I had only half a second to dismiss the thought, reconsider it, then dismiss it again before all the confirmation I needed came crashing down with an explosive grunt just ten feet in front of me and Crunch.
Boom!
The impact of Savage's superhero landing shook the earth like an earthquake, and Crunch stumbled as the ground rumbled beneath us.
When the brute rose from the freshly formed crater, he was surrounded by a five-foot wall of churned dirt. A smaller, but still superpowered, jump took him over the lip of the crater, landing behind Crunch and me.
The ghoul slowly lowered me to the ground, and my legs wobbled from being carried like a ragdoll. I forced myself to recover as fast as possible, not wanting to look foolish in front of one of my idols.
Savage was even more terrifying in person. Seven feet of pure muscle, his shoulders rolling as if stretching for a kill. Matted dirt clung to his burnt-orange fur, giving him a wild, primal look. When he finally spoke, his voice rumbled like distant thunder, and I felt the vibrations in my chest.
"I've come for the boy. Step aside."
Hearing the words come from his mouth didn't make them any easier to believe.
"M-me?" I stammered.
Crunch's clawed hand shot out, yanking me behind him.
"Give me the boy," Savage growled.
My body flinched, my legs trembling against my will.
Crunch worked his jagged jaw, forcing words through a mouth full of razors. His voice grated like shattered glass underfoot.
"Come and take him… flesh bag."
Savage let out a bestial roar. Crunch didn't react—his silence was more chilling than any scream. Then, the super's legs flexed, and he launched at Crunch with terrifying speed.
I barely had time to react before Crunch threw me aside. I hit the dirt hard, my head snapping against the ground. Pain bloomed in my skull, and for a few moments, my senses blurred.
Through the haze, I saw tufts of burnt-orange fur tangled in Crunch's claws—Savage was gone.
Then, an earth-shattering roar erupted from the pile of dirt near the crater, followed by an explosion of soil as Savage burst out, shaking himself free like an angry beast.
Something about watching a world-famous super emerge from a pile of dirt struck me as… funny. Like one of those ridiculous Saturday morning cartoons.
I knew my life was in danger. But still… that was funny.
I must have hit my head harder than I thought.
Then, Savage lunged at Crunch again, and the seriousness of the situation crashed down on me like a mountain.
He's trying to kill my bodyguard.
Maybe if I tell him I have his poster on my bedroom wall, he won't want to kill me?
I almost blurted it out, but the absurdity hit me at the last second, and I kept my mouth shut.
Savage launched another attack, but Crunch dodged again, his claws barely making a scratch on the super's iron-hard skin, only leaving bald patches of exposed flesh.
The fog in my mind began to clear. What the hell was I thinking? "I'm a big fan?" More like, I'm a big idiot.
Savage missed another lunge—his fifth—but this time, something was off. Movement around his waist caught my eye, but my sluggish brain didn't piece it together in time.
The fur around Savage's waist parted, and his prehensile tail shot out like a whip, wrapping around Crunch's arm as he passed.
Crunch reacted instantly, bringing his claws down in a lethal slash. But Savage was in a different league. The tail barely flinched.
Damn it! Why didn't I warn Crunch about the tail?!
Savage used his tail's grip to launch himself again. With a monstrous snarl, he embraced Crunch, pinning the ghoul's arms in a vice grip.
Crunch struggled, but the strength gap was too wide. He tried angling his claws for a counterattack—too slow.
Savage's jaw unhinged, stretching unnaturally wide. Ten-inch fangs pushed through his gums before he sank them deep into Crunch's shoulder.
Then, with a brutal twist of his head—
He ripped Crunch's arm clean off.
He tossed it aside like a discarded chicken bone.
A scream clawed at my throat, but nothing came out.
No. No, no, no.
Savage's jaw unhinged again, this time angling to bite off Crunch's entire head.
I didn't think. My body just moved.
I charged.
"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!"
I rammed my shoulder into Savage's side.
It was like running into a brick wall. I bounced off with a cry, my entire arm going numb as pain shot through me. My vision blurred.
Fur-covered feet entered my vision.
I looked up.
Savage towered over me, disgust twisting his beast-like face.
"Weak. Stupid." He shook his head, a wave of hot, damp breath washing over me. "If you were smart, you would have honored your ghoul's sacrifice by running. Instead, you watch him die and attack a god with the body of a mortal."
His hand clamped around my injured arm.
Pain exploded through me.
"You Jiang are all the same," he sneered. "Must be the inbreeding. Makes you simple—"
A voice cut through the air like a blade.
Calm. Cold.
A death sentence.
"Sometimes, simple courage can be more powerful than the strongest super."
Savage's eyes widened. His grip on me loosened as he whirled around.
Without hesitation, he leapt—
But before he could escape, bone-white hands burst from the ground, clutching his ankles.
I gasped.
Standing behind Savage, cloaked in death itself, was my grandfather—Jiang Tianhong.
His bone mask covered everything but his eyes—two burning embers of crimson. Exposed ribs formed an armor over his chest, and his legs were plated with hardened bone. In his hands, he wielded a scythe of nightmares.
The blade hummed, whispering the cries of stolen souls. Its shaft was blackwood, its edge pure bone.
The Emperor of the Long Night. The Traveler of the Underworld. The ruler of the Free-City of Wichita.
Savage struggled, but the spirits dragged him down.
Schhiiink—
With a single stroke, my grandfather reaped the world-famous super.
The blade passed through fur, flesh, and organs without resistance.
Savage's body remained intact.
Only his soul had been taken.
A distant roar of fury echoed across the horizon.
My grandfather turned toward the sound—just as a blinding light ignited the sky.
A hiss escaped him as he slammed his blackwood scythe into the ground.
A dome of blue-white spirits enclosed us.
I barely had time to wonder what the hell was coming—
Before the sky exploded.
Heat.
Blinding, searing heat.
Something heavy slammed into me, pinning me down. I screamed in agony as the burning air seared my skin.
Then, I was lifted. Thrown.
I hit something hard—dirt.
I didn't land.
I kept falling.
Realization dawned.
The crater. Savage's landing site.
The pain in my head and arm became my entire world—
Until the first pile of dirt hit my face.
My chest ached as I tried to scream—
But no sound came.
I was being buried alive.