Chapter 3: Ivy Spears

Ethan Greaves was drowning in despair when Ivy Spears strode in. In her hand was the middle-aged man's cleaver. Silver light flashed. Her arm rose and fell in one clean arc, severing the tentacle. From the darkness came a shriek, raw and vicious. "Ivy Spears! You won't make it out! Without the Spirit Jade, you'll disperse!" Ivy turned her face toward the dark, the corner of her mouth lifting. "Then I'll take you with me." She reached down and hauled Ethan up by the collar. "I don't know if I can get you out safely," she said, voice steady. "But I'll try." Ethan clenched his teeth against the agony, spat a mouthful of blood, then snapped his head up and scanned the carriage. He looked back at Ivy, confusion written in his eyes. "That Spirit Jade… it matters to you, doesn't it?" She flicked him a glance, smiling as if it were nothing. "It used to. Not anymore." Ethan did not understand, but he saw the resolve in her gaze. It left no room for bargaining. A gaunt man blocked their path. He had a weasel's face and twitching limbs. Then his body suddenly swelled, ripping his clothes apart. Coarse fur burst out as he expanded. His spine thrust through flesh like a sharpened blade, rising past his skull. He looked like a wandering swordsman with a blade on his back. Only… it was revolting. He flung his arms wide and lunged at Ivy. Ivy drove a vicious kick into him and sent him flying. She chopped with the cleaver in a relentless rhythm, while her other hand locked around Ethan's wrist, dragging him forward as she carved a path. Under the crimson glow, more warped creatures crowded in. A burly man stood among them, his body covered in boils. He smiled at Ethan. "Stay," he coaxed. "Celebrate with us." As he spoke, the boils popped one after another, splattering milky pus. Ethan fought the surge of bile and turned away. In the same instant, he saw Ivy pin the weasel-faced man to the floor and split his head straight down the middle with the cleaver. She snapped off the spine that had jutted out of him. It was sharp as a spear. Then she pivoted and burst to Ethan's flank in a single step, driving that spine through the boil-covered man's torso and nailing him hard to a seat. Even so, the man kept writhing, like a centipede skewered with a toothpick, twisting and thrashing as it tried to squirm free. He even waggled his brows at Ethan. "Don't look," Ivy said. "Move." Ethan held his breath and forced his legs to carry him forward. At the far end of the carriage, deep in the dark, more and more black tentacles crept along the walls. "Don't turn around," Ivy murmured. Ethan felt the icy malice at his back. He crushed the urge to look, only for his foot to catch on something. A human head. It grinned up at him, mouth stretched wide. Ivy glanced down, frowned, and stomped. The skull burst like a melon. Red blood and white brain matter splashed together. Cleaver in hand, Ivy surged ahead like a war goddess whipping her mount onward. Killing intent rolled off her in a towering wave, as if anything that stood in her way, god or demon, would be cut down. The ferocity made a jarring contrast with her delicate face. The monsters lining both sides only watched with vicious eyes. None of them attacked. Maybe Ivy's ruthless efficiency had scared them. But unease tightened in Ethan's chest. He could feel it. Ivy's pace kept slowing. And the train… it felt endless. They walked and walked, the crimson light still draped over them. Then Ivy stumbled. Ethan reached to steady her, but she pressed him back with a firm palm. "I'm fine." Her voice came out much softer than before. Only then did Ethan realize how frail she looked, like her strength had been wrung out drop by drop. Behind them, sharp laughter rang out, like metal scraping glass, the sound making Ethan's scalp prickle. "Ivy Spears, even if we don't stop you, how long can you keep this up?" "Twenty years… your time's up, isn't it?" Ivy looked at Ethan and let out a slow breath. She ignored the jeers behind her as if she had not heard a thing. "Why… are you saving me?" Ethan asked, throat bobbing as he forced the words out. His mind was a mess, questions piling on questions, but one thing was clear. Ivy truly meant to save him. They were strangers. He did not even know who she was. And to get him out, she might have to pay a terrible price. Even then… it might not work. No matter how he tried, Ethan could not find a reason. Ivy gave a short laugh. "Don't overthink it. Saving you is my duty." "Duty?" "The duty of the pioneers," Ivy said, her eyes clear. Shock flickered across Ethan's face. Two thousand years ago, demons and monsters had invaded the world and fed on humanity. The Human Race had been pushed to the brink, until one person deduced a path of cultivation for the Human Race from the demons' own methods, ushering in the Human Martial Era. Those who became Martial Artists or underwent awakening, those transcendent who fought demons and monsters, were called "pioneers." The "pioneers" had existed for two thousand years. Only in recent years had they split into the Demon Suppression Bureau and the Demon Extermination Department. "The first rule of the Pioneer Code," Ivy declared, each word hitting like a hammer, "is that no matter the circumstances, you prioritize the lives of ordinary people and ensure they aren't harmed by demons and monsters." That belief was what had kept her standing guard in this place for twenty years. Seeing the storm of emotions on Ethan's face, Ivy let out another quiet laugh. "Don't blame yourself. Even if you hadn't come, I couldn't have kept waiting." "Why?" Ethan asked, startled. The moment he said it, understanding began to dawn. Ivy's condition was terrible. Holding on until this point might already have been her limit. To send him out, she had to burn the last drop of oil in her lamp, just to push back the darkness for an ordinary man like him. Then, without warning, a dazzling sphere of light appeared ahead. "Go! Charge into the light! You'll get out!" Ivy screamed. Ethan froze for a heartbeat, then sprinted forward with everything he had. But he stopped just as suddenly and turned back. Ivy still stood where she was. Her face had gone pale. She leaned against a seat, smiling with an ease that did not belong on someone about to collapse. "Move!" Ethan roared. Ivy did not answer. Only then did Ethan see it. From the depths of the darkness, tentacles had already wrapped around Ivy's ankles, binding her in place. "Leave," Ivy told him, her voice turning into a final instruction. "Find other pioneers. Make them deal with this Demon Realm. Otherwise… the consequences will be unimaginable!" And then another sharp tentacle shot out and punched straight through Ivy's abdomen.