The most common of sentient beings is Humanity, of all shapes and sizes, from the short to the tall, the pale-skinned to the night-skinned to the blue to even the red-skinned. In the beginning of this Kalpa, humanity was not too different from a physical god, and emanated light. But due to their wickedness, without an Enlightened to teach them, they were wrapped up by the chains of Deliberate Evil Deeds, and thus were split into two different sexes, multiple castes, and had to work the earth to stave off their hunger, and could not fly, and more.
From The Unsurpassable Yoking Sutra
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Raxri's newly accumulated Will settled at the bottom of their liver, their Will Furnace. Rejuvenation burned through them. Their well of power burgeoned yet, a blazing flower. Their Winds moved quicker, circulating throughout the entirety of their body to bring Will to all of their muscles, their veins.
Raxri truly was now at the Accumulation Stage of the Desire Domain.
With rattan shield now gone, Raxri depended on nothing but their live hand. Time to use the Whorl Guard. They kept a mindful note to use it next time in conjunction with Heavenly Lightning Deflection.
When they erupted out of the mouth of the cave, the dog demons were already being thinned out thanks to their efforts. Unfortunately Raxri noticed that their own ranks also thinned, though they could not truly find mortal bodies among the piles of corpses.
They saw Silver Wind Witch Dog, moving across the battlefield like a whirlwind of death. In one hand, Witch Dog swung and cut with its Dragonbone Scimitar (somehow it had called it back! Or, perhaps, it was some other blade quickly made?). In the other hand, Silver Wind Witch Dog wielded a spinning wind star, the color of moonlight, which cut through swathes of infantry, both on their side and on the Monastery's. The mercenaries and the monks dove out of the way.
Those that were unfortunately caught were immediately sheathed in a blur of cloth, before disappearing entirely.
Upon the clifftop was the Abbot, laying down a mercenary and a monk that would have suffered certain death at the hands of the spinning wind star. After he laid her down, Doctor Myu Fan walked up to them and dragged them to safety. This continued for some time: as Silver Wind Witch Dog cut through the ranks, the mortals were immediately retrieved by the Abbot before they would suffer grievous wounds.
I want to do that, Raxri thought. And it was true. That exact thing, that ability to save others in a flicker of an eye was exactly what he wanted to train towards. Even if Enlightenment was ultimately out of reach for them, they wanted to be able to protect people and keep them out of harm's way, especially in such a violent, furious world such as the Utter Islands.
Yiwaritala somersaulted trough the air and then slammed into the ground in front of Silver Wind Witch Dog, stopping its whirlwind rage stampede. Silver Wind Witch Dog cackled as it threw the silver wind star against the warrior monk.
Yiwaritala's eyes furiously lit up; to the point that his eyes wanted bulge out of their sockets. The visage of a wrathful water buffalo erupted from him, engulfed him. Absorbing this, Yiwaritala became the buffalo, and they slammed their entire head against the silver wind star.
It shattered the silver wind star, dissipating it the same way a mountain range rendered monsoons worthless.
When the star dissipated, however, Yiwaritala staggered a bit, their breathing becoming heavy as their Will dwindled. Sweat mattered their robes to their skin.
Silver Wind Witch Dog saw this and carved in, a feaster to a feast. Before their Dragonbone Scimitar could scythe through Yiwaritala's holy flesh, however, Ampun Sagara was there. With their hands on both sides of their face, they announced: "Fists of Iron Technique!" The gunmetal color of Ampun Sagara's Will engulfed his hands. With their fists empowered, they punched the incoming scimitar away, completely breaking its arc and sending the Silver Wind Witch Dog staggering back.
"Ampun Sagara!" called out Yiwaritala.
"HM!" Ampun Sagara nodded, and then inhaled, before yelling: "Thunderclap Blitz Attack!"
In a blink of an eye, Ampun Sagara was before the staggering Silver Wind Witch Dog. They struck the demon's torso in four quick blows. "Airotsana, Primordial Awoken! Victorious Sage, Conqueror of this Kalpa!" Silver Wind Witch Dog dug its heel and swung down. Ampun Sagara punched it once, and when its arc did not break, he proceeded to unleash a continuous flurry of fists to blow it away.
"Ha! The tenacity of your fists bolsters you and bring you to Liberation! Let me quicken the matter!" Silver Wind Witch Dog pulled back and then cut again immediately after, in an almost jackhammer motion. Ampun Sagara kept punching. Streams of inky will erupted from him, as he carved himself into the world.
"Tala, Star Awoken, Merciful Hearer Awoken... the Armada of the Thousand Armed Compassions!" Ampun Sagara suddenly wove underneath the blade's arc, and the scimitar shot over them, crashing into the earth beside Ampun Sagara. Silver Wind Witch Dog howled as the Dragonbone Scimitar embedded itself into the earth.
"Now! Ampun!"
"And Ksewran Murat, the Almighty Termagant Buddha!" Ampun Sagara punched one Silver Wind Witch Dog's right leg, forcing him to kneel on that foot. Then he elbowed the back of Silver Wind Witch Dog's left knee, forcing him to kneel completely.
"Witness this violence!" Ampun Sagara twisted their entire body, energy pooling, vibrating, fulminating, keening into a thunderhead in a single fist. "Let my will be done, until the wheel is shattered! ALLMIGHTY HEAVEN CRUSHER!" Ampun Sagara's fist slammed straight down, down, down...
--Silver Wind Witch Dog uttered their own magick spell, and they flickered to the right just before the fist connected--
...into Silver Wind Witch Dog's sword arm. The thunderhead fist exploded with such force that all was white for a split second, then the hand was all but annihilated. The earth where the Witch Dog's arm hovered over shattered as well, sending a hole boring into the mountain.
The air about them flurried from this impact. In truth, it threatened to spin and converge and turn into a whirlwind, but Yiwaritala was there to spin his pewter staff, sending air to release the tension of the wind gods that had just seen this act of violent offering.
Silver Wind Witch Dog screamed into the day, the sun just high enough to witness this grotesque scene. "Gahhhhh! You wretched, lowly mortal cultivators! You sleazy power seizers! Arrgh!" Silver Wind Witch Dog staggered to the side.
Ampun Sagara fell to his knees, completely spent. That was their ultimate technique for now. At least their ultimate technique for their Heaven Thundering Hammer style. Their Will had been spent, burning through them and charring their bodies. Smoke wafted from Ampun Sagara. They yet breathed, but fatigue overtook them like a maul.
"I will get to Ampun Sagara," said Pilinitala, who had watched the spectacle of it all. They bounded forward, went under Ampun's shoulder, and then bounded again. Before they could get any further, though, the Abbot flickered before them, took them both, and then flickered again. The next moment, they were with Doctor Myu Fan atop the hill.
"All you worthless warriors!"
"You cannot grow back that arm without returning to an infernal womb," said Yiwaritala, smiling. "There is no Hri Kresshana cult nearby, at the End of the World!"
"Ha! You will perish by my hand yet!" Silver Wind Witch Dog swiped at Yiwaritala, and Yiwaritala struck back. They exchanged blows, pewter staff against longknife claws, until the pewter staff successfully rang a powerful blow that chipped one of Silver Wind Witch Dog's claws.
Groaning, Silver Wind Witch Dog kicked Yiwaritala away far enough so that it could activate its own Will techniques. It flickered over to where their Dragonbone Scimitar lay. So that it could have the leverage needed for its wide arcing swipes, Silver Wind Witch Dog hefted the blade upon its shoulders.
It lunged forward and brought the Dragonbone Scimitar down upon Yiwaritala. The monk dove to the side to avoid the Scimitars, instead of using his Carabao-Body Deflections.
They engaged like this again. Coming in and out like fliting, piercing dragonflies against each other. Unfortunately, Silver Wind Witch Dog only seemed to grow quicker as their bloodlust incresased, while Yiwaritala increasingly slowed. A few Dragonbone Scimitar swings bit into Yiwaritala's shoulder, grazed his chest--which had been ripped apart due to the force of their fighting--and slammed against his legs.
When Silver Wind Witch Dog managed to catch Yiwaritala off guard, it kicked him straight into the cliff-side with such force that the warrior monk bounced off of it. Then, he twisted in midair and swung down with his Dragonbone Scimitar. Yiwaritala, eyes closed in pain, managed to utter a magic spell just as the Dragonbone Scimitar slammed into him. The dragonbone smashed him into the ground, embedding him there, instead of slicing him in half.
"Ah, the lout-monk's Will circulation is strong and dependable! How quaint!"
Yiwaritala coughed blood. Silver Wind Witch Dog thrust his blade down, and with a flex of his Will, Yiwaritala managed to dive to the side just before the blade exploded into the earth, boring a deep cut into the mountain's rock. Yiwaritala skidded to a stop, wincing and tumbling.
The Abbot Wairojashra flickered there, caught his right-handed monk. Before he flickered back to the doctor, he turned to Raxri and nodded.
Raxri pressed their liips together.
The Abbot Wairojashra flickered again, and the two of them were up atop the cliff once again. Doctor Myu Fan was immediately upon Yiwaritala, cleansing his wounds with blessed waters, uttering secret healing magic spells, applying poultices and salves from jars etched with glowing elder script.
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Raxri turned to Silver Wind Witch Dog, who absolutely glowered over them.
"Heh." Its voice was so deep it sounded like rocks being ground. "So you are the champion of Giant Stone Monastery. You know, if you had come willingly, all of this," the demon turned around and gestured to the blood spilled upon the battlefield. "Would have been avoided."
"I hardly know who you are," said Raxri. "And I hardly know of anything that has happened in the past. Whatever trespasses the past Raxri has done upon you, I am not wary of it."
"What?" Silver Wind Witch Dog shook its head. "You mean to tell me you have somehow lost your very memory? The Heavens sent me to kill a Raxri Uttara that is not the Heaven Dancer?"
"I know not even the implications of such a name," replied Raxri. Knowing the inevitable outcome of this back and forth, they unsheathed their blade and prepared themself, going down into the Adamantine Sword stance. Left hand open and loose in front of them, right hand holding the blade across their chest, pointing back. This is, in truth, a chambered position: five different slashes can be launched from this very position, and the target of the attack would not know which. It was one of the most powerful neutral positions in the world.
The battlefield at that point had been cleared of other combatants. All the other demons had been slain, and only a thick mist of dissipated Will took their place. Thankfully, Raxri had mastered breathing meditation, so they could power through the slush that the air had become. The winds howled and blew, sending dust clouds across them.
There was only the two of them now, Raxri saw. Just them and Silver Wind Witch Dog. Though Silver Wind Witch Dog was heavily impaired now: slashes gouged at its being, one of its eyes has been ripped out--probably by Yiwaritala. And, of course, it had an entire arm ripped away, and they carried their heavy looking Dragonbone Scimitar across their shoulder now for proper leverage just to wield it. Its breathing became heavy, unwieldy. The coruscating Will Furnace that Raxri had felt from it before grew fainter, duller, as if afraid to leap out against Raxri.
Meanwhile, Raxri rushed with adrenaline.
They looked up at the clifftop. Abbot Wairojashra watched, though his hands were in a hand seal gesture. He nodded again.
"If you are chosen by the heavens," said Raxri. "Then no doubt you are of great strength and power."
"Three of your champions have fought me and none have bested me!' It roared in reply. "What makes you think you will do the same? I had been chosen by heaven to break you! I have heard tales of the Heaven Dancer! The Conquering Monarch. The Heir To The Invincible Blade. The Gods-Feared. You must have been quite a character! But seeing you here now, without that same strength you once held... I must say, I am partly let down. Killing you now would feel like pity. The ease of slaying you would not be fit for an accomplishment to stitch among the stars! Oh, I curse the forgetting that has plagued you. It has robbed me from true immortality!"
Raxri walked forward, cautiously. Their legs crossing and uncrossing, the movement of their stance. Silver Wind Witch Dog walked as well, body readied to swing at any moment. They circled each other. "You spoke of the 108 Glaives of Heaven. Who are they?"
"Ah, of course you do not know!" Silver Wind Witch Dog grinned. Its teeth showed gleaming black sword-teeth. Raxri knew that even if it had lost an arm, it would still be able to rip their head off with nothing but their claws and fangs. Raxri did not know the protection spells and iron body techniques that Yiwaritala had. All their defenses relied on their tattoos and their talismans. That should be enough to prevent myself from being cut in half, they thought.
"Yes. Do they hunt me?"
"Of course they do! The 108 Glaives of Heaven was organized by the great immortal Reyayu Koduka, Throne-Taker, Castigate and Excoriate The Gods!" The world shuddered when Silver Wind Witch Dog uttered that name.
Raxri stood firm, however. "108 Glaives of Heaven, mercenaries of peak skill, martial ability and magickal power, hunt you down now. We are spread across the entirety of the Utter Islands. There will be no escape from us! We will raze the world until you are slain. In so doing, we will be able to eat your Liver, and gain true immortality!"
Raxri scowled. "So many people will be hurt in the Glaives of Heaven's hunt for me? I will be chased down with impunity?"
"Ha!" Silver Wind Witch Dog barked out violently. "Grant yourself no pity, please. You will not go far from here, I promise you." It leapt up, and struck down with its Dragonbone Scimitar.
Raxri dodged to the right, cleanly avoiding the jagged edge of the Dragonbone Scimitar. They made sure not to dodge too far, so that they ended up just in striking range of the Silver Wind Witch Dog's hind leg. As the Scimitar smashed into the earth, Raxri performed Adamant Lightning Strikes. Empowered by Will and an almost serene fury at such revelations, they managed to strike ten times in the span of a heartbeat, cutting deep into Silver Wind Witch Dog's leg with relative ease.
Silver Wind Witch Dog cried out, and fell toward Raxri as it buckled under the pain delivered to its left leg. As it fell, Raxri summoned the Devastating Red Hand, twisted, and then smashed the incoming body of Silver Wind Witch Dog, sending him flying towards a nearby boulder. Silver Wind Witch Dog's body arched in pain as the boulder shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Argh!"
"I know nothing of my past," said Raxri Uttara. "But I know enough to know that there is severe injustice at play, here. Not only that, but great destruction is being waged in my name. How is this justice?!"
Silver Wind Witch Dog fell to its hands and spat out blood. Without another word, it flickered forward, surprising Raxri by leaving its Dragonbone Scimitar on the ground. Its clawed fist slammed straight into Raxri. They felt their granite talisman shudder violently as they skidded across the earth, tumbled, and then eventually slammed savagely into a nearby tree. It was enough force that Raxri's body dug into the tree's trunk, before the tree spat them out and they fell to the floor.
Ringing pain resounded from Raxri's head. They had to shake it off. Their granite talisman shuddered but held. Their Shield Yantras, complete now, covered their entire body. Instead of straight pain and damage to their body, Raxri could feel their Will wavering at the strike. It was as if the tattoos converted the force of the damage into damage against the Will instead, letting it waver. But Raxri's Will was indomitable, and vast, and almost bottomless.
Unfortunately, all those defensive accoutrements did nothing for Raxri's pain. Pain shot through them all the same, almost numbing them, almost sending them into shock and blackness. But thanks to their prior meditations, they managed to claw their way out mentally from the grip of pleasure and pain.
Raxri took too slow to get up. The Dragonbone Scimitar slammed down into Raxri's back, embedding them into the earth. They screamed, more out of surprise than pure pain. The yantras and the talismans held, but they slowly felt their Will waver now. If they allowed their Will to fully dissipate, there will be nothing left to shield them from the hurricane-force blows of this demon.
But it's getting slower, said Raxri. All it will take is a good placed strike. Exhaling, they launched themself away from the crater that the Dragonbone Scimitar had made right as Silver Wind Witch Dog slammed down again. Raxri twisted in midair, performed the magic hand seal, and yelled: "Heavenly Lightning Saber!" as they launched three scathing sword beams straight into the Witch Dog's sword hand.
"Ragh!" The Witch Dog yelped back in pain and let go of the Dragonbone Scimitar, leaving it embedded into the earth.
At that moment, the once quiet battlefield was filled with the unmistakable music of ripping boat lute resounding. This was alongside the high octane piping of a flute, accompanied by what seemed like an armada of gongs and drums striking and beating at a rate that only spirits could afford to perform. Was that... Vibujja? Was Vibujja finally returned, to grant sonor to Raxri's triumph?
Now! Raxri knew there was no time to waste. With another exhalation they bounded forward, performing Devastating Red Hand just as Silver Wind Witch Dog reached for their Dragonbone Scimitar once again. Then, ducking low into position, they performed Adamant Lightning Strikes again, three slashes into Silver Wind Witch Dog's side before they had to switch into a defensive retreat-strike as the demon swiped down with its longknife claws.
Raxri did not let up, however. The second they retreated, they immediately converted into a backhand thrust, that they converted into wide, horizontal slash that cut deep into Silver Wind Witch Dog's hand.
Howling in pain, Silver Wind Witch Dog turned, grabbed, and swung the Dragonbone Scimitar in a single motion. Raxri was ready, however. They imbued their live hand with the Whorl Guard, making it adamantine against blows. Then, they performed the one-handed mudra for Heavenly Lightning Deflection.
With a spark of light, the giant Dragonbone Scimitar, almost the very height of Raxri, was deflected. Silver Wind Witch Dog was wide open.
Raxri, still in battle meditation, rushed forward and performed a lightning fast flurry of three Adamant Lightning Strikes techniques, circular, dragon motions that cut and bit and thrust and slashed and punctured. At the end of it, a final vertical circular strike--which the Abbot had called Dragon Swallows The Sun--chopped off Silver Wind Witch Dog's sword hand clean off. This was on top of the hundred slashes Raxri delivered upon Silver Wind Witch Dog's torso.
Silver Wind Witch Dog screamed again in pain. Blinded now by rage, it kicked the Dragonbone Scimitar into the air, and then leapt up to grab it. Raxri retreated, exhaling and performing the hand motions for the Light Body Technique.
The demon dog caught the Dragonbone Scimitar's handle with their giant maw, and landed onto the ground with nothing but a stump for an arm, and a blade in their hands. Its wounds, instead of bleeding, burned and blazed with a dark iridescent flame, reminiscent of slow-moving oil.
No more words left to say. Silver Wind Witch Dog flickered forward, faster than Raxri could grasp with their awareness. A hasty defense saved Raxri from being cut in half with an overwhelming blow. The second its blow hit, it flickered away again, and then it returned with another strike that Raxri barely blocked. The next time it did it, the Dragonbone Scimitar hit home. Raxri felt the force of it completely break through their Will. The next attack was decisive, the blow sent them into the air, their Will a wavering flame now, and they felt both the pain and the bruises flower from the spot hit. As Raxri fell to the ground, Silver Wind Witch Dog twisted, bringing their giant Dragonbone Scimitar with them, ready to finally, finally, slice Raxri in half.
Not yet. I cannot fail yet...! Akazha! Jikajika! Pilinitala! Yiwaritala! Abbot Wairojashra! Doctor Myu Fan! Tattooist Ampun Sagara! Raxri squeezed their eyes shut as tears flowed. Not yet. Please!
Akazha's words struck again. Cease hesitation, seize victory! They focused, pinpointing their meditation until it was harder than adamantine, uncuttable by diamond, indesctructible even by Shagara's Thunderbolt. Set your heart ablaze, Raxri. Grit your teeth and set your heart ablaze!
Grit my teeth...! Raxri's meditation provided a wellspring of Will. They twisted in midair with the help of their Light Body Technique, and then they twisted their blade about, performing a ribboning maneuver.
Raxri chanted the chant of their seniors: "RAYUKINIG MURAT, AIROTSANA MURAT, AND KITAMA SANJAH MURAT..." With a twist of their Will, they managed to lighten themselves enough so that they landed feet first on Silver Wind Witch Dog's blade. This stopped the demon general's arc, surprise seizing it. There! Raxri ran up the blade, cutting all the while. "TALA MURAT AND WANGGANG SENAG MURAT OF THE INFINITE LIGHT!"
When they reached Silver Wind Witch Dog's head, they leaped. They soared in an arc over the Silver Wind Witch Dog's skull, and at the vulnerable spot right before their neck... "KSEWRAN MURAT, THE TERMAGANT BUDDHA! SET MY HEART ABLAZE!"
And there, upside down, in mid-air, with a desperate burst of Will, Raxri unleashed all five techniques of the Adamant Lightning Strikes in the span of a heartbeat. All focused on the fleshy portion of Silver Wind Witch Dog's head.
"UNTIL ALL BEINGS ARE FREE!"
If one were watching Raxri from afar, one would've no doubt noticed that a company of Awoken, in their wrathful emanations, emanated from their body, boring down with mad eyes and hands in fierce mudras. This assemblage of fierce deities was enough to make even the Abbot Wairojashra bow in homage.
But that was only for a moment. In the next moment, they were all gone, dissipated, their essence distilled into Raxri's lightning-quick blade, which flashed, flickered, fluttered, and then finally, shot like lightning...
...down...
...down...
...down...
...when Raxri reappeared they were below the Silver Wind Witch Dog.
A black line bisected reality. If I could bisect this very manuscript to tell you the truth of the slash, I would.
The Silver Wind Witch Dog's head fell, an impossibly clean, vertical cut.