by Dante King
Soojin dropped to her knees. “No,” she whispered, holding up a trembling hand before the monster. “No, no please don’t!”
The only way I could make it was to jump—so I did. I wasn’t much of a long jumper; I’d been on the track team in college, but I’d thrown shot put. I was a lifter, not a long-distance cardio guy. Still, I’d seen it done—and I put everything I had into the leap. As the monster’s arms came down, slashing at Soojin, I shoved her out of the Vasrashat’s path.
It saved her—but it left me helpless and alone before the beast’s fury, watching those claws descend on my bruised, sweat-soaked body.
Shit, I thought. Probably should have planned this better—
A whirl of colors flashed in the corner of my vision. Even the Vasrashat turned, its killing strike halted for the barest moment. Something slammed into my non-bloodied hand, filling me with power.
It wasn’t Anna. It was Lyra.
“Your girlfriend will be right back,” the owner of the Hungry Herb Tavern said to me telepathically. “She told me go ahead and get you warmed up. Ready to save the day?”
I lifted the snake spear and parried the Vasrashat’s blow. A shower of sparks exploded from the snake’s head wrapped around the tip as the creature’s claws glinted off the metal. Before it could regroup, I twisted away, using the spear’s distance to keep myself out of the reach of those deadly claws.
“Where’s Anna?” I growled, holding Lyra in a one-handed grip. I couldn’t really handle two-handed strikes at the moment.
“Playing field medic,” Lyra informed me curtly. “That monster snapped Tatiana’s ribs like twigs and nearly cut Xavier’s face off. She’s making sure we don’t have more corpses on our hands when this is all said and done.”
Healing medicine, I thought. I remembered the pill I’d been given when Eliezer ‘killed’ me, and how quickly it had brought me back from the brink. A thing like that was practically magic. The medicine of my own world couldn’t compare.
“Good,” I growled, spinning the snake spear in my good hand. “Wish you’d done it sooner, though. I’m down to half strength.”
Don’t worry, baby. Mommy will nurse you back to health, Lyra purred. The words carried with them a mental image of the redhead bent over me, her naked breasts pressing against my chest as she pushed a compress to my forehead. I shivered with lust as the feeling passed, and got to work.
Fighting with the snake spear was more than simply combat. It felt like an extension of my own body—like Lyra was part of me. In that way, it resembled the act of coital passion more than I’d normally have been comfortable admitting outside the bedroom or the battlefield. In this case, the time for foreplay was over. What was needed now were hard and fast strokes, a flurry of action to push the Vasrashat out of the garden and save my friends.
I attacked again and again, thrusting with the spear like a madman. The beast’s claws came within inches of rending my flesh, yet somehow never seemed to hit. Lyra’s help ensured I was always one step ahead of the monster, just outside of the kill zone.
As we fought, I watched the Vasrashat. The thing was certainly a ferocious fighter, but the longer I traded blows with it, the more I realized how limited the monster’s thinking was. Either Plini hadn’t managed to put more than a few rudimentary commands inside of the creature’s brain, or it was just naturally unintelligent. Either way, it didn’t seem to have more than a few basic moves—the overhand slash with both hands that had almost killed Soojin, the pounce it unleashed whenever it got a certain distance away from a target, and the quick flurry of side-slashes that had torn my arm up. After a few minutes, a strange certainty hardened in me: I could fight this monster all day and never take a hit. It was simply a matter of pattern recognition.
To test it, I baited the beast. As it unleashed that killer overhand slash for the umpteenth time, I used the snake spear to push off the ground and go flying through the air. I moved with a grace incomparable to even the most well-trained human, landing smoothly a distance away. The cultivators of my group gathered around me, a troop of magicians waiting for their leader’s orders.
“Get ready to scatter,” I growled, glancing sideways at Soojin. Though she was the youngest of the group who’d decided to stay, the other cultivators looked to her as a leader. “Move in all directions, then turn around and unleash your most badass spell. Move on my mark!”
The students tensed around me. To my surprise, I realized one of the people readying themselves for action was Tatiana, her wounds almost closed. Anna must have gotten her a healing pill or a potion, I thought, brightening. She must be healing the others in the back. She’ll be here any minute.
Once I had both of my weapons in hand, I’d finish the beast. Until then, I’d just make the Vasrashat wish it was dead.
The monster stared at me from across the garden, the face of Governor Shingu blank and unmoving. I could almost see the wheels turning behind that motionless expression: target is this far away, so use pounce. Its legs tensed, preparing to strike.
Got you, I thought, my heart pumping against my ribcage like a kettle drum. So predictable!
The beast pounced—and even before it was in the air, we were out of its landing zone. On my signal, the group broke in all directions, running a dozen or so steps before turning around to face the spot they’d just left behind.
If the Vasrashat understood the trap it had just stepped into, it gave no sign. The beast landed on all fours where I’d just stood, its muscles rippling beneath its ice-blue skin. It rose to its full height and turned, that broad horn protruding from the forehead that had once been Governor Shingu’s.
“Got you, asshole,” I said, pointing with the snake spear. The garden’s energy coursed through me, filling me to the brim and then some as I shunted all that power through Lyra and her snake spear form. Words flashed through the air, startling me:
Eric Casts Vine Whip!
A brace of tentacles erupted from the snakehead of the spear. They lashed themselves around the Vasrashat like lassos, digging into the creature’s flesh. The tiny thorns covering every inch of the vines dug into the Vasrashat’s skin, adding an agonizing pain to the immobilizing strike. At the same time, blooms emerged from the ground around the monster’s legs, tying it to the earth. The Vasrashat struggled, but couldn’t break free from this new, more powerful spell.
“Now!” I roared, pointing the snake spear into the air. “Give it all you got!”
Each of the cultivators unloaded on the Vasrashat. Too many words flickered through the air for me to follow as each member of my group unleashed a barrage of spells on the bound monster. This time, unlike before, they had the good sense to go one at a time. Each of them made a kind of competition out of it, trying to out-flair the other pupils with the force of their cultivation.
Soojin coated the creature in fire spell after fire spell. Liquid napalm coated the Vasrashat as it struggled in vain to escape the prison of vines, every motion causing the thorns to cut even deeper through muscle and sinew. As she finished in a twirl, Tatiana stepped in and pelted the creature with needles and miniature tornados.
For my part, I stood back and watched as my crew did as much damage as they possibly could. Pride surged in my chest as I watched them work; the job they did was both amazing and necessary. They’re a good Guild, I thought, mentally accepting my role as their Guildmaster for the first time. Their hearts are in the right place. All I have to do is train them to be their best selves, and I’ll have an army that’ll even make the Peak Supreme God proud.
As the final cultivator let loose with everything they had, I spotted a figure racing through the flames. Anna, with a smile on her face and a healing potion in her hands. My girlfriend had already begun to transform into her demonic form, with a pair of cute horns jutting from her forehead and short fangs poking from the corners of her mouth. When she got all decked out in her tight little robe, it took everything I had not to ignore combat in favor of pounding her tig
ht little pussy hard.
“Hey, babe,” I growled, grabbing the healing potion from her hands and downing it in a single gulp. Instantly the stinging pain in my arm began to disappear, my wounds closing as the blood ceased to drip against the boards. “You sure took your sweet time.”
“You wouldn’t believe how close we came to losing, like, four cultivators,” my girlfriend panted, her lips warm against my ear. “It’s not my fault, sir. You know how much I love making monsters bleed with you. I just had to play the naughty little nurse so you didn’t end up with a pile of bodies behind you.”
Grinning, I reached for her with my now healed arm. “Scythe,” I commanded with a nod.
Nibbling her bottom lip, Anna let go. Colors in no hue of the visible spectrum rolled over her body as she transformed, going from a human woman to a living scythe in an instant. A lusty groan echoed in my mind as I picked her up, holding her in one hand and Lyra in the other.
“Fuck yes!” Anna purred, sounding like she’d just slipped into a warm bath after a long, hard day. “That is soooo much better, Master! Ungh I need to slash that stupid beast’s face off!”
That was the plan. The Vasrashat had just finished being pummeled with a series of low-level water spells. Droplets of moisture dripped from the vines binding its body. It raised its head to me, and for a moment I almost expected it to beg me for mercy, or let out a plaintive cry. Of course it was silent—of course Governor Shingu’s frozen face didn’t twitch a bit, or move a single muscle. The lack of any humanity at all on the face of the Vasrashat filled me with disgust.
“Let’s put this thing out of its misery,” I growled, swinging both weapons at once. “Now!”
Pulling every ounce of energy I could from the world around me, I channeled twin streams of pure cultivation through both of my weapons. The earth spell I’d sent through Lyra’s snake spear earlier had been a miscalculation, as strong as the attack had been—she was made for Water spells, and channeling that energy through her paid dividends no other elemental form could match. At the same time I pushed the same Vine Whip spell I’d used earlier through Anna’s scythe, adding a dash of wood to match.
The very air around me roared with power. The Vasrashat’s face didn’t move, but its body stood as still as a statue. Something inside its skull knew this was the end.
I sprang forward, unleashing the charge. Words erupted through the air as I closed the distance, slashing and stabbing with both weapons like I’d been born wielding them:
Eric Casts Boulder Strike!
Eric Casts Gust!
Eric Casts Spout:
Three elements—Water, Earth, and Wood—twisted around each other like the three cords of a strong rope, slashing through the Vasrashat’s muscular body. The water turned to ice, crushing its limbs and stabbing through its chest. The wood formed itself into knives and battered its body like a flimsy shack in a hurricane. And the earth rumbled around it, thick veins of rock caging the beast from its neck down in an unbreakable pyramid as pure energy formed its tomb.
I never stopped moving. Even as the magic cascaded across the garden, I leaped through the air, Anna’s scythe slashing in a horizontal sweep. The beast was closer, then closer, then I was staring into the blank, doll-like eyes of Governor Shingu’s face.
The face twisted sideways as the Vasrashat’s head tumbled from its body. I’d just decapitated it.
A gout of black ichor sprayed from the stump of the creature’s neck, shooting into the air like a geyser. I stepped backward, grimacing at the sight. The flow quickly ceased, and the creature would have crumpled to the ground below if it were still able. The head rolled through the garden, coming to rest beneath a nearby tree. Only the closing of Governor Shingu’s cold, dead eyes told me anything had changed at all.
All at once, my adrenaline fled. The snake spear and the scythe dropped from my hands, reforming into my women in a glowing aura of magic. The garden smelled like ozone; half the trees had been uprooted in the fight, and there were deep trenches carved into the earth. The boards near the sitting table and chairs had been completely destroyed by vines, and would need to be replaced.
My cultivators lay on the bare ground, completely spent. Soojin peeked up warily, sweat covering her forehead. “Did we win?” she asked with a grin.
“We won,” I told her, looking at the Vasrashat’s headless body. “Fuck, that was rough, though. What kind of magic turns a dead body into… that?”
Lyra brushed off her robes, glancing around the ruined garden. “Look at this place,” the owner of the Hungry Herb Tavern muttered, frowning at the destruction. “Every time I have cultivators over for dinner—or breakfast, or lunch—something gets broken. It’s going to take the girls days to put all this back together again.”
I wasn’t listening. Something in the Vasrashat’s neck stump had caught my attention. A golden glint, flashing every few moments like an alarm bell or klaxon. What in the world was that?
I stepped right up to the monster and stood on tiptoe, glancing into the place where its head had once been. Though the thought of getting any of that black ichor on my skin or clothing disgusted me, I had to find out what this was. Moving as gingerly as I could, I plucked the strange glowing thing from the Vasrashat’s body.
It was a Core. But not like any Core I’d ever seen.
Streaks of flowing black pierced the wan, golden glow of the Beast Core. It looked like a lava lamp designed by someone with a particular love of Halloween. The combination of colors made me think of a pumpkin decal. Pale orange and dark black, mixed together like oil and water.
I gave the strange Core a shake and watched the tendrils of black move through the orb like a snow globe. “What the hell is this?” I asked, holding out the Beast Core.
Anna came up and peered into the Core’s depths. “Whatever it is, it’s bad news,” she said with a shudder. “I don’t think any of us should absorb a Core like that.”
I hadn’t even thought of absorbing the thing. I merely wanted to understand it.
“Yeah, that’s definitely not happening,” I said, shaking my head. “Not until we know what the hell it is, at any rate.”
Soojin rose from the floor, one of her eyebrows cocked. “I know what it is,” the young woman blurted. “At least, I know a little bit about it.”
Both Anna and I turned. “Really?” I asked. “Tell me.”
Soojin nibbled her bottom lip. It was clear she didn’t like being put on the spot like this, but since she’d volunteered the information, she had no choice. “I’ve heard about Cores like this,” she explained, touching the edge of the orb with a finger. One of the tendrils inside followed the heat, as if whatever animated the black stuff inside the Core had a mind of its own. “In certain monsters, the Core gets… corrupted somehow. That black stuff is the sign—and Anna’s right. It’s really bad news if a Cultivator tries to absorb the power of a corrupted Core.”
“So it’s useless to us,” I said, something inside of me relaxing. To tell the truth, I wouldn’t be sorry to get rid of it. Something about the ritual Plini did spooked me. Bringing dead bodies back to life as monsters? That was the dark side of cultivation, for sure.
“Not useless,” Lyra chimed in. “If we can find some way to cleanse it, it would be safe for a cultivator to absorb.” She gave Soojin a little smile. “I’ve heard about these as well, young lady.”
Soojin gave the matron of the Hungry Herb Tavern a respectful nod.
“Being part of a ritual that brings the dead to life… I can see how the Core could get corrupted,” I said, peering deep into the thing’s depths. “But is it worth cleansing it to see what it can do? Could it potentially be something high-level?”
Lyra shrugged. “That Vasrashat was… extremely powerful,” she admitted, glancing back at the frozen form of the defeated creature. “If we didn’t have a group and some healing potions—and if we didn’t have a Cultivator capable of wielding multiple weapons at once—then Plini’s gambit wo
uld have succeeded. He’d have assassinated you without it being traced back to the Hollow Frog Guild.”
An assassination attempt. For the first time, I reckoned with the fact that that’s exactly what it was. The Hollow Frog Guild wanted to kill me.
Which meant I’d need to kill them first.
Just then, the sliding door opened and a group of barmaids entered. Behind them stood the rest of the cultivators, who’d run and hidden at Anna’s insistence before the fight. I couldn’t really blame them—considering how many who’d stayed had needed healing to avoid being killed, having more Guild members fighting the Vasrashat would have just given Anna more work to do. Still, we needed to whip these people back into shape.
“Stash that somewhere safe,” I said, handing the corrupted core to one of Lyra’s barmaids. “And get that body buried. If there’s another nasty surprise where it transforms into something else after a while, I want it doing that six feet underground, not in the garden.”
The barmaids nodded and got to work. “Well,” Lyra said, brushing off her robes, “I could most definitely use a bath after all that. Are you up for it, Eric?”
Anna’s gaze sharpened. “Ohh yes. We need to get you nice and clean… Governor.”
“After all, you’re now the most important patron of the Hungry Herb Tavern,” Lyra said, her voice smoke and sex. “Which means I need to take very, very good care of you.”
That mental image of her tending to me echoed in the back of my skull, and my cock throbbed in my pants. “A bath would be nice,” I said.
Both women laughed. “Well then, let’s go,” Lyra said, gesturing for one of the barmaids to follow her. “You can draw it for us, dear. Make sure it’s nice and hot…”
As we turned to leave, I noticed Soojin staring at the three of us. I could practically feel the words on the young woman’s lips—she wanted to join us. To fuck us. To share in Dual Cultivation.