhere with a bronze or glass mirror and a tub to bathe in when the already surreal scene changed again, and as I am sure you have guessed, it got far stranger and more dangerous.

  Familiar red light began to flow out of each of the numerous corpses, before they began to convulse in an extremely unnatural way. None of my greater enemies had ever stopped so low as this, but I still recognized the telltale signs of necromancy at play. As though to confirm my thoughts, the mystic writing appeared before my vision once more declaring each of the spasming bodies as

  The more ‘logical’ part of my mind wanted me to flee the scene and find out more information about this new world I had found myself in before getting into a fight with a numerically superior foe. A wiser man would have, but I had already been forced to flee the hospital building. Running from more than one set of enemies in a single day was simply too great a hit to my pride to even consider.

  Besides, the dragon hadn’t been able to see me; perhaps the drones that were now pulling themselves to their feet might suffer the same inability.

  The more things change the more they stay the same huh?

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