Gou Jia’s eyes opened in a glare as his sight tried to pierce through the veil of violet mist. Through his connection to the bramble beasts, he could feel swathes of them falling within, a feat which hadn’t been done since his sister went on a rampage to kill The Matron.

“Even the horned bramble beasts are getting killed.” Gou Jia muttered as visions traced back to him of a warrior cloaked in earthen armour slaying all who attacked him.

Who was this warrior? Where did they come from? Gou Jia was sure he had accounted for all the unexpected variables, even if his sister could return as a violet undead like The Matron warned. If she did return, all it would take is a single attack from Gou Da to end her.

But now, all his preparations had been flipped upside down.

Gou Jia was caught unprepared as one of his brothers was dead, and the other was preoccupied with a potential war on the rebellious cultivators that wished to escape from their sacrificial deaths. Ironically, he was here guarding the one creature he wanted to kill himself.

“…overcoming power…resistance futile…without me…” The Matron’s voice continued trying to seduce Gou Jia, but he let it pass through him without considering its words.

“Pester someone else, Matron.” Gou Jia spat.

The root behind him twisted in response, sending a flood of crimson particles all around, but Gou Jia seemed unaffected. He closed his eyes as he sank into meditation, connecting to the sensations that the bramble beasts were transmitting to him.

Gou Jia felt the beasts’ deaths as The Matron’s domain shrunk toward him. The previously large area of domination was being eaten away like the holes in swiss cheese, slowing The Matron’s already minuscule recovery rate. Like a room with walls that slowly closed in, Gou Jia could feel the violet warrior closing in on them.

“Sacrifices will change that.”

Gou Jia’s eyes darkened as he remembered the first and only other mass sacrifice he had ever witnessed. He remembered the spring butterflies retreating at the sight of his worthless, burdens-of-men, being taken onto the platform and down into The Pit. Gou Jia remembered their screams as roots tunnelled through their body, sucking them dry of everything that made them a person before being reborn as the first bramble dogs.

The Gou Brothers and Gou Jing had all witnessed the atrocity’s actions which had promised them salvation, of killing the men they had sworn to lead as bandit leaders. In return, they had been blessed with the power to hunt the area's demonic beasts and to contact the main sect for expansion resources.

“How much blood is on my hands?” Gou Jia looked at his hand and wondered. But then, a vicious will shredded his doubts, causing Gou Jia to curl his fists.

“Killing a few to save the majority, even if those few are precious.” Gou Jia thought of the faces he already cared for and firmed his heart for them.

The tattoo of a bramble beast on Gou Jia’s arm slowly faded as nearly all the bramble beasts were killed.

Sensing the violet mist churning in the area, Gou Jia's eyes pointed to a noise in the distance.

Yelp! Yelp!

A bramble dog limped along its remaining good leg, attempting to return to Gou Jia. The violet hue attacking the red scaly fur on its body loosened Gou Jia’s control over the beast, allowing an ordinarily impossible sight to spread before him.

The desolate ground beneath the bramble dog slowly crept up with a violet hue, overtaking the bramble dog, and with a distant stomp, a spire rose from the ground that pierced through the bramble dog’s brain. After the initial upwell, the earth smoothed again, and all around the cobblestone platform, dirt began to shift.

“Form.” The voice demanded from the depths of the violet mist.

Tremor!

The original pit surrounding the cobblestone platform filled as the violet-hued earth shifted inwards. The rocks and dirt battered against the cobblestone, but they proved too sturdy for the land to topple.

Following the demonstration of power, the violet earth warrior revealed themselves.

The violet mist whispered out from the sides of their earthen armour, and a heavy, violet sword dragged behind them, leaving a path of blood from the previous bramble beast slaughter. With a savage appearance from the recent bloodbath, they walked over to the cobblestone walkway and stood before Gou Jia without hesitation.

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Gou Jia’s fist curled as he spoke.

“Welcome, violet earth warrior.”

*****

Inside the earthen helmet, my brows scrunched at the greeting. I was honestly expecting to get attacked straight away. Instead, Gou Jing told me more about the man rising to his feet.

“Gou Jia isn’t like his brothers. He uses his head in a normal way. Without him, we would have perished long before ever meeting The Matron Seed.”

Internally, I nodded, and the earth shrouding my face parted enough for Gou Jia to see it. When he did see me, I noted the slightly scrunched expression that crossed his face.

“Usually, the people that want to hurt me call me Fatty.” I joked, but the severe expression on Gou Jia’s face remained. Gou Jia began mumbling, and I strained to hear what he said.

“…the beaten boy?...Fatty?…no, the words…different...in their world…Fa Te? Fate? How appropriate…fate is intervening…again.”

With a more confident voice, Gou Jia confirmed his thoughts to me.

“I will remember the violet earth warrior called Fate, the killer of my brother and wrecker of countless plans, regardless of how this all ends.”

With no more words left to speak, Gou Jia bit his finger, releasing beads of blood that rolled across all five of his fingers.

“Careful!” Gou Jing shouted at me.

Slice!

Before I could reform the earthen armour around my face, the blood beads were already arcing like half-moons and slicing toward my eyes, hoping to pierce through and instantly end the fight. My head tilted back just enough for the blood droplets to slice off my eyebrows instead, and I distanced myself back further.

Gou Jia cracked his neck as the blood fled back to his raised hand, and with an eager stare, he ran toward me.

The earthen armour reformed on my face, and my grip on the Mountain Sealing Sword tightened. With a leap, I closed the distance between me and Gou Jia.

Slam!

My sword split the ground as it missed Gou Jia’s speedy legs, and I felt the impact of five different slices across my earthen armour. Thankfully, none of them managed to pierce through, and I felt the earthen armour repair within split seconds.

My legs built up with strength as I changed directions and dashed towards Gou Jia once more, but as my blade went to hit him in the chest, his entire torso turned into a bloody mist that caused the sword to phase through unexpectedly.

Caught off balance, I was left wide open to Gou Jia’s arcing blood strikes. With a twirl of his hand, the blood droplets amalgamated, producing a golfball-sized droplet that attempted to slice off my neck.

The earth around my neck instantly hardened into a denser rock and repelled the attack.

My leg swung out, meeting Gou Jia’s legs and knocking them from under him before he could use that strange blood mist technique again. My sword swung around in an arc as it headed for Gou Jia’s head, but his torso reformed, and he twisted away from the strike. Quickly creating distance, Gou Jia attempted to escape from me and head back to The Matron.

I had already faced one brother that was turned into a twisted, bramble human; I didn’t need to meet another.

With a stomp on the cobblestone, my vibrations travelled, contacting the violet earth domain around me. It resonated in response, and with a mental command, it lifted. I stomped again, launching the lifted rocks toward a retreating Gou Jia as I hurried to close the distance.

Gou Jia deftly slipped between rocks as his movements resembled how water ebbed and flowed. He was fast and agile, a combination that wasn’t good against a straightforward brute like me.

Gou Jia disappeared into the cobblestone dome, and I hurried inside, eager to finish the fight as soon as possible.

It was a mistake.

As my feet entered the cobblestone dome, a feeling of crisis welled inside me as The Matron Root twisted and launched another of its kind toward me as an attack. The same attack shot me towards the mountain roof last time, putting a large hole inside my armour and chest.

My body backstepped into a sneaking figure that slashed a pair of blood-coated daggers at me.

Ack!

The daggers pierced through the earthen armour and into my back and arm. Using the momentum of the attack onto my body, I shifted myself around and out of the way of the root that bashed against the cobblestone dome, which caused the walls to shake from the strength of the blow.

Using my good arm, I swung the Mountain Sealing Sword behind me and the daggers released from my body, only to arc again for a second piercing attack. But I wouldn’t let them get through my earthen armour again.

Vibrations filled not only me but also the earthen armour as it exploded out with a power that sent Gou Jia flying backwards and put large shotgun-like indents into the root, pushing the root away from me and the entrance to the cobblestone dome.

I escaped outside, and the violet earth domain flew back towards me, refitting me with a reformed earthen armour. Meanwhile, the ambient violet mist flooded toward me, healing the wounds that sent blood running down my robes in seconds.

“You know, I really thought that plan would kill you.” Gou Jia’s voice echoed behind me as he wiped the line of blood escaping from his mouth.

“I’m afraid I don’t die that easily.” I gestured to the violet mist, and a strange look crossed Gou Jia’s face. He turned back towards the cobblestone dome and then faced me with a grin.

“Well, then. Let’s make it so you die a bit easier.”

A hoarse cry escaped inside the cobblestone dome, and the crimson light flooded into the cobblestones beneath me. With an ominous feeling, a barrier enveloped the cobblestone area that pushed away the violet mist healing my body, and the violet earth armour shielding my body nearly crumbled to the ground. I would have lost it for good without my vibrations travelling into the earthen armour and reinforcing it. But, as it is now, I doubt it could protect me as well as before.

Before my mind caught up to what was happening, Gou Jia dashed towards me, signalling the start of round two between us.