Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  Watching from afar was the group of sailors together with Jian Wei, they swam from the flagship to the opposite side of their original ship. Once they got onto the ship they cut the ropes attached to it and began sailing away.

  Shortly after Zhang popped up to the surface of the water and made his way to them.

  Once he reached the side of the ship, they tossed down a rope and pulled him up.

  “Good plan, good plan Zhang!! Haha”, Jian Wei said as he patted Zhang on the back. If it had not for this young man he most likely died long ago, so Jian Wei was filled with gratitude towards Zhang. In his heart he was dead set in making Zhang his successor.

  Although Jian Wei is the powerful ruler of Aurora City he did not have any successors this was due to him being too caught up in developing the city and its influences ever since he became its the ruler.

  He spent all his free time building up the power of the city and making the lives of its people better. But time waits for no one and before he knew it, he had become a middle aged man. Of course if he wanted to, as the ruler of a vast area he could choose any women he wanted to be his wife and then work towards having a child. But the one thing he worried about was that, if he indeed had a child, his child would not be a worthy successor.

  What he wished for the most was for his people to thrive, and not all successors were good ones. He had seen many times over where ancient clans were taken over by useless successors and began to decline.

  He figured if he found a suitable successor, it would at least guarantee that his clan would be safe. The successor of course would not harm him because he would definitely not choose someone who would harm their benefactor as his successor.

  Zhang smiled back at Jian Wei and began walking towards Yuying and Ai. But before he was even able to take a few steps, he heard a roar in the distance.

  As everyone looked towards the direction in which the roar came from they saw a hulking man swimming towards them at an unbelievable speed. This man was the pirate flagship’s captain.

  “Shit, everyone go hide!! I will try to take care of him. If not, abandon the ship and swim in different directions. That way if he pursues at least some of us will survive.

  “No! I will fight with you brother!”, Yuying said. Ai standing next to her also nodded. None of the sailors seemed willing to go either.

  “Fine then we will make our last stand here. We will die together or survive together!!”, Zhang yelled.

  That instant, the captain of the pirate’s flagship jumped out of the water and landed on the deck of the ship. His eyes filled with fury as his vision swept the deck of the ship.

  Chapter 18: One Against Many

  The leader of the flagship, after sweeping the deck of the ship with a furious glare, ran towards the nearest sailor.

  In a blink of an eye, he was in front of the sailor and with one punch sent the sailor slamming into a wall causing it to break.

  That instance Zhang knew that he would not be able to beat this man alone. This man was the sort of person you’d see as the last boss in a fairy tale.

  His body bulged with muscles and his eyes gave off a fierce glare.

  The group was lucky that he had lost his halberd in the explosion or else they’d most likely be dead. But the most surprising thing was that, although this man was caught up in the huge explosion he seemed somewhat unharmed.

  “Everyone careful.”, Zhang yelled as he withdrew three daggers attached to chains from his interspatial ring. He then tossed one to Yuying and Ai.

  Zhang knew if he allowed the man to get close, he’d most likely be overpowered and would be killed. So he had to keep the man at a distance from him.

  However, that was easier said than done, the pirate leader although huge, was extremely fast. If one did not pay attention they might lose their life when facing him.

  Thankfully, Zhang figured out a way to slow him down.

  From his pocket Zhang activated the Underworld Heart and made the essence around the captain solidify.

  Although this would not be able to stop him, due to the fact that the essence in the air was too thin and the area Zhang could draw power from was too small. This was because Zhang had not reached a level high enough to completely control the Underworld Heart. But still it provided a means to slow the captain down.

  The captain’s body seemed to be trapped inside a bubble of water. He could try as hard as he wanted but he was not be able to get out of the bubble. His body seemed to be locked in place within the bubble.

  If he moved forward, his body would still be in the center of the bubble. Within the bubble, the captain’s speed was literally cut in half. He no longer possessed the explosive speed he had before.

  “NOW!”, Zhang yelled as he launched the chained dagger. Following his example, Yuying and Ai also launched their chained daggers at the man.

  Once the daggers entered the bubble they, unlike the captain, were not slowed down in the slightest. This was because Zhang was the one manipulating the bubble to begin with as such, he made sure that the bubble would not restrict the speed of their daggers.

  The captain seeing the daggers coming toward him tried to dodge. Although he was slowed down within the bubble he was still fairly agile and quick. This allowed him to dodge two of the incoming daggers escaping with only two scratches.

  Yuying luckily was able to puncture the man with the dagger she launched. It embedded into his right leg piercing through his calf muscle.

  Once the dagger had embedded itself within the captain’s leg, Yuying began to pull seeing this, all the sailors ran towards her to help. With the strength of Yuying and the sailors they managed to drag the man to the ground.

  Before he could get up, Zhang jumped into the air and a sword appeared in on his hands. Zhang lunged at the captain from above like a hawk coming in for the kill.

  But to his amazement the man grabbed the sword right before it plunged into his heart. And with his overwhelming strength shattered the blade of the sword.

  “Shit…”, Zhang murmured as he manipulated the essence in the air to create a tiny platform which he used to perform backflip to get away.

  The man reached out his arm and grabbed onto the chain that was attached to his leg and yanked on it. Once he yanked on the chain and pulled it back, it caused all the sailors and Yuying to stumble and fall down.

  Then without even wincing he plucked the dagger out and threw it toward one of the sailors, embedding the man into a wall.

  The other sailors looked in horror as one of their comrades was nailed into a wall. The sailor screamed in agony as he tried to work loose the dagger that kept him stuck to the wall. But to his disbelief the dagger was so firmly lodged in the wood, that he was stuck to the wall and the hilt of the dagger was keeping him up in a standing position.

  With his sword shattered, Zhang picked up the chained dagger from the ground and once more launched it at the captain. If they could hit the captain with two chained daggers they might be able to bind him with the chains. Ai and Zhang both shot their daggers out from their hands.

  This time the man was able to dodge only one dagger while the other plunged into this abdomen. However, the dagger that he dodged with a flick of Zhang’s wrist, arced backwards and plunged into the man’s back.

  Without a word Ai and Zhang ran in circles around the man and crisscrossed the chains. Soon the man was wrapped up in chains from his neck down to his legs.

  Zhang picked up one of the spears that a sailor dropped and tossed it into the air. Once the spear was in the air Zhang jumped and with a kick sent the spear flying towards the captain.

  With his body bound, the captain could no longer dodge so the spear pierced through his stomach and stuck out of his back.

  With an enraged roar the man flexed his muscles and the links of the chains began to snap. Then the man lifted his arms in fury and sent pieces of the chains flying in every direction.

  “Fuck this guy is a monster!”, one of the sailors s
creamed as he walked towards the sailor pinned to the wall to help him.

  Without even time to think, Zhang rushed toward the man. He did not want to use the black fire because for one, it required too much energy and second there was a chance that it would fail if the opponent's power was vastly greater than his own.

  But now he had to use it although there is a chance that it will not work, Zhang had run out of means to deal with this monster. Of course he still had a tiny bit of the Lightning Eater’s poison left, but there was a chance that the man would dodge when he used it and the poison would be wasted.

  Soon an eerie black fire formed in Zhang’s palm. It danced about, flickered on his palm as if it was alive and then suddenly it shot out from Zhang’s palm towards the captain.

  “Hmph!” The man snorted and dodged as the fire was shot at him.

  However, once he dodged the fire it split into two smaller flames and circled around him.

  “What kind of trick is this!”, the captain said.

  “A trick that will take your life!!”, Zhang yelled as the two flames were launched at the same time, one in the front and one at the back, towards the captain.

  One of the flames hit the captain from behind with the other one missed and continued to hover in the air. Once the flame hit him, his face became deathly pale but he was still standing.

  Although it was not enough to kill him the black flame ate away at a portion of the captain’s soul and power. After it hit the man, the fire seemed to stick to his back and slowly damaged him.

  The captain, feeling his strength being sapped away, roared and pulled out the spear stuck in his stomach and charged at Zhang.

  The bubble still somewhat slowed him down but it wasn’t enough. He plunged his spear into Zhang’s abdomen and lifted Zhang up into the air. Zhang had taken off the armor he found because he had to swim back to the ship and if he had left it on, he would have been unable to swim even one stroke.

  “DIE Hahahaha”, the man laughed as he lifted Zhang into the air.

  Everything happened within an instant and once it happened everyone could only watch in horror.

  “NOOOOOO!!!”, Yuying and Ai both screamed as they rushed towards the captain to help Zhang. But before they could, something happened.

  “YOU’LL BE THE ONE TO DIE TODAY!!!!”, Zhang screamed as a small vial appeared in his hand.

  SMASH!

  The vial slammed into the man’s face and shattered and scattering poison all over the man’s face. Zhang made sure to coat himself in a layer of essence using the Underworlds Heart to avoid being splashed by the poison of course.

  The man screamed in agony as the poison ate away at his face and bones. Letting go of the spear, he cupped his face with his hands and screamed.

  Once the man let go of the spear Zhang fell towards the ground. With a thump, he landed on the ground. The moment he landed, Zhang took both of his hands and grabbed the spear sticking out of his stomach and pulled it out.

  With the bloody spear in his hand, Zhang plunged it into the captain. This time, the captain did not dodge, he was too busy wallowing in pain.

  The poison had eaten half of his face, including part of his jaw and his left eye.

  The sailors watched all this from a short distance away and winced as they imaged the pain the man was in from the poison alone.

  Zhang twisted the spear once it entered the man’s chest and pulled it out and stabbed the man again and again.

  A while later Jian Wei walked up to Zhang and said, “Enough he is dead.” He placed his hand on Zhang’s shoulder trying to put Zhang at ease.

  Zhang had fallen into a bloodthirsty state of mind when he began stabbing the man with the spear and did not stop for a while.

  The man’s body was covered in blood and small holes from the spear.

  After looking at the man’s body. Zhang’s vision began to become fuzzy and soon he fell over onto the ground.

  “Quickly! Give him first aid immediately or he will die from blood loss!”, Jian Wei yelled.

  Immediately, some of the surviving sailors carried Zhang and brought him to the lower deck where they found a bed to set him on. They looked for gauzes and medicines to apply onto Zhang. Yuying and Ai also rushed down to the lower deck.

  The other sailors took the captain’s body, tossed it in the sea and began preparations to sail away.

  Yan Li walked up to Jian Wei and said, “My lord we should be safe for now. Thanks to the lad.”

  “Yes thanks to him.”, Jian Wei said with a smile on his face. However, a hint of worry could also be seen. This was due to the condition Zhang was currently in.

  =====================================================================

  A few days passed before Zhang opened his eyes. When he woke up, he saw Yuying and Ai asleep by his side. They had stayed up taking care of him and fell asleep due to fatigue.

  A warm smile appeared on Zhang’s face. “Having two beauties such as them caring for me truly is a blessing from heaven.”, he thought.

  He thought maybe if it was these two and Ling, he could find true happiness in this world.

  “You're awake”, a voice sounded out.

  Jian Wei was sitting in a chair in a corner of the room looking at Zhang, with a smile on his face.

  “How are you feeling Zhang?”, Jian Wei asked.

  “I’m alive. Although I’m still a bit tired”, Zhang replied with a smile.

  “That’s good that you woke up. You’ve been out for three days and three nights. You must be really tired I’ll let you and your wives rest. I’ll have someone bring you three some food later”, Jian Wei said with a glint in his eyes as he walked out the room.

  A while later Yuying woke up to find that Zhang was no longer in a coma and was intently looking at her. A broad smile covered her face as she jumped and hugged him.

  Zhang is the only person she knew besides Ai in this world. If he was gone, she would not know what to do. Without anyone besides Ai, where would she go? Ai didn’t know a thing about the world nor did she, the two of them wouldn’t have anyone or anywhere to go to.

  Due to Yuying jumping onto Zhang, Ai woke up and she too jumped at him. The three of them stayed like this for a while in their own little world. No one wanted to say anything to ruin the moment. They simply stayed in this position embracing each other with broad smiles on their faces happy to be alive and to be together.

  When the door to their room suddenly opened and a sailor walked in pushing a small cart of food.

  “Oops! Looks like I’m interrupting. I’ll just leave the food here and not bother you three.”, the sailor said as he winked at Zhang and left with a smile on his face.

  Once the sailor left, Yuying and Ai’s faces were hot red and they quickly let go of Zhang.

  “That reminds me! I won the bet! I sank that last ship!”, Zhang yelled looking at the two girls.

  “So my order to you two is for each of you to kiss me.”, Zhang said with a devilish smile on his face.

  Yuying and Ai’s faces became even more red after they heard his words.

  “I... I... I, pick something else!”, Yuying said as she stuttered.

  “Nope that’s my wish.”, Zhang said as he looked at her with an even broader smile.

  Before Yuying could retort Ai gave Zhang a peck on the cheek.

  Seeing this, Yuying gave in and leaned in to give Zhang a kiss on the other cheek. Her face moved closer to his and she could feel his breath touch her skin. The world fell into silence as she moved closer and closer.

  Just when her lips were about to touch his cheek, the door slowly creaked open.

  “Zhang! I almost forgot I have something to discuss with you!”, Jian Wei yelled out as he opened the door and walked in.

  “Whoops! ehm... I’ll come back later. Sorry for interrupting.”, Jian Wei said with an apologetic face as he slowly backed out of the room and closed the door.

  Once the door was closed he could be heard saying
, “Man kids these days, doing those things and it’s not even noon yet.”

  Yuying’s already super red face went up another level after hearing his words.

  “Gahh I’m not doing this anymore!”, she yelled as she tried to get up.

  However, as she tried to get off the bed her hand slipped and she fell over, planting her lips right onto Zhang’s.

  Afterwards she sat up and stared at him with wide eyes and a confused look on her face.

  Seeing her face Zhang couldn’t’ help but laugh.