Sunwhisper was enhancing his reflexes with Copper Mantis Stance, and he thought he was ready for what would come next. Shishio jabbed, his hand flat like a knife, and Sunwhisper bent to one side. He felt the wave of force extend from his opponent's fingers and pass by his head as he stepped forward into his instructor’s space. He wanted to touch him, a graze would be enough to use the Hand of the Gentle Sage to establish a psychic link. But he was stopped by a barrier about an inch out from Shishio’s chest, as flat and smooth as a shell. When he touched it, there was a barely discernible ripple in the air, followed by a tingling sensation in his palm.

Shishio sneered, twisting his torso to add force to a follow up blow with his other fist. He hit Sunwhisper in the stomach, lifting him entirely off the ground, then snap kicked him while he was still in the air. While Sunwhisper was using Eight Mines Clutch on himself, his density increased so significantly that he weighed nearly a ton. The kick knocked him to one side, and when he landed he crunched a snowbank as if it wasn’t there, sinking into the frosted soil beneath it, and lying in a crater of his own making.

(Peace. I’m out.)

{What?}

There was sufficient cover for Starscream to let himself out of the chest compartment and tunnel into the snowbank without being observed. Sunwhisper didn’t try to stop him. Though when his companion unplugged he felt the loss of his extra core in a wave of weariness, he was too focused on his own recovery to worry about Starscream.

Sunwhisper wanted to let go of the Eight Mines technique and take Lead Grasshopper stance again. He preferred to fight on the move, but he knew that without the extra density he would have already suffered internal injuries, broken bones if not actual organ damage. It was possible that the superior nature of his transformation had made him overconfident, but his resolve had only firmed. There were some things he would no longer do, and the killing of innocents was high on that list.

<<<>>>

Warning: Mission failure imminent. Makoto Shishio has proved to be stronger than you realized, seek another…

<<<>>>

Sunwhisper dismissed the notification. The mechanoborgs had broken the barriers between realities to find a source of magic that could save their world. But he had never seen Earth himself, and as far as he knew, it was already overrun. He was well aware of the sheer illogic of his current course of action. He could not save the Yosei. They were slaughtered every year, and in any case, they were but one example of a seemingly limitless number of evils that were simply a part of the way of life for cultivators in the Blessed Lands.

Why should he even care?

His status screen flashed accusingly in the corner of his vision, warning him of his own impending demise. His statistics were at least a star class too low to be able to challenge Shishio in any meaningful way. He had already raised his Ego to a nine, and he wouldn’t be able to push it any higher until he met the Dao requirement of the fourth star. He had ranks to spare, but a few more steps up for any one physical statistics wouldn’t mean much in this fight. Similarly, his EQ wasn’t helping him, and might in fact be the problem. He couldn’t ignore the plight of the Snow Flowers, but the Path of the Kingdom of Wilding Hearts was useless if he couldn’t touch his opponent. Even if he could influence Shishio with Aura of the Bleeding Heart, simply calming him down wouldn’t end the fight. His instructor wasn’t out of control, they were disagreeing on a matter of principle.

“What is this?” Shishio hadn’t pursued him, so Sunwhisper had time to get to his feet and see him interacting with his bonded beast. Sunwhisper was still connected to the bull by a thin line of mana as River of Agony continued to carry the fear and anxiety of the tiny Yosei.

Shishio made a snatching motion with one hand, and the connection snapped. Sunwhisper felt the full weight of the Snow Flower’s terror slam back into him, and he froze. What had he done? He was going to die here, the golden compass still in his chest, never to be used. Not only was Shishio unbeatable, but he could see the links Sunwhisper created using his secret techniques, snapping them with his bare hands.

Pink and violet light leaked from the corners of Shishio’s eyes as he turned to look at Sunwhisper more closely.

“What have you done? Some kind of trick?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Sunwhisper did not answer, he wrestled down the terror he felt and focused on his status screen. He couldn’t make himself faster than Shishio, or stronger, but there was one statistic he had largely neglected. IQ had high utility for any number of tasks, but it hadn’t been boosted by his transformation. He had neglected its advancement in favor of his other two mental statistics. IQ gave him a near perfect memory, and helped him to learn techniques and skills more quickly, but its combat applications so far were limited.

He had subroutines with predictive capabilities, but they were too slow to be used as in-the-moment interventions. He could record what an opponent did, and analyze the data to be better equipped for the next match, but that assumed he would be facing the same person again, or at least the same style.

“Not metal, and not flesh.” Shishio had narrowed his gaze, and he was concentrating deeply on whatever he saw in the air Sunwhisper. “Who taught you this technique? What is it called?” His confusion was worth a few seconds of reprieve at the least.

Sunwhisper put all the excess ranks he had gained while channeling in his branch into raising his IQ. It was still his lowest statistics, but he had enough points to give it its first rating in the third star class. He felt a tingle at the base of his skull that spread up into his brain. It was a very strange sensation, and briefly disorienting.

“No one taught me,” Sunwhisper said. “This is my own.”

“Impossible,” Shishio scoffed. “You have a treasure. Something that mimics a high level Ascendancy Technique. Argent or alabaster.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, I will take it off your corpse.”

He thrust his palm forward, his invisible weapon extending once more, and Sunwhisper dodged. He couldn’t see what was coming, but a predictive matrix was already forming in one corner of his mind, and it told him where to move.

Shishio spun into a kata, but it was no mere display of skill. His ascendancy techniques covered him in translucent mana-forged armor, and similarly, generated an infinitely malleable weapon which he could use to strike at a distance. Sunwhisper tugged his spear back to him, as it was still attached to a web line. Now that Starscream was gone, he could no longer use his techniques to create new webbing, but the material he had already produced was still viable. He spun the spear to block a series of unseen blows, analyzing the motions of Shishio’s kata to predict where the attacks would land.

In the corner of his vision, Sunwhisper saw Ogumo atop a tree preparing to launch himself at the instructor. There was no way the spider’s fangs could possibly penetrate his spirit armor, and Shishio would not hesitate to kill an offending beast.

“Stay back!” Sunwhisper shouted, and Ogumo locked its legs, stopping itself just before the leap. His spear rang with the impacts of Shishio’s attacks, and though he was able to fend him off for a few more seconds, the distance between them was narrowing. It wouldn’t be enough.

Sunwhisper grabbed a second spear from his belt, extending it and launching it with Impurities Rejection in the same instant. Shishio batted the spear aside, not so much as pausing in his advance, but was caught by surprise when a boulder the size of a horse descended from a long arc and landed on top of him.

The instructor disappeared beneath the stone, and Sunwhisper glanced to where Janna stood to one side of the fight. She had found the boulder and used one of her new techniques to launch it like a siege catapult. The other students were staring at her open-mouthed, but she simply gave him a curt nod, ready to fight. There was a light of exhilaration in her gaze, and Sunwhisper smiled back at her.

Then the boulder exploded. Shards of rock shot in every direction, and Sunwhisper blocked those that came toward him with a spinning spear. Janna ducked, but took a hit to her shoulder, knocking her off balance.

“A family of fools,” Shishio said, rising unharmed out of the rubble. He rushed forward, and Sunwhisper adjusted his grip on his spear, calculating the exact positioning that would cause the instructor to impale himself on its point. The spear met the spirit armor over Shishio’s heart, but it could not penetrate. The titanosteel tip, hardened by mana, bent before being ripped out of Sunwhisper’s hands.

Shishio was too fast for Sunwhisper to see exactly what he did, but he felt the blow to his head, and then the shift in perspective as he found himself on the ground.

<<<>>>

Warning: Damage exceeds capacity for System recovery. Full shut-down initiated.

<<<>>>

Sunwhisper was dimly aware of being struck again, of the mana links he had forged with his techniques unraveling, and his clothing being ripped. He was alone inside himself, with no sense of Ogumo or Starscream or any of the others. He could hardly remember what it was like to be alone like that, and he didn’t like it. His vision faded entirely, but for a few moments more, he could still hear what was occurring around him.

…

“Master Furui will decide what to do with her. The rest of you, stop gaping. Let this be a lesson for you. We still have Yosei to catch, and essences to extract.”

…

“No.”

…

“He’s dead. His heart has stopped.”

…

“Leave him to the mountain.”