When should a cultivator run? When is the enemy simply too strong, too numerous for even a great path of enlightenment to give you victory? These are questions all of you should ask yourselves before going out on behalf of our sect. Don’t throw away your lives, nobody gets a second try. – General Ta’aika of the Wandering Flames Sect to initiates leaving on first assignment.
* * *
We ran through the streets, barely thinking about where exactly we were headed. The trail of wrecked buildings and injured civilians was wide, and we knew we couldn’t save them all. We did our best, pulling mortals from the rubble where we could, as quickly as we could, before racing ahead.
Two more of the stone oxen had fallen to us, but the sounds of crumbling buildings still reigned over the Saikan soundscape. Dust filled the streets like smoke, concealing the actual smoke from our sight, but we could smell it. It burned my throat as we ran, but we couldn’t let it slow us down.
At least some of the fishermen are at sea, I thought to myself. At least they’ll be safe from harm. The same could not be said for their families. Wives, children, brothers and sisters left behind to man shops and warehouses, they were all dying before our eyes. None were spared from the chaos.
If I’d thought the Lunar Hunt were monsters before, posing as tax collectors to snatch children from their homes, then I’d woefully underestimated their cruelty. Not only were they monsters, but they were the worst sort. They took the lives of innocents just to get back at Tenri and I for doing the right thing.
Tenri and I slid to a stop, readying our weapons as we peered through the dust and the smoke at the street beyond. It was difficult to know where we were. The streets of the sleepy fishing town bore little resemblance to the wreckage we stood in now. I guessed we were somewhere near the center of town, near to where my favorite inn and tea shop was…or where they used to be. No doubt they were gone by this point.
A flash of light was visible within the haze, and it was followed by a familiar, if angry, shout. “COME AT ME YOU HUMAN BASTARDS! FEEL THE BLISTERING STING OF THE SUN!”
Another flash was followed by the grunting of several men. The assault confirmed my suspicion. We were near the inn, meaning Pharyx and Pollen were near. They were neck deep in negotiations, settling territory between the two insect colonies. We were lucky. If this attack had come even a few days later, the two spirit queens would have returned to their homes for recess.
I ran through the smoke until I saw a dark shape ahead. It was much too tall to be either of the spirit insects, so I drew my string back. The arrow slammed into the unknown cultivator who slumped in time for me to yank my arrow from his corpse a moment later.
We arrived to the scene to see a full battlefield. A whirlwind of petals kicked up enough wind to clear the immediate area of smoke and dust as Pollen danced between the lesser artists. She was the epitome of grace and a paragon of beauty. So smoothly did she flow between the motions of her dance that I would have mistook her for a divine fairy dancing between the petals of a field of flowers…except for the bleeding cultivators left in her wake. They were mere bronze and no match for the spirit beast. Where they fell, green grass from Pollen’s domain sprouted from the earth.
Meanwhile, Pharyx was busy darting between an iron artist and two stone oxen. Where Pollen was smooth and graceful, Pharyx was feral and furious. His wings shone brightly as he launched himself at one of the oxen, twisting his body to duck beneath a stream of void mist only to slam his lance directly behind the ox’s front limb. It howled with a fury that paled in comparison to the rage that quite literally burned in the angry hornet. His stripes shone more brightly than I’d ever seen, and his eyes were two molten pools of gold.
He spun on the balls of his feet and whipped around to slam the butt of his lance into a bronze artist who ventured too close. A moment later, one of my arrows lodged itself in the shoulder of the void artist he was fighting, and he quickly finished them.
“They are incredible,” Tenri breathed as he watched the two fight. I beamed in pride before he rushed into the fray.
Another ox fell to Pharyx’s lance, and three more cultivators fell to Pollen’s dance. I watched from a nearby doorway as the invaders faltered. They clearly had not expected to deal with the two spirit beasts in addition to Tenri and myself. They were the kind of cultivators who were used to preying on meek sheep that they had no idea how to survive in the face of a fearsome tiger.
As Bronze cultivators began to flee, one by one, I felt the shaking in the ground increase into a steady THUD…THUD…THUD. I caught Tenri’s gaze across the battlefield, but he shrugged, unsure of what it meant.
We soon found out. Though every building that had once filled the street had been destroyed, the cobblestone streets were still relatively intact…until they were ripped up and launched at us by the horns of a new spirit beast. This raging bull had a crimson metal yoke around its neck. Blood dripped from fangs that curved around its lower lips. I had no name for this kind of beast, but it was very clear that it was no longer content with eating grass like its kin.
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It charged the battle, lowering its horns to plow through the cobblestones as if they were fresh soil. Cobble flew in every direction as cultivators, both friend and foe alike, scattered in the face of the newest monster.
I launched two arrows in quick succession, and the monster twisted its head to fling the stones in my direction. Throwing myself to the side, I summoned two jagged lances of moonlight from the earth under the creature. They buried themselves in the creature’s chest, but it didn’t even slow, even as its blood was left in a trail along the ground.
Pollen leapt gracefully away from the creature’s charge, blocking the debris with her petals while Tenri scrambled back to join her. Pharyx was less lucky. He was caught between two Iron artists and the bloody bull. He flashed his lights brightly, causing several artists to curse and rave as they were blinded by “that damned firefly.”
When the light faded, the bull had crashed into a wall and raced away, but Pharyx was standing still. Blood welled up between his lips as he looked down to see a sword sticking out of his chest. To my horror, it was being held by a grinning Shen Yaoxan.
“PHARYX!” Pollen screamed. Throwing all her divine grace aside, she threw herself across the battlefield, trying to reach the hornet queen. Her petals became a raging swarm of death, but she wasn’t fast enough. Void qi sparked along Shen Yaoxan’s blade. Pharyx cried out in agony, but his voice was swiftly cut short. The light faded from his stripes, and he collapsed to the ground, his body reverting to that of a large hornet, its legs curled tightly to its body.
Every cultivator on the field stopped fighting, as if out of respect for the fallen queen. Pollen screamed her pain and fury as she fell to her knees next to the hornet’s body. Her hive depended on the negotiations with the hornets. Even if she lived through the day, her hive had been dealt a death sentence by the loss of Pharyx.
So much death. I couldn’t stomach any more. I began to focus my thoughts, counting back the minutes. It was hard. Pollen’s cries gouged out my heart, making it difficult to concentrate on what needed to be done.
“Masters Tenri and Tsuyuki,” Shen Yaoxan called. His mocking voice grated my ears, and I did my best to ignore it. “Come closer. We have unfinished business.”
“Are you so eager to be fed to my plants, Yaoxan?” Tenri spat. “Come over here, and I’ll be more than happy to oblige.”
“I think you’ll find that someone else will be feeding the flowers tonight.” The commander waved his hand, and two more artists emerged from the smoke, each restraining a struggling person.
“Hanako?” Tenri cried. I couldn’t help looking, despite trying to focus. To my dismay, Hanako was, indeed, held by one of the newcomers. The other was holding Xinya by the arm.
Shen Yaoxan’s lips widened to a cruel smile. “Yes, we caught your beloved wife as she tried to flee to your home. What a wonderful wife she is, too, beautiful and spirited. Why, she even brought us the wonderful gift of the child we’ve been seeking.”
“M-master?” Xinya called, and my heart nearly split. I couldn’t look. I couldn’t watch. I needed to focus. Count back the minutes. How far could I go? How much could I unravel?
“Aww, you might break the poor girl’s heart if you don’t even look at her, Tsuyuki.”
Focus…
Pollen’s cries turned to a shout of fury. With a wave of her whisk, a shower of petals flew at Shen Yaoxan. Tenri was with her, running with all his speed towards his foe.
But, in the end, there were too many of them. Three irons against two.
Shen dissolved Pollen’s petals with a wave of his sword before a crescent of mist arced from his blade, slamming into her chest. She fell beside Pharyx, the mist slowly eating through her body as she desperately tried to fight it off with her own qi before it killed her.
Nearby, Tenri punched and clawed at the two remaining irons. They peppered him with void and fire techniques, but he adapted to each strike as they came. In the end, they had to physically restrain him, forcing him to his knees.
“It seems Tsuyuki has been rendered stupid with shock,” Shen Yaoxan called.
I resisted the urge to correct him. I was so close to finishing my calculations, so close to being ready. The last trick up my sleeve, the one skill which made me the most feared Ascendent of the age, it was almost ready.
“Bring him,” Shen ordered. I felt hands grasp my arms and drag me to Tenri’s side. They threw me to the ground, and I fought to finish forming the right qi signs in my mind’s eye.
“Tsuyuki? What are you doing?” Tenri whispered.
“Not now,” I answered. I pushed myself to my hands and knees. Shen hadn’t bothered restraining me, and I wasn’t going to give him reason to. I needed my hands for my tricks to work.
“Now, I think I’ll finally finish what I started months ago,” Shen continued. He grabbed Xinya by the collar and dragged her forward. “Any last words?”
She spat in his face.
It was time. I was done. Everything was set. Twenty-five minutes, thirteen seconds. It would likely exhaust me, but I couldn’t deny this fate without every last second.
Before Shen’s blade could fall upon the girl, I leapt to my feet. Lunar qi rippled around me, and my entire body began to shine with the light of the moon. To my surprise, the void reacted to the technique, as well, coloring the light with its bluish tint. I traced my hands through the air, drawing the qi signs with threads of light before anyone could stop me.
A brilliant circle of lunar shapes and characters burned in the space before me. Now it was my turn to smile.
“It was a good attack, Yaoxan,” I called. “You certainly would have beaten us. Unfortunately for you, I don’t play fair.”
“What?” was all he could say before my one remaining blooded technique activated.
An earsplitting CRACK pierced everyone’s ears. From my circle, silver cracks began to form in the air, as if someone had thrown a rock through an invisible window. The cracks spread, growing larger and longer with the passing seconds.
Thirteen seconds. That was how long the cracks were allowed to spread. As the thirteenth second passed, my vision turned white.