Very rarely could someone two whole tiers below their opponent hope to win in a fight. But Zane didn’t need to win, he just wanted to make sure that the General lost. Either way, this would all be over quickly. His muscles burned as he launched himself towards the larger man.
Eric had been expecting something nasty, but he had never seen someone move like Zane. And whatever technique the man in black was using, he wanted nothing to do with it. For the second time that night, the General called on his ability. A blast wave exploded out from him, kicking up dust in an expanding circle of destruction.
What happened next was like something out of a nightmare. The General could swear he saw the man’s skin peel off as he pushed through Eric’s technique. Zane’s sword disintegrated, but the man kept moving, a ghostly black blade clutched in fingers that had been worn down to bone. Despite the fact he was dead, the man refused to stop moving.
The General pulled on the last of the energy in his lower core to send out a third blast. Then, everything went black as Zane’s technique detonated.
***
Sometime before dawn, Mayor Jeffries looked out at a smoking crater that had been a portion of the city wall. “That fucking idiot!” he raged, “What was he thinking?”
Cerdo didn’t know what to say. The man in question had been transported to a healer with a laundry list of fractures and burns. General Eric Badi wouldn’t be answering their questions anytime soon, assuming he survived. The apothecary had said something about core damage from a dark technique.
Jeffries continued to swear and point at the ruined wall. Guards were nervously holding their spears and forming a perimeter as stonemasons tried to seal the breach. Spirit beasts had been throwing themselves at the gap all night, drawn to the warehouses full of essence rich cultivation resources. “How many creatures do you think got in? Ten? Twenty?”
“It’s impossible to say,” the Captain admitted, “But the men did well by defending the breach and notifying us as soon as they spotted it.”
“I suppose they did,” Jeffries sighed, “Be sure to give each one of them a bonus and my thanks.”
Cerdo looked at the gap in the wall. They could use timbers to temporarily seal it, but the stone would take months to replace. The irony wasn’t lost on him that it would probably be finished right before the winter festival, just in time to be destroyed along with the rest of the city.
The Mayor looked at his subordinate. “Do you know what happened, or who he was fighting?”
Cerdo shook his head. “Eyewitness accounts are conflicted. Some say that there was one blast, others that there were two. The owner of a noodle house reported seeing the General chasing after a horse, but we don’t know why.”
“See what you can find out,” Jeffries said as he summoned a spear from his storage ring, “I’m going to go join the guards in case there is another spirit beast attack.”
The Captain watched him go join the men defending the wall. Mayor Jeffries was probably one of the best bosses he had ever worked for. Too bad I’m going to have to kill him, Cerdo thought.
***
Zane woke up in a garden with a familiar goddess sitting next to him. He sat up, looking inside his body to see how bad the damage was. The wad of duct tape he called a core seemed stable, but he wouldn’t know if there was any permanent damage until he tried to cultivate.
“Hello to you too,” Lady Foxglove said, annoyance at being ignored creeping into her voice.
“Um, hi,” Zane replied, looking around the garden for any indication of where he was. There was a small stream and rows of flowers, but no landmarks he recognized. “Where am I?”
“You’re dead,” Lady Foxglove informed him, “Your core exploded.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Yeah, I hate it when that happens. Am I coming back?” Zane asked.
The goddess picked a flower and twirled it between her fingers. “Well, that’s your decision. But if you don’t, the other gods will probably destroy Hero’s Step and kill everyone in it. Or at least, their agent will.”
Zane didn’t like the sound of that, Pinky and his other friends lived in Hero’s Step. “I think I’ll go back then,” he said.
Lady Foxglove sighed. “You know, it’s pretty hard to give you vital information if you don’t ask any questions.”
The young man processed this for a second. “Ok. What should I ask?”
The goddess facepalmed. “I can’t tell you, that’s not how this works. I have to be discreet.”
“I’m not really good at that kind of stuff,” Zane admitted, “Can you at least give me a clue?”
Lady Foxglove looked at him incredulously. “Generally when someone says that a city is going to be destroyed, most people ask how it is going to be destroyed, or by whom.”
“Ok, good to know.” Zane replied, looking around the garden to see if there was anything particularly tasty. He had spotted some flowers that were edible and wandered over to check them out.
The goddess watched him go, shaking her head silently as the young man stuffed various plants into his mouth. He really is an idiot, she thought, But at least he’s my idiot.
***
Kiel was less than happy when he saw what Zane had done to his core. The kobold wasn’t sure how the thing was holding together, much less functioning. “Kiddo, you’re a fucking mess,” he said.
“Thanks,” Zane replied as he walked past, “Fuck you too.”
Outside the awakening chambers he met his usual students. Zane wasn’t ready to go home yet, so he decided to spar with them first. This time he had the uncharacteristic foresight to request that they keep things non-lethal.
“I’ve got shit to do,” he explained.
The young kobolds nodded in unison, they understood that one of the celestial dragon’s chosen would have other responsibilities. Zane found that he didn’t mind teaching, when his students weren’t actively trying to kill him. If someone asked a question he didn’t know an answer to he shrugged and told them to figure it out themselves.
About an hour later the rogue cultivator said his goodbyes to the warren and started the journey home. He had things to think about, and that was not a feeling he was used to. Normally Zane just did whatever came into his head, but now he had responsibilities to other people. The young man didn’t like having responsibilities. They tended to multiply when he wasn’t looking.
According to Lady Foxglove, the other gods were conspiring to destroy Hero’s Step and kill everyone in it during the winter festival. That meant he had until then to get everyone ready and leave. The idea of doing something to prevent it didn’t cross Zane’s mind, though he wondered how the situation might be turned to his advantage.
The young man continued to think as he walked. If the city was going to be destroyed, there was a good chance of stealing things that wouldn’t be missed. If there were any big vaults filled with gold or warehouses full of cultivation resources, who would be the wiser if he plundered them the day before? Surely there was nothing wrong with stealing from dead people, or rather, people that were about to die. Lily would probably have some thoughts on the matter, so he decided to keep her in the dark about it, for now.
The goddess hadn’t told him who would be responsible, or how they were planning to do it (mostly because he hadn’t thought to ask). But Zane figured the timing was all that really mattered. He looked up at the mountains, the fog might be a problem for some of his friends. They would need to gather more resources and train hard to get ready to leave by the deadline.
Pinky had mentioned that there were shrines people could clear out to get rewards. He wondered if there were any nearby that they could tackle as a group. Or maybe they could go out hunting spirit beasts for experience. Either way, they would have their work cut out for them.
Zane looked up from the road as a voice called out to him. A group of men with long unkempt beards were walking towards him. “Are you bandits?” he called out, “And if so, is there a reward on any of your heads?”
The closest one came to a stop, visible concern showing on his scar covered face. “Why would you say a thing like that?” he asked.
The rogue cultivator summoned a knife and held it loosely at his side. “Well, for one thing, it’s a long walk back home. And I’d rather not carry anything I don’t have to.”
“Ah,” the bandit said, looking apprehensively at the magical knife and the man holding it, “Well, perhaps it might be best if we parted ways.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Zane replied as he continued to walk forward, “Even if there isn’t a bounty, I could still use the experience.”
“It’s really not worth it,” the bandit said as he backed away, “I mean, you probably wouldn’t even level up.”
“True,” Zane admitted, “But there are six of you, and that adds up. Also, none of you appear to have crossbows or ranged weapons. That means it’s probably relatively low risk for me.”
The bandit looked at his friends. They wanted nothing to do with the man in red and were already beginning to scatter.
Zane laughed as he watched them try to escape. “I guess it’s really not your lucky day, is it?” he asked.
The bandit sighed and pulled out his sword. “I guess it really isn’t,” he replied.