Shen Yu stood over the broken Patriarch, his gaze as indifferent as a god looking at an ant beneath his heel.
"So," Shen Yu's voice boomed, the sound hitting the walls and vibrating back into Peng Kai's chest like a physical punch. He leaned his massive, fur-clad shoulder against a jagged pillar, pulling a sliver of gristle from his teeth with a dirty, blunt fingernail. He spat it toward the dying teleportation array.
"How's the view from the gutter, Patriarch? You lost the gold, you lost the name, and you lost your face to a bunch of 'upcoming' nobodies. Hah! I've seen mangy curs in the slums with more backbone than the Head of the Peng Clan!"
"You… you dare!" Peng Kai hissed. The insult to his lineage acted like a spark in a powder keg. His pride, the only thing he had left, overrode his survival instinct. He leveled his trembling sword at Shen Yu's throat, the steel chattering against his own armor in the dim light.
