To Strip a Demon

Welcome to Cypress Vale, a backwater county where the law is deeply corrupt, the local police act as food brokers for monsters, and humanity sits firmly on the menu. For Kaelan Blackwood, waking up in this nightmare with a bleeding head injury is bad enough—discovering he is the town’s most notoriously depraved chief of police makes it a death sentence. But Kaelan holds a hidden edge: a floating status panel that allows him to infuse his own lifespan and the essence of slaughtered monsters directly into his martial arts. Refusing to play the sacrificial lamb, Kaelan turns his blade against his demonic """"brothers."""" From ravenous, man-eating dog demons to elite ape sorcerers, he begins a ruthless, systematic purge of the local factions. Walking a razor's edge between a suspicious, hot-headed prodigy subordinate and a wealthy, high-born swordswoman hidden beneath his floorboards, Kaelan must rapidly conquer the transcendent Initial Realm. In a world this disgusting and chaotic, survival means putting down the teacup, picking up the saber, and stripping the monsters to the bone.

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