Xu Tie dropped his bloody prize as he glared and spat at his fallen foe before shuddering once, shaking his head, and gazing Alex’s way once more. His look was that of a man shaken by his own actions. A father humbled by the rage that had nearly consumed him, even if embraced in the defense of those he loved.
Biochemical Mastery skill check made!
Alex flashed a sympathetic smile, presenting a cloth treated with both cleansing compounds and a floral scent. “Your wife and children are coming. Clean up with this before you turn around. And put on this robe. Your presently covered in gore and poison that you don’t want to expose the rest of your family to.”
The man nodded gratefully, a surge of his power slicing the tainted robes he wore to shreds at his feet as Alex tossed him clean attire before he quickly placed all the bodies in a storage ring that shouldn’t have nearly the storage that it somehow did, but Alex sure as hell wasn’t going to complain.
Within moments, Xu Tie’s wife and children were held tight in their father’s arms, tears trickling down soot-stained cheeks, for all that the blood and gore of moments before was thankfully gone.
Alex felt an unexpected lightness in his chest. As bleak and deadly as this night had become, utterly destroying his one-time fantasy that he would ever be permitted a gentle halcyon slice-of-life existence ever again, the solace of bringing four precious lives back from the brink of death eased the bitter weight of over a score of lives that he had already sent to the River of Souls, this night alone.
“Hero?”
The unexpected title jolted Alex from his thoughts as he turned to meet Xu Tie’s sober gaze while his wife gently coaxed their kids inside a masterfully made rickshaw before sliding in primly herself, gazing at Alex with wide, hopeful eyes.
Alex smiled. “Please, call me Alex.”
Surprisingly, this earned wide-eyed looks from all four present.
As if they actually understood.
As if his past hadn’t been eaten away to oblivion over a millennia lost to time.
Or was that what he thought each time he jolted awake within that sand-strewn cave? Every century just a bit further out of touch with the history that had once been his? The women he had once so dearly loved?
He shivered and looked away, suddenly unable to bear their too-hopeful gazes.
He fought not to flinch when a powerful hand gently clasped his shoulder. “What you’ve done for me and my family is a deed I couldn’t hope to repay in a single lifetime, and you have our eternal gratitude.” Both weary-looking mother and daughters nodded solemnly with those words, shuddering in remembered horror, holding each other close.
Alex grinned when he he spotted the leatherbound tome that the oldest of the girls held as tightly as her sister was squeezing her rag doll, no doubt a book of favorite bedtime stories that bespoke of happier times and innocence that might never be recovered.
The Liushi nobleman cleared his throat. “Nonetheless, I must ask for one final favor if I possibly can this night.”
Xu Tie paused, as if the very words pained him to acknowledge. “My greatest barrier has been breached, and I suspect that my clan’s staunchest allies are already at Council… or have already perished to Duo Yi blades.” Intent eyes bore into Alex’s own. “My family and I are not safe anywhere in this city… save within the palatial grounds themselves, where any counselor may take shelter with the entire royal army honor bound to protect us. An emergency contingency few have dared to embrace in the last century, for all that the edict was made with political purges like this one in mind.”
Eyes revealing such a bittersweet mixture of strength, honor, and sheer desperation implored Alex’s own. “Can I count on you to see this night through by our side, Alex?”
Alex clenched his jaw and dipped his head, knowing there was only one answer he could give.
Even if the slowly revealed book cover slipping from a tired girl’s hands hadn’t left him momentarily speechless, made all the worse by the way Lady Tie looked at him when she hastily gathered the ancient tome before it could clatter out of the rickshaw.
But not before the ruffle of fine parchment paper revealed block prints of a scene no picture could possibly do justice, yet somehow managed to capture so much of the desperate horror of that moment.
Alex shuddered and forced his gaze away, catching Xu Tie’s naked fear for just a heartbeat… before a man desperate for a hero emerged once more.
“Linnea! Ya Ling! What’s your status? Where are you?” His thoughts raced, desperate to find the best path forward to save everyone that he could.
“We’re fine for now.” Ya Ling’s voice took on a desperate urgency. “Lord Xu Tie… Please tell me he made it?”
Alex nodded, which was of course stupid, as she couldn’t see the gesture. “Yes. He insists that I take him to the palace, assuming it isn’t...”
“Yes! Please, Alex. Take him to the palace as fast as you can. He heads a critical voting block. It’s why they’re fighting so hard to take us all out!”
“Then consider it done. Are you sure you’ll be...”
“We’ll be fine. Better than fine! Your kitsune ally actually came through! Grandfather and grandmother are now here with us!” He sensed Ya Ling’s dark mirth. “We’re going to send these assholes on a spirit fox chase like you wouldn’t believe, and pull everyone that we can away from the palace. It’s our only shot at getting you through.”
Alex couldn’t help but grin in fierce approval. “Well then, one honorable councilmember coming right up!” His brow furrowed. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Sure as can be, Alex. Alright, more assholes for us to distract are heading this way. Got to go!”
“Alex?”
Alex solemnly dipped his head as Xu Tie took the handles of his family rickshaw.
“I’ll lead and cover your flank. You just point to where the palace is.”
The man’s look of relief was palpable, his wife leaking tears of gratitude with her smile.
And they could all pretend they weren’t carrying a book filled with fairy tales so unlikely to be here at this place and time as to be beyond the pale.
“Mommy!”
“Rest, Fang. Hold your sister tight.”
Alex was almost grateful for the opportunity to lope ahead, eyes glaring into the darkness for trouble he was sure would come their way in this night of panicked cries, shouts, the clang of bronze and steel and the haze of smoke blocking out the fainter stars above.
Hiding as an inky blot in the darkness would be their best move if poorly lit boulevards were all they had to worry about. But with the light increasing the closer they made it to what he assumed was the palatial quarter, already knowing the trouble they would inevitably face, and how certain bastards held no qualms about shooting with crossbows first and asking questions later… there was no question about what his next move had to be, especially with just four minutes remaining in the rapidly replenishing whirlwind of spiritual energy he sensed surrounding him much like Light Qi had, once upon a time.
You have successfully summoned Dark Qi-infused Storm Shield.
Enhanced size in effect!
Alex pivoted his once-more massive shield to protect Xu Tie and his entire family at the first hint of ambush, pleased to sense it’s growing strength and ease of use as combat experience and the potency he was absorbing from so many fierce pitched battles turned to increased mastery of those skills so crucial to saving his life.
He couldn’t help but be filled with a certain measure of pride at just how far he had come, despite all the limitations and setbacks he had faced, despite the perils of the moment, as bands of crackling lightning, deep blue waters and a thick overlapping rings of Dark-Qi infused metal shrapnel swirled in a perfect barrier before him.
A shield so strong that it had countered multiple Silver-tier attacks just minutes ago, thanks to the Dark Qi he had successfully infused to his multi-element ward. And for all that it was tapping into a significant portion of his potency, his beast cores and four more minutes of potency mastery meant he had no fear of it depleting him, at least until he got to the palace. Or so he hoped.
What mattered was that it was the strongest defense he could summon forth at this time.
More than strong enough, along with his Wind Qi Deflection, to handle the sudden barrage of crossbow bolts erupting from the front row of soldiers wearing the black and red bands of the Duo Yi house as they roared and glared Alex’s way, flooding around a corner as one coordinated unit, Alex’s Qi Perception having failed to detect a thing.
Chilling Alex to the quick, who instantly understood the significance of his failure.
Clearly, his foes already knew where their targets were, even if Ya Ling and her party were serving to pull some heat away.
It obviously wasn’t enough. And if Shadow Qi was in play…
Alex desperately looked around… Qi Perception Check ******!
Unable to see a thing.
“Lord Xu Tie and his family! Don’t let those bastards anywhere near the palace!” Roared a pox-scarred barrel of a man, glaring professional contempt Alex’s way as the crossbowmen expertly stepped back in perfect sink, time enough for a full row of guandao wielders to roar and charge forward while the crossbowmen set to work re-cocking their crossbows with practiced ease.
The children screamed.
Lady Tie gave despairing cry while her husband roared like a desperate lion determined to make a valiant last stand.
But Alex was already charging forward, batting aside the closest pair of cleaving polearms even as he drew and struck in a flash of pristine lighting and a killer’s roar.
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He had hesitated too long unleashing certain attacks, fearing peripheral backlash to the precious lives behind him.
But if a kitsune assassin was getting ready to strike even now...
Dark Storm Shield successfully parries multiple basic bronze attacks!
You have unleashed Stormstrike!
You have obliterated your opponent!
You have unleashed Lightning Blast!
Five cultivators have failed to save versus cardiac arrest.
Fatality!
The crack and boom of thunder covered the cries of surprise as lightning tore through his opponents, sending half a dozen collapsing to their wide-eyed deaths as a man cloaked in shadow with a pair of serpentine daggers radiating peril collapsed in a heap after ramming into Alex’s back.
He was chilled to think how close he had come to getting his throat cut, and already the powerful kitsune radiating a Silver’s killing grace was forcing trembling muscles to move, and unless Alex wanted to get his throat torn out by a Silver tier speedster he had to act NOW!
Darting forward as the would-be killer stumbled back with a snarl, whipping his neck away from Alex’s crackling dao with a desperate lurch… that did nothing to protect his hips as Alex’s blade bit deep in an explosion of ozone, lighting and blood, the air shrieking with the sound of steel shrapnel infused water ripping open spirit beast hide before tearing through flesh and bone and the kitsune boy was suddenly screaming, screaming in desperate agony as blood spurted in the dark.
And Alex couldn’t stop, dare not stop, even as he sobbed and roared his panicked fury, forced to gaze into despairing eyes for the flickering moments it took to shred desperately raised limbs with Water and Steel before blasting his pleading foe with lightning… choking back a sob when the youth fell back in a broken heap, blood spurting from the ruins of his ruptured skull.
Alex’s eyes widened in horror as the last of the youth’s desperate Shadow Qi faded with death, seeing all too well the horribly familiar collar of tainted blood and steel still fastened about the ruins of the young kitsune’s neck.
He trembled with furious outrage, even as the narrow road echoed with the furious cry of a wild-eyed cultivator glaring Alex’s way as an additional half-dozen cultivators aimed their reloaded crossbows his way.
“Fire!”
Quickness Check made!
The storm of bolts slammed against Alex’s Obsidian Shield before deflecting off the adjoining buildings and all Alex felt was a bitter killing fury for the monsters that were enslaving kitsune in the same vicious manner as they clearly had been for the last thousand years.
Centuries of torment, of what could have been joyful peaceful lives turned to bitter despair and murderous fury, so many lives destroyed for the sake of the most corrupt and ruthless of all monsters who somehow always managed to come out on top like the smirking bastards that they were.
Well not to tonight, Alex thought as he roared and charged straight for a wide-eyed sergeant as his men struggled with their crossbows.
Alex desperately tried to scrub away all memory of those despairing amber eyes he was in no position to save this time around, where a single mistake would mean his death and the loss of an entire city.
He howled, his sword raised high, tasting the bittersweet currents of killing fury in the air, tingling with the storm’s ultimate wrath, just a heartbeat away.
And now he could sense over a score of fresh reinforcements racing around the bend to back up their companions, all of them armed with spears and guandao as the crossbowmen desperately scurried back and fled.
“There he is!” Roared a man kitted in robes sparkling with half a dozen warding enchantments, wearing the stamp of the Duo Yi clan, snarling his hate Alex’s way. “Our hound is dead! This abomination killed him! Strike him down now, before he closes!”
The man’s words cut off in a flash of brilliant lighting, Alex’s roar drowned in the crack and boom of thunder as he embraced once more what it truly meant to be one with the storm. To feel the power of unstoppable winds and lightning both, trembling through his soul as the increasingly desperate wujen screamed orders to his men and quickly raised defensive wards of his own.
Which turned out to be not quite fast enough.
You have successfully ruptured the wards of Shadow Master Wonang Li!
You sense your opponent’s weakness.
Storm Strike enhanced Spell Cleave successfully Ruptures Silver tier Warding Cloak!
Concussive foe knocks over your opponent.
Concussive force disrupts killing art!
You have successfully triggered Storm Blast!
Qi Perception check made.
Unknown tier artifact absorbs fatal lightning blast!
Alex blinked away the blinding glare as over a dozen men crashed to the ground from the crackling discharge.
His furious exultation froze to dread when the elder cultivator at the heart of the blast failed to take any damage at all. He alone wasn’t on the ground groaning with crippling injuries, or wide-eyed in death, after lightning stopped or outright exploded the hearts of Alex’s foes.
Instead, the bristle-haired elder unleashed his full killing fury.
“You would dare to strike a lord of the Tan Yi clan with your tainted arts? You will die for that, worm! You and everyone who ever dared to call you ally or kin!” The cultivator’s lips twisted in a vindictive smile as words twisted with dark infernal potency tainted the air.
Then he hissed and lurched back, as if no longer seeing the face of a dismayed Ruidian boy, but rather the face of someone bearing the weight of countless millions of fallen souls…and a blade now the color of midnight.
“Artifacts so twisted they can absorb even lightning’s promise.” Alex dipped his head in cold acknowledgment. “So be it. Dark Qi it is, then.”
“No!” Wonang Li’s words cut off with a desperate cry as he spat a curse and jutted out his hand, spraying the boulevard with a deadly stream of fire and stone that stunk like sulfur and death… utterly obliterating one of the few groaning guards to have survived Alex’s initial lighting blast, only to utter a single sharp shriek before his entire torso dissolved under a spray of caustic lava… that sprayed harmlessly off of Alex’s Storm Shield, once more echoing the howling storms of the endless Sea of Ghosts… impossibly vast waters that could quench even a volcano’s eruption.
Compared to that, a little bit of magma was nothing at all.
“No, impossible!” The elder shrieked. “You’re not one of my master’s chosen! You’re his sworn enemy! There’s no way you could—“
His words were cut off in an instant as Alex’s blade shrieked with oblivion’s promise, Dark Qi covered steal tearing through all wards and spiritual energy counters. The only resistance at all was the thinnest weave of fabric caressing a withered neck.
Darkness flashed and the deed was done, Wonang Li’s eyes bulging in impossible disbelief as his head tumbled upon the remains of his men, neck-stump spraying the dying soldiers in a torrent of blood.
Far more blood than even the most corrupt cultivator’s body should hold.
Artificer skill check made. Find Weakness skill check made.
Dark Qi ruptures all infernal wards!
You have successfully ruptured Deathward artifact!
You have successfully decapitated your foe!
Potency Earned!
Doom Blade is now Rank 7!
Storm Shield is now Rank 8!
Lightning Blast is now Rank 3!
Alex took a shuddering breath moments later, glaring down at the fallen armsmen. A few were covered in electric burns and groaning. Most were still as the grave. Alex seriously doubted any survivors would be giving any of them trouble this night, at least. But far too many were gazing at him in horrified awe, unable to tear their gazes from his ebony blade and shield of storms.
“Alex...”
He shook away the unspoken question in Lord Xu Tie’s voice, not sure if the man was going to counsel him to spare or kill the survivors, and happy to avoid the conversation altogether, already knowing what his next move had to be.
“No, no, please!” The final armsman pled, desperately dragging himself back on feet trembling with such terror that he was scooting back on his armored ass like a child as Alex continued his implacable pace toward the soldier who had witnessed Alex ruthlessly cleaving the heads off every foe to fall before him, whether they were groaning and pleading for mercy, or were still with death.
“Please don’t kill me!” The man desperately raised his arms and shrieked as Alex loomed over him, a surprisingly soft voice allowing the man to dare a moment’s hope.
“So, what was the plan after you and your men killed Lord Xu Tie?”
The man wheezed in panic for long seconds before daring to meet Alex’s ice cold gaze.
He sobbed once, already understanding his fate. “What does it matter what I say? You’ll kill me either way.”
Alex nodded. “True. Well, goodbye then.”
“Wait, wait!” The man desperately pled. “I’ll tell you everything, everything! Just spare me, please!” He hurriedly spoke on in a mad rush. “Did you know that Master Duo Li’s already secured the senate floor? He holds forty seven men under his control, and with the purges we enacted tonight, over a dozen of our opponents have fallen. He now has a super majority. He’ll be able to push through a vote of no confidence, no matter what you do! My masters know who you are. What you are. There’s a bounty on your head worth your weight in silver! When Lord Xien Tang claims this city, hunting you and your friends down will be his first priority. You are all fated to die!” declared the surviving soldier who knew far too much to be common trash, his Deep Bronze vitality perhaps the only reason why he was still alive.
The doomed soldier flashed a desperate smile. “But it doesn’t have to end this way. My clan knows of half a dozen ways in and out of this city! If you spare my life, I’ll aid you all in escaping this city this very night, my cultivator’s oath upon it!”
Alex dipped his head. “An interesting proposal. There’s just one problem.”
The guard’s brow furrowed before blinking in bemusement when Alex tossed him an Ice Core fragment. At first glance, it was an absolutely precious prize the warrior’s hands couldn’t help but instinctively grasp for. Far better to be bribed than butchered, after all.
It was a prize the desperate man successfully caught, before his eyes bulged wildly, body locking in fatal shock as Alex’s midnight blade tore open his heart.
The man’s mouth opened in what would have been a desperate plea, had his throat not been filled with pink frothy blood… had Alex even bothered to look the dying man’s way after retrieving the ice chip and returning to his horrified-looking charges.
Alex clenched his jaw, a trace of his frustration leaking free.
But all he had to see was his blood-spattered countenance in the eyes of those who had seen absolutely everything to shudder in disgust as he turned back around and summoned a shield of stone.
“Come on, we’re wasting time,” he said, savagely kicking aside the fallen corpses a bit harder than he had to in order to make room for the rickshaw filled with sobbing children, pulled by a man breathing far to rapidly to be feeling anything but growing panic, and Alex absolutely couldn’t stand the scent of fear in the air.
“I did what had to be done,” he declared. But the family didn’t say a word.
“That asshole admitted that his clan was hunting down their political opponents, cutting down half a dozen families just like your own! Any one who opposed their coup were butchered like swine. Monsters like that don’t deserve to live.” He choked back a furious sob. “I’ve dealt with these types before.”
Alex glared down with furious hate at the last of the crumpled corpses they passed. “These fuckers got nothing less than they deserve!” He glared down at his own trembling hand, easing his will upon his terrible ebony blade, allowing it to reconvert to indestructible spirit beast tempered steel before sheathing it once more.
“And they saw too much,” he admitted to himself as much as those silently listening on. “The minute I was forced to reveal arts that my enemies would kill to possess is the minute they signed their own death warrants.”
He locked gazes with Lord Xu Tie. “Mercy for those scumbags was never an option.”
To his surprise and relief, the man flashed a bleak smile. “I quite agree, Alex Hammer. I quite agree.”
Alex nodded, feeling a curious sense of relief as an unseen weight lifted from his shoulders before his eyes widened in startlement, nearly tripping over the stone tiles before him.
He clenched his fists as the air around them grew heavy with awful tension… before taking a shuddering breath and picking up his pace. “Come on, we don’t have much time,” he said, pretending he hadn’t caught what Lord Xu Tie had let slip.
In the brief time he had befriended this tiny clan, he had never once stated his full name.