The Dawn of the New World

The moment Dai Zhi finished speaking Hao Xuan was pushed out of that state and back into his body.

"-ster! Master can you hear me?!"

When he came to Claudia was standing in front of him nervously yelling at his face.

"I'm here, calm down," he muttered taking a step back.

"Your eyes had turned white and I couldn't feel your presence at all! Are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine, it's not the first time this has happened," he whispered the last part to himself while looking around.

The last time he had this out-of-body experience was when he was opening a portal back to this world.

'So it was the world spirit's doing...'

Dai Zhi had confirmed it for him just now, along with one other thing.

'And it's protecting me? Why?' but as much as he wanted to mull over that question further, he needed to get moving right now, 'Damnit, I don't have time for this, those idiots are trying to attack him!'

"I need to go meet the owner of that cross. Stay here till I come back," Hao Xuan threw out the words before jumping down.

"BUT WHAT IF ITS A TRAP?!" Claudia shouted from the rooftop.

Hao Xuan paused momentarily but couldn't come up with a better explanation.

"Then I need to spring it and see what he wants!"

'The World Spirit wouldn't have shown him to me without a reason. And he really did come alone from what I could tell so even if he tries something I am confident in my ability to at least escape in one piece.'

He pushed against the ground with a lot more force this time and shot up into the sky disappearing southward.

Hao Xuan's words echoed in her ears but she couldn't hold herself back for long as the uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

"I need to go after him. Something doesn't feel right!"

But she had only taken a single step forward before her body froze. Her shadow dimmed for a moment before darkening by several shades as numerous pairs of eyes opened within it.

Two such pairs were brighter than all the rest and much larger, burning with blood-red flames.

She forcefully turned her head just enough to peer into them as waves upon waves of unintelligible whispers washed over her shaky figure.

"THE MOMENT IS NIGH! DO NOT INTERVENE!" they repeated over and over again in a hundred different voices and just as many languages, crashing against the ocean of her mind.

Her eyes began to unfocus and roll back into her head. Within seconds she was left a slobbering mess and only then did the whispers stop and allowed her to fall to the floor.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry I won't do it again, I'm sorry...please...forgive me..." she repeated in a haze of absolute fear, panic, and confusion.

With some effort Claudia managed to drag her body to the edge of the rooftop but the shadow remained rooted to the spot staring at her.

"Please forgive me...no more...please..."

She tried to close off her ears but these voices were not something that could be so easily kept at bay.

Even her body had undergone severe changes which she noticed only after seeing her hands. Her youthfulness was replaced by a waning and decrepit form.

"No!" she screamed in a panic, "I will do it! Please! I swear I will set you free! Don't take it from me!"

The rooftop began to sizzle and melt as hoof prints began to appear in succession leading towards Claudia. They stopped right in front of her.

Claudia was frozen stiff in fear to the point that she couldn't even breathe. Her eyes swiveled left and right but there was nothing to see. And then, out of nowhere, a searing hot gust of wind brushed past her face.

Her skin immediately melted and what was left of her hair was burned off entirely revealing the white bone of the skull underneath.

She wanted to cry and scream at the top of her lungs but the pain was overshadowed by a sense of impending doom.

One breath from this demon was enough to do this to her so she couldn't even think what it would do if it really wanted to hurt her.

"Soon...I promise," she muttered softly with a fair bit of effort.

Upon sensing the air shift in front of her Claudia closed her eyes out of instinct not wanting to see how it ended.

But a moment passed and nothing happened so she slowly opened them again and found herself standing in the same spot she was at the start.

She was absolutely drenched from head to toe in a cold sweat, along with numerous other bodily fluids.

"Ha....haha...a nightmare...just like your name...I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you. I will do whatever it takes to bind you to him."