New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

By the time Mr. Gu and David reached the outside parking lot, Kary was already a blue trail in the sky, far in the distance.

"I doubt we can drive fast enough to catch up to her," David chuckled.

"This is no time to be joking around, young man. If one of the Zhong Kui dies, they will never let go of this. We must reach them before Mr. Leduc or Ms. Deveille commits the irreparable."

David looked at him with annoyed eyes.

"And whose fault is that?" he mocked.

Mr. Gu clenched his jaw shut.

"Yeah. Anyway. I have a faster way to get there. But it entails catching a lot of attention. So I expect your boss to cover this up. I'm supposed to stay in the shadows, remember?"

"Whatever it takes. Just hurry. Time is not a luxury we have."

David nodded, satisfied with the answer.

He leaned down, putting his hand on his shadow, and murmured into it.

"I know this world isn't suited for a creature like you. But I need your wings. I'll treat you to something good when we return to the veil."

Mr. Gu looked at him curiously until a screech almost tore his eardrums.

David's shadow expanded to immense proportions before something enormous shot out of it, barrelling into the morning skies.

"What in God's name…" he mumbled, watching a gigantic drake open its wings before swooping down toward them.

David grabbed the stunned assistant and jumped up before the drake reached them, landing on its back.

The zombified drake used its hind legs to kick off the parking's asphalt and retook altitude.

"Go after her!" David screamed over the whistling wind, pointing at Kary's flame trail.

The drake screeched again, angling itself toward the fiery trail.

David could see the flames flicker from yellow to blue, and he grinned.

It could have happened at a better time, but any boost now was a good thing. The stronger they were before the demons crossed over, the better.

And that was without counting what came before that, where humanity had lost a large part of its population last time.

'I can't afford to think about this now. Focus, David,' he thought, shaking his head.

Mr. Gu had never been a nervous flier, nor was he afraid of heights, having done many things involving freefall before. But he realized one thing at that moment.

He was uncomfortable with flying on a monster's back, with no safety net, seat belt, parachute, or bungee wire.

His body tensed up, imagining what would happen if he fell from this height.

He wouldn't be spared grave injuries, even with his amount of Qi and mastery over it. And that was if he landed well and didn't straight up die.

Mr. Gu grabbed onto David, who seemed so at ease in the situation, like he'd done this hundreds of times, which wasn't that far of a stretch, considering he flew on this drake all the time in New Eden.

But it still made David laugh when he felt arms wrapped around him.

"Pussy!" David mocked over the wind.

"Fuck you, Mr. Magnus!" Mr. Gu shouted back before gritting his teeth.

He felt humiliated.

Although the drake was extremely fast, considering its size, it still wasn't enough to catch up to the angry Kary, who was flying full speed ahead.

She reached the building thirty seconds before they could, and when they caught up to her, they saw a man flying out the patio door and over the railing.

And it wasn't Kary or Alex.

"Shit!" David cursed.

"He cannot die!" Mr. Gu shouted, panicking.

"I know! Aunas! Take him to that balcony and then get back to me!" he shouted before leaning over the side and pushing himself off the drake.

The drake screeched in response, diving toward the balcony the man had flown off of and twisting its body, sending Mr Gu flying off.

The man landed on the balcony hard; the wind blowing out of his lungs, but he stopped as he crashed into the windows.

"Oof!"

Meanwhile, David was diving toward the falling man, who had reflexively spread himself out to slow down the fall.

'Good. At least you aren't an idiot,' David thought, catching up to him.

When he grabbed onto his back, the man started squirming.

"Stop that! Stay still and shut your mouth unless you want us both to die!" he shouted into the man's ear.

The squirming immediately stopped as the man clung to the hope of surviving this fall.

An enormous creature flew under them not a moment later, scooping them mid-flight and saving them from a painless but messy death.

The Asian man looked at the creature beneath him with awe and terror as he realized what it was. He snapped his head toward David, trying to get a look at the man who saved him, but a sharp blow to the nape took him out.

"Sorry, man. Can't have you know who I am yet," David mumbled.

"Alright, Aunas! Bring me back up. I'll let you rest after that."

The drake lightly screeched in agreement, as it could already feel meek and drained.

As soon as they reached the floor Alex's penthouse was on, David jumped off and cancelled his summon. The drake disappeared into his shadow as he landed on the balcony, the unconscious Asian on his shoulder.

Gu was already in the apartment, standing between the two sides and shouting at both sides.

"I guess it's high time the Zhong Kui figure out that they aren't the only powerhouse against demons anymore," David mumbled.

As he entered, he finally understood what Mr. Gu was shouting.

"Stop this madness, Elder Bai! I only asked for a scouting party! Why are you and your team here?!"

"You don't get to tell the Zhong Kui what to do, Gu Fang! You are no longer part of it! And your family name means nothing anymore!" Elder Bai shouted, clearly angry.

David could feel the lingering resentment between them.

'I'm not sure I want to stick myself into some family business. But they need to back off, or we'll never see the end of this problem…' David thought, sighing inwardly.

He glanced at Alex, who was panting, some wounds on his body closing ever so slowly.

'He was at his wit's end. But at least he killed no one, and he wasn't gravely injured. This is still salvageable.'

"Alright, both of you fucking shut up," David dropped as he entered the room.

And his desired effect took hold. Everyone turned toward him.