When the furious hunger was finally sated, Kai had returned to himself. No more burning eyes or dark breath flooding from his mouth... even his teeth seemed to have returned to normal when he ran his tongue over them. His shirt and half his pants had been shredded, but that was his usual condition after a battle.

Yet his memories of the past time were cloudy, as if choked by the very darkness he'd been breathing. He didn't think that he'd hurt anyone on his side, but he had many memories of revolutionaries screaming in terror and fleeing from him.

Gingerly, suddenly feeling his wounds, Kai made his way back down. Now that the enemy had been broken, the defensive base at Mercantile Central was being turned into a headquarters. He saw Zae Zin Nim there with the acid cultivators and felt relief that she had survived. Omilaena was nowhere to be seen, which worried him, but she was the least likely of anyone in the battle to actually risk her life. Maybe he could ask once he arrived.

His approach caused some to cheer, like the old days, but he saw more fearful stares. He headed toward Zae Zin Nim, who noted him first and gave a polite nod. She sat alongside many others, including Yurwa and Gundle, and it warmed his heart to see mother and son sitting together.

When Yurwa saw him, for just a moment, she pulled Gundle closer to her.

It was a fraction of a second, and her face was immediately filled with anguish after, but Kai had seen it clearly. She had seen him and she had been afraid. That cut straight to the heart, hurting worse than any injury he'd experienced in the battle. He turned away from the celebration immediately.

"Kai, wait." Yurwa caught up to him and reached out to touch his arm, then pulled back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"You saw me during the battle." It wasn't really a question, it was all clear. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"Not us, but you tore apart some soldiers. It was just... in my mind, I know that you're the same man who played so gently with my son, but there's another part of me that feels something and can't..."

"I understand." Kai put a hand on her shoulder and she didn't flinch, but he could still feel the gap between them. "Did Gundle see?"

"No, he was safe. And I don't want you to leave, I just... I need some time."

"Of course."

Kai turned down another street, wanting to get far away from all humanity, but his luck turned against him in a way that was simply petty. A group of revolutionaries limped up the street toward Mercantile Central, with Nirka and Maggle at the lead. All their laughter and good cheer turned a little bit hollow when they saw him, even though a few clapped him on the shoulder.

"Damn." Nirka tried to play it off, but he remembered the look in her eyes. "What did you do to yourself?"

"It took an ordeal for me to break through to D rank Physique," he said, and immediately hated the lie.

"Well, try to stop that in the future. Scared the absolute shit out of me."

She moved on, and he knew that she wasn't going to look back. Maggle lingered a little longer, taking a drink from his jug. He frowned and poured out some of the beer as if he wasn't sure it was acid. After muttering to himself a while, he slouched closer.

"Real scary stuff, boss. You get to be a Scary As Fuck Crystallier."

"You don't seem so upset," Kai said.

"Maybe Nirka thinks you're a big cuddly oaf, or maybe she's just thinking with her lady parts." Maggle locked eyes with him for just a moment. "Me, you know I like to think with my lower parts, but I've always seen a bit of that beast in you. Might be better if others didn't."

"What's your point?"

"Right now, you're still Kai motherfucking Clanless, hero of the revolution. Only our top fighters saw what you did, the rest of the army has no idea. If you stick around or scare anyone else, well, that might change. But I think if you aren't around, those memories might start to fade a little. They'll just remember the heroic barbarian who fought for them all the way to the battle of Yulthens."

"You're saying I should go." Of course he was, but repeating the words made them a little more real to Kai.

"It's actually all my clever plan!" Maggle rubbed his chin and waggled his eyebrows. "With you gone, maybe there will be some women for the rest of us. If you're gone, you can't make the hot ones fall in love with you. Or eat them. Uh, I meant that in the bad way. The big chompy teeth way."

"Thanks, Maggle. Can always count on you for thoughtful reflection."

"Oh, you bet. Come back any time you need me to tell you what to do."

After that Kai managed to retreat to solitude and catch his breath. Within an hour, Behemoth's Heart had mostly restored his body, but he still felt emptied. Developing the dark breath technique had pressed him to his limit, then every time he'd used it he felt like he was breathing it from the depths of his being. As fast as his monstrous energy restored itself, it had limits and he'd found them.

With enough reflection, he thought he understood what had happened. For almost his entire time in Krysal, even when he had developed his monstrous powers, he had kept them suppressed. Always pretending to be fully human, disguising his monstrous techniques, and so on. That had caused the hunger to build up within him, and when he'd needed to tap so deep into his soul, it had all come pouring out. In the future he probably needed to find a balance. Maybe just one more lesson to learn on his unknown path... though he wondered how much this one had cost him.

By the end of the hour, their primary force also arrived at Yulthens. Apparently they had won their diversionary battle with relatively few losses, since Suortril had only been briefly distracted before ordering most of his forces to head to Yulthens. This group had taken far fewer casualties, so their arrival livened up the city. They had the resources to heal those who could still be saved and more importantly the morale from what felt like an easy victory.

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Kai stuck to the back streets so he didn't ruin the mood.

There was one person he had to see, unavoidably. Krainuun had already set up a little office in Mercantile Central within minutes of his arrival, and when Kai entered, the former servant just nodded to him. Of course he wouldn't be afraid of any rumors about Kai's nature. Kai liked to think that if Krainuun had seen him fully transformed, he would have just made a little note in his ledger.

"When we first met," Krainuun said, "I worried that you might kill me in a rage and wondered if I might be able to use you against the upper classes. I never imagined it would come this far."

"Did you? Use me, I mean."

"Only in the sense that all of us were assets in this war. For all that I sought a revolution, I could never have achieved one without you and your friends. This victory is more yours than mine."

Kai sat down heavily on a chair opposite him. "Doesn't feel like it. What happens now? There are a lot of excess crystals lying around given all the violence, but when those are done, life has to start up again."

"Most likely? We will move through a period of giddy exuberance, then we will begin recreating the old systems. Someone has to work in the crystal mines and acid pits, after all." Krainuun saw his expression and gave a very small smile. "You wanted to be realistic, didn't you?"

"Guess I'd hoped we were fighting for a little more than that."

"I think we did. For my entire life Krysal has been ignoring the fact that its great wealth was built on the backs of a slave class. Uprisings were ineffective enough that they could be ignored. But after this, no matter who ends up in power, they'll remember what happened. The new society we build may not be perfect, but I don't think anyone will dare to make the same mistakes."

"I'll take it." Kai sat there for a while longer, then slowly got to his feet. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"Help the Frontier. Get ready for the next incursion. I don't want to see all of you come this far only to be eaten by a bunch of monsters."

Krainuun sat back and laced his fingers over his belly. "Do you think that's a likely outcome?"

"If things go like last time?" Kai met the man's gaze and let him see the certainty there. "Let's just say I think you need to be ready."

"I will keep that in mind, Kai Clanless. Good luck."

From anyone else, the words might have seemed bloodless, but Kai figured that from Krainuun, those were better than a promise. He didn't know how the Frontier elites would judge what he'd done, but he hoped that Krysal would prove him right.

There were too many people in Mercantile Central when he just wanted to be alone. Kai retreated to one of the abandoned streets and found Zae Zin Nim walking beside him. That was about as good as being alone, especially as she regarded him calmly.

"I suppose you saw too," he said. "Guess I don't have it under control yet."

"You were very powerful in that state." Zae Zin Nim frowned slightly. "But you keep getting bigger. I thought I had made my opinion clear about this matter."

Kai laughed and hoped to see her laugh too. But before he could say anything, a shiver ran through her body. Zae Zin Nim whirled, suddenly staring toward the ocean with horror.

"No... I had almost hoped they died, but they must have been waiting..."

"What is it?" Even as he asked the question, Kai looked out in the same direction.

Then he saw them, a line of six cultivators flying through the air. They looked nearly identical to him, men and women in formal Cloudspire robes, but when he looked at their souls he knew what they were.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 646

Cultivation: Earth Soul 10% (502)

Physique Level: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

>

Fully rested and at his best, he might have wanted to fight the Earth Soul cultivators. But they were flying toward an exhausted city with the most powerful cultivation he'd ever seen - and there were six of them. Even if they tried to fight, he was sure this enemy would have no compunction about killing anyone who got in their way. The victorious revolutionaries of Krysal might find themselves yet more victims.

"Are we leaving, or what?" Omilaena suddenly appeared beside them. She'd changed into a new dress and was grinning.

"It doesn't matter," Zae Zin Nim said. "They must have waited to thoroughly analyze my soul. No matter how I try to run, they'll follow me."

"That's the idea, isn't it? If we slipped away they'd kill everyone here looking for you, and that would make Kai sad. Come on, this way."

Kai had no idea what she meant until they reached the river and he saw a large crystal vessel waiting. The sight of it finally stirred Zae Zin Nim from her depression. "Wait, the crystal ship. I want..."

"Don't worry, I stowed it below. We have what we need, so long as we can get out."

As soon as they were on deck, the ship began slicing through the water. Within seconds of passing out of the docks area, the cultivators all noticed, their heads turning as one. They put on bursts of speed and their swords sliced through the air.

For several moments it seemed like their escape might fail despite everything. The cultivators used relatively simple techniques, just qi bolts and flames, but each attack burned with immense power. Zae Zin Nim did her best to intercept them with her Coldfire Corona, Kai breathed out darkness through a scorched throat, and Omilaena surged them ever onward.

Eventually they broke out onto the open ocean and put some distance between themselves and the cultivators. Once they could finally catch their breath, Kai looked out over the back of the ship toward the six retreating figures.

"Are they going to keep coming after us?"

"Unquestionably." Zae Zin Nim sat down heavily on the deck. "My father would execute them for failing. They may stop to acquire a ship or try to find another way to catch up, but they will pursue us to the ends of the earth."

"Then that's a question for Omilaena." Kai swung back to the other woman and found her managing the controls at the back of the boat. "Just where are we going? Was this all a part of some plan?"

"I planned absolutely none of this, but I'll take it." Omilaena grinned at them and then stepped away from the controls as they sped onward. "No, I think we need to go to Rosemount. Anywhere on Cloudspire, Zae Zin Nim's father will pull strings to pursue her. But on my home turf, there are chakra techniques they don't know about. I think we can make them lose the scent, with enough work."

Zae Zin Nim shook her head as if she thought that was foolish optimism. They skimmed over the waves for a time in silence and he realized that they had left most of the sounds of land behind. He could see Krysal dwindling on the horizon behind them... no, all of Deadwaste, the continent where he had lived his entire life, was disappearing.

"Does that breath technique of yours have a name?" Omilaena asked into the silence.

"It's not quite formed in my soul yet," he answered honestly. "I wasn't sure. I was thinking about 'Baleful Breath' but I don't know about the double B letters..."

"That's better than giving it a Cloudspire name. They'd probably call it the Heavenly Acid Fire Darkness Cloud Technique."

Zae Zin Nim roused herself enough to scowl at Omilaena. "Don't let her influence you. If you follow Rosemount traditions, it will be named Big Monkey's Burp or... or something equally foolish."

Kai laughed and moved to the prow of the ship, looking forward. He knew it would be a long journey, but he liked to imagine he could see the continent already ahead of him. There he might find a new path forward, new secrets that could take him closer to the impossible peaks he'd seen.

"You know, you might be top dog in Krysal," Omilaena said, "but that will change in Rosemount. The base level of chakra there... Zae Zin Nim won't be able to protect you, and I won't be an elite. We'd be starting from the bottom."

He grinned. "Looking forward to it."