A guttural bellow, not of a man but of churning rock and crushing water, tore through the night. The sound vibrated through Chenlu’s bones, threatening to rattle her off the precarious rafter. The transformed warlord, a colossus of scales and malice, lunged. His colossal head dipped into the roof opening, emerald eyes fixed on them. The air grew thick with the stench of stagnant pond and something else – something primeval and predatory. “Run!” Chenlu shrieked, her voice thin against the monster’s roar. She scrambled, pulling Bao with her, across the remaining rafters, the polished wood groaning under their frantic dash. Below, the black water churned, revealing skeletal, half-formed thralls thrashing aimlessly, their empty sockets looking up as if sensing the fresh torment above. Behind them, a splintering crash. The beast had wedged itself further into the roof, its massive bulk cracking the support beams. Dust and debris rained down, stinging Chenlu’s eyes. One of its jagged, golden-scaled limbs, thick as a tree trunk, swept across the space where they had just been, pulverizing a rafter into dust. The villa groaned around them, a wounded beast caving under its own grotesque occupant. “The ledger!” Bao yelled, pointing to the water-damaged book Chenlu still clutched. “The aqueduct, where is it?” “I don’t know!” she cried back, leaping a gap between two precarious beams, the plunge into the dark depths below a terrifyingly close possibility. “I only saw the diagram, not the entry point!” Another roar, closer this time. The fiend was dislodging more of the roof, expanding its entry. Its head, grotesquely elongated, snapped at them. Chenlu felt the wind of its passage, the foul breath of its fish-like maw washing over her. She could feel the heat radiating from its scaled hide, a furnace of vengeful power. They had reached the edge of the Concubines' Quarters roof, where it met the lower, broader expanse of the central administration building. The clay tiles here were older, more brittle. Each step sent a cascade of loosened grit rattling down the eaves. The moon, a sliver of cold light, cast stark shadows, making every dislodged tile seem like a grasping hand. “It’s too big for this roof!” Bao shouted, his voice strained. “It’ll collapse us both!” He was right. The clan lord, even partially through the roof, was a destructive force. Any direct confrontation was suicide. Chenlu’s mind raced, desperate for an angle, a weakness. Elder Zongwu had spoken of the clan’s greed, of the carp’s vengeance. The lord, even in this swollen shape, was still the master of the Xhafen line. What did that cruel tyrant value above all else? Greed. The illicit spiritual medicines. The wealth that allowed them to trade in such things. She glanced at Bao. His apron pockets, still bulging with stolen silver ingots and small, polished jade carvings meant for Xhafen clan members, clinked faintly as he moved. It was a fortune, the very embodiment of the clan’s avarice. “Bao, your pockets!” Chenlu yelled, her voice hoarse. “Give them to me!” He looked at her, bewildered, clutching the sides of his apron protectively. “My... my silver? It’s all I have left for Mei…” His voice cracked, the raw grief evident even amidst the chaos. “It’s the only way!” Chenlu insisted, locking onto the creature’s glowing green orbs. She saw a flicker there, a familiar avarice that transcended its mutated form. “Trust me!” Before he could fully protest, she reached into his apron, her hands quick and sure despite the shaking. She tore free a handful of intricately carved jade figures – a coiled dragon, a leaping carp, a serene goddess. They felt cool and smooth against her palm, heavy with their material worth. The beast let out another thunderous roar, its entire body now free of the Concubines’ Quarters roof, perched precariously on the administration building’s eaves as cracked tiles shattered beneath it. Its predatory gaze was unwavering, fixed on Chenlu and Bao. Chenlu didn’t hesitate. She wound her arm back, a sudden surge of strength propelling her. With a fierce cry, she hurled the jade treasures not at the monster, but into the open courtyard below. The smooth, green stones arced through the dim moonlight, catching the faint glow before plummeting into the churning black water that filled the courtyard. They landed with distinct, metallic plinks and soft splashes amidst the struggling, lesser mutants. The effect was instantaneous. The horned fish-head swiveled, its burning eyes following the trajectory of the precious jade. Its roar softened into a deep, vibrating rumble, a sound of primeval hunger. The Xhafen clan’s greed, even in its monstrous manifestation, was still absolute. The golden scales on its body seemed to shimmer with an intensified brilliance, its gaze now fixed not on them, but on the scattered treasure below. “Now!” Chenlu screamed, pulling Bao. “Jump!” The leviathan didn’t lunge for them. Its massive body, seemingly too large and ponderous for the fragile roof, convulsed. With another shattering groan, it twisted, angling itself, its colossal form a dark, shimmering blur as it plunged headfirst, with astonishing speed, into the black depths of the courtyard below. A geyser of foul water erupted, showering the surrounding buildings, as the monstrous entity dove, not for prey, but for fallen gold. The roof beneath Chenlu and Bao, already crippled by the leviathan's mass and violent departure, could not hold. A network of cracks spiderwebbed across the brittle clay tiles. They heard a deep, groaning *thrum* from beneath them, a sound of collapsing supports. Then, with a deafening screech of tearing wood and grinding stone, the entire section of roof gave way. Chenlu barely had time to throw her arm around Bao, pulling him close, as they plunged into the echoing darkness, the ledger still clutched in her hand, into what felt like a bottomless pit within the heart of the sealed villa.

The Leviathan's Greed