Shun Zhang: The Red Beast

I am Shun Zhang

Two Years Ago

"YAOGUAI! YOU SHALL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MASTER LEUNG!"

"Kill the Red Beast!"

I planted my foot firmly on the ground, the head of Master Leung dangling by my side, held by the strands of his hair.

"No one will stop me," I said, wrapping the head in a cloth and tying it to my waist.

No one can stop me now.

I have become stronger than Talon-sifu.

Converging River Fist

"Shun Zhang of the Red Circle Triad. Do you not feel remorse for what you did?! Master Leung was kind. He was nurturing. He took in homeless children and taught them to defend themselves. Everything he did was for the good of Chinese martial arts. Yet without hesitation, you stepped into his home and struck first" One of the Masters snarled at me.

"That's right! Master Leung was a good man! How far will the Red Circle fall? How depraved will you be! There was no reason for any of thi-"

I cackled evilly, cutting the Master off.

"How far will we fall? The better question is how far will we rise. We are unstoppable. We are the greatest Triad in the Hebei province. And we will become the strongest Triad in all of China!"

I lifted my fist and aimed it at the hundreds upon hundreds of kung fu practitioners, rival Triad members, and masters, all collectively joining forces to take me down.

"For the sake of Dai Ban Lok. The man who took me in and transformed me into The Red Beast. I was a boy who had nothing. I was a boy who failed in every aspect of kung fu, a dropout from the Shaolin Temple. But under this man's tutelage and my yaoguai companion, I can finally reach my brother in power. The mission was to assassinate Master Leung so I could prove myself worthy of becoming Dai Ban Lok's son. But I won't stop there. I will prove it even more. To show all of China just how strong the Red Circle Triad is, by showing China just how fearsome The Red Beast is!"

I brought my foot back and assumed my stance, thunder rumbling in the sky, rain pouring from above.

"I will conquer all of China. And with these fangs of the beast, I will show my brother just how much stronger his big brother has become."

Wen.

You were always ahead of me.

So much so that Ma and Ba always compared me to you, calling me a failure.

But I was okay with it because as long as you were happy I would be happy.

I never realized just how much I was ruining you.

All because I was so weak, so stupid, and not good at kung fu did your reputation have to be ruined.

You wanted to be a peaceful and kind kung fu master, but your reputation as a Shaolin prodigy came from the numerous people who you had to defend me from, the hands that you soiled to defend our honor.

But now big brother has become stronger.

Though not in a way that either one of us imagined.

Because big brother isn't good at martial arts, I had to resort to other ways to become strong.

Shun-dono. Enemies flank your rear. I suggest the Vortex Technique. A demonic voice emanated in my head. The demon who had taken partial control of my body.

"Hai. Hataka-sensei." I went low, unleashing a wide kick, spinning wildly as shockwaves blew outwards, sending bodies into the air.

The attackers backed off, machetes in hand as I brought my hands up.

"RAAAAAH!" I roared in defiance.

"COME! PRACTITIONERS OF HEBEI PROVINCE! I, SHUN ZHANG, THE RED BEAST SHALL TAKE YOU ALL ON!"

"ROOAAAAAH!!!" The attackers charged in all directions, as I rushed forward in a frenzy.

Present Day

"Shun! Are you ready?" A voice said.

I buried my face in my pillow.

"Five more minutes. I am searching for my socks," I lied.

Ten minutes had passed.

"Shun, are you ready now?" The voice asked again.

"Five more minutes. I am searching for... a pair of underwear," I lied.

"Oh by the gods. Enough with this!" A female voice said, as my door flung open, revealing a short goddess, her wrathful aura a complete contrast from her stature.

"Shun! Get your ass out of bed! Flock is waiting for you!"

I groaned, sliding off the mattress and rolling on the ground.

"Mendokusai..." I muttered in Japanese.

The goddess planted her foot on my face, stopping my momentum.

"Lady Vala!" Flock panicked, rushing forward.

Vala leaned in grabbing me by the bangs.

"Why are you such a problem child for me?! Why can't you be more like Flock here?! He works so hard for the sake of this Legion yet here you are being his complete opposite!"

I slowly opened my eyes, groggily.

"Baka loli," I smiled sarcastically.

Vala's face turned a bright red, her mouth hanging open.

"Why you-?! Do you have a death wish or something?! And for the record, I know you're speaking that foreign tongue! I'm a goddess!" She screamed, shaking me back and forth.

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this. There's no reason for us to work hard, when there's monsters like Calypso Rosewald and Leah Cromwell of the Poseidon Legion roaming around kicking ass as the top legion of Folia. The Vala Legion literally consists of Flock and I,"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Th- That's not true!" Flock stammered.

I raised my eyebrow.

"Come on, Flock. Let's face the facts here. You'll never impress Leah as a Level 1 Dungeoneer. She's Level 8 man. If you want to impress her you need to level up seven times, do you know what that even means?"

Flock's face turned red.

"I... I made a promise, Shun. A promise to get stronger. I've made my decision to become strong enough to fight alongside Leah so I can tell her how I really feel. And that's not all. To Lady Vala, who took us in. We may be the smallest Legion in Folia, but I believe with hard work we can-"

"Blah blah blah" I grumbled, shaking the loli goddess off of me.

"Hard work never pays off. I'm gonna go outside and steal some bread from The Hostess Pub for tonight's dinner."

"Please, Shun! I can't go to the Dungeon all alone! Hard work does pay off, I promise!"

My face contorted into a sneer.

"No. It most certainly does not."

I glared at my hands. Soft and wrinkly from when Ba used to submerge them in boiling water whenever I did something he did not like.

Then at the scars on my body.

All of the taboo you have done. From willingly letting yourself be possessed by a demon. To becoming a thug to a Triad. Only to be beaten by me once again. I refuse to acknowledge you as my older brother. It is better for both of us if we never admitted we were related, Ah-Shun.

"People who say things like hard work pays off don't truly understand how the world works. How the cruel damn world works," I muttered.

Vala sighed, as she grabbed Flock.

"Come, Flock. I'll accompany you to the Dungeon."

"What? But Lady Vala, you are a goddess! It's beneath you to go dungeoneering!" Flcok yelped.

"Oh! Don't be like that! I'll do anything to spend time with my favorite child!"

This stupid divine loli! If I still had Hataka-sensei I would send you to the worst pits of Hebei province you could possibly imagine!

I got to my feet.

"Fine. I'm going with Flock," I grumbled.

Vala turned to me, a smile on her face.

"Really?! I'm so happy! My opinion of you has improved, problem child!"

Anything to keep this stupid loli from badmouthing me any further. I already lived one life as the stupider brother. I didn't need to live another here in fantasy land.