Lena finished her recording and tucked the device away.

Then she turned and looked once toward the damaged alley.

Not long after, Lena started walking away from the crime scene.

But her route was wrong.

She was not walking toward the media district, nor toward her car.

She was walking toward the older blocks near the edge of the area.

Lena turned twice along the road. Once, she stopped near a street lamp and looked at her terminal.

Another time, she paused beside a food stall and looked at her reflection in the glass.

A few minutes later, Lena entered a quieter part of the city. Fewer people were around. The buildings also looked older.

Then she stopped in front of a small building squeezed between two apartments.

From the outside, it looked like an old office that had already closed down.

Lena knocked on the door three times.

Then, without waiting for it to open, she just walked through the door.

Inside was not a normal apartment room. Instead, it looked like an alleyway, with a tall fence running along the side.

She walked slowly along the never-ending path without any worry.

Suddenly, she stopped.

Her pupils turned crimson. Then, without saying anything, her body blurred backward as she slashed at empty space.

SLASH!!!

The slash tore through the fabric of space.

From the gap, Alex and Mingyue stepped out and locked gazes with her.

The three of them blurred at once.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A fast exchange erupted in the narrow path.

Their figures kept vanishing and reappearing.

Blades and claws collided again and again, sending shockwaves through the strange space. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

When they separated, both Alex and Mingyue were completely unscathed.

Lena’s face had turned tense. Her hand had already transformed into a long, sharp claw.

Her eyes glowed red, and sharp fangs protruded from her lips.

A green aura then spread out from Alex as he looked at her with a stern gaze.

"What are you doing, attacking your progenitor? Kneel."

Lena’s expression changed to shock. Her body suddenly felt heavy. Her knees started bending under the pressure.

She kept looking at Alex and Mingyue, her gaze switching between them.

Then, suddenly, she let out a laugh as she slowly forced herself back up, even while her body let out cracking sounds.

"A progenitor after all this time? Are you fucking kidding me?

Now, when we are this close? Our old ancestor really likes to joke."

Her presence began to change.

The whites of her eyes turned black while her pupils stayed red.

Then she blurred forward as if the pressure did not exist at all.

She appeared in front of Alex, her sharp nails aimed straight at his neck.

Alex is not even fazed, he just coldly looking at her.

Just an inch away from his neck, it clashed against a sword.

CLANG!!!

Mingyue blocked her with a swing and pushed her back.

A majestic aura spread from Mingyue’s body, fusing the progenitor soul pressure with her ice and space power.

The whole space around her started to distort. Snowflake stars appeared in the air, while ice lotuses bloomed one after another.

"You should know your place. I will give you one more chance. Put down your claws and we can talk. Or prepare..."

Lena cut her off.

"Prepare for what? You are going to kill me?" she said with disdain.

Her body lowered slightly.

The next second, dozens of blood-red threads exploded from her back and shot across the alley.

They were too thin to be seen by normal eyes, but each one carried a sharp and distorted aura.

Mingyue’s brows moved. Her sword flashed.

A wall of ice formed in front of them, but the red threads pierced into it at once. The surface of the ice started turning black where they touched.

Alex raised one hand. White flames burst out and wrapped around the threads.

The filthy aura on them let out a hissing sound as it was burned away.

Lena clicked her tongue and pulled back.

The blood threads twisted in the air and gathered behind her like a nest of snakes.

Alex looked at her calmly. "You are much bolder than I expected. You know you cannot beat us, yet you still led us here."

Lena smiled, showing her fangs. "Because it’s better to fight on this place."

The moment her words fell, the alley shook.

The tall fence on the side suddenly twisted like it was alive. The ground under their feet rippled. The endless path ahead and behind them started shifting, closing off their retreat.

Mingyue looked around once, than smiled.

Lena spread her arms. "This is a pocket space built from corpse paths and soul walls. Once you enter, even the smell of your blood cannot escape."

Alex glanced around and nodded lightly. "So that is why you dared to fight us."

Lena’s smile grew wider. "At first, I only thought you two were strange. But now..."

Her red eyes locked onto Alex. "Now I know trapping you was worth it."

A heavy aura rose from her body.

The blood threads behind her thickened, then slowly formed into the shadows of wings.

Her bones let out cracking sounds. Her fingers became longer. Dark red veins crawled across her neck.

Mingyue’s eyes turned colder.

Alex’s gaze stayed on Lena.

Lena laughed again. This time it sounded lower and rougher.

"You think a little pressure from a progenitor can make me kneel?" She slowly raised one claw and pointed it at Alex.

"If you are our progenitor, where were you when we are massacred, when we are hunted down like a dog!"

Her aura surged again.

This time, the blood corridor around them reacted with her. Crimson light spread through the walls.

Faint crying sounds started echoing from the dark.

Mingyue stepped forward.

The snowflake stars around her grew denser. The ice lotuses under her feet spread farther, freezing the red light that tried to reach her.

"You talk too much. Int his world everyone have their own tragic story, your is nothing special."