The sky over Khon Kaen's airspace twisted like a canvas some unhinged kindergartner had smeared with oil paints.
This metropolis had been reduced to rubble. Towering skyscrapers were drenched in blood and raging flames. What a lovely atmosphere for sipping coffee in the morning to the accompaniment of screaming spirits. The pressure from an enormous mass of energy spread through the area until the air around it warped into rippling waves. The death wave expanded to cover a radius of ten kilometers... The stench of total ruin wafted up so clearly it could beat the chopped fermented fish sauce smell from the street vendor's shop next door.
Above, black clouds churned into a gigantic tornado. The colossal figure of the Six-Armed Asura, a Rank A demon general standing over a hundred meters tall, appeared in full view. Its huge, murky yellow eyes glared down with savage brutality. All six hands gripped blood-soaked weapons ready to grind everything into dust... Judging by the look on its face, it had definitely forgotten to take its tranquilizers that morning. That was the only explanation for looking so alarmed, like someone staring at their end-of-month electric bill.
Hundreds of crimson red System Windows popped up in rapid succession, stinging the eyes. They were more diligent about sending alerts than a debt-collection app on payday, all amid the broken, stuttering wail of warning sirens.
[Critical Crisis Alert!] [Rank A demonic energy detected: Six-Armed Asura / Administrative region: Upper Isan] [Survival rate of living things within range: 0.0000%] [Recommendation: Retreat immediately or accept death!]
Amid the shattered concrete and choking darkness of smoke and dust, Bing stood atop the remains of an eight-story building without the slightest sign of agitation, as if he were waiting for a songthaew. His dark cloak snapped in the force of the raging storm. His right hand tightened around the hilt of the old, battered sword he carried. The young man's face was impassive, utterly free of fear. His eyes alone remained still and cold as ice... Colder than the fresh-pork freezer at a supermarket.
"I've complained about this a hundred times, you damn System... If you can't find something useful for me to do in this life besides running for my life, you should apply to be a thunderstorm-alert AI at the Meteorological Department instead."
His mutter slipped through clenched teeth beneath the deafening roar of the demon beast. Bing let out a long, weary sigh, as if what stood before him wasn't a world-ending disaster that had wiped out half of humanity, but merely the morning annoyance of finding a toilet clogged.
Rooooar—!
The Six-Armed Asura's roar shook the earth. It swung a gigantic fist down at supersonic speed. The impact tore the air apart and created a vacuum zone. In an instant, the ground within a hundred-meter radius collapsed into a deep crater... What an expensive afternoon workout for the national budget.
But it was too slow... Too slow for the eyes and experience of a man who had endured tens of thousands of disasters to spare it any attention. As slow as a junior civil servant's pay raise.
Bing's body vanished from its original position without a trace, leaving behind only an afterimage dissolving into the wind. He narrowly evaded the city-leveling attack without a sound of exertion or a single bit of energy wasted. Every step was instinct honed to perfection... More fluid than the water mimosa floating in sour curry.
The next instant, Bing appeared in midair above the Six-Armed Asura's head. The energy domain around him exploded outward, and a halo of silver light flashed through the darkness like a lightning strike... Bright enough that nobody needed a flashlight during a blackout.
Slash!
The sound of a single sword stroke rang out, yet it was so sharp and decisive that time itself seemed to stop. Faster than someone coming up with an excuse after getting caught cheating.
Bing descended and stood calmly atop the ruined wall on the opposite side. The sword in his hand slid slowly back into its sheath. Metal clicked softly, like closing the lid on a convenience-store boxed meal.
Behind him, the colossal body of the Rank A demon general hung frozen in midair. A diagonal red fissure appeared across its torso. Then the giant split in two and crashed to the ground below, exploding into chunks of pitch-black flesh without the slightest chance to fight back... It met a more pathetic end than a dengue mosquito hit with an electric bug swatter.
[Mission complete: Slay the Rank A demon general] [The System is calculating accumulated points...]
The red System Windows transformed into a brilliant gold, but Bing didn't even glance at them. Watching numbers shoot upward for no meaningful reason felt about as boring as sitting around waiting for the laundromat machine to finish its final cycle. He merely swept his gaze across the ruins of the city he had once known, then sighed again as if he were carrying a mountain of debt.
Who could have imagined... that the beginning of it all—the thing that forced a young man who had once stood washing dishes to help his mother at a curry-and-rice shop beside Bueng Kaen Nakhon to step onto a hellish battlefield that would strip every last bit of peace from this world...
would begin with something small and utterly fucked-up.
...Four years earlier