Chapter 19: The Enemy Of My Enemy . . .

Sakura

We plummeted out of the sky like a stone, the wind ripped at my hair and it quickly came free of the ring bun I had tied it in earlier. With a flex of my will, air mana ran through my body and fixed it back into a simple ponytail.

Sky bared his fangs, flared his hood, and pushed wind mana directly up at us, slowing us enough to prevent catastrophe. He was coming down directly on top of the shaman.

The elven woman raised a staff covered in rattling bones of unnamed forest beasts. A green shield erupted around her just as Sky slammed into it.

My bones shook at the impact, and venum ran from Sky’s massive fangs down the shield and sent the ground to sizzling.

This prey has a shell.

I jumped off his back, and landed in a roll flaring my aura as wide as I could. Easing the pressure on the Iron and Steel warriors as I matched it against the Shamans. I pulled my daggers, and turned back towards where Sky was still trying to wiggle through the shield and get to the shaman style meat inside. His jaw pressed against the shield, fags flaired, as if he were trying to eat a boulder twice his size, as his tail coiled around it.

The shaman looked annoyed as she met Sky’s gaze. After a moment she spoke a single word, and I felt the mana in the area shift dramatically. As if the tide had begun rolling out to sea.

That’s not good, I thought as I pulled mana from my own core, passed it through my meridians and aligned it to Fire. It took an effort of concentration to condense the mana into the form I wanted and to cycle it correctly.

Green disks of energy swirled all around the shaman. Summoning circles appeared mid air, and as the mana reached critical mass three of them cast correctly opening portals to the elemental planes.

This isn’t good, I thought as I forced the mana to meld with a trickle of my chie, granting me a connection to the spell. It was difficult to shape without the use of my fingers to manipulate the aspects of the spell into the correct shape, but after only a few heartbeats as Skys efforts began to bear fruit, it was finished.

“ROAAAAR!” A massive bear with brown and black fur that stood six meters tall at the shoulder barrolled through one portal and directly into Sky’s enlarged form. The spider webbing cracks in the shaman’s shield began to heal as Sky was pulled away by two massive paw swipes.

Sky struck, his fangs went deep into the bear's shoulder as the enemy ursine bit his tail and began ripping and tearing at his rock hard scales.

I am ready! King shouted into my mind.

Not yet, hold on.

“Fire!” I shouted as I let the spell loose. The ball of pure flame roared through the air directly at the shamans' slowly healing shield. The fire erupted into the sky, most of its energy lost in the updraft. The bear roared and tried to pull itself away from the fire giving Sky an opening to finish wrapping his body around his prey.

The fire dissipated and I found the Shaman staring daggers in my direction. At that moment her other two summonings finished, and groups of smaller but still fierce forest creatures rushed out to attack the Iron warriors.

“Ka’drek, keeasa nar.” The Shaman said as she lowered her shield and began moving towards me. I crouched in a fighting stance, but the woman only smirked when she saw my daggers gleaming with mixed chie and mana. “Cute, child of snakes.” She said in Imperial. “You bare your fangs. But tell me, have you ever used them?”

Sky nearly had the bear pinned, but the Shaman didn’t so much as glance towards the titanic struggle happening only a few strides away from her. Without warning she charged forward, her staff raised in an overhead strike.

I blocked the attack, and my bones rattled as I attempted to retaliate. But she moved with my strike stepping just out of range. I moved with her, and we exchanged blow after blow.

I’ll squish her! King shouted in my mind and I ignored him. I needed to concentrate, or this fight would end poorly for me. I moved forward, trying to find an opening in her guard. All I met was air or the iron bark of her staff.

“You are skilled, young snake,” her words carried an odd cadence to them. As if they were an older dialect of imperial, or burdened with a thick accent. She took two steps back and watched me warily, giving us both a moment to catch our breaths.

My lounges heaved in air, and I had to work to control my breathing. Our clash had involved dozens of attacks and perrys, but it had only taken a few seconds.

“Why attack us?” I asked, though I knew the answer I would receive. The Elves had a blood hatred of the empire that went back further than commonly known recorded history. They’d take any opportunity to kill us if they could. But, perhaps, that was no longer needed? “We’ve left the empire. And you attack us as we flee to safety. Why?”

Her expression writhed in a mix of emotions that felt alien to me. But the one that stood out from among the evident complexities was disgust.

“Then you are all cowards. Worthy of nothing but death and dishonor!” The Shaman lifted a bone whistle to her lips and blew. A screech that sounded something like that of an eagle split the air, only fouler, with a murderous intent to it.

A crazed mix of howling and yelling came from behind me, and I was forced to turn my attention to the new oncoming threat.

Dozens of fresh elvish warriors, long eared, leith bodies, carrying weapons at the upper edge of what they were capable of controlling at their cultivation levels jumped down from the tall overhanging canopy of tree coverage. Their chests and arms were covered in magical inscriptions unique to the elvish foe, and they glowed slightly in the shade of the canopy.

It was the force I had seen from the air, moving to flank the line. They had come when she called.

As they began their charge, more voices rose from further into the forest south, along the battle lines. Then more, and more. Farther distant with each set of raised, crazed cries, but the numbers easily matched our own. The enemy had gotten reinforcements and among them I could tell there were voices that rang with the authority of Steel, and Immortal cultivators.

No use borrowing the problems of others. We must face these foes. King said into my mind. We watched together for what was in reality only a heartbeat, as the elvish slave-soldiers descended the canopy. Their attack was thinner than our defensive line, but longer.

What I had thought was a flanking maneuver, was actually their line growing with reinforcements. Their warriors adjusting their positions to accommodate newcomers to the fight. And now, at least on this flank, they were making their move.

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The Iron lines aren't far enough to this side to meet the charge. The enemy will sweep around behind them and envelope them.

“Point taken. King, your turn!” I shouted as I turned back to face the shaman just in time to block a downward blow from her staff. My shoulders ached with the force of the block, but it put me in a perfect position to make a sweeping attack on her legs.

She simply back stepped, but it gave me what I needed. Space.

Red and green light erupted from my Spirit Vault, and launched itself at the oncoming wave of attackers.

King manifested just as the charge came within range of his ash breath. He roared in terrible trembling rage, and bathed the center of the charge in burning ash.

A moment later, as the wings of the attack attempted to get past him his shell cooled and a garden suddenly blossomed to life on his shell. King stomped with both front legs, the ground shook and cracked, and a wave of green energy washed over the field.

Brambles with thorns the size of my daggers erupted in massive thickets to either side of King.

The edges of the wall of thorns reached close to me, and farther to the north of the Iron line. The enemy would be forced to come within easy striking range of my daggers, break through the thicket somehow, or face the deadly turtle whose jaws were already snapping up nearly helpless Iron elf warriors and breaking their bodies on his serrated jaws.

Half a dozen chose to brave the gap my fight with their Shaman leader presented. A fatal mistake.

During the time the shaman had backed away, and King had engaged the enemy I had been preparing a casting similar to Kings. Brambles erupted from the soil behind me. Not blocking the way, but entangling the would-be attackers as they grew from the ground.

They screamed in agony, but not for long. The sharp dagger length thorns were coated in Sky’s poison technique, and their bodies quickly melted from the inside. Ending their suffering in seconds.

So this is what it feels like to be a realm above? I asked myself. But I had no time to consider my response as the Shaman finished casting a spell of her own.

A lance of pure acid shot out towards Sky and pierced his scaly hide. My snake companion had been constricting the giant bear, and was almost finished squeezing and poisoning the life out of the summoned monster.

Sky screamed in my mind as his grip on the bear weakened. He poured more mana and chie into his poison, desperate to finish it off.

My heart pounded in my ears as I renewed the technique surrounding my daggers and charged the Shaman. Sky was close, I just needed to buy him time. I ran forward, chie and mana coursing through my body reinforcing every limb and muscle. The pressure I was placing on my chie as it cycled through my body was higher than I had ever used before. I needed an edge, I needed greater speed.

And it wasn’t enough.

She caught my first blade between fingers coated in wooden armor. She smirked at me, and caught my second blade as I tried to bring it up through her gut.

“Cute. But childish. I stand Golden on the path. You are merely silver.”

I tried to pull away, but she had my wrists caught in fingers that gripped like irons. She laughed as I failed to break her grip, and again as I tried to break her stance by levering her over my hip. She simply rooted herself to the ground with mana and a quick earth spell. I tried several times, but each time she grew more amused.

“You will make a good slave.”

Gritting my teeth, I pulled myself in closer. I could smell her bad breath and my heart raced.

“It will be fun to break your spirit.” she whispered to me.

I smiled as my heart raced, and adrenaline pumped in my veins. Ever since that first real fight with Rayce years ago, I had learned to love this. Love the fight, the struggle. Though I had mainly been fighting a political fight for the last few years, I had found a real passion for the martial aspects of cultivation.

Despite the pain, the terrible hours of training, and more than a dozen near death experiences in that time I had never lost my love for it. For the feeling of exhilaration in a fight.

My smile broadened as she finished hissing her hatred at me. I ducked down between my arms, crouched as far as my legs were allowed to bend given her powerful grip, and used all my strength to propel myself upwards.

I brought the crown of my head up and into the shamans chin.

Her teeth shattered, my vision swam, and blood flowed and mixed between our wounds. I was sure I had broken her nose, and I was equally certain I had cracked part of my skull.

Wolves howled and I caught a glimpse of a pack of the large creatures surrounding and harrassing King. For every one of them he pinned, or burned, three of four of them scratched or bit at his shell with their iron coated teeth, or terrible multi-colored claws.

Sky had once again pinned the bear, but he was bleeding at an unsustainable rate. His strength was waning despite still pinning the massive bear, who even now struggled for life.

I wasn’t going to win this, and still I smiled as the shaman gripped my hair and lifted me off my knees to come face to face with her. She was covered in her own blood, several of her teeth were missing or visibly cracked, and her jawline was clearly broken in at least once place.

The hatred in her eyes was palpable.

With a free hand she lifted an orb of pure acid similar to the attack she had used on Sky. “No slave, only death.” She hissed through shattered teeth.

I tried to strike at her, but my attacks were feeble and ill shaped. I didn’t have full control of my motor functions anymore. That attack had broken something important I was sure of it.

She pulled the orb back, and I closed my eyes. Accepting my fate once again. I had fought my fight. Done my duty, and had not given in.

The ground shook.

The air hummed with her killing intent.

No, that wasn’t a spiritual hum. That was a horn. High, clear, and clarian. Unlike any I had heard before. My eyes shot open, and the shaman had lost focus on me. Her eyes were fixed on something to the west, where the wolves had come from.

The rumbling I had felt became clearer. Sharp, rhythmic. I had never heard such a thing in my life. The wolves whined and most broke and ran. The other animals the Shaman had summoned who had been harrassing the irons and their steel captains quickly followed suit. Birds took off into the sky, and the few Elven warriors that remained around us disappeared. Climbing the nearest trees and entering the protective canopy up above.

Se dropped me to my knees, and turned to face the oncoming threat. I barely had the energy or focus enough to turn and see what was bearing down on us.

Horses.

Heavy warhorses heavily armored with thick steel that shined multi-hued colors, bareing riders in armor and carrying spear like weapons I had never seen before. At the head of the stampede was a man in golden armor with a bright beaming smile. I hadn’t noticed his laughter until I saw him, then it became clear.

He was laughing as if this were on a hunt, and this was the grandest of tame game he now charged.

The Golden man lowered his absurdly thick, long spear, and aimed it directly at the shaman as he steared the leading element towards her, while another group broke off to attack the largest of the wolves that still harassed King.

The shaman unleashed her acid spear, it shot forward deadly and precise, and as thick as my torso. A spell powerful enough to fell a Golden level Sky Snake at the height of its power.

Three trees were left with gaping holes in their trunks, and not one of the elder forest titans did so much as divert the stream of acid.

It slammed into the laughing golden warrior seconds before he reached us, and . . . disappeared. A golden shield flared once, and the acid was gone. As if it had never been.

The Elf tried to run, tried to jump towards a tree, or one of her summoned creatures. I wasn’t sure which. But she wasn’t fast enough.

The strange golden warriors oddly constructed spear pierced her body, and kept going. The force of the horse's momentum, combined with the warriors raw unrelenting strength that alone seemed to warp reality as if he were using a spell ripped her clean in half.

Blood sprayed on the ground, and a warm wetness splashed on my face.

I fell backwards into the soft forest soil. My vision swam wildly, and despite my best efforts I couldn’t force myself to stand.

I, Sky, have won. Sky sounded exhausted, in pain, and concerned. I felt him slither up next to me in the grass. He was in his small form. He sent me an image of the bear, back broken, body melting under his unrelenting venomous attack, before he curled up protectively around my head.

The next thing I remember was the golden man standing over me. His face was obscured by the odd metal helmet he wore. He removed it and looked down at me, concern clear in his expression. Sky hissed, but another of the strange warriors grabbed him. My snake tried to bite him, but found only magically reinforced steel covering his body, before Sky was quickly shoved into a net that forced him to keep his form.

I heard King roar a challenge as the golden warrior reached down and pushed my messy hair away from my face.

“I saw that attack, it was brave. Foolish, but brave.” His knitted brow eased slightly and a hint of the laughter I had heard before returned. “Don’t worry. One of my priests will see to you, and your companions.”

A young woman in gray-brown robes, carrying a wood staff that warped reality around it just by its very presence appeared next to me and began casting some kind of healing spell. She chanted a prayer in a language that sounded like a heavily accented version of Imperial. More heavily accented even then the elves' speech had been. But I understood enough to know she was praying to her goddess for my health.

My mind cleared, though the exhaustion remained. The woman finished her prayer-spell, and pain returned to my body. Throbbing, exhausting, and in places still sharp.

“She’ll need to sleep, my prince. But given a good night's sleep she should fully recover. She is surprisingly robust for one so young.” There was little warmth in the woman's voice, but she exuded competence and power in her bareing.

“Thank you,” I said, as I fought to keep my eyes open.

“You are most welcome! That was an interesting fight, and you stopped my query from escaping! Either of those things would have been worthy of a healing I think. But there is something I need you to do for me before we let you sleep.” I blinked up at him

“Yes?”

“If you could tell your turtle to stop trying to eat my men and their horses, that would be helpful.”