Kichi struggled against the tendrils wrapped around her that kept her arms flat against her sides. It was hard to tell how hard they squeezed her, but judging by her expression, it was enough to be painful. She fought and struggled, and though her hand gripped her sword handle, she couldn’t retaliate.
All Masahide had managed was knock a single scale from the balatma. “The potion’s wearing off.” He said matter of factly. All he could do was die trying to fight.
Where the creature had seemed fast, now it was lightning. The worm-like tendrils slashed in every conceivable direction. The next barrage pushed Masahide off the outcropping. But with Si’s agility, he found footholds on crannies that a cat would have trouble finding purchase. The side of his foot balanced on a fissure, and he launched himself.
However, he was so close that it was the creature within that he worried about. It punched, and though it missed, a blast of air knocked him back. It came forward with a chain of attacks, and he had to dance back as talons shredded the air, but even a few paces back meant the tendrils could lash him.
How could Si have fought past the outer defenses and defeated one of these without a weapon? After removing a scale, he must have punched into the creature’s guts. It was beyond human strength and speed. Perhaps the Champion had exaggerated or fought one that was already wounded. Sometimes, the most obvious explanation was the correct one.
Masahide launched a volley of arrows and a lance from the portal and moved in simultaneously. They found hits but did little other than to distract. He kicked, but when his shin met the hard scales, it sent a shockwave of pain up his leg. Knuckles bled when they met the same impenetrable defense. He pressed forward but had to relent as his injuries mounted.
Suddenly, Si was beside him. His hat moved as he shook his head. “Do not attack with only your flesh and bone. It will fail. It is a spirit corrupted. You are a spirit in the flesh. Skin will tear, swords will bend, but spirit is unbreakable.”
Masahide looked down at the blood leaking from his hands. Red dots appeared at his feet. Unbreakable? He was far from that.
The scaled form rushed forward and hit him so hard in the stomach that he exhaled a heaving sound and almost bent over to meet an uppercut.
He threw himself to the side and found an opportunity to counter. The skin peeled from his knuckles when his left first grazed the edge of a scale.
Kichi struggled, and the tendrils crushed down. “Save yourself.”
Masahide didn’t respond other than to slam his first into the brick wall that was the balatma. It felt like every bone turned to dust up to his elbow.
The trick was speed. If one swung an axe fast enough, one could split the most knotted log. That’s how his kick had torn the scale away. He’d had the potion to give him that speed, but there was no way now. His knuckles exploded in pain as he smashed them into the creature.
The balatma slowed and regarded him with lamplike eyes. It let him beat his mushy limbs against its body. He’d slowed so much that it could reach out and grab him. It raised him a foot from the ground, and he dangled.
The abilities that the Champions shared with him were magical. He had extraordinary legs with Si’s help. The man was only a ghost of an age long past. It was memories that they shared. It was his spirit that did the work. Right now, with the portal open, the memories expanded in his mind. He was driftwood in a sea of Templar history. There was no time to search the vastness, but it couldn’t be too different from the gift of supernatural running.
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The creature pulled back, ready to deal a blow that would end it all. It was a magnificent creature. Even if it were corrupted, who’s to say that’s wrong in and of itself? As Si's people believed, nature is just the other side of the coin. They thought that spirit was pure, and nature and corruption changed it, not for good or evil, but for balance. Life and death, time, suffering: none of that meant anything in the spirit world.
But the Champions had said there were bad times ahead, perhaps worse than they had ever seen. Corruption had tipped the balance and needed to be corrected.
Masahide channeled the spirit energies he’d used for agility into his fist. The skin stretched tight, burned, and bled more.
The balatma looked at the fist curiously.
The Templar Champion threw a straight punch. It seemed to strike so fast that there was a delay before the scales of the creature's chest exploded into fragments.
The balatma flew backward, struck the cliff, and bounced. It managed to pull itself up instead of falling over the side, though it sent a waterfall of dust and rocks into the mountain hollow. It stood with pink flesh exposed around its abdomen.
Unfortunately, he didn’t kill it. And he had no strength left. All the energy in his body left him, and the portal closed. Ema screamed as she lay with a tendril snaking into her arm.
The only reason they weren’t dead yet was that the creature staggered. The tendrils attached to its body had slumped. But as it stood to its full height, the deadly hair rose again.
Kichi raised her sword overhead and rushed forward. With each tendril attack, she moved almost imperceptibly, dodging. Then she buried her sword into the pink flesh.
The balatma let out a low, dry scream. It clutched the blade as black oozed from its chest. It staggered back and collapsed.
Masahide crawled over to help cleanse it. But how? It was so strong the two of them would have no chance. He plunged his sword into the prone creature, and the energy surged into him. He would have to push his limit even though a knight’s teaching was to use restraint. It was dangerous, deadly, to exceed filling one ring. But he felt the ring fill quickly.
Si appeared beside him, but not in spirit. It was like some piece of the man stuck inside his head. “Don’t stop. A Champion has unparalleled spirit control.”
The spirit power felt like being struck by lightning. Masahide felt like he was being cremated alive, and he loved every minute of it. The thirty-first ring spilled over in moments that felt like hours.
Si moved to the other side of the creature. “If you learn nothing else from me, learn to live with one foot in life and one in death. This is how one reaches one’s full potential.”
Masahide’s life flitted away. He was dead, he was sure, when another ring overflowed. No knight would ever take a risk like this. It was insane. But he was still thinking, wasn’t he? That was a good sign. All was dark until his eyelids peeled open.
Stars shone in the night sky. A chill wind swept the outcropping below the tower.
Ema held his head in her lap. “You came after me! I had almost given up.” Her arm hung limp with a tendril still digging into it.
Whitebeard’s face came into focus. What was he doing here? How long had he been here? “I came to see if you had it under control. Looks like you do. But I have bad news.”
Masahide
Level: 34
Focus: Conjuring (conduit) +2
Secondary focus: Quake, Firequake tandem attack, spirit punch
Weapons: pure sword - 35% pure
Items: Heart of the Earth