Alex swallowed as they approached the gate, heart pounding as they walked the flat cart-friendly road carved right up the face of the caldera to behold the sight of half a dozen guards wearing uniforms matching Captain Goizing’s… and over twice their number wearing the lamellar armor favored by Duo Yi’s personal guard.
Alex caught sight of a hot-eyed officer clearly following a body cultivator’s path, towering over the lesser cultivators about him, banging the hilt of his guandao upon the cobblestones with a resounding crack. “And I say you will close the gate as you’ve been ordered to do, by Lord Duo Yi himself! You are expected to LOWER and secure that gate until after the vote!”
The half dozen soldiers flinched and retreated a step before Captain Goizing boldly stepped forward, reinforcing the skeleton crew with his own men, over a dozen having survived the night’s perilous encounters.
“The city orders are quite clear, sirrah. The gates are to remain open unless there is a visible threat to the city, or the prince himself orders their closing.” Even as he said the words, the captain pushed forward, forcing the snarling cultivator and his men a single step back as Te Chang and the others quickly rushed through, much to the displeasure of the irate-looking soldiers.
“Lord Duo Yi heads the counsel, fools! If he says there’s a threat, you best listen!” The opposing cultivator glared at the captain. “You countermand his commands at your own peril. Now who are these spies trying to sneak through the gate right under your very noses?” His lips curled in a malevolent smile. “They will come with me at once. The counsel has questions for them all.”
Te Chang stepped boldly forward, glaring at the sneering Duo Li lackey. “We are the farthest thing from spies, soldier,” he said, smiling coldly as the guard’s sneer turned to barely concealed panic as the Silver unleashed the full weight of his killing aura. “And you have absolutely no right to issue orders to esteemed Silver Sands faculty under any circumstances.”
“And what were you doing outside the gates, when the signal was given for every loyal alumni of our greatest academy to defend the school and guard the rifts from surges!?” Asked the guard with an imperious tone that immediately set Alex’s teeth on edge as he glared at the Duo Li puppets
Sulia flashed a cold smile. “It just so happens that we were embracing our most sacred duty of all. To keep Liushi’s eternal waters flowing.”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise that quickly turned to a glare. “Impossible. Lord Duo Li is out there himself, personally guarding the ritual sight! If anyone had...” The man caught himself as Te Chang crossed his arms.
“You’re saying Lord Duo Li is actually out there, right now?” The senior cultivator shook his head and tutted. “That he would abandon his counsel duties, on this night of all nights.”
“He abandoned nothing!” The Duo Li officer spat out. “He merely guards the ritual sight that no one may dare to tamper with it! If you actually recovered a Water core... surely he was there to assist you when our city is most vulnerable to spies and provocateurs?” The man furrowed his brow suspiciously. “If you truly were at the sight, you should have encountered him. No, he should be leading your expedition back to report his success to the entire city counsel!”
Alex exchanged a smirk with a wide eyed Ya Ling. “Do you get it?” he softly asked.
The girl beside him nodded. “Duo Li sympathizers somehow used the oathbound talismans to pin our own masters at Silver Sands with a false alarm so they couldn’t patrol or defend the city, once he had an emergency contingent ready at the ritual sight. No doubt Xuon Li, trying to seize control as headmaster, was instrumental in doing just that. Maybe Lord Duo Li himself was to be the final bulwark to take us down when their first contingent failed, or maybe their plan all along was to enact the ritual after his men in the city cut us down and tried to claim our prize.” She flashed a mirthless smile. “I wouldn’t even be surprised if his ultimate plan was to return to the city to be hailed as a hero over our dead bodies!”
Alex nodded. “And considering how fast Te Chang’s treacherous assistant had set up the ambush, not to mention tainting multiple delves so quickly and skillfully… I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’ve been working on this scheme to cause panic and seize control for quite some time” He smirked and shook his head. “For all we know, they’re the reason why this city was so vulnerable in the first place. Who knows how many students came back in triumph, bragged a little bit too loud, only to disappear with no trace of themselves or their precious cores of Water or Ice? Or maybe it was a softer play and outside agents just made them very lucrative offers that they knew better than to refuse. Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if the city’s shortage of Water or Ice cores had a very human element to it.”
Her words were a whisper, and his were as well. Yet he had deliberately conveyed it all through his party interface, and the way all his companions stiffened, they all understood the implications at least as well as he did, and Linnea was nodding along animatedly.
“And this is why my clan avoids politics!”
Alex turned his attention back to Te Chang, currently pinning the blanching Duo Li lackey under his pitiless gaze, now hiding nothing of his killing aura. “Yet as you can see, your master is nowhere to be found. Clearly he has failed in his duties, and rest assured, he will be held accountable when this night is through. Now step aside or accompany us as you will, for we are most definitely going straight to the city counsel!”
The Duo Li lackey paled with fury and desperation.
Alex felt a sudden lurch in his gut as he caught the man’s panicked gaze.
This wasn’t a man eager to get an edge on his master’s political opponents. No. His look was that of a man forced to face public disgrace and execution. A terror so stark that Alex couldn’t help but read in the man’s eyes, windows to his soul.
Qi Perception Check made!
And that alone told Alex all he needed to know, and just how ruthless and determined their opponents were to end the night in their favor. They had already over extended themselves on multiple fronts. Anything else save victory and dominion over the city and her resources was probably a death sentence for them.
So Alex didn’t need the telltale twitch of the man’s gaze to know that they were all in jeopardy.
But it certainly helped.
Lesser Shadow Affinity successfully pierces Shadow Cloak.
“Enemies of the state! Kill them now!” The mustachioed man roared, Alex sensing the sudden flash of killing intent from the trio of powerfully built cultivators radiating Deep Bronze potency by the captain’s side.
“How dare you!” Sulia wasted a precious moment in outrage, and Alex was already lashing out.
Not for the trio of sneering Bronze ogres bringing guandao to bear against Rah and Dui Zhong, but against the dark slivers of shadow even now trying to strike them from behind.
The torchlit bailey flared with the flash of brilliant lightning as a sneering figure in shadow snarled and lunged for Alex’s back with a blade of darkest shadow radiating rot and death. Red rimmed eyes abruptly widened in surprise when Alex weaved aside impossibly fast.
It was the last expression the shadowy assailant would ever make as his head was cleaved free in an explosion of lightning and gore.
Storm Strike!
You have critically struck your foe!
A blinding flash that stunned his shadowy companion for a perilous split second as the second would-be assassin swung wildly at an intently focused Linnea, who was presently punishing the Duo Li contingent with whips of searing flame.
A cruel thrust doomed forever to miss as the terminally confused assailant found himself crashing to the ground, Shadow knife dissipating in shock as the would-be killer found himself unable to rise at all, before letting off a single piteous moan, realizing only then that he had been stabbed cleanly through the heart by a hot-eyed Ya Ling who had blossomed almost as fiercely as Alex had in that perilous night where an entire city’s fate rested heavily upon their shoulders.
Alex exchanged a fierce grin with his desert rose before spinning back around, his weapon held at the ready, carefully eyeing the shadows around the courtyard for any other hidden assailants as his friends quickly turned the tide against their increasingly desperate foes.
He was pleased to see that between Instructor Rah and Dui Zhong, their control of the front line was masterful. The pair of them had no problem forcing over half a dozen foes back with their polearms, despite the soldier’s spears, their guandao effortlessly weaving and darting past desperate defenses to slip through their opponent’s guards and caress their bodies like an artist delivering the gentlest of crimson strokes as one combatant after another collapsed in sprays of frothy blood, such that before long not a single soldier dared step close to the grimly smiling pair of defenders, no matter how their mustachioed commander screamed in increasing panic for them to press forward. It was then that Sulia’s furious barrage of jagged icy bolts tore through their armored foes, all of those hit collapsing with groans and sprays of blood.
Before the increasingly panicked Duo Li lackey could issue any further orders he was suddenly writhed in white-hot flame. A vicious searing blaze that tore through one screaming opponent after another, leaving nothing but charred flesh in its wake. And of the half dozen strongest opponents who had managed to avoid the maelstroms of ice and fire, their final charge petered off to a bloody stop when one explosion of stone shrapnel after another unleashed by an unforgiving Te Chang tore through them, leaving shrieking cultivators spurting blood from mangled limbs.
Alex did his best to tune out their increasingly desperate cries. Because no matter how much they screamed and pled for quarter, after attempting to assassinate multiple Silver Tier wujen and instructors, everyone knew that there could only be one outcome.
“It is done,” Sulia coldly declared moments later, after the final dismembered Bronze’s shrieks were silenced under fresh spears of pitiless ice hurtled with such force that they cracked the stone tiles the doomed soldier slumped down upon.
Captain Goizing, who had held his men back in reserve to avoid perilous confusion in battle, bowed solemnly and low. “My sincere apologies for the delay, master cultivators. My men and I will clean up here. May you get to the counsel in time.”
Senior Cultivator Te Chang stared at the captain for a long tense moment, before dipping his head. “You were wise to keep your men in reserve. Confusion in the battlefield would have done us little good.”
“And it would have made it harder for us to know who to kill!” Linnea enthusiastically agreed. “Since it gets confusing picking the good guys from the bad guys in the middle of the night, in pitched battle.”
“And this way no one can accuse you of taking sides, or doing anything but your duty. An important path to survival in a city far more lively than I had expected,” Dui Zhong noted with a cool chuckle.
Captain Goizing was wise enough to say nothing further, merely smiling and bowing his head.
Te Chang wasted no further time. “To the palace,” he said, their stately walk quickly turning to a jog, then an all out sprint.
Alex was impressed despite himself, that Sulia managed to keep up with the body cultivators so well. Despite his initial poor first impression of her, she was clearly far more than an elitist wujen who didn’t think he was good enough for her private class. And to be fair, perhaps he wasn’t. Despite all his dedication and effort, it was only while embracing the Path of Peril in the school’s deadliest rift that he had managed to evolve his Storm and Wind blades into attacks that could channel Dark Qi itself, even strike a modest-sized area at once. And with how hard he had fought for a life free of the gods’ notice, he was loathe to channel Dark Qi here in the city. Even the handful of times he had made use of Doom Blade that night courted disaster, he feared, but it was either that or allowing a Dark Sage’s portal to remain open and a trio of half-step Silvers who had broken through in speed, at least, from making short bloody work of his party. Because if his Ruidian companions’ wards hadn’t managed to hold…
He shivered, shaking his head, all too well aware of just how close they had all come to grizzly death, that night. All the same, he knew better that to dare embrace Dark Qi or Lightning save in the rifts, or when the situation unquestionably demanded it, for he would be leaving no enemy survivors to spread tales in his wake.
Regardless, he was certainly no wujen.
Still, he had to admit, for all that he knew it would be an uphill struggle to continue along his present path, the Lightning Blast he could now stack onto Storm Blade was pretty damned sweet.
Even if he’d be a fool to use it out in the open here in the city, save in direst circumstances in the dead of night. Like right now.
Then Alex blinked in alarm, immediately pulled free of his thoughts when Linnea gave a despairing wheeze.
He turned, feeling a sudden tightness in his chest when he saw how badly she was struggling to keep up, hunched over and wheezing as she ran, a heartbeat away from collapse.
She had strength only for a rueful chuckle. “It looks like I didn’t put enough points into Vitality after all, Alex.”
She closed her eyes, clearly about to collapse, which would be a very foolish thing for a lone girl to do tonight of all nights, Alex thought, when distant screams and the scents of uncontrolled fires permeated the air.
She gasped in surprise when Alex effortlessly gathered her in his arms, relieved and surprised to see Hanz and Lieberman keeping up.
“My son chose to walk in my footsteps, battle leader, so that he too may be strong for those he loves,” Lieberman said with surge of fatherly pride. “Yet for all her encouragement in us perfecting our bodies as well as our gifts, my niece thought it best to invest this night’s incredible boons on empowering her mind. So that her thoughts would be as clear as diamond, and so a certain man might find her worthy.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Alex flushed at the pointed look he sensed through their link as Hanz gently snorted.
“I told her to shoot for a twenty one Vitality first, and purchase the Ageless Perk like Father did, or the Pristine Form perk that showed up for me… or whatever populated for her. I’m pretty sure it’s allowing our bodies to effortlessly compensate for any adverse recessive traits, but she couldn’t stand the thought of having thoughts more sluggish than your own whenever we commune.”
Linnea might not have listened in on the silent communication, but the pretty flush to her dusky cheeks made it clear she understood the jist. “And here I thought I’d have a chance to impress you,” she said with a rueful smile. “Only to find you carrying me as effortlessly as you would a falcon’s feather.”
He winked, flashing her a cheerful smile. “Your crimson corkscrew was epic at blasting through even a half-step Silver’s spine, and that fire ward was exactly what we needed to get those elite killers to back off while Te Chang put that Water core exactly where it needed to be.”
“Just how high is your strength now?” She asked breathlessly.
Alex grinned. “Silver, Rank 1. In other words… sixty five.”
Luminous eyes locked with his own. “You’re so broken it’s absurd.”
Alex laughed. “I know, right?”
“Kiss me?”
Alex nearly stumbled upon the cobblestone steps when she whispered those words. Still loud enough for a couple of his companions to give a bemused snort.
So Alex grinned and kissed her forehead.
Linnea pouted, before she winced at the high pitched scream of a woman in distress in one of the nearby buildings, her nose wrinkling with the scent of thick black smoke at odds with the lighter scents of carefully controlled dinner fires or servants preparing the morning tea.
Her eyes widened with alarm. “Someone’s in trouble.”
“I think so too,” Alex said, gently putting her down, stroking her curls before turning to catch Te Chang’s concerned gaze. “I’m going to investigate.”
The man’s features tightened. “You know how important this is.” Before he dipped his head. “But how can we claim virtue, if we allow tragedy to unfold without doing a thing?” He locked gazes with Instructor Rah. “Accompany our friend. Meet up with us as soon as you do. You know where we have to go.”
The man gave a curt nod, Alex relieved to see that Dui Zhong didn’t hesitate to pick up Linnea, even going so far as to tease he with a smile. “I, for one, think you’re would-be beau’s a fool. Shall we?”
With those words, Alex’s companions dashed along the main road while Alex and Rah darted down a wide yet curving side road decorated with carefully tended rose bushes that made it clear that this property belonged to someone of considerable means.
The pair skidded to a sudden halt when they were confronted by a pyre of flame.
Rah shook his head with a curse, his heavy gaze peering up at what had once been a luxuriously appointed manor of hardwood, complete with a meticulously tended garden overlooking the fecund valley below, sheltered from the bustle of city life from the sentinel-like stone buildings dividing this once picturesque sanctuary from the bustle of the main boulevard just two blocks back.
“It’s an inferno, Alex,” Instructor Rah said, gently squeezing a cursing Alex’s shoulder when the despairing wail he had heard moments ago was joined by the sound of children shrieking for their mother, and an infants panicked cry.
Alex wasted no time, darting for the once lovingly decorated arched entrance covered in vine-covered trellises that had once been carefully watered to bring this entrance to life, now shriveling to ash under a maelstrom of flame.
“Alex, there’s nothing we can do!”
But Alex paid the man no heed, all his focus on what he needed to do.
Skill check made! You have summoned Enhanced Water Shield!
Alex took a steadying breath of air hot enough to sting anyone lacking the blood of dragons pounding through their veins while making use of one of the lesser beast cores he had claimed as he focused on pushing his water shield to the same degree as he once had when attempting to rescue an entire quarter of the city, just days ago.
Of course then he hadn’t been right in the thick of it, at risk of collapse from fumes and fire.
Yet he knew damn well he needed control as well. He ignored Rah’s awed curse when the swirling disc grew in size from that of a round shield to swirling disk equal in circumference to himself… then bigger as Alex jutted his hand forward, holding it a good five feet above the ground. The spinning disk was now a roaring cyclone of water, and Alex spent long precious seconds infusing it with cooling Wind, sans any trace of Metal, before entering the scorched doorway. It was far trickier than when Ya Ling was the one providing the Wind, but doable.
So long as he wasn’t also trying to project a river’s worth of water,
For all his potential, even he knew he had limits, especially in how many skills he could manipulate at once. But fresh clean air was an absolute necessity, no matter how potent his blood. Because even if he was pretty sure his bloodline and Eternal Fox restoration could handle it… should his overconfidence lead to his collapse, then he feared he’d once more be waking up to another thousand years in Shui Jun’s bitter cold coils.
The hell with that.
His kept up his intent focus as he proceeded deeper inside, feeling like he had just entered an oven as warm waves of heat caressed his skin. The heat he was surprisingly completely fine with. It was the smoke that stung his nostrils and brought tears to his eyes as he continued to modify the Spiritual Energy weave whirling Water and Wind before him.
His slow, cautious pace as he acclimatized himself to multiple Spiritual Energy expenditures turned to a panicked lurch when he heard the sudden crack of shattering wood.
“Alex, it’s going to collapse on you!”
But Alex just shook his head, instantly realizing what the problem was, slowing the rotation of his disk not to shred and destroy, but to coat the entirety of the corridor he now went through in a constant flood of water.
Skill check made! You have successfully infused Enhanced Water Shield with Wind! This is a (much) lesser variant of Prismatic Shield and may now be used without any skill checks! Note. You have modified your shield for maximum size and a constant gentle release of water in all directions save your own. You have modified your shield to generate a current of Wind in your direction alone. You are now suffering moderate spiritual energy drain from complex spell weave!
Spiritual energy expenditure recouped by Potency Mastery.
Warning! You have less than 90 seconds of Potency Mastery remaining.
The distant cries of children compelled Alex forward, the awful anxiety he felt mitigated only by the violent hissing as smoke was replaced by steam and a constant stream of fresh desert air as he raced for where he sensed the heart of the inferno must lie, near stumbling into a grand central chamber filled with furious flames and billowing black smoke.
Qi Perception Check made. Your draconic affinity with flame guides you!
He wasted no time as he squinted against the awful heat that even he was beginning to feel, stumbling through a hellish inferno of angry red flames roaring and crackling, forced to make his way through a deadly fog of thick black smoke from which fiery red embers constantly flared.
In that moment he knew that any attempt on his part to put out this flame in its entirety was utterly beyond him as he grew dizzy with fumes that even the whirling air from his shield could only mitigate. The blazing logs of the central hall that he managed to extinguish, sent hissing and sputtering with clouds of steam and white smoke, were only a stopgap measure. Orders of magnitude beyond the comparatively mild fires that had set the entranceway ablaze.
There was no way in hell he could out this inferno in its entirety while inside the building. At least, not without Ya Ling by his side.
His heart began to pound in panic, Qi Perception and his interface giving him a perfect sense of his location, and the only reason why he wasn’t stumbling around like a confused fool in a chamber far too wide and grand for any apartment complex, before collapsing to his death.
You are currently embracing Prismatic Fox Restoration Technique!
Your lungs are enjoying steady regenerative effects.
(Note. Penalties have been partially mitigated.)
Alex winced, both relieved and dismayed to find that his newly forged healing skill was able to help him survive this toxic deathtrap… but it was no Eternal Fox. He didn’t have complete metabolic mastery, and had no way to access Dark Qi to survive on that alone, should he lose access to oxygen altogether.
His heart lurched in sudden panic, recalling that besides having to worry about carbon monoxide poison, fires greedily ate oxygen. Good thing he had a steady stream of Wind blowing in his face. Hopefully it would be enough. Sure as hell, playing the hero flooding the skies with a torrent of water from on high with a friend was a hell of a lot safer and easier charging into the heart of an inferno, even if he only had a single building to put out, not dozens.
Fortunately, his interface map and newly budding Fire Sense meant he knew right where he needed to go, wheezing fresh air from his manifestation as he raced desperately for the far corridor as he sensed the crack and groan of central support beams in the chamber just beyond.
His vision tunneled with the distant screams breaking off in choking coughs that mirrored his own as he darted into the far hallway and raced for all he was worth, before windmilling desperately forward as he stumbled upon the first of many bodies, eyes widening in the bitter smoke to see the mangled faces of men and woman who hadn’t passed away to simple smoke inhalation, as the crushed skulls, disemboweled torsos, and sliced open throats made all too clear.
Over a dozen bodies collapsed in this hallway wore the robed livery of servants and guards, faces locked in expressions of agony or outrage.
Which made it clear, even to Alex’s increasingly scattered thoughts, that these people had been butchered long before the hallway had filled with choking clouds of thick black smoke.
This was no housing complex. This was a single grand home, filled with servants and staff. All of them slaughtered, the house set ablaze after the fact. And as for the increasingly desperate cries that had by now died off to choking gasps… all of them were on the far side of the reinforced door now before Alex. A door crackling with potent wards of Wood, Fire, and Earth.
Alex’s eyes widened despite the sting of smoke and ash, and he began pounding on the door.
“Open up! I’ve come to get you out of here!”
With the fire fully extinguished in this hallway, even if the massive central haul was an awful inferno, he focused on shifting his spinning disk of Water and Air to emphasize ever more of the latter, turning around so as to block off the heat and fumes of the doomed central chambers by embracing nothing but Wind.
His eyes widened with sudden clarity, his Wind Affinity coming to the fore as he embraced a singular element technique, channeling winds that roared and howled down the hallway, such that at least tiny section of the corridor and the room beyond were suddenly filled with fresh air that tasted of desert wildflowers and warm baked sands.
Alex took deep breaths, feeling so much better as he coughed out the awful gunk in his nose, mouth, and no doubt his lungs, taking a moment’s satisfaction in the latest handful of messages to pop up in his mind’s eye.
Congratulations!
You have achieved Rank 2 in Lightning Blast!
You have learned the Water Shield Variant: Storm Shield! Storm shield may be infused with multiple additional elements including Air, Lightning, and Metal!
Storm Shield is now Rank 5! Adept Perk Chosen: Flexibility! You may combine and manipulate additional elements with greater ease while using Storm Shield.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Wind Blast!
Wind Blast is now Rank 1!
You may now project a roaring blast of Wind capable of putting out flames, sending lesser cultivators off their feet, or tearing down weaker structures! Mana Cost: Significant (area/target specific) Note. You enjoy Reduced Cost and greater efficacy, thanks to your Wind Affinity!
Alex’s relief and the momentary fierce pleasure at sensing his steady growth, particularly after facing multiple perilous encounters in a single night, quickly soured when he received no response from the chamber at all.
He banged on the door yet again. “Please open up! I’m here to help! Don’t worry about the smoke, I’m a cultivator! I can fill your chamber with fresh air!”
Yet there was no response. He was increasingly certain that he was just a few seconds too late.
And if that was a case… he knew of only one way to push forward.
It was of course at that moment that his potency mastery duration expired. Fortunately, his actions had filled a good portion of the now soaking wet hallway with cooler air. But blistering hot ash and fumes were already spilling back into the corridor, which meant he could either smash through the wall separating the corridor from the outside… or risk exhaustion and dire peril with one final gamble for the sake of lives that might already be too late to save for anyone without a healer’s background… or memories of the first life he had ever lived.
He took a deep breath of air before it went sour once more, glared at a barrier that had no doubt thwarted and infuriated whatever monsters had butchered the household staff to the point that they sent the entire manor ablaze in a furious final attempt to either kill their marks or cover up their tracks… and would have no doubt achieved both their twisted ends, were it not for one final trump card Alex would to his best to keep hidden from all potential foe for as long as he could.
Alex’s fangtian ji began to swirl with a whirlwind of Wind and Steel as Alex collected himself, Dark Qi Jewel in hand, and dared to project his will upon the razor sharp steel fragments whirling at extreme speeds around his halfmoon axe heads.
It was hard. Far harder than he wanted to admit, and something he’d be foolish to embrace in combat when his scimitar was so much easier to use when channeling Metal, as it was a singular element weapon. But when it came to chopping down doors, nothing beat a two-handed axe. In this case, a two-handed axe swirling with Dark Qi about the head of the weapon. Dark Qi which would hopefully rupture any protective wards.
Or so Alex desperately hoped, determined to bend the strings of Fate to his will as he lashed out with his fangtian ji.
Remembering at the last second the fragile lives he hoped to save, channeling his deadly windmilling strike into a surgical slash at both ends of the door.
A blinding flash of light erupted from both strike plate and hinges, wild explosions of fire consumed by the prismatic blaze Alex cut off the moment he sensed the last of the enchantments rupturing.
Alex was momentarily stunned, though unharmed, as the massive steel-reinforced door slowly topped over, though he had the presence of mind to stumble back as the door crashed and shattered the clay tiles, Alex having already taken care of the jammed bodies in the only way he had available to him.
Congratulations! You have successfully ruptured multiple Silver-tier wards!
Doom Blade successfully counters three retributive strikes.
You have suffered 3 Light Wounds reduced to Superficial Injuries.
You have saved versus Dizziness! You have saved versus smoke inhalation!
Doom Blade is now Rank 6!
Alex felt an odd surge of exhilaration and dread for what he would find as he peered into the smoke-filled chamber beyond, his elation turning to panic when he saw no less than six bodies slumped over finely lacquered hardwood furniture and a plush bed, including several women wearing the attire of servants, as well as a couple wearing the fine silk robes of lords. Yet what truly broke his heart was the sight of young children flopped like dolls beside them.
Alex’s horrified stupor snapped into desperate action when one of the children took a struggling gasp for air.