Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

The power, speed, and tenacity of a Tier V Horde King was truly a think of awe to witness. Tabitha had crossed from the desolate remains of the city of Seoul to the ruins of Beijing in the span of less than thirty seconds.

She glided across the water so quickly that the monsters beneath the surface of the Yellow Sea didn't even have time to even think about making an attempt on her life. And before long, she found herself face to face with the object of her desires.

Zane was standing in the ruined streets of what was once been the Capital of China with Gwen laughing by his side. He had just now slain a monster of significant strength. Maybe not as powerful as the Lake Monster of Houhai, but enough to get him some significant experience points no less.

He was about to reach forward and claim his bounty when a figure appeared out of thin air. A figure he recognized immediately as none other than Tabitha. It was a rare thing to make Zane react with any sort of emotion, let alone dread.

But Tabitha's random appearance and the crazed look on her face were most definitely one such thing that could manage to make Zane freak out in such a way. Zane could not even express his thoughts aloud before Tabitha had lifted him in the air by his neck, furious that he had abandoned her. Screaming as she did so. So loudly, I might add that the buildings nearby were pulverized by the overwhelming pressure of her screeches.

"You promised! You promised! You promised!!!!"

Obviously, the promise which she was referring to was that he would never leave her side. Instead, he was found far away from her home after she had awakened from her sudden slumbering state and frolicking with that little strumpet no less! It was simply intolerable!

Though Zane didn't realize it the celestial figures who were hunting his mother were in the air above, chuckling at the sight of Death's heir, helplessly being manhandled, or should I say womanhandled by one of her own vile creations. They truly believed he was about to die.

The golden-haired woman simply broke out into maniacal laughter as she made her famous last words, assuming that death would appear in any moment to save her only beloved son.

"What did I say? That little bitch would lead us right to her! Any minute now Death will appear--- Wait what?"

While in the middle of her gloating, Tabitha's action completed a 180 turn, with her quickly holding onto Zane not in any malicious manner, but with a deep and powerful hug. Sobbing erratically as she begged him not to break his promise again.

"Don't leave me! Don't leave big sister! You promised! Don't break your promise!"

She had apparently forgotten that Gwen was there entirely, who was silently and awkwardly trying to make her escape. Leaving Zane to his fate so to speak. After all, she knew better than to fuck with a Tier V Horde King especially one who was not in the right state of mind.

Zane was honestly at a loss for words. And immediately came up with the most random bullshit he could on the spot, seeing as Tabitha had no recollection of how she ended up frozen in stone to begin with.

"Big sister, you suddenly turned to stone! It has been months since I saw you! All this time I have been looking for a cure for you! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you would become normal again while I was gone! If I had I would have waited patiently!"

Zane's ability to lie through his teeth and falsify his emotions was second to none, especially when he was dealing with a woman who had a shattered mind. As for the celestial beings in the sky, the man with the silver hair had a smug expression on his face as he mocked the woman next to him for her failure that had resulted from a gross misunderstanding as to why Death had frozen Tabitha in the first place.

"Oh my, it would appear you have severely miscalculated on this one. That boy does not seem to be in the slightest amount of trouble. I highly doubt death will make a move to intervene on his behalf at this rate. Well, how do you plan to proceed now that your foolproof plan has fallen apart entirely?"

The woman had no response. She silently and aggressively gnashed her teeth in suppressed rage. How? Why? Why did death freeze this vile little creature if she was not a danger to Zane? Zane and Death's aura were both present at Tabitha's place of binding, so what other reason could she have to do such a thing?

How could the celestial entity remotely conceive that Death had frozen Tabitha because of petty jealousy towards the multiple women who were getting close to her only and most beloved son? Because of this, the celestial being was forced to admit defeat for the time being.

"Quite frankly, I'm at a loss for words. I do not know how to describe what I am witnessing right now… How exactly are we going to lure Death out of hiding? I mean, I was certain… Absolutely 100% confident that this vile little wench would try to kill this abomination Death calls her son. And yet…. Clearly, I was wrong. So what now? What do we do now?"

The silver-haired man was silent for a long time. Directly putting Zane in danger was not an option. If they dared to touch the boy themselves, then death would cause far more damage to the universe than they could possibly imagine.

Provoking death was an incredibly unwise thing to do, even for an immortal godlike existence like these celestial entities. In the end, even God would be reaped by death. It was simply not in their ability to provoke her.

Because of this, the Silver-haired man eventually responded with a heavy sigh, as he admitted defeat as well.

"I suppose we will have to keep a watchful eye on this little bastard until something in this world is capable of making Death protect him. But with that pitiful creature by his side, that will be difficult. I dare say even the leader of the wretched tried to take the boy's head that thing would be capable of standing up to him."

The silver-haired man was referring to Balthazar in this statement. Tabitha's strength was second to none among the Horde Kings, at least from an individual level. The price of which was the destruction of her horde and her domain. Which itself placed her much lower on the rankings of power than her peers.

Down below, as the celestial figures watched them, Zane tried to reason with Tabitha. But she refused to hear it. Clinging to his side and not letting go as if the brief time they had been separated from one another was too much for her to bear.

That is until her mental state swapped with her other personality. Upon seeing that she was in the middle of Beijing and that Zane was clinging to her, the more rational and lucid personality of the crazed Horde King immediately began to freak out.

"What am I doing here? And why are you so close to me you little brat?"

She immediately picked Zane up and placed him by the wayside. Tabitha's more lucid personality was furious with him, believing she had been tricked to follow him mindlessly like some kind of pet, and was quick to admonish him as a result. After all, the two sides of her personality did not share memories.

And while this may have worked fine when she was in her own isolated territory with no concept of time. She was now in an entirely new place, clinging to Zane for reasons she didn't understand. Clearly, he had bewitched her in some way! But before she could deal with him, she needed to know how.

Zane, of course knew that explaining that she had split personalities that didn't share memories wouldn't fly. And because of this, he was just about to say some bullshit or another in his defense when a voice called out to them.

"Oh, Tabitha… My sweet little sister, just what has happened to you? To enter my domain unannounced, and shamelessly cling so closely to another man no less… It's almost as if you are asking for me to punish you!"

When Tabitha heard this voice call out to her, she knew exactly who it was. This was apparent to Zane from the disgusted expression she made. As for Zane, he understood that at this moment he had forced something terrifying upon the city of Beijing.

A battle between Tier V Horde Kings was about to commence. And luckily for the survivors who once lived in the city's ruins, they had long since fled the battleground that was about to be terraformed along with the earth it sat upon.