Cults of the Dragon Gods (Path of Transcendence Book 4)

by Brian McGoldrick

  While shivering from her terror, Mei places her basket on the table and rushes over to kneel in front of Elan. Elan's brutal slap sends her sprawling to the stone floor.

  "Slave, who gave you permission to lie down? Get on your knees!" Elan's voice is an angry hiss, but I do not understand why she is so enraged it Mei.

  Obviously dazed from Elan's blow, Mei struggles back onto her knees. Seeing Elan's hand rise to slap her again, Mei tenses her body and barely manages to avoid being knocked to the ground again.

  "Who and what do you think you are? Your master enters the room, and you try to flee before you even learn what your master desires. Is that the behavior of a good slave or one seeking punishment?"

  Mei kneels on the stone floor while hunched over and shivering. A mix of blood, snot, and saliva runs down her chin and trips to the floor. From the waves of terror radiating off of her, she is probably too overcome with fear to respond.

  Elan squats in front of Mei, and grabbing a handful of Mei's hair, she jerks Mei's head back so their eyes meet.

  "Answer me, slave!"

  "Selestra's sorry, Mistress! Selestra will be a good slave! Please, don't hurt Selestra!"

  Elan shakes Mays head violently. "Stop prattling and answer my questions!"

  May sniffles and swallows. "I … I'm ashamed and afraid. I hate him. I can't stand having him see me like this."

  After Mei clamps her jaws shut, Elan shakes her by her hair again. "He is your Master, slave. You are nothing but property. Whether he wants to look at you, or fuck you, or abuse you, your opinions and desires are of no consequence. Body, Mind, and Soul, you belong to Brand. Now, speak!"

  The foul mix of terror and resentment filling the room is so strong that it feels like I should be able to smell its sour odor.

  "Answer my woman's questions! If you talk now, you won't be hurt, but if you anger Elan, she might execute you with torture. It's your choice."

  Mei glares at me. "I hate you. I hate you so much more than you could ever imagine. You were born with so much natural talent, it was disgusting. What I needed months to learn, you picked up in days. By the time we were in middle school, daddy was sparring with you. He was really sparring. He wasn't holding back! You are a real opponent for daddy! You don't deserve that! You are a fat ugly pig! You're disgusting!"

  Mei breaks down sobbing, and there is not point in responding. She was not asking questions. She was just venting.

  As she looks at me, Elan's face is a twisted mix of surprise and disgust. I shrug in response to her look, and I think I keep the surprise and disgust off of my face.

  Hanging on to Mei's hair, Elan slaps her face fore an backhand a half-dozen times. "You are an idiot. Spread your knees! Arch your back! Had a high! Chin down!"

  As she gives her commands, Elan jerks and slaps Mei into position, displaying her thighs, her pussy, and her upper body to the best advantage.

  Mei was not in Blood Beard's hands long enough for her entire body to be scarred. The artwork only covers a strip up the center of her belly her chest her shoulders and part of her upper arms. The scars form a willow tree with incredibly detailed inch long birds on some of the branches. Since she is in Alfar, her tits are small to the point of being practically flat chested, but that does not detract from an Alfar's sexiness in the least.

  Elan looks at me, and I meet her eyes. Neither of us is able to conceal our shock from the other. Mei is becoming more and more sexually aroused the longer I look at her.

  I squat in front of Mei and brush my hand over the scars on her stomach. The scars are not rigid or rough, but rather, they have the same soft texture as her unscarred skin. The only difference is that where she is scarred instead having perfectly smooth skin, there is a bit of a contour under my hand.

  Mei shivers and stifles a moan. As I caress her scarred body, her nipples are growing harder, and I run my hand back down her trembling stomach, stopping barely an inch from her pussy.

  "More! Touch me!" After her involuntarily gasped words, Mei's eyes snap open and her lust and arousal are partially displaced by shame and horror.

  "No! I didn't mean to say that!" Mei's shriek is loud enough to make a normal human's ears ring.

  Her emotions run wild. In a few seconds, they run from lust hate to shame and back to hate. Losing control, Mei starts swinging wildly at me. I am half-surprised that she is not strong enough to do any real damage.

  "Why did you have to be fat and ugly! Why couldn't you be slender and handsome! Why couldn't you be like Jonny! If you weren't ugly, I could've used you to give me children! I could've given daddy grandchildren! Daddy would've been so happy to have grandchildren to carry-on the Urehara Style! My sons would have been better than you. I could've divorced you and had daddy drive you out! But you're so I ugly I would've puked if I let you touch me! I hate you! I hate you! Why didn't you stay dead when we killed you!" Mei's screams are cut off by my hand wrapping around her throat.

  Rage boils inside of me. She was responsible for her brothers beating me when I first started training at her father's dojo. The bullshit with her little fanboys on Earth was because of her. The petty fuck overs by her friends outside her guild, when we thought Taereun was a game, was instigated by her. The bullshit with her and her guild during the Great Fuck Over was because of her. Being murdered by her elitist retarded as fuck friends was because she wanted to get rid of me. Everything was because I was better than her at combat arts, at her family's martial arts? Because I was too fat and ugly for her to spread her legs to me and give her daddy grandsons to carry on the Urehara Style, she hated me and wanted me gone? In the back of my mind, I always knew it, but hearing her say it, I want to make her suffer. I want her to pray for death and be forced to live.

  I barely manage to stop myself from hitting her, from beating her. If I hit her even once, I am going to beat her to death, and that would be letting her off too easy.

  My face twisted by my barely suppress killing rage, I look past Mei to Jinmu, who is standing in the entry to the tunnel leading to the arena. "Do you really want to die for this sick, twisted, little slut? All you have to do is turn her fate over to me, and you can walk out of here. I will do you no harm and have you ferried back to the ground."

  As Jinmu squeezes his eyes shut, he looks like he is in physical pain. "I cannot do that. No matter what she is or what she has done, she is my daughter."

  Throwing Mei to the stone floor, I rise to my feet. "Elan, bring that slut to the arena!"

  I walk past Jinmu. "Come with me! Were going to settle this, now!"

  In the arena, everyone stares at us as we exit the tunnel. As loud as we were, there is no way that they could not have heard. Out of habit, we were using the Slave Tongue. For those of who were caught up in The Great Fuck Over, the Slave Tongue is now more natural than our native language.

  "Someone get Jinmu's katana and bring a plain steel longsword for me."

  Sado, one of the freed gladiators, exits the arena through the gate that leads to the guards' quarters. It only takes him a few minutes to return with a sword held in each hand.

  Taking the swords from Sado, I toss Jinmu his katana. Reaching out with my Trinity, I touch the collar fastened around his neck, and it opens, falling to the sand.

  Jinmu has not earned the right as a gladiator to clothe himself and is running around barefoot with his dick hanging out. I am only wearing my pteruges and boots.

  I look at Elan. "If I die, they go free. You understand, right?"

  Elan frowns and nods. "If the impossible happens and that one kills you, I will set them free."

  I stare coldly at Jinmu. "There are no rules. If you defeat me you can take Mei and walk out of here. Start whenever you want."

  Never taking my stare off on Jinmu, I hold the sheathed longsword in my left hand. There is a distance of less than twenty feet between us.

  With one hand on the scabbard and one hand on the hilt of his katana, Jinmu stares at me for several minutes without doing a
nything. Without revealing any clues as to what he is thinking, he unsheathes his katana and stabs the scabbard into the sand. As he faces me, the way he grips the hilt of his katana is different from the way I hold my swords, and the way he stands is different from the way I stand. Everything about the way he fights is Japanese, but since taking up Shadow Fist, the way I fight is no longer in the Urehara Style.

  Jinmu's attack is lightning fast for a non-Coalescent human. More than half of the gladiators in the Blood Rose Stable would not be able to react to it in time.

  I step forward and twist just enough to avoid the blade of Jinmu's katana.

  Crackle!

  My right fist hits him in the floating ribs shattering three of the bones. Flying through the air, twisting head over heels, Jinmu never loses his grip on his katana and hits the ground in a role. Staggering as he rises to his feet, he turns to face me again.

  "I told you, there are no rules. Use your Ki. Use any other tricks you have that I might not know of. The next time you move, I strike to kill."

  Jinmu take several deep breaths, and the Ki flows through his body. In just the eight days since I last saw him, the strength of his Ki has noticeably improved. He is recovering from being stripped of his forced Coalescence. Not waiting any longer than it takes to summon his Ki, Jinmu charges forward.

  I cannot keep from showing a faint smile. The attack is at least three, maybe four, times as fast as his first one. In the entire Blood Rose Stable, there is probably no one other than the Throd'nahk or Kanchek that could beat him.

  As I move forward to meet Jinmu's attack, I do not drawn on the Trinity, nor do I use the Shadow of the Od. As soon as the tip of my longsword clears the scabbard, I press the scabbard against my left forearm. Jinmu's katana comes down in a slash aimed at the left side of my neck, and the point of my longsword falls into line with his heart. The scabbard of my longsword shatters, absorbing most of the force of Jinmu's strike, and the point of my longsword pierces Jinmu's chest. As I continue my forward lunge, my hand comes down over the back of Jinmu's blade and grasps it, arresting the motion.

  "NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mei's shriek echoes from the stone the arena.

  Jinmu's legs buckle, and he falls to his knees. He starts to smile, but a cough wracks his body. As he spits up mouthfuls of blood, his body falls backward. Pierced through his chest to the guard, the point of my longsword sinks into the sand.

  Nearly on the sand, Mei is half sobbing and half laughing while gasping breaths of air in between. Her hard nipples are again protruding from her nearly flat chest, and the grey skin of her cheeks is a bit darker from the increased blood flow.

  Angry and disgusted, I turn back to Jinmu. He is no longer breathing, and his heart has stopped beating. Jinmu is dead.

  Taking three vials of DokkAlfar healing potions from my ring, I pour them down the throat of Jinmu's corpse and use my Trinity to force it to swallow. Pulling the sword from the corpse's chest, I toss it aside. My Trinity flows through me, and I place my hand over the wound in his chest and release an electric charge.

  There is no response, and I release a second electric charge.

  With still no reaction, I release one more jolt of electricity.

  Thump.

  A second later, Jinmu's heart beats once.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  A few seconds later, Jinmu's heart starts beating rapidly, and he gasps for air.

  Placing one hand over the hole in his chest and one over the hole in his back, I use Trinity to cauterize the wounds.

  I pour two more healing potions down Jinmu's throat, and his body spasms violently. The healing potions are not strong enough, or maybe, they lack the effectiveness to deal with the pierced heart.

  Closing my eyes, I search for the Light Od within me. There is still a faint trace of it within my internal Realm, and I draw it out. As a small ball of greenish silver forms in the palm of my hand, I press it against the wound on Jinmu's chest.

  Jinmu draws in a gasping breath, and looking like they are trying to pop out of his skull, his eyes open wide.

  After a few minutes, the tear through his heart closes up enough that he is no longer bleeding internally. It is far from healed, but it is enough to suit my purposes. As long as he does not overexert himself, he will live.

  "Kanchek, take this man to Bogwater and put them up in an inn for a month."

  "Yes, Master." Kanchek bows and hurries over to help Jinmu to his feet.

  "Jinmu is dead. Never let me see or here of you again." Turning my back on Jinmu, I walk toward Elan.

  "Wait! Daddy! You can't leave me!" Mei's shrieks echo in the enclosed arena.

  With his back rigid, Jinmu halts his steps, and I turn to look at him. He is shaking so badly that it is visible to the naked eye.

  "Well? Do you have " I can barely contain my anger, and my voice is harsh.

  Still leaning on Kanchek, Jinmu stands up straight and turns to look me in the eye. "Jinmu is dead. I am a man with no name and no daughter. That slave has nothing to do with me."

  I look at Mei, who is staring at us in wide-eyed horror. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, but no words come out.

  "Take the slave back to the kitchens. After the night meal, the gladiators with the top five performances each day can have a turn with her."

  Elan points to one of the guards, and he grabs Mei by the hair and drags her into the tunnel.

  "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO! DAAADDDDYYYYYY! SAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME, DADDY!"

  Crack! Crack! Crack!

  After the sound of leather brutally striking flesh resounds from the tunnel, Mei's words turn into shrieks and sobs. She destroyed her father. I helped destroy her destroy her father. The nameless man may survive, but he will never be the same. Her life will be no better. It will be far worse. She will spend the rest of her days as a slave, toiling in the kitchens by day and being raped by gladiators at night.

  Behind me, Kanchek helps the nameless man leave the arena through the tunnel leading to the guards' quarters.

  I cannot bring myself to turn around and watch them leave. My stomach feels like someone has poured a bottle of foul tasting acid down my throat.

  For a long time after I the gate locks and the sound of their footsteps disappears, no one says a word.

  "Valcrit, put together a full crew of Marines that is ready for battle for the Night Raven. We set sail in the morning."

  "Yes, Master."

  Weapons of the Celestial Court

  *** The Pacific Ocean – Earth ***

  Return: Day 353

  August 16, 2078

  (Brand)

  As the bow of the Night Raven exits the tunnel bounded by swirling silver-grey and black Power, a web of lighting arcs from the edges of the hole toward the ship. A coruscating web of purple and gold lighting surround the ship as it skitters across the dimensional field formed by the dimensional ripper.

  "What in Hel's name caused that?" The first mate's words break the crew's stupor.

  Meeting my eyes, Elan smiles grimly. "I think we broke though some kind of ward when we entered this plane, but I cannot identify its nature."

  When we were setting up the coordinates for the ripper, no matter how we resolved the equations, there was an anomaly that had to be accounted for. Boran had said that Woden destabilized Yggdrasil by bringing a piece of the Earth's plane into it, and I assumed the anomaly was a result of the instability. It seems I was wrong.

  We are over open water with no land in sight. Strong winds whistle through the Night Raven's rigging. Dark blue water and azure blue sky stretch the horizon in all directions, with only whitecaps and high, thin, white cirrus clouds to break up the blue.

  Reaching into the wheelhouse, I activate the chameleon field before taking out my tablet computer with the direct connection to the Delphi virus. Surprisingly, the tablet connects to the worldwide data network. When I see what the connection point is, I almost laugh. There is an American submarine not too far from us
under the water.

  Using Delphi as the interface, I rifle through the sub's computers. The sub turns out to be a completely automated weapon under AI control. It is part of an underwater defense network monitoring all the coastal waters of the United States. I did not know it existed, but since these subs are not carrying nuclear missiles, they were not included in any of my searches into the military databases.

  An interesting oddity is that this underwater picket line is monitoring five other submarines that are not American and are not showing up as being infiltrated by Delphi. According to the computers on board the American sub, the five subs being monitored are all of Chinese origin. One of those Chinese subs is less than fifty miles from our current location.

  "Elan, look at this. Do you have scrying spells that you can use to examine that sub?" I pass the tablet computer to Elan.

  After studying the information on the tablet, Elan looks toward the southwest. "If the wards anything like the hospital or Area 51, I will never get through them. If there are Casters on the sub, any attempts to penetrate the wards may alert them. The best I can do is look at it externally."

  "Do it."

  Elan and takes out a silver bowl nearly two feet in diameter and hands to Angelique. "Fill this with seawater."

  "Yes, Mistress." Moving to the rail, Angelique begins casting a spell.

  Sitting tailor style on the quarterdeck, Elan draws something that looks like a spell pattern in black ink with a very fine brush.

  Angelique brings the water-filled bowl, and Elan points to the spell pattern-like design. "Make certain the outside of the bowl is absolutely dry and place in the center of the focusing formation."

  I have come across the term "focusing formation" a few times but have never seen one used. Unlike a spell pattern, which shapes and controls Power to create the spells effects, a focusing formation has no purpose other than condensing Power to its center.

  Steel is pain. Steel is cruelty. Before I even form the words of the mantra in my mind, my Trinity is already shifting in the flow patterns for me to use Making. I take a few moments to feel my Power moves along my nerves and through my blood vessels and lymphatic system. Being changed into Trinity has made it thicker and more energetic that my Mana was, but it does not seem to act any different.