The grand cavern of death was where the fate of Allusia, Guan, the Shin empire and possibly all of Jaia would be decided. Known to some, the soul relic waits in agony for the final development, whatever it may be. The Spear had no desire to attack those below of its own volition. These macabre defences were an unfortunately pained and terrified response by its current wielder, Guan Yo Shen.
The man did not have the strength to bear the Spear in proper. It was a shame but none who had ever bore the Spear had met the qualification. The Spear knew that day was reaching its end, however, as it felt the Sword, the Whip, the Sceptre, the Crown and the Belt. They had been claimed and the Spear could not hear their voices.
Such things as destiny had already been decided, it was not the Spear’s worry what would come, only to be ready when it did. So the Spear watched. It watched the fighting, and couldn’t stop itself from directing the dead into combat against the living. Perhaps that was simply all the Spear was meant to do. Still, the Spear watched. It could not look away from the combat, it seemed.
However, instead of watching the twisted fragment battle the children while its siblings watched, the Spear looked elsewhere. The torture at the base of the tower was of no interest to the Spear but made sense for the Sword and the Whip. Even the Crown delighted in this type of subjugation. However, there was a different magic in the air which the other pieces of itself were blind to. Something more than bloodshed and pain, which were their domains.
It was a dance. All of the chaos melding into a melody, a pattern that explained each step and pose. Guan Ah Dan’s partner was Guan Fa Lian and between them was an understanding that could only be fueled by instinct, experience and luck. The steps flowed from Dan’s mind as though he were seeing through the veil and into the future. He was an interesting one.
Every time Ah Dan’s fist met bone, he pulsed more of Fa Lian’s draconic power into his blows. When their dance brought them back together, they pushed from each other and spun into more destructive whirlwinds of power. He took energy from Fa Lian when they collided and threw her back into the fray, renewed in vigour himself. The Spear tore attention away from Guan Ah Dan and watched as Fa Lian flew.
She laughed.
With each bend and twist of their forms, a chunk was ripped out of the army before them. The Spear delighted in that, feeling the aggression within itself fade with every lost chunk of mana. Each swipe of their hands blew away the flimsy forces desperately trying to stop them. The threads of mana which mobilised the skeletons, automatic responses from the Spear, dissipated into nothingness when they met with the caustic energy that coated Ah Dan and Fa Lian’s attacks.
The Spear could feel the last dragon delighting in its flight. The dragons had been here when the Spear and its siblings crashed into the planet, cast forth from the Whole. Many things, like the dragons which had been ancient before they arrived, had fled upon their cataclysmic arrival to Jaia. The Spear felt something akin to joy as it watched Ryong Aang, the survivor, fly on new wings.
Blasts of fire, coloured by the girl to which Ryong Aang was bound, leapt away in gouts of pure destruction. In no time at all, a clear path had been sliced through the charnel pit below. When a wall rose up to meet them, Fa Lian and Ryong Aang smashed it to pieces. As their assault opened up new pathways, they moved like lightning into them, quick and destructive.
There were more ancient powers at play than just the dragon, however.
The Spear thrilling in watching their powerful stabs into enemy lines as Guan Ah Dan and Guan Fa Lian closed the distance to its siblings. While the dragon roared, there was another, much more secretive operator, covering their tracks. The fox was hard to spot, even when the Spear focused on Guan Ah Dan. Another survivor, like Ryong Aang. No surprise then, that the others hadn’t noticed their approach. The fox was cloaking Ah Dan.
The pair would reach the combat at the base of the tower without being spotted.
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During their flight through the bonesea, Dan had pinpointed the spot right at the base of the tower where all of the other combat seemed to originate. Now that they were closer, Dan could see small flashes of silver, bursts of orange and was even beginning to hear the sounds of explosions over the sounds of chattering bones. With an explosion of force, Fa Lian landed next to him, having launched herself through the air to confirm their direction.
The resulting cascade of power cleared their immediate vicinity. Due to the erosive mana she expelled, Fa Lian gave them about a minute of calm before they needed to move. Though this time was needed to catch their breath, their next step was also of paramount importance. “You grab Hyun, I grab Yurie.” Dan was simply confirming the plan they had made as they traversed the ghastly room.
As far as they could tell, Hyun Soon was fighting Steel Fever. Why the fight was staying in one place or how it came about, neither of them had as yet worked out. That didn’t really matter though, what mattered was getting their friends out of danger. If that simple, though difficult, task could be completed, they could deal with whatever might come next.
The exhilaration of the draconic mana was now wearing off, even the boost of power her received from it no longer soothing his muscles and calming his breathing. Dan panted as the tide of bones reassembled. In a surge, unlike the attacks Dan had seen before, the skeletons began to conglomerate. Within an instant, there were not twenty different skeletons but one, gargantuan mash of biting wolf jaws and long spider-like limbs.
“Never simple, is it?” Fa Lian asked. Her voice had no frustration within it, however. Instead, a flame of passion and excitement covered her every word and movement.
“If you’re up for it, you can be my guest.” Dan gestured to the monstrosity still forming before them. Fa Lian turned to Dan with wide, excited eyes like those of a child being promised a frozen treat on a hot day. Without another word, she dove straight for the giant creature which was now barrelling towards them on eight massive limbs.
To Dan’s vision, Fa Lian became a dark spot against a sea of white bone. The giant bone spider slammed down with each step, dozens of structural femurs and tibias snapping under the weight of its approach. Then the dark spot in Dan’s vision jumped into the air, the size of a flea before the oncoming beast.
With strength that made reality shift, the incoming force was met by an unstoppable object. With his mana, Dan could see that Fa Lian had transformed the dragon scales into a form that suited her needs. A portion to each fist and foot. Her extremities covered, she exploded from the ground with incredible force, spinning in the air to increase her impact. The armoured heel of her right foot caught the main mass of bone that formed the massive puppet’s head.
The size of the creature made the scale of its movement hard to understand. When the gigantic mass of bone flew through the air, it seemed natural enough. Until the beast connected with the ground. An explosion of bone created a tidal wave of shrapnel, ballista bolts of bone flying in all directions. Fa Lian had sent as much corrosive, dragon-fueled power into her blow as possible and now every bone connected to the huge puppet was careening away at immense speed.
Dan had just enough time to get his mana armour in place, thickening the layering on his arms and protecting his face and torso. His legs took some scrapes and one puncture but no serious damage was done and considering the size of the enemy, Dan was okay with a few scratches. Another great leap from her position ahead brought Fa Lian back to Dan’s position. “Do you think there’ll be more of those?” She asked, clearly ready to do that again. Her own skin had been half-protected by the dragon scales instinctively and another half simply by the waves of heat she projected unconsciously.
Small gusts of hot air flowed around her and redirected some of the projectiles. Dan was jealous and already wondering if he could do something similar with his own mana. “I’m going to hope for no more giants, but I don’t think I can promise no more giants.” Dan grinned back at Fa Lian. They had destroyed enough of the bone horde now that it was taking even longer for the tide to return. Their mood was positive despite the dangers. Both Fa Lian and himself were still brimming with energy, sweat covered and panting as they were.
“Somehow I doubt the next fight will go so smoothly. Are you ready to get in and out?” Fa Lian was looking ahead, right at their destination, as she asked the question. The sounds of explosions and flashes of colour had stopped in the face of Fa Lian’s show. There was nothing they could have done to avoid the disruption to their stealth but Dan was still frustrated.
“Ready as it is possible to be, I’d say.” Dan limbered up slightly, taking the reserve of Calliope’s energy to the fore and feeling the muscles in his legs become like steel.
“One more for good luck.” Fa Lian held out a fist, still looking in the direction of their enemies. Dan bumped it with his own and took another deep gulp from the well of Fa Lian’s mana. With no more preparation possible and no time to waste, the pair of them launched forward.
Before they even saw Hyun Soon or Yurie, attacks began flying their way. Dan and Fa Lian were mid-air, so he did the only thing he could. Bringing his foot up, he shoved Fa Lian to one side and himself to another. The incoming attacks missed them both by mere inches. Dan rolled away to the left and Fa Lian the right. Without words, the both continued forward as they landed. Dan could protect Fa Lian no longer and just had to hope she would be okay.
Hopes which were mostly dashed as Dan came face to face with his attacker. Two rends in space had opened, each slightly different from the other. Dan looked up into pitch black skin and white eyes. Shade stood before him, the sword Raze in his hand and a blank look on his face.
Without a word, Shade attacked.