It was a world of water, the skin of the earth swallowed by a single endless sea, no scrap of land spared.

On that mirror-smooth expanse, a figure cloaked in raven black stood as if born from the horizon. Beside them floated a silver watch, shedding cold argent motes; its tick-tock rang across the waves like iron beads striking a bowl.

“Strange… this timeline…” The voice under the cloak was glacial, a blade-edge in the wind. “No scent of the World’s Malice. Aside from that thing, this is the first time I’ve seen a world end for other reasons.”

Tick-tock, the hand kept turning, each click like a drop on metal.

“I’m sensing an anomaly. Perhaps this is a chance to break fate.” The hovering watch spoke in a mechanical tone, emotionless as frost.

By a busy street, a crowd ringed a storefront like a wreath. In the center, a plump gray tom and a black cat with a hovering dark halo were clawing at each other, fur flying like ash.

Here’s how it went down: after entering a certain timeline, a black cat and a gray cat went romping about, and bumped into a lost kid. The fat gray Dufei let slip a sentence, and the kid heard it. In a child’s world, any beast that talks must be mighty as a mountain spirit.

The little one was wary of strangers, but he had no guard up against cats, those soft-footed shadows. He knelt to the gray Dufei right there, asking him to take him home.

Escort a lost kid home?

Fat Dufei almost rolled on the pavement laughing, a belly-shaking storm. He’d run with the First Cult; how could he be reduced to escort duty for a lost child?

Seeing the spirit-touched gray tom ignore him, the kid wiped tears and fished a thumb-sized clear crystal sphere from his waistband as payment. At that, the gray and the black both lunged to accept the “take-the-kid-home” job. Any shred of dignity had already been flung onto some far-off prairie and trampled by a stampede of alpacas.

With two “awakened” cats leading the way, the kid made it home. He tossed them a chicken drumstick in giddy thanks. His parents laughed—cats don’t gnaw drumsticks, dogs maybe. The moment food flashed, the two cats went at it, claws out like lightning.

“Meow~ (Idiot, buzz off. I took this quest first!)”

“Meow~ meow-meow~ (Fatty, which eye saw you take it first? Move. The drumstick’s mine!)”

They rolled and tumbled, you claw me, I claw you; you slap me once, I return two. Truth is, it wasn’t about the drumstick or the crystal anymore. Those two jokers only need a pretext, and they’ll reenact grade-school brawls on sight.

“That black cat’s ruthless—he used the fabled lineage-ending kick! Landed it, then bolted. Legendary!” A bystander clenched both fists, face flushed, eyes glued to the scrapping cats. He’d never seen a cat that sly. The black one nailed the gray with a bloodline-ending kick, then even chucked stones while retreating.

A stone-throwing cat—what kind of holy crap was that!

Honestly, that was about it. The big black Ouyang landed the lineage-ending kick, then sprinted away. Anyone kicked there would be in a foul moon. Even if Dufei barely felt it, a crowd had seen it happen—face lost like a hat in the wind.

“Mraao~ (Kid, stand and fight!)”

Dufei tore after him, dust pluming. Ouyang fled ahead, a shadow skimming air.

Yes, the black Ouyang was flying—he’d slipped that crystal sphere on the way, a moon of glass tucked under a wing. The sphere felt eerie; one glance and both cats knew it wasn’t ordinary. That’s why they’d rushed to escort the kid, not just to steal. They could have taken it by force, but even these Meowfolk hadn’t sunk to robbing a child for free.

No—don’t call it “haven’t sunk.” Say instead, no profit yet big enough to make them swipe a kid’s candy. Offer them a top-tier divine artifact, and they’d steal a toddler’s lollipop without blinking.

Both cats held back their strength with a practiced mutual restraint, leaving the world uncracked, the trees unshattered.

“Still chasing?” Ouyang glanced at the gray shadow dogging him. He touched the halo above his head with a paw. Rings of black ripples spilled from the floating circle like ink on water. Swept by that darkness, Dufei skidded to a stop, eyes glassy.

“Mraaow~”

He pawed at the dirt, drool stringing from his mouth like a leaky stream. A moment later, he dug out an earthworm. Crunch. The gray tom chewed it raw and slow.

“Enjoy the Stupidity Halo. Let’s see you keep up now.” Watching Dufei turn into a wide-eyed simpleton, Ouyang flicked his tail in triumph, then sauntered away. By the time Dufei snapped back to normal, Ouyang was long gone. With Ouyang actively hiding, finding him was harder than climbing to heaven on reeds.

To dodge Dufei’s revenge, Ouyang masked his aura completely. Not just Dufei—Saya, who was searching as well, couldn’t pin him down for a while.

A lone black cat moved through the forest, proud as a blade among grass.

“Meow-meow-meow~ (Hey, you up front. Anything tasty in this forest?)”

A one-eyed wolf heard and turned slowly, hackles bristling like frost spikes. The cat spoke feline, yet the wolf somehow understood. Irritation rose like heat—some mere Meow dared use that tone?

“Awoo—!”

The one-eye howled, expecting the cat to collapse like a leaf under thunder. Once, that howl scattered a hundred-man human squad. How could a cat, weaker by miles, stand under its pressure?

The answer was a single “Mraaow~,” sharp as a thrown pebble. The cat didn’t flinch; he crooked a paw at the wolf, a lazy beckon: come here, kid.

If Ouyang weren’t dodging Dufei’s payback, he’d have blown a wolf dead with one breath. While this hide-and-seek lasted, he avoided using power. Even so, a single physical swat from him could pancake the forest.

The wolf dared to howl again. Ouyang pounced.

To the one-eye, the cat vanished, and the air filled with a faint scorch, like singed hair on a brazier.

Smack. With one paw, the black Ouyang splattered the wolf into paste.

He hadn’t vanished; he’d moved too fast to be seen. That scorch came from air friction as he closed in, burning the wolf’s fur to cinders.

“Meow~ (Trash.)”

Their leader down, the other wolves stumbled back, a pile of sand without a pillar. Ouyang slapped the ground once. The forest trembled like a drum.

“Meow-meow-meow~ Meow~ (Wolf pups, scram. I’m in a foul mood and might flatten someone. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!)”

A curious thing unfolded in the woods: whether wolf or tiger, any beast that glimpsed a certain black cat melted away like snow under sun. Unbothered, Ouyang enjoyed the quiet. He found a patch of earth, and pulled out the crystal sphere he’d taken from the kid.

What was it, really? For now, Ouyang couldn’t parse it. The sphere slept like a dead moon. To study it, he’d need more power, or the sphere awake. Until he could ignore rules themselves, he had to wait for the crystal to stir.

“So… how do I wake this lifeless thing?”

Deep in a certain Flame Lizard’s lair.

Only one Flame Lizard prowled Doom Forest. Legends said it lived in magma, fed on it, breathed fire, wore dark-red scales that defied blade and spear. Truth was, it didn’t nest in lava. It could spit flame, sure, but swimming in molten rock was story-night exaggeration.

Its lair was a dry rock cave, heat-baked like a kiln. A dark-red lizard sprawled inside, sleeping with slow smoke-breaths.

Not far from the cave, a team crept closer, shadows stitched to roots.

“The flame demon from the stories lives in there. Stay sharp. Don’t wake it.” An adventurer in full kit briefed his team, voice low as mist. “The town of Sutel, closest to Doom Forest, gets beast tides every so often. At the root, those tides link back to that flame demon.

Like how women have certain days each month, that flame demon has certain days each year. When it goes berserk, it scares the forest’s beasts into a panicked rush, and a tide follows.”

Their company was seasoned, their name known even across the kingdom. They’d accepted a commission: resolve the flame demon of Doom Forest. With that experience, they’d investigated thoroughly—only within their reach would they lift a task.