The Qilin Child Is Not Playing Around

The arena was in an uproar. Not the excited roar of a tournament, but a chaotic cacophony of panicked whispers, stunned gasps, and frantic speculation.

Sect Master Gu Ran was pale, his eyes wide. Lyra, Urg, and Zephyr were equally stunned. My disciples, who had just witnessed a legendary beast get eaten by a shadowy prince, were trembling.

"He's… he's back," Gu Ran whispered, his voice hoarse. "Valerius. I thought he was gone forever."

"King Theron's brother?" I asked, my mind still trying to process what I'd just seen. "The 'Demonic Cultivator'? He seemed… strong. Like, really, really strong."

Zephyr, for once, had no witty retort. He just stared at the empty space where Valerius had been. "His power… it's terrifying. He controls the void itself."

Suddenly, King Theron, still floating on his glowing white sword, roared. "Valerius! Show yourself, brother! What is the meaning of this?!" His golden aura flared, but it lacked the absolute authority it had held moments before.

A ripple of shadows appeared in the sky above the arena, and Valerius rematerialized, his wild grin still in place. "Meaning, dear brother? The meaning is simple. This realm needs a true ruler. One who isn't afraid to wield real power!"

The crowd, which had been in a state of stunned silence, now erupted in a mix of fear and confusion. This was a family spat, but with world-ending implications.

"You speak of 'real power'?" King Theron retorted, his voice trembling with a mix of anger and sorrow. "You dabble in forbidden arts! You consort with chaos! This is not power, Valerius, it is madness!"

"Madness?" Valerius scoffed, his crimson eyes blazing. "It is evolution, brother! While you clung to your 'righteous' Qi, I embraced the true essence of the universe! The void! The shadows! The power that consumes all!"

The two brothers, one radiating golden light, the other shrouded in inky blackness, faced each other across the arena. The tension was unbearable. This wasn't a tournament; this was a civil war about to break out.

Just as the crowd began to whisper, to murmur about the implications of this royal sibling rivalry, a new, terrifying presence emerged.

One minute, the arena was filled with the shouts of the brothers. The next, everything froze. The air itself seemed to solidify. The whispers died. The screams caught in throats. A chilling, absolute silence descended.

Flicker!

A crimson light. And a soft, almost ethereal Pulse! that rippled through the frozen air.

High above the arena, in the very center of the sky, a child materialized. He looked no older than ten, with fiery red hair that seemed to float like embers, and two small, but perfectly formed, crimson wings sprouting from his back. His eyes, however, were not childlike. They glowed with an ancient, terrifying, molten-gold light. He floated effortlessly in the space where the Qilin had been.

"What… what is that?" I whispered, my voice barely audible. 

Gu Ran, beside me, was trembling even more violently than before. His face was ashen. "It's… it's the Human Qilin," he choked out, his voice filled with a despair I hadn't heard before. "A legend… a myth! A human born with the essence of a Qilin! A Second Layer being, but with human intelligence!"

A Human Qilin?! A Second Layer human?! This was getting ridiculous. And terrifying. My dashboard, for once, was silent. It was probably too busy screaming internally.

The child, the Human Qilin, slowly raised his hand. His tiny fingers glowed with an intense, crimson light. The air around him shimmered, distorting with heat.

"My dear fathers," the child's voice echoed, surprisingly calm and clear, yet resonating with an ancient power. "You bicker like children. This realm… it needs to be purified. And I am the one to do it."

King Theron and Prince Valerius, who had been locked in their brotherly standoff, both turned to stare at the child, their faces a mixture of shock and dawning horror. They knew what this meant.

"No!" King Theron roared, his golden aura flaring. "This is impossible! The prophecy… it cannot be true!"

"The prophecy is fulfilled, brother," Valerius said, his voice grim. "He has awakened."

The child, the Human Qilin, unleashed a torrent of fire. Not a concentrated blast like the Qilin, but a wide, all-encompassing wave of crimson flame that swept across the arena, heading directly for the viewing boxes. It was a cleansing fire, meant to consume everything.

"We need to escape!" I screamed, my voice cracking. 

King Theron, despite his shock, reacted instantly. He roared, and Dravo, the Mighty Dragon, materialized beside him, larger and more imposing than ever. Dravo let out a thunderous roar, unleashing a torrent of golden dragonfire to counter the Qilin child's crimson flames.

Fwoom!

The two streams of fire, one golden, one crimson, clashed in mid-air, creating a blinding explosion of light and heat that rocked the entire arena. The protective arrays shimmered desperately, groaning under the immense pressure.

Valerius, the Demonic Cultivator, didn't hesitate either. His shadows surged, forming a massive, inky black barrier that rose to meet the flames. It absorbed the heat, the light, the very essence of the fire, turning it into pure darkness.

"....?!"

The clash of powers was immense. The arena was a maelstrom of golden light, crimson fire, and consuming shadows. King Theron, wielding his glowing white sword, plunged into the fray, his golden aura blazing, striking at the Human Qilin. Valerius, a blur of shadows, engaged the child from another angle, his crimson eyes burning with a terrifying resolve. Dravo, the mighty dragon, roared, unleashing another torrent of golden fire.

This wasn't just a fight; it was a cataclysm. A battle between a King, a Demonic Prince, a Fourth Layer Dragon, and a Second Layer Human Qilin. And I, Alex, the Ninth Layer Systems Trader, was stuck in the middle of it. 

"We're going to die!" Urg bellowed, clutching his head.

"This is madness!" 

Gu Ran, despite his terror, was trying to form a desperate Qi shield around us, but it was flickering under the immense pressure.

The Human Qilin, surprisingly agile, dodged King Theron's sword, its crimson wings flapping. It unleashed another wave of fire, this one even more intense, aimed directly at our viewing box.

"No!" I screamed. 

My dashboard, however, was silent. No helpful hints. No sarcastic comments. The System was probably just enjoying the show. Or calculating the point gain if everyone died.

The crimson flames surged towards us, a terrifying, beautiful wave of destruction. I closed my eyes, bracing for the end. This was it. My third death. And this time, there was no void to save me. My points were useless. My systems were useless. I was just… a squishy human in a white robe.

But then, a new thought sparked. A tiny, desperate idea. The System had said it was "testing" me earlier. It had said it was "grudgingly impressed." It had given me 10,000 points just to come back. It wanted me to survive. 

I opened my eyes. The flames were almost upon us. But I wasn't dead yet.

My gaze darted to the [SYSTEM SHOP] icon. I had to find something. Anything. Before we all became Qilin-flambé.