The village quaked beneath the roar of the second-level beast.Houses trembled, dust rained from rooftops, and the air itself splintered with every thunderous step the colossal creature took toward the gate. Men brandished farming tools as if they were weapons; women pulled their children behind them; and Lu Bai… cowered behind the senior guard, sweat dripping down his face despite the brave façade he tried and failed to force.
But Lin Tianhan…stood alone at the front.
Unmoving.Unshaken.His crimson hair flowed with the wind, and his dark eyes glimmered with a depth that swallowed light itself.
He felt no fear.What surged inside him was something else entirely—
The desire to fight.The hunger for power.And the whisper that echoed in his heart:
"Blood requires blood."
The first wave of monsters burst toward the village—dozens of small creatures with razor claws and needle-like fangs.
Guards shouted:
"Hold the front line!""Protect the children!""Don't let a single beast through!"
But reality struck quickly.
They were too few.Too weak.And the giant beast had not even begun its assault.
Tianhan did not move.His gaze locked onto one of the small first-level monsters sprinting straight toward him. Its glistening claws awakened a pulse in his chest—
One beat.A second.A third—An explosion.
Suddenly—
A burning sensation spread through his fingers.The bones in his hands stretched.Tendons twisted unnaturally, as though trying to shape something not meant for a human body.
"What…?"
He lifted his hand, and dark lines crawled across his skin, spreading rapidly toward his fingertips—
Until half-finger-long black claws formed at the tips.
This was not a human ability.
It was something else.Something born from the crimson drop within him.
A faint echo stirred inside his mind—deep, ancient, from a place untouched by light:
(Demon Claw Art — Level One:Shadow Claw.)
He had not learned this art.Had never heard of it.No one had taught him.
This was a demonic inheritance, fused into him through the unknown drop.
The small beast leaped at him—Tianhan moved on instinct.
His right hand swung forward, guided by a new primal will.
SHHHRRIP!
His claw tore through the creature from neck to belly in a single stroke.Blood sprayed across the earth.The monster hit the ground dead before it even realized it had been struck.
Everyone froze.
The guards halted.Even the other beasts hesitated.
A villager whispered:
"M… claws?""This isn't a human art…""What… has Tianhan become?"
But Tianhan heard none of them—Only the whisper that returned within him:
(Blood… open the gate.Hand… extend.Claws… rend.)
And the battle resumed.
Tianhan charged into the swarm like a black shadow.He no longer moved like a human—his steps were too light, too fast, too precise.
BOOM!
He leaped toward three beasts.The villagers heard only:
SHRRK — SHRRK — SHRRK!!
Less than a second passed—and the three monsters collapsed headless.
An old man screamed:
"That's no boy…! That's a demon!"
Behind the crowd, Tianhan's mother sobbed softly, trembling:"Tianhan… what is happening to you, my son…?"
While he shredded through the smaller beasts, the giant second-level monster watched. A hulking brute with black fur and eyes the size of fists—eyes that recognized something unnatural in the youth before it.
It lifted its head and unleashed a roar that shook the entire village.
"ROOOOOOOOOH!"
The small monsters froze.The guards stiffened.Even the air tightened.
Lu Bai shrieked from behind the crowd:
"It—it's furious! It's coming this way!"
But Tianhan felt—the roar was aimed at him.
The air quivered.His heartbeat quickened—faster—louder—until every pulse sent the claw-marks on his arm spreading further.
His skin darkened from the fingertips upward.The claws doubled in length—now a full finger long.
The whisper inside him boomed:
(Demon Claw Art — Level Two:Thundering Heart Claw.)
The giant beast charged, its massive steps making the earth quake.Any ordinary man would have died from shock alone—
But Tianhan did not retreat.Did not hesitate.
He sprinted straight at the monster.
"Tianhan, come back!!""This is suicide!!"
The villagers screamed.
But Tianhan heard only the pulse of blood.
As the beast neared, it slammed its forearm into the ground—
BOOOOOOM!
Dust exploded.Stones scattered.Three guards were thrown back by the pressure alone.
Yet through the billowing smoke—a figure emerged.
Tianhan stood atop the beast's arm.His hand raised.His claws gleaming.
Before the monster understood how he got there—
Tianhan struck.
He plunged his claws into its flesh.Tore—ripped—wrenched.
The sound of tearing meat drowned even the beast's roar.
The monster shrieked, its cry shaking the village.Tianhan fell to the ground after tearing free a chunk of its arm.
But instead of exhaustion—A new force surged into him from the beast's blood.
One pulse.Another.Another.
Dark lines formed across his hands—and then a second layer of claws emerged above the first—longer, sharper, darker.
The voice inside him declared:
(Demon Claw Art — Level Three:Hellrend Talon.)
A distant villager screamed:
"He's… evolving while fighting!!"
The giant beast charged, blood dripping violently.But Tianhan stood calm.
Too calm—as if the battle had already ended.
He grounded his stance.Lowered his body.Raised both hands.
And then—
He vanished.
He reappeared directly before the beast's chest—as if he had stepped across space.
His claws crossed—
And he struck.
SHRRRRRRRRRRK!
A double slash.Twin demonic claws fueled by awakened blood.
The beast's chest tore open from sternum to abdomen.Blood erupted like a fountain.It staggered back three steps—and crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom.
Dead.
A massive corpse—its heart nearly obliterated.
The village fell silent.
No one moved.No one breathed.
All eyes fixed on Tianhan—on his blackened arms,his claws shrinking slowly,his crimson hair brightening slightly…as if it had drunk the beast's blood-light.
And then—
The marks faded.The claws dissolved.He dropped to his knees, panting but conscious.
The village elder approached carefully.
"You… what have you done? What art is this?"
Tianhan lifted his head, a faint, tired smile on his lips.
"I don't know… it is simply… inside me."
He looked at the giant corpse.
"This isn't my power…It's only the beginning of something far greater."
Behind the villagers, Lu Bai watched with burning hatred and fear.He whispered:
"That monster… cannot remain in this village."
And so—Among awakened power,and eyes riddled with envy and terror—the first steps of Tianhan's new fate began.
The fate of the Demon Claws.