“Man’s enemies are not demons, but human beings themselves,” - Lao Tzu
They were back home in the Sasaki Empire when they were once again visited by an old man in a farmer’s hat who sent them back. He said he needed their help one last time, that their new friend Aki needed their help. They didn’t hesitate, one, because they liked Aki and Endra, and two, because the old man paid well.
The seemingly old, powerless man, this beggar of a man, opened a crack in reality right before the pair. It was a fissure in reality right before them that warped open wide enough for their oxen and carriage to fit through.
“The boats will be too slow,” he told them. “You must go now, through this. There is no time for hesitation. He is in the Sands. Get Endra and go.”
They did as the old man bade of them. They got on their carriage, and Ping the ox slowly and unsurely took them through the fissure. When they emerged on the other side, they were in the town, right in front of The Glorious Petal Inn, and Endra was standing out front with her son. She looked amazed at the couple sitting up high on their carriage.
“No time to explain!” Jin yelled down to her. “Get on, Aki needs us!”
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Aki hadn’t gotten too far from where Rei had left him when he felt the overwhelming presence of blood and slaughter in the world's aura around him. His eyes widened, thinking it was the demon lords returning. Not that he felt their presence when they were there; his spirit was shut off the way it had been. He just assumed that’s what it would have felt like.
He turned, gripping the dagger on the back of his belt with his left hand. Jumping toward him wasn’t one of the demon lords, but the stranger, Axel. His cloak flapped around him, moving a little like the demon lords had, though not quite to the same extent. Axel wasn’t a demon lord.
In his good hand, he held a sword, a gigantic sword. An epically enormous sword, as tall as the man’s body as if standing upright on the ground, without the hilt and guard. It was also broad, perhaps as thick as a man’s thigh. Axel was high in the air, the sword over his head in an overhand swing that would connect with the top of Aki’s head if he did nothing.
He pulled the dagger from its sheath since he was already mid-pull, but knew the little dagger wouldn’t be of much help. Even Aki’s regular sword wouldn’t be much help against such a larger blade. His cane sword was short for a proper sword, and Axel’s sword had to be incredibly heavy and have power with each swing. Aki was in time to lift his blade to meet the much larger sword and move backward, the magical ice dagger sliding across the sword the entire way. Metal rang against metal as he slid and rolled back.
When he got back to his feet, he saw the rest of Axel’s crew on a dune overlooking the pair of them fighting. His two companions were in plain black robes with cowls hanging low over their heads, hiding their faces. Then there were three he didn’t know, in Akutamori Temple colors, the red and gold of the Dragon sect. Aki sighed inwardly, wondering what they would do from here. Depending on the outcome of this fight, maybe?
Aki blinked. They were only there for a moment before they exchanged words and then yelled something to the ones in black. Then they were off, running toward the ocean. Aki was going to bring their words to him, but he didn’t have time. Axel was already lifting the heavy sword and swung it in a downward-angled strike towards Aki. Aki responded by grunting and pulling the sword from his cane that was hanging on his back. He lifted the sword and dagger together, catching the much larger sword in a V shape he made with his own crossed blades.
There was so much strength behind the strike; Aki’s feet dug into the sand a little. He lamented a little that he didn’t have a proper sword. In truth, he was slightly surprised the cane sword didn’t break under the weight of the mammoth blade the other man used. Aki grunted and looked up at Axel, who was already a little taller than him. On top of the height advantage, the man was slightly higher on the current dune they were on.
Aki cycled mana through his body, his mind racing on what he should do. Axel’s blade was pushing down on him, sending him deeper into the dune. Feet dug deeper into the sand, and they both growled out. The man was powerful, this stranger, this cultivator from the northern region above the capital.
Aki let the mana burst out of him. It wasn’t any proper technique and was a total waste of mana. It was an act of desperation. He was at a loss at what else to do to get himself some breathing room from this demonic cultivator. The aura responded to the burst of mana. The wind bursted out and away from the wind cultivator.
It was a gale-force wind, surprising Axel. Axel was knocked back in the force. He went flying away from Aki. The force even broke the grip he had on his sword. Axel went flying in one direction, and his sword went flying in the other. Axel landed in the sand with a dull thud, and while Aki was breathing heavily, he couldn’t let this moment of opportunity go to waste.
Aki charged his downed opponent, his own blade coming back and then down in a downward strike. He hoped to catch Axel off guard and end the fight here and now. He swung the blade down, but Axel rolled to the side. The tip of Aki’s sword went into the dirt as Axel jumped up to his feet, bits of sand flying around from the commotion.
Aki brought the dagger towards him in a slash, the white gleaming off the midday sun. Axel extended a hand and punched Aki’s forearm, knocking the blade away from him. Aki retaliated by swinging his sword at him, which Axel dodged with ease. The two went back and forth, Aki swinging his blades and Axel either outright dodging or knocking away Aki’s blades.
Aki growled and took a few steps away after their latest clash. This wasn’t how he was supposed to fight. He was panting and off-center. There was something about this man’s aura that put him off, making him feel dirty, like there was something wrong with his own mana. He tried to get his breathing under control. His mana was running wild through his channels after he unleashed that desperate gale of wind.
Axel just stood there with a menacing grin, glaring at Aki. “What’s wrong, boot licker?”
Aki narrowed his gaze at the man, still trying to get his breathing under control. “Wha… what?”
Axel just laughed in response. He still didn’t have his sword back. It was off in the sand somewhere behind Aki. So he stood there, his single useful arm hanging at his side, the left in the cloth sling under the cloak he wore. The cloak and that slimmer-style robe blew a little in the wind Aki was putting off, still trying to get his mana under control.
“You, you’re a boot licker. You worship these kami, but for what? Do you know the sort of things they do? They play with the mortals. We’re their playthings to do with what they may. They give us no regard. The powers of the Mother, though, the powers of the Triumvirate? That is true power. The power to bend the very world to your will,” Axel said when he stopped laughing.
Aki cocked a brow. He wasn’t sure what the man was raving about. Come to think of it, he still didn’t know this man’s power. His energy felt off, sort of like Paimon, but to a lesser extent. Aki reached out with his spirit now, trying to probe the man once more, like he had before. At first, the man denied Aki. It was like his spirit was hitting a brick wall.
The man once more grew that menacing look. His mouth turned in a sidelong, nasty grin. The dark eyes of the man glinted a little.
“You want to know my power? Have at it,” was all Axel said, then he lowered his wall.
The power of the man came rushing out, flowing like an ocean. It was an ocean of malice and slaughter, an ocean of blood. Aki gaped and even staggered back a little, staring at the man, his own face showing a bit of horror. Not just at the bloody power, which Aki didn’t even know about, but the sheer power of the man. This man had been toying with Aki. If he wanted to, this demon worshiper could have obliterated Aki with a single strike.
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Axel laughed again, looking at Aki’s reaction. Aki wasn’t sure what to do, so he just stared at him. His arms were hanging at his sides. The edge of the sword sat in the sand a little. Aki held the dagger in the reverse grip. He wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t fight this man head to head. Aki didn’t have a chance in hell. Why couldn’t one of the Akutamori have attacked him? He felt like he had more of a chance against those guys. They had powers he understood and were probably not as powerful.
Axel charged while Aki was off in his own little world. He still didn’t bother grabbing the oversized sword. He didn’t need it to fight against this middling spiritual cultivator. In his hand, he forged a long slim blade made of pure deep bloody red mana. He slashed at Aki from the side, and Aki had to raise that glimmering white blade of Fang to deflect. The man moved so quickly; Aki could barely move in time.
With their blades locked for a moment, Aki swung his shorter cane sword towards his opponent. He had finally got his mana under control before Axel came in for his attack. He felt much better, but the man’s aura still messed with Aki, making him feel off-kilter. It made him feel dirty, like there was something wrong with his own mana.
Axel riposted, sliding his mana blade away from Aki’s dagger and stabbing toward Aki’s gut. A slight retreat from Aki moved him further than Axel’s stab. Aki quickly stepped back and attacked. His two blades were moving as fast as his mana-fueled arms could manage, but Axel was quicker. His one blade easily parried both of Aki’s, either that or he just outright dodged.
Through their movements, Aki funneled mana into his dagger. He could never properly use the power in the blade, the power from the spirit animal from Minako’s very own realm in the Heavens. The beggar still had to try. He needed to do something to give himself an edge over this man.
Aki’s opponent was still toying with him. The man was grinning and laughing the entire time they fought. He cocked a brow when he felt Aki’s manipulation of mana. He could feel the mana moving into the blade.
“A blade from the Kami, huh? That won't save you,” Axel mumbled. His face grew weary, though. He moved more fervently, and he moved on the offense. Before this, he never bothered trying to harm Aki. He just played with his food. He dodged and parried his way out of everything.
The thing was, he never gave Aki an opening to use any of his more powerful techniques, and now he was pressing Aki harder. The single blade swung with fury, slashing in and stabbing. It was all Aki could do to make sure he didn’t end up skewered on the end of the man’s forged blade. Two steps back, a parry, then a ripost. One step forward, a slash from the reversed grip dagger. Nothing.
Aki growled out and yelled in frustration. One more last move of desperation. He flooded everything he had into the spirit stone in the blade. Every ounce of mana he could pull from his channel and his core. The blade glowed white, the misty frost ebbing away as he fueled the power.
With the last bit of Aki’s mana, there was the sound of exploding glass. The sound erupted from the blade along with frost. The two men were blown away in an explosion of frosty power. The Shifting Sands now, instead of looking like a rolling desert, looked like a winter wonderland. Ice crystals and shards hung in the air, and there was a dense fog everywhere that you could barely see through.
Aki flew and landed with a soft thud from the explosion of power a few yards away from where they clashed and he had activated the power. He stood slowly, grunting, even shivering a bit. He looked around, trying to peer through the fog. The explosion of cold mixed with the hot desert area. His weapons were still in his hands, and he looked at the dagger held in a reverse grip on his left. The blade no longer had the white glow about it. Its light had faded, and when Aki searched with his spirit, he sensed the spirit stone in it was empty of its power.
Aki frowned. He didn’t know what should have happened when he triggered it, but he had a feeling it wasn’t this. The blade was weaker now, not as strong as before he used the ability. He wasn’t even sure if it would be safe to fight with it, so he put it in the sheath on the small of his back. He hoped it just needed time to gather power again and it would be better. It was the downside of having the entire blade made from one gigantic spirit stone like it was.
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Somewhere off in the Shifting Sands, the large carriage rode through the dunes, carrying three people and moving faster than ever before. Jin egged on the team of oxen, slapping at the reins of the yoke.
“Go, Ping! Pull! You’re doing great! When this is over, we’ll get you whatever you desire!” Mei yelled as she sat next to her husband.
Endra was sitting on the roof behind the pair, staring off and looking in different directions. She was searching for some sign of where Aki was, something that would give her a hint of where they should be going. The Chens said Aki’s master didn’t provide much information, just that they needed to go.
An explosion of power not too far ahead grabbed all of their attention. They could see a fog forming from nothing, growing thick in the air from where the explosion had occurred.
“That way!” Jin now yelled down to Ping, and Ping took off. It was all Ping's team could do to keep up with the spirit animal. The old master had given Ping a pill before they left him, a pill that helped Ping move as if he were the wind itself.
As they got closer, the winds and sand kicked up in ripples of power still resulting from the explosion. It became harder for Ping to pull the carriage through the soft sands. Jin and Mei were calling down, trying to get the oxen to pull harder, but there was only so much they could do.
Endra grunted and leapt down from the carriage. Running as fast as she could, fighting through the small sandstorms and dirt devils. She had grown her channels enough to pull an aura into her body and cycle it, giving her some small measure of power to help. The thick fog of the area didn’t stop her. She pushed through into the winter wonderland that had grown in the middle of the desert.
“Wait, we’re coming too!” Mei yelled after Endra as she ran. The couple jumped down from the driver’s bench and followed the young woman.
Frost stuck to her skin as she squinted to see through the fog. She didn’t see the thing. Her foot struck, but Endra's foot kicked a small metal object that was almost completely buried in the sand. She wanted to keep pushing forward, for she could hear the clashing of metal on metal, swords clanging through the air. She knew what was happening, but she stopped.
It looked like a small metallic tube, covered in red and a bright vibrant blue paint. She was drawn to it. She couldn’t pick up the tube. Endra didn’t know how she knew, but she knew to unscrew one side of the tube so she could peer inside.
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Holding his sword now in both hands, Aki started searching for Axel. His spirit sensed out since he couldn’t see much through the fog in the Sands. He found nothing, though. No one else was there. Aki still kept his guard up. He knew Axel was good at hiding, hiding his power, his cultivation level, and everything.
Aki moved slowly, his feet never leaving the ground, searching through the fog. He just slid through the sands, his sword moving with purpose this way or that. There was no way he survived the blast and Axel didn’t. Even if Axel had somehow died, where the hell was the body?
Through manipulation of mana, he brought the wind towards him, letting the sounds and smells waft in his direction. Letting it swirl around him and dissipate towards the sky as he tried to find his opponent. He sensed and felt nothing. There weren’t even any smells on the wind.
That’s when he saw it, from the corner of his eye. A moment too late. Axel thrust his mana-forged blade towards Aki’s midsection from his side. How did the man get so close without Aki knowing? Without Aki feeling him out, and without the wind telling him. The mana-forged blade struck inside Aki’s gut, hitting him clean through from the back to the front.
“You’re done. The Kami will have to find another to do their bidding,” was all Aki heard as he hit the ground.
Aki coughed, blood spurting from his mouth as he lay there on his stomach. His head was half-buried in the sand, tilted so he could still see out. Axel was staring off, though, somewhere behind where Aki was. Aki wasn’t able to see exactly what was happening, but he saw the fear in Axel’s eyes. It wasn’t the same sort of fear the man wore when Aki fed mana into his blade. This was something different, something more primal.
A bright blue and red flash of lightning lit the air in a blaze. The lightning blast struck through the air and landed in the direction that Axel was looking. Aki struggled to move, to shift slightly so he could see what was happening, so he could see anything but Axel’s frightened form.
Aki’s vision was going dark, though, and he was coughing up blood into the sand. He blinked as the light faded around him. The cultivator kept trying to cycle mana, trying to do whatever he could do to heal the wound. He wasn’t sure if it was real, but he thought he once more saw a form some distance behind Axel. A woman on a horse in metal armor, a tattered cloak flowing in the wind. Pale with long black hair, she was staring at Aki with her dark eyes. She was beautiful and glorious, and she was the last thing Aki wanted to see.
Then he saw the back of another form. One much closer. It came from behind him and jumped over his head. The boots landed on the sand in front of him. It was a smaller female figure, and it moved faster than Aki could really track. One moment she had landed in the sand, and the force of her blow blew; the next, she was in front of Axel and back.
Aki blinked. Axel flew. He tried to stay conscious long enough to see the form turn. Endra?! He blacked out then. The darkness overcame him, and Aki faded away.