Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

Far from the location of Devouring Moon City, a figure could be seen flying through the sky with such speed that a black trail was left in their wake. This was Fenrir and, though she had a hardened expression, there were tears building in the corners of her eyes which, upon release, were devoured by the shroud of bluish-black energy cloaking her body.Fenrir knew that abandoning the Devouring Moon Sect would ensure its destruction but, as staying didn't prevent attacks, she would rather kill her enemies than just wait for them to attack her. While this may not be the best course of action, Fenrir didn't know what the 'best' decision to make was so, in order to vent her frustrations, she had to make her enemies pay the price.Since the first moment she began interacting with the people of this world, Fenrir had been growing progressively more frustrated. This world was so drastically different than her own that it made her brain buzz just trying to comprehend how things had reached this point. It almost felt like there were no truly good people in this world or, at the very least, they didn't care about making the world a better place to live for others.Now, more than ever before, Fenrir wished that she had her Master at her side. She didn't have the strength to try and correct the world using more peaceful means. The only thing she knew how to do was train hard and, when he was feeling lonely, alleviate her Master's anxieties. This, in turn, made her feel safe and secure so, without that familiar warmth to calm her heart, each moment of duress she experienced seemed to compound on her past frustrations...After flying for several hours, Fenrir reached a large city that was more than three times the size of Devouring Moon City. She knew that her strength was probably lacking when compared against the strongest forces within the Searing Sword Palace so, after viewing the majestic city from a distance, she lowered her altitude and significantly reduced her speed.Unlike Devouring Moon City, there was a large palatial structure on the northern end of this city. It even had a second set of walls that separated it from the rest of the population so, while there was a fair chance the structure just belonged to a powerful Sect, Fenrir felt like she was looking down at a Kingdom.As if to clear up any confusion she might have, two figures emerged from the interior of the castle with extreme speed while all around the city large ballista-like weapons began to turn toward her. This caused Fenrir to begin breathing rapidly as she had yet to fully calm down after dealing with the situation in Devouring Moon City. She hated having weapons pointed her way, even if she knew why they would resort to such extremes...Without reducing her speed further, Fenrir continued to fly forward as the two figures, an elderly man and woman, moved to intercept her path. Once they were in range, Fenrir could smell a potent and lingering aura of blood around the man so, without the need for conversation, her pupils shrank as she rapidly accelerated.Not expecting to be attacked before they could even exchange words, the slightly rotund cultivator tried to muster his Qi to form a barrier but, with her shroud of devouring energy enveloping her body, Fenrir passed through him with extreme speed. This caused his body to simply vanish from the world and, as a result of possessing a Golden Core, Fenrir's own foundation was strengthened quite a bit.The woman of the duo was stunned by the sudden loss of her partner but, before she could take any action to try and retaliate, a large wolf head opened its massive maw before snapping its jaws shut around her body. In this manner, the two Guardians of the Soaring Dragon Kingdom ceased to exist. Shortly after, the majority of the royal family followed suit and, by the time dawn arrived, the castle itself had been replaced by a massive fortress of ice...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'ALL WHO STAND IN MY WAY SHALL DIE...!')

Rumors had the tendency to spread quickly, even in worlds where the communications infrastructure was almost nonexistent. Nobody knew the exact reasons how but, whenever an event of a significant magnitude occurred, rumors would spread far and wide, seemingly overnight.By the time a week had passed, the entire Oyone Continent had heard about what happened in the now-infamous Devouring Moon City. This included the Searing Sword Palace who, after learning how some outer member of a Branch Sect was using their name, had been intending to send an Enforcer to quell the incident and everyone involved.Upon learning that the arrogant Young Master of the Peng family had been killed, the Enforcer's new task had been to investigate the person who killed him, the Guardian of the Devouring Moon Sect. If she had a powerful backer, they would establish contact before reporting back to the Palace so that a more powerful Elder could be dispatched to deal with the situation.Ideally, both the Guardian and her Master could be recruited to the Sword Palace but, as was often the case, fate rarely allowed things to be settled so easily. Since Fenrir had attacked someone even loosely related to the Searing Sword Palace, they had to make an example of her in order to prevent other forces from looking down on her. It didn't matter if she had been doing her duty as, when it came to powerful Sects, they had their pride to uphold.Because of this, the Enforcer from the Searing Sword Palace had already visited the Devouring Moon Sect and, finding it largely abandoned, tracked Fenrir to the Soaring Dragon Kingdom. Considering the palace was still covered in a layer of ice, while the city itself was buried in several centimeters of snow, it wasn't difficult to find.Believing his mark to be within the castle itself, the Enforcer flew towards the ice palace only to find that it was completely devoid of life. Even after he sent a few meteors formed from Qi to destroy a few buildings, there wasn't a single sign of anyone coming out to meet him. This annoyed him quite a bit so, after entering the deepest part of the palace, only to find several frozen corpses, he made his way out to the city to ask the citizens what had happened.Adding to the Enforcer's frustration, none of the citizens seemed to understand what had transpired inside the castle. The only thing they knew was that a battle had taken place and, by the time the sun had risen the following day, only silence lingered around the frigid structure. Ever since then, a large amount of snow had been falling in the evenings and, while they had been able to harvest most of the crops ahead of schedule, many were wiped out as a result of the sudden onset of winter.Since he had even tortured a few dozen people for answers, the Enforcer determined that his quarry had fled after killing the castle's inhabitants. He now had no leads, causing the man to flex his jaw a few times in frustration. Returning to the Sword Palace without any pertinent information was not an acceptable outcome so, with no other clues, he decided to gather information from the surrounding settlements to try and determine where Fenrir had fled...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'You dare track Fenrir...?')

Wen Xiualan was shaken to hear Fenrir's words but, no matter how much she wanted to convince her that such a course of action was impossible, the words could not reach her lips. It wasn't until Fenrir had turned away from her and was about to disappear that she managed to mutter, "This...isn't what your Master would want..."As if the previous chill was just an illusion, Wen Xiulan felt as if her entire body was submerged in an impossibly cold bath. It didn't seem to matter that she practiced a cultivation technique that used Ice and Yin Elemental energy, granting her immunity to most cold temperatures...Without turning fully, Fenrir angled her head toward Wen Xiulan and stated in a cold tone that, if you listened closely, almost sounded like a sob, "Master...isn't here..."With those three words, Fenrir's figure vanished from the snowy landscape while, high in the sky, the building storm clouds were rapidly dispersing. When she saw this, Wen Xiulan fell to the ground, her legs having lost their feeling as an overwhelming sense of helplessness seized her.Though it would be possible to convince many that Fenrir was still protecting them, it wouldn't take long for rumors to circulate that she had abandoned them. Without their Guardian, their Sect was all but guaranteed to fade from the world as, if they tried to remain standing, they would be the target of everyone's scorn in the future.Wen Xiulan resisted the urge to shed tears as she knew there was a very limited amount of time for her to act. Fenrir wasn't the type to just wait around so there was a good chance she was already on her way to the Searing Sword Palace. This was a journey that would take her several days, at the very least, but even that wasn't enough time to smoothly disband a Sect...Shaking her head, Wen Xiulan muttered, "It was not fair to have burdened her with our problems. I'll just take Jia Cai with me and flee to the south..."While she felt an obligation to protect and guide the Sect's remaining disciples, Wen Xiulan knew she lacked the power to do so. Even if she led a mass exodus, they would be easily tracked by any of the large Sects. There would even be powerful bandit troupes pestering them along the way so, the only real option was to flee with the people she cared the most about without looking back.After releasing another profound sigh, Wen Xiulan collected herself before taking to the sky to view the damage to the city. The very least she could do was eliminate what remained of the enemies still within the city. She had a lot of pent up frustrations toward them as, without their interference, there was a chance that Fenrir would have remained their Sect Guardian for several years, at the very least.If time allowed, Wen Xiulan would have wanted to track her attackers back to their actual origin but, as they would undoubtedly be dealt with by their own enemies after experiencing such a loss, she knew it was unnecessary to do so. All she could really do was vent on what few enemies remained in the city, joining hands with the Mercenary Guild to restore some semblance of order...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Master...')

Chapter 92: Sadness and Rage