“You’re certain Xiomavat is here?” Brienne asked again. “Not just the cultists that have snuck in?”
After Samantha returned to her body and explained the situation to her advisors, she’d heard similar questions from all of them. They seemed to be stuck on the fact that he had taken human shape, and because they didn’t have much knowledge of projectionists some concepts were difficult to explain. She’d grown up with stories of Silvus on the first floor, so the idea of spirit beasts taking human form wasn’t foreign to her. There were many legends of Silvus changing his shape for various reasons, but it appeared Weyran didn’t have similar folklore.
“We don’t have time to keep answering the same questions over and over!” Samantha snapped. “For the final time, yes! I’m sure! I can see the soul cord leading from the projection to that body. It’s him–there’s no other explanation. You’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
“Is there any way you can disrupt what he’s doing, then? Even if you can’t fully stop the ritual, maybe you can buy us some time,” Donovan proposed.
“As a last resort I’m willing to try anything, but until we reach that point I’d rather stick with what we know works,” Samantha admitted. “According to the coalition’s records, killing the Divine Beasts or running them off before the ritual was completed was enough to protect the Spires. After seeing Xiomavat’s projection I think it might even be simpler than that. There must be a reason why he had to come in person, or else he could’ve done the ritual while projecting and hidden a safe distance away. The way he held his hand against the Spire makes me think he needs physical contact with it for the ritual to work. Breaking this contact is probably the safest and most reliable approach to stop the ritual, so that’s what we need to try first.”
“It’s impossible,” Roland despaired. “Feld is a week away. Even if we called the army back this very second they wouldn’t make it in time to help us. There’s no way we can pull off what you’re asking with our current forces.”
Natalie briefly looked up from the papers she was frantically writing on to comment. “It might be possible, although it’ll be incredibly expensive. Drafting fighters on such short notice will require premium pay and their morale will be low, but with every guard and cultivator in the city we can overrun the cultists eventually. Even if all of them were Silvers, we could manage the feat given enough time… though the losses would be…” Natalie left the sentence unfinished. “Can you go back to confirm their ranks, General?”
Samantha shook her head. “There’s a chance they’ll notice me trying to [Inspect] them. Then, we’ll lose the element of surprise. I counted 30 cultists, and using our estimates of their forces as a reference, let’s just assume Xiomavat brought his best people with him. Maybe 10 High Silvers and 20 Mid Silvers? The Low Silvers are probably with their main force at Feld, though I’m still suspicious why they haven’t made more of an appearance in the battle yet.”
Brienne answered her almost immediately. “Xiomavat sneaking into the city to make a direct attack on the Spire was the missing piece of the puzzle. The enemy army’s goal was never to push through Feld and assault Weyran. It was to serve as a distraction. My guess is that the Low Silvers are acting in a defensive capacity to reduce losses while they keep our attention on them and away from the Spire. Once the ritual is completed they’ll likely pull back because they've accomplished their goal.”
Samantha had been pacing the room in agitation since coming back from the Spire, but hearing this caused her steps to pause.
What if I used their own tactics against them? It’ll cost me more than just money, but doing nothing isn’t an option…
She gave it a couple seconds more thought before making her decision. For better or for worse it was time to quit playing it safe. “Brienne, gather everyone and have them ready for an assault on the Spire’s barricade within the hour. Do it quietly so we don’t alert the cultists.”
“How do you want to evacuate the civilians in the area?” Roland asked, concerned.
She hardened her heart and forced away her doubts when she gave her reply. “Mortal combatants such as guards can help evacuate homes and businesses after we launch the attack.”
Roland paled and looked like he was about to argue, but held his tongue. No matter how this played out there would be civilian casualties, but waiting to evacuate until after the fighting started was going to be a massacre. It was hardly better than leaving them to die, but she didn’t make this choice lightly. The element of surprise was essential for her plan, and she resolved to do whatever was necessary to make her citizens’ deaths mean something.
“It will be done, General,” Brienne agreed somberly.
“I’ll assist Brienne in gathering our forces and distributing orders,” Donovan declared.
Samantha nodded to Donovan and turned to Natalie. “Go with Roland to prepare the emergency defensive measures I commissioned. Hold nothing back–it’s now or never.”
“Everything?” Natalie questioned, incredulous. “Those defenses were meant to be used on enemies approaching from outside Weyran. If you want to turn them inwards, the damage–”
“The damage doesn’t matter. The losses we suffer don't matter,” Samantha said sharply. “If the Spire could be saved by blowing up half of Weyran, that would still be acceptable. What is one city compared to the millions depending on us inside the Spire?” Seeing the shocked look on Natalie’s face, Samantha added a different line of reasoning to try and soften her response. “Besides… even if the city survives at the expense of the Spire, Weyran won’t endure being buried by falling dead. The city is lost regardless if the Spire falls.”
Natalie looked away and swiped at her now-glistening eyes. “Y-you’re correct, General. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
Roland put a comforting hand on Natalie’s shoulder and met Samantha’s gaze. “Consider it done.”
“Good. Keep your communication artifacts close so we can all coordinate properly,” Samantha ordered. “We attack in one hour. You’re all dismissed.”
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If the hells or underworlds truly existed, she imagined this is what they looked like.
Distant screams were mixed with the sounds of clashing metal, falling stone, and fiery explosions. The city beneath her–which had been so peaceful mere hours ago–was now the very picture of destruction and chaos. The streets ran red with the blood of the dead, and most of the buildings adjacent to the Spire’s defensive barricade were burning. Corpses of mortals and cultivators alike began piling up in the areas where the fighting was most fierce.
The Silver ranked cultists cut through dozens of her people every minute that passed, but unlike with her well-trained army, very few of her drafted soldiers were fortunate enough to have healing items or first aid kits on their person. People died senseless, preventable deaths due to the frantic pace of the advance she’d ordered, but there was nothing to do but press onwards. Just as the enemy army was distracting her forces at Feld, her citizens were giving their lives so Samantha could have a chance at victory. Samantha needed the Silvers to be fully engaged with defending Xiomavat in order to give her a window of opportunity to strike a definitive blow. Though, even without most of his Silvers to defend him, Xiomavat was far from totally helpless.
Occasionally, one of her people would manage to get through the Silvers’ defensive line only to be cut down by the single combatant standing guard beside Xiomavat. When stray arts or arrows nearly struck Xiomavat, five tails of shadow appeared like a cage around his body and shielded him from damage. The shadowy extremities weren’t invulnerable, but Xiomavat was not hit with attacks powerful or frequently enough to break through the defense.
For Xiomavat himself, he seemed disturbingly amused by this turn of events. He continued to script spiritual sigils along the tower walls while occasionally looking around to see how the fight was going. He would smile whenever he caught sight of a particularly grand show of destruction or violence, then continue his work. The only sign that he felt any pressure at all was that he was painting the shining symbols with slightly more urgency than before.
She’d been watching him for as long as she could tolerate to get an idea for his strengths and weaknesses, but there had been frustratingly few instances when his defenses needed to be active. All she’d really learned could be summarized in a few sentences. First, the tails around his body functioned independently of his direct control, but this passive defense wasn’t indestructible. Second, his projection didn’t have much awareness of what was going on with his physical form, so his body stood stationary even when attacked. With his scripts and soul cord wrapping around nearly 3/4ths of the Spire now, she’d have to make do with only this much.
The guard beside him was the main roadblock in her way physically, but she wouldn’t be surprised if his projection had a way to influence the material world like she did. As much as the idea terrified her, she’d have to be flexible and react to whatever Xiomavat threw at them even if it meant fighting with his projection.
“I’m going to give the order to start. Be ready,” she forewarned Silas.
Feeling his agreement, she canceled [Spectral Projection] and was met with the grim expressions of her advisors.
“It’s time. Do it, and don’t stop until there’s none left or I report back,” she commanded. Without waiting for a response from any of them, she projected directly back to Silas’s position. She activated [Desert Breeze], then manipulated the air around Silas to reduce wind resistance as much as she could. Feeling the familiar, distinct change in the wind, Silas immediately entered into a [High Speed Dive] and started forming the largest [Antler Shot] he could.
Gripped tightly in Silas’s talons was a ‘spear’ made of solid, high quality, qi-enhanced metal. With multiple wicked-sharp barbs along the spearhead and barbs facing the opposite direction at the end of the spear shaft, this weapon was enchanted solely for durability and high heat resistance. At the end of the spear, instead of a counterweight, was a spherical metal cage holding a false sun 6 inches in diameter. And this wasn’t just any false sun. Just as the alchemists had found a way to lessen the heat emitted for use inside spotlights, they had also found a way to drastically increase the heat emitted for use in weaponry. Originally, this deadly bolt was supposed to be fired from a ballista atop the city walls. With Xiomavat already inside the city, now she and Silas would fulfill that role instead.
Time seemed to slow as Silas plummeted towards Xiomavat’s human form. Reaching a spectral finger through Silas’s vest pocket to make contact with Tobias’s figurine, she activated his construct and willed it to appear before Xiomavat’s bodyguard. The cultist was most likely a High Silver so she didn’t expect Tobias to last long, but he didn’t need to. A handful of seconds would be enough.
Tobias’s form finished manifesting in a blink, and the bodyguard didn’t hesitate to attack. In moments the cultist was tearing into Tobias with vicious strikes, but Tobias returned blows in kind with little regard for his own body. A heartbeat later, the darkness of night was washed away by the blinding light of hundreds of false suns arching upwards into the sky. Launched through the air towards the Spire by a combination of catapults, combat arts, slings, and throws by strong cultivators, they descended like a flock of falling stars with Silas at their head. She expected that a majority of the projectiles would travel off course or would be deflected, but only a small portion of the false suns actually needed to make it to their destinations. In fact, even one would do so long as it could be used to light the spear.
Samantha had been keeping a careful eye on Xiomavat’s projection during their rapid descent. Perhaps it was due to Tobias’s mysterious appearance so close to his physical body, or perhaps it was due to the immediate vicinity being bathed in light, but for the very first time Xiomavat looked surprised. She only knew his expression because, for some unlucky reason, he had turned to look directly at her. Her hair stood on end as the feline slits in his eyes narrowed in recognition of a fellow projectionist. His gaze shifted ever so slightly to look at Silas and the weapon he carried, and his shock turned to outrage. Then, his eyes flicked back to her as he transformed.
The conjured brush he’d been painting with vanished as he relinquished his grip upon it. His nails blackened before exploding outwards into sharp, retractable claws. His fingers shortened and melded together to form thick, heavy paws. The black hair that flowed down his back elongated in an instant and seemed to come to life as it wrapped itself around his entire body. Covering him completely, it ballooned outward into the vague shape of a leopard. It kept expanding until the leopard was as large–if not larger–than a draft horse, then the long strands of hair morphed into a coat of spotted black fur. Xiomavat snarled upwards at her as she drew ever nearer, his five writhing tails whipping angrily behind him as his body tensed to pounce.
This was her absolute worst-case scenario, but she didn’t despair just yet. She’d thought of several approaches to this conflict, and only needed to…
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Xiomavat’s eyes seemed to shimmer oddly as she stared into them, and she was suddenly overcome with a sensation of primal fear. In that moment she was nothing but a lesser being looking upon the true form of a god. To such a predator, what could she be other than prey? Notifications started to appear, only to be subsequently pushed aside because she didn’t have the presence of mind to read them. The only thoughts that echoed inside her head were warnings of danger and premonitions of a brutal death.
Before fully realizing what she was doing, she started a transformation of her own. Her face grew angular and gaunt. Her ears became pointed at the tips and her teeth sharpened into fangs. Her fingernails curled into claws, and she screamed wordlessly at Xiomavat with a mix of terror and defiance. Her jaw stretched open to be wider than should’ve been possible, but her ghoulish appearance didn’t seem to frighten Xiomavat in the least. It did, however, help her shake off some of the effects of whatever ability he’d just used on her.
She hadn’t retaken her shade form like this since being disembodied, but something about this version of herself made her feel more dangerous. More like a predator. Her soul cord was still firmly tied together and there was no endless hunger, but her mindset had shifted alongside her appearance.
Xiomavat leapt forward with his right foreleg out to the side and claws extended to tear her to shreds, and she pressed forward to meet him in combat. She would protect Silas with everything she had. He was their best shot at victory, now.
“Keep going! I’m counting on you,” she urged as she clashed with the leopard.
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Without [Desert Breeze] carving a path through the air for him, Silas’s [High Speed Dive] slowed somewhat. He made micro adjustments to account for the change–such as altering the angle he held the spear at to be more aerodynamic–but otherwise stayed on course. His human’s intense fear flowed through their binding thread, but he wasn’t overly worried for her. Beneath the surface of that fear was fierceness and determination. She would triumph, as she always did. He needed to make sure that he triumphed as well.
Silas couldn’t recall a time where he had ever felt so focused. He wasn’t even that bothered by the bright light around him. All his attention was centered on the man with tails of shadow, who still stood dumbly in place. The tails had been greatly diminished under the false suns’ shine, which would make his job even easier. The Silver that Tobias was distracting hadn’t noticed his approach either. Everything was in place.
His [Antler Shot] finished forming, and he released it without a second thought. The sharp cone of bone blasted forwards ahead of him and was on track to smash into Xiomavat’s chest. Three of the five shadow tails bunched together to deflect the attack and knocked the projectile to the side. Weakened by the light, two of the three tails were heavily damaged.
Heh. Block this.
Silas couldn’t help the roar of excitement that escaped his throat as he braced for impact. Lowering his head to protect his spine, the three tails joined together once more to stop the impending attack. With two of the tails being damaged already, and [High Speed Dive] being much more forceful than a single [Antler Shot], Silas was confident he would break through.
To his great satisfaction, he was right.
The heavy metal weapon blew the tails apart and slammed into Xiomavat’s torso. Almost simultaneously–maybe in response to being wounded–the two uninjured tails on the other side of Xiomavat struck Silas and sent him flying. The counterattack left him winded as he bounced across cobblestones, but he had no time to recover. If he didn’t get moving right now the false suns would burn him along with the enemy.
As Silas struggled to right himself, he realized that his aim had been slightly off. Rather than piercing Xiomavat’s heart, the spear impaled his gut. Though the tails didn’t completely stop the attack, they apparently did succeed in slightly altering the path of the weapon. Such a wound might eventually be fatal if left untreated, but it wasn’t the outcome Samantha had wanted. To make matters worse, the second-best outcome Samantha wanted hadn’t been fulfilled either. She’d hoped that even if Xiomavat survived, the strike would at least knock him away from the tower and force him to break contact with it. If anything, the Divine Beast was even more rooted in place now. The barbed weapon had pierced him and its tip was lodged firmly in the ground, locking Xiomavat in place with his hand still firmly against the Spire.
This left only a couple of solutions for Silas to try. Tobias looked like he was about to run out of qi soon because he wasn’t repairing all of his injuries anymore, and he could tell that Samantha was locked in fearsome combat because their shared qi pool was dropping rapidly. If it was fully depleted, Silas wouldn’t be able to use arts either. He had to hurry.
Silas darted forward using [Swift], dodging a couple false suns that nearly landed on him. Their heat singed his fur if he got too close, but so long as he didn’t stand near them for more than a fraction of a second he wouldn’t suffer burns. Refocusing on Xiomavat, Silas locked his eyes on his target and prepared to inflict a [Savage Bite].
If he won’t remove his hand from the Spire, then I’ll just remove his hand instead!
He was proud of his own cleverness, and the strategic thought cheered him up. As he used [Leap] for an extra boost towards Xiomavat’s hand and opened his toothy maw wide, he decided he’d even throw in some [Toxic Bile] for fun!
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Using [Piercing Strike] to augment her fangs and claws, Samantha tore into Xiomavat’s projection with unexpected effectiveness and ferocity. Contrarily, Xiomavat wasn’t doing nearly as much damage to her as she was expecting. It was almost like her ‘body’ was made of hardened leather while his was still flesh and bone. She was still receiving cuts and tears to her form, but not at all like before when the enemy projectionist was taking entire chunks out of her. She wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, but she knew it wasn’t typical. Xiomavat seemed as baffled by her unusual durability as she was, and it was only due to a presumably ridiculous qi pool that he was keeping up with the damage she was inflicting. He’d even gone so far as to switch his fighting style from highly aggressive to a more balanced mix of offense and defense.
Xiomavat jumped away from one of her swipes and tilted his head to check on his body. Using this brief break in combat to finally risk a glance downwards as well, her heart soared when she saw Xiomavat had been successfully speared. However, her hopes were dashed just as quickly after looking a bit closer at the situation. She couldn’t help but inwardly curse.
Still touching the Spire? Stubborn cat.
She’d hoped the first wave of false suns would light the spear so it would burn Xiomavat from the inside out, but none had come close enough yet. Several orbs had made it into the courtyard as planned, but there were many more fires starting throughout the city from all the projectiles that went off course. A lot of the orbs had also smashed into smaller pieces on impact, spreading the burning debris even further. In the courtyard itself, she could only spot one or two that were wholly intact. The rest now resembled burning coals, or golden pebbles.
Silas seemed to be trying to attack Xiomavat directly for the time being, but was struggling to get around the whip-like shadow tails. Tobias looked to be trying to light the spear before his reserves emptied, but the cultist soon landed a nasty blow and Tobias dissolved into motes of light. With Tobias out of the picture, the cultist immediately turned his attention to Silas and rushed towards him.
“Silas, cultist incoming!”
That was all she could get out before Xiomavat renewed his attacks and she was drawn into the fight once more. Apart from the fear-inducing art he used at the beginning, Xiomavat’s approach to spiritual combat seemed simple and straightforward. She didn’t know if his basic approach was due to the limitations of the 2nd floor scenario–where projection arts were already exceedingly rare–or him trying to lure her into a false sense of security. In either case, based on how unexpectedly well she was doing, she felt that it was okay to take a small risk.
Beating a ‘fighting retreat’ to one of the intact false sun’s in the courtyard, she used [Telekinesis] to kick the burning orb closer and closer to Xiomavat’s body. If she rolled it far enough the heat should be suitably intense to light the spear by proximity alone. Silas was frantically dodging both Xiomavat’s tails and the Silver now, but ironically, Xiomavat was also serving as Silas’s shield. With the tails striking out indiscriminately at anything that came close, the cultist was in as much danger from the Divine Beast as Silas was. With Silas keeping Xiomavat between him and the Silver, he finally found an opening and latched on to Xiomavat’s left wrist.
Silas’s bite sunk into the flesh, but wasn’t nearly deep enough to sever the limb entirely. She could feel his frustration and disappointment when he came to the same realization, and the Silver was too quick to give Silas more time to try and gnaw through the tough appendage. It was a good attempt, but the Silver was making things too dangerous for Silas alone. Hopefully her plan panned out instead.
She kicked the false sun again. “Silas! Light the spear! I’ll kick a false sun as close as I can!”
“How? It’s too hot to grab.”
“Use [Antler Shot] or [Thump]!” she suggested after ducking beneath Xiomavat’s snapping teeth.
Smacking the orb with a blunted [Antler Shot] could possibly move it close enough, or maybe with a long enough horn he could spear the false sun and shoot it before it killed him. Alternatively, while prolonged contact would be hot enough to burn body parts to ash, a split second [Thump] should only leave behind severe burns. Painful, but nothing she couldn’t heal.
“I’ll try!”
Samantha kicked the false sun once more, but this time Xiomavat seemed to realize how dangerous the small object could be to his body. It was still several yards away, but his hair was starting to curl and smoke from the heat. Xiomavat seemed to focus intently on the orb and wisps of shadows rose up from beneath it. The wisps tried to hit the false sun weakly, but were dissolved in the bright light before accomplishing anything.
Xiomavat hissed angrily and looked between his body and the tower. There was a split second of hesitation, but Samantha recognized the exact moment when the Divine Beast decided to flee. She could let him go and risk the possibility of him returning later, or she could try and finish this once and for all.
The choice was obvious.
Lunging forward before he could get away, Samantha dug her fingers deep into Xiomavat’s sides and activated [Cloud Stand] to anchor her in place.
“Hurry Silas! He’s trying to return to his body. I can’t hold him forever.”
Silas darted towards the glowing orb with the Silver hot on his tail. Xiomavat let out a roar and pulled against her anchor hold with all of his strength. When that didn’t immediately work, he started tearing out the parts of his own projection that she was holding onto. Using her fangs, she added a third holding point by biting onto one of the tails striking at her face. He struggled to free all three of her anchor points at once, but continued pulling with everything he had in the hopes that she would slip up and let go.
Unlike trying to hold onto a projectionist of similar rank, the strain of Xiomavat’s pull was enormous. It felt like trying to hold onto a falling mountain. If her body wasn’t made of pure energy, she was certain she would’ve been pulled apart immediately.
“Come on!” Silas shouted excitedly. She could feel his anticipation. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a small, blunted dart impact the false sun. It exploded into a shower of fragments before raining down on the spear and Xiomavat’s body.
“Come on!!” Silas shouted again, cheering on the burning pebbles.
Xiomavat redoubled his efforts to escape her and the weight on her soul followed suit. She had no idea how she was even managing to hold on to him anymore. It felt like she was trying to hold back the weight of the planet itself.
Though [Cloud Stand] continued to hold her in place perfectly, there was an uncomfortable, unfamiliar tug at her center growing. Before she could figure out what was happening, the sensation vanished and she found herself briefly disoriented. She lost control of [Cloud Stand] and was pulled through the air at impossible speeds while still clinging to Xiomavat.
As she flew near the Spire and passed the mysterious symbols, several unexpectedly began detonating outwards in violent sprays of spiritual energy. She was blessedly moving too quickly to be hit directly by any of them, but the close brushes with some of the sprung traps were more than enough to give an idea of what would happen if she was. Wherever the energy touched her, her soul felt raw and sore like when she’d been affected by the Ancient Cliff Drake’s spiritual poison.
As Xiomavat flew around the Spire to unwrap his soul cord at dizzying speeds she dug her fingers into his projection even deeper. Victory was so close now she could practically taste it. If she could just stop him from merging back with his physical form a little longer, they might actually do it. They might actually manage to kill him.
As Xiomavat made his final loop around the tower Samantha caught sight of the spear catching fire. A falling fragment of the false sun landed within the spear’s metal cage, causing the larger alchemical to ignite.
“YES!” she and Silas both cheered.
Quickly flaring with incomprehensible heat, the scripted metal of the spear fulfilled its purpose. Withstanding temperatures that would melt lesser materials, the entirety of the weapon shone white hot and warped the air around it with heat. Everything easily flammable on Xiomavats body–such as the stolen guard uniform he wore–burst into flames. Finally away from the dangerous spiritual traps, she activated [Cloud Stand] once more.
Immediately, she knew something was wrong.
Rather than the qi coming through her soul cord as was typical, she sensed the energy of her spiritual body fueling the art. Fearing the worst, she immediately abandoned her attempt to restrain the Divine Beast and canceled the art. Xiomavat disappeared into his dantian where she couldn’t follow, but that was far less upsetting than what she’d just confirmed. Looking downwards at her stomach, her soul cord hung completely limp. The knot had come undone, and once again, she’d been disembodied.
Xiomavat’s screams of agony distracted her from this new crisis momentarily. As he shifted from his human to beast form the surrounding area was cloaked in shadows. All light in the vicinity–including the weapon’s glow–was hidden from sight as a dark smoke seemed to swallow everything. For a moment, everything was quiet. She feared that this transformation allowed him to slip free from the spear or escape somehow. But then the shadows coalesced and the light returned.
The large, many-tailed leopard collapsed to the ground and wildly thrashed. He yowled and screamed as he kicked at the weapon still firmly lodged in his stomach. The barbed point of the spear was still sticking out of his body, but while transforming Xiomavat had inadvertently taken the false sun fully into his abdominal cavity. The alchemical weapon shone with such ferocity now that it backlit the beast’s skeleton. The sizzle of boiling innards and burning flesh mixed with the creature's cries of pain were nauseating.
The Silver bodyguard beside Xiomavat unexpectedly clutched at his stomach and fell to his knees.
Spiritual backlash from the death of a bonded beast? No, wait…
The near-invisible thread connecting the cultist to Xiomavat began to shine almost as brightly as the raging fires throughout the city. Thousands more threads leading to Xiomavat also began to shine, making the leopard look like the center of a blooming dandelion. At a glance, she could tell that Xiomavat was calling on his followers to feed him the energy needed to survive. To heal him.
She wanted to strike him down now while he was weakened, but…
Samantha looked down at her limply hanging soul cord again.
She had a more important problem she needed to address first.