The Dawn of the New World

*BOOM*

*BOOOM*

*BOOOOM*

The air exploded and the earth turned to mush under Hao Xuan's unrelenting assault. The creatures kept coming and Hao Xuan kept tearing them to pieces.

Yet the untimely re-demise of their kin did little to hinder their enthusiasm in trying to get a piece of Hao Xuan. Like moths to a flame they kept coming. The blood and guts of each undead creature mixed with the rainwater, turning the horde even more frenzied.

The smell of rotting flesh and putrid blood filled the entire area, slowly being absorbed by his physique. But unbeknownst to Hao Xuan it had quite a negative effect on his mentality.

Hao Xuan was on the verge of losing his mind for good if he continued to absorb all that filth. But right now there was no other choice. To fuel the current heightened state and continuously powering "Assault of the Mad God", he had to risk it.

The silent notifications from Baracus that kept appearing at the edge of his vision were the only things still forcing Hao Xuan to hold tightly onto what little bit of rationality he had left.

Hao Xuan's feet never stopped for even a single second because he knew if he stood still, the undead would storm that position which would only drain his Qi even faster.

Utilizing the Demonic Steps Hao Xuan moved in between the horde like a slippery little fish in shallow water. Short but quick bursts of movement allowed him to use the least amount of Qi while covering enough distance to not let the undead surround him.

Hao Xuan was so busy trying to keep his momentum that he completely forgot about the minor demon that was prematurely buried by his kick. When he was more than a hundred meters away, the demon slowly crawled of the hole that was created by its own body.

A quarter of its left side was completely gone, such was the raw power of Hao Xuan's kick. The demon weakly fell on the ground, looking around for any sign of his attacker but the party had already moved on.

A spark of yellow light ignited at the back of its head, forming a five-pointed star. Strange symbols filled in between each of the points before changing shapes for 10 seconds without pause. The same yellow color leaked into the demon's eyes, flashing constantly.

It was obviously communication with something or someone. The light receded from its eyes after ten seconds and the five-pointed star also vanished.

The demon looked around again but neither the undead nor the living could be seen. When it was sure there was nobody nearby, with a troubled expression as if whatever it was about to do next was undesirable, it lowered its mouth to the muddy water that was coming up to its knees and started drinking.

It drank and drank, swallowing every single thing part that came it's way until every bit of bloody water within fifty meters was gone. Its stomach continued to expand and the lost limbs and other supernatural appendages that decorated its vile body started to grow back.

Its size and shape also changed, becoming more inhuman.

**

A little over 230 seconds had passed when Hao Xuan was forced awake from the state of madness by weak whimpering coming from somewhere around him.

Because of his heightened sense of hearing he was able to pick up many sounds that would normally be lost in the harsh discordant mixture of blaring noises currently being produced by his battle.

Hao Xuan found himself standing near a row of broken houses. They had been burning until a little while ago, proof of which were the red coals that still sizzled under the light rain.

Hao Xuan landed another punch in front of him killing two more undead that ran up to him before focusing his hearing in the direction of the houses.

"Hmm?"

With relative ease he was able to pick up three small heartbeats under the rubble of one of the houses. He looked back towards the horde that was still some distance away but closing in fast and without wasting any more time ran up to the house, moving the wreckage to find three small shivering silhouettes.

At first he thought they were large rats but when the light fell on their faces Hao Xuan saw their true appearance. Three kids, all somewhere between 5-7 years of age were huddled together.

Covered in a single layer of old worn-out clothes fashioned from what looked like some kind of untreated animal hide, the children had such sickly and frail bodies that they looked a little better than skeletons.

For a second Hao Xuan mistook them for the undead until he noticed their eyes, or to be specific the shock and fear in their eyes.

The largest of the children that was even thinner than Hao Xuan's arm stood up with shaky feet, pointing a piece of broken plank towards him.

"Stay...stay back! I know how to fight!" he threatened with a trembling voice.

*GROOOOWL*

The growls of the undead came over, startling the boy so much that he almost dropped the plank.