The sulfur wind howled across the rim of Hellfire Volcano, kicking up eddies of gray ash around the black basalt stones.
Beside the thirty-foot [Illusion Execution Guillotine], Envoy Xue Sha stood with his right hand gripping the iron release lever. His left hand holding a notched blood-blade against the neck of the chained pajama dummy. His single unswollen eye was fixed hungrily on the narrow mountain trail leading up from the western beach.
Crunch... crunch... crunch...
Small, hurried footsteps echoed up the winding gravel path.
Xue Sha’s heart leaped into his throat. A savage, delirious grin split his bruised face as he saw the lone eleven-year-old boy step onto the smoking basalt plateau.
He came alone! Xue Sha’s mind roared in triumph. *No golden cruise ship!
No eight-tentacled Kraken King!
No seven-year-old glutton with a soup ladle! Just eleven-year-old Gu Nian, walking straight into my Soul-Trauma Amplification Array!*
