Warbeasts can be a significant asset to any proper campaign. They can transport goods, circumvent common terrain, and act as a vanguard all in one if the breeds are well chosen, cared for, and herded. Truly, a proper warbeast can account for five times their value in cultivators. – General Ta’aika of the Wandering Flames Sect to initiates leaving on first assignment.

* * *

“Hooves?” Tenri looked around wildly, trying to find the source. “What creature in the Moon-Soaked Shore could possibly be big enough to cause these kinds of tremors?”

I didn’t have the answer. In my day, a dozen different types of yokai were strong enough to shake the very firmament with their steps, and that didn’t even consider the spirit beasts that might be capable of such a thing. Earth-aligned spirit steeds, great dragons from the depths of the oceans, or powerful demon oxen could all shake the earth with the strength of their spirit alone.

Of those monsters, none of them were native to the Shore. Some of them had such vast territories that I should have seen traces of their presence before now. That I hadn’t seen any cracked stone slabs or uprooted trees during my treks through the forest could only mean that whatever these creatures were…they were not naturally occurring.

“It’s an attack,” I whispered to Tenri, not wanting to alarm the villagers prematurely. Tenri immediately closed his eyes, focusing on his ears. I did the same. To my left, the sounds of cracking stones and collapsing structures could be heard over the rumbling of the earth.

“It’s coming from the south gate,” Tenri exclaimed before turning to Hanako, who was covering Xinya’s head. “Hana, take Xinya and go home! We’ll find you there!”

She nodded and latched onto the girl, pulling her into her arms before sprinting away at full speed. I breathed a sigh of relief. Tenri’s home was on the northwest side of town. With luck, they’d be safe from the carnage coming towards us.

With them out of harm’s way, Tenri and I turned towards the coming chaos.

“Get out of here!” I shouted to the villagers. “Run to the North!”

“Run! Rally at the Fisher’s Guild!” Tenri added. I nodded my approval.

This attack was on the people of Saikan. We could not count on the perpetrator taking any prisoners if they got the chance. At the guild, some of them might be able to flee onto the water rather than trying to outrun the monsters on land.

Nearby, a building exploded in a hail of stones and splinters. The rubble buried the street and a dozen civilians beneath the crushing weight of a ton of brick and mortar. I didn’t even have time to mutter a prayer for those killed because a moment later, an enormous ox with horns of solid steel and hooves that pulverized the ground beneath it stepped out from the rubble.

“What on earth?” Tenri breathed and I agreed. The ox in question was easily twice the size of the largest bull I’d ever seen. It’s eyes burned with fury as it slammed its horns into another building. The stones were crushed by the force of another small explosion, one that could only be produced by a commensurate amount of destructive qi.

I focused on the qi swirling around it, trying to make sense of the swirling patterns amidst the dust and rubble flying through the air. Dull gray spears of qi struck the buildings with every blow of the creature’s horns.

“Metal?” Tenri asked, worriedly. I nodded.

“Most likely.”

“I’ve never faced a metal artist. My wood won’t be able to stop them.”

I bit back a remark about this being the reason why the elemental cycle was less useful than the celestial or creation cycles. Qi of the elements were inextricably bound to the power of the elements themselves, which included many strengths…and many weaknesses. Just as a tree could not stand against a metal axe, wood qi would be easily sundered by metal qi.

“Just try to keep it busy. We’ll work together,” I said. I stepped forward to challenge the beast, but Tenri didn’t follow. When I turned to see what was wrong, I just found him smiling. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “It just occurred to me that I’m working with the Darkened Moon. How many people can say that?”

“Exactly four, but I don’t think most people would think it a blessing,” I answered. He laughed and we took off towards the giant bull.

We slid down the rubble in perfect sync, and I drew my bow from my back. In an instant, an arrow was drawn and fired directly at the creature’s throat. As if sensing the attack, the bull spun around, throwing its head and solid horns into the arrow’s path. It glanced harmlessly off its steel horns before turning and pawing the earth.

With incredible speed for something of its bulk, it charged at us, but we were far faster. Tenri rolled to the left as I ducked to the right, and the creature sailed past to slam its horns into another nearby building. Before I’d even finished the dodge, an arrow was on my string.

The ox turned, only to receive a face full of qi-infused seeds. They dug into its fur with surprising force before blossoming into a vibrant bouquet of flowers and vines. I turned to Tenri, but he was just as surprised as I was.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“It’s not pure metal,” he answered with a shrug. I guess elemental qi wasn’t completely without its merits. With how strongly the seeds were growing through the fur, but avoiding the horns, I could only assume that the creature had focused the metal only in its horns, and the rest of its body was augmented with earth. In the cycle, wood destroys earth, which is how the seeds had gained such a strong purchase.

“I’ll distract it!” I shouted to Tenri as it stomped its hooves in fury. “Hey! Come get me over here!” I shouted. It turned its head, its eyes burning red beneath the flowers.

It bellowed before charging straight for me. My arrow sailed at the creature, burying itself to the shaft in the creature’s chest, but that didn’t stop it. Earth gave it stamina, allowing it to ignore injury and continue its rampage. I threw myself out of the way just before the creature struck, firing another arrow into its flank. The ox groaned in pain as the void qi cracked its skin and fur as if they were made of solid rock.

Tenri did not miss the opportunity to strike. He darted in, slamming his fist into a crack created by the arrow, driving it deeper. His qi swirled around the shaft, piercing through the ox’s stoneskin like roots through the earth. The ox howled in rage, thrashing this way and that. Tenri barely managed to duck under the horns to avoid being impaled on their steel tips, only to be kicked firmly in the ribs by a stray hoof. He grunted, but never let go of his hold on the ox’s side.

Slowly, the ox’s movements grew sluggish. The flailing hooves slowed, and the fury in its eyes died. It let out a final groan before falling forever silent.

Tenri finally stood, massaging his side where the beast had landed its last blow. He winced in pain.

“You alright?” I asked. He nodded.

“I might have cracked a rib, but I’ll live.”

“Focus your qi. You’ll heal quicker,” I instructed. He closed his eyes to focus briefly, and his skin became threaded with veins of green. When he opened them again, I gasped in surprise. His eyes were a magnificent jade, sparkling with vibrant emerald qi. The depths of his power were on full display, and I felt like I could have stared into the depths forever, drowning in his gaze. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, my ears grew hot, and I looked away.

Chaos still reigned elsewhere in the town. Buildings collapsed as more of the stone oxen rampaged. We jumped back into the fray, sprinting through the ruined streets that were bustling only scarce minutes ago. On the way, I counted too many bodies, smelled too much blood. Nearly five thousand people lived in Saikan…too many of them had already perished. Many more would fall if we didn’t get these beasts under control.

“Where did they come from?” Tenri shouted as we came across another spirit ox just as it smashed a hold through a food store house. I knocked three arrows to the string, infused them with hungry void mist, then released them. Two of them sailed over the monster’s head, leaving only the third to hit its mark.

“Stupid, gods-damned physics-defying void qi!” I swore. “How on earth should I know? I’ve been with you the entire time!”

In the last month, I’d discovered that my poor aim and lapses in dexterity were the result of my unruly void qi. Since I’d advanced to Iron, both my lunar and void techniques had grown stronger. In the case of the moon, it was predictable. My lunar blades shone brighter, had more substance, lasted longer, and were slightly more malleable. That was how they’d developed the first time, and I was able to ease back into the changes like slipping on a comfortable cloak. However, the void was misbehaving.

As qi with dominion over the spacial boundaries between stars, space was literally warping whenever my void qi was active. It was something I’d seen before when the Hated One would use her qi all those years ago, but now I had to deal with it first-hand. With each arrow I fired, the space between me and my target seemed to dissolve. I didn’t need quite so much arc to cover long distances, meaning that any compensation I made as part of good archery practices, was just undone by the void.

The same held true for my own body. The meridians of my body were fused with the void, which was warping the space between my nerve endings. Thus, there were times when my body overcorrected, expecting a longer time between command and reaction. It was…a slow learning curve, but one I was slowly getting over.

With a frustrated huff, I fitted three more arrows to the string, angling my aim down before firing. This time, the three arrows slammed directly into the ox’s flank. As with the first one, as soon as the skin cracked, Tenri was there. A seed was in his hand, already sparkling with his qi. He slammed it into the creature’s side before darting away. This time, a magnificent vine began to grow in and around the creature.

The ox wheezed and groaned as Tenri’s vine slowly dug into its flesh, but we didn’t get the chance to sit around. Several images flashed through my thoughts as Flash Forward warned me of an attack coming from the gaping hole in the wall.

I pulled my head back, letting a tiny bolt of water streak past my nose with enough force to sheer through stone. Standing in the gap were five artists. Water danced around the woman at the center, seemingly dripping from her sleeves. She wore an iron badge while the rest all wore bronze ones. Under each badge was the crest of the Lunar Hunt.

“I think that answers your previous question,” I told Tenri.

“And so, the consequences of our actions catch up to us,” he muttered back, shaking his head. “Why couldn’t they just come in and talk to us like civilized people instead of drawing in helpless mortals? So many are dead because of them.”

“Let’s make sure it’s not more.” I fitted an arrow to my string, ready to begin the fight. Tenri shoved his hand into his pocket, drawing out a full handful of seeds.

A hail of techniques rained down upon us, but they were nothing to us. I ducked beneath an orb of void mist before sending a much stronger arrow into the throat of the one who conjured it. Tenri took a bolt of water clean to the chest, but the green of his own qi flared in brilliant veins along his neck and in his eyes. He adapted to the qi. The next bolt of water didn’t even slow his stride. One by one, the invaders fell until only the Iron artist remained.

She wove and danced between our strikes, but it quickly became clear that she’d been relying on her allies to keep us busy. Faced with two martially capable Irons, she was too busy defending to strike back. She dodged an arrow only to be forced to jump back before being planted with Tenri’s bloodthirsty seeds.

Tenri placed himself behind her, slowly pushing her fluid dodges towards me. One more arrow, one more dodge. Another punch, and she ducked too close to me. The grip on my bow slackened as I let my hand slide down the bottom limb. The wooden weapon whipped around, slamming into her head from behind. She went stiff, her water splashing to the ground before she crumpled into a heap.

“Seven enemies down, how many to go?” I wondered.

“Too many, I’m sure,” Tenri worried. “The town will be ruined after this kind of damage.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, there was truth in his words. However, there wasn’t time to worry about it now. Carnage and chaos echoed in the distance, summoning us back to the battle.