by Aaron Oster
“Maybe,” Aika replied. “I can’t really tell.”
Roy could hear how hard she was breathing, despite doing her best to keep it under control. He was also having a hard time and beginning to flag. If they did nothing, it wasn’t Beasts that would mean their demise; it would be the environment.
“Guess we don’t really have much choice,” Roy said, wiping his forehead again. “Let’s make a plan, then move. Agreed?”
Aika gave him a tired nod and the two of them began planning their path.
36
The first of the lizard-like Beasts emerged from the pools as soon as the two of them stepped off, their bodies glowing with the telltale signs of their Movement techniques. As soon as he began to move, it was clear to Roy that neither he nor Aika was in peak condition. Judging by how sluggishly his body was responding, he might be able to move around half as fast as he normally would.
The two of them shot forward in streaks of light, quickly weaving between the pillars and pools of magma, but, just as they’d suspected, the Beasts reacted faster the deeper they ran.
By the time the path was some forty yards back, the Beasts were practically swarming the place, their long, low bodies exploding from the magma and lunging at them as they passed. At first, the two of them were able to avoid them, only feeling splatters of molten stone hitting their Armorer techniques, but by the time they made it halfway, the Beasts were not so easily avoided.
Roy struck out, ejecting Power Qi in a cone before him. This wasn’t a technique, just an unfocused blast of Qi, so it only partially threw off their attacker. The first lizard slammed into him, its needle-sharp teeth punching through his Armorer technique and sinking into his shoulder.
He screamed as scorching hot pain flashed through him, the teeth burning before Aika managed to kick it off. The Beast flew through the air before landing in a nearby magma pool with a splash.
“Are you okay?” Aika asked.
In truth, he wasn’t okay, but they couldn’t stop to tend to the wound. The heat of the lizard’s teeth had cauterized it, so it wasn’t bleeding at all, but the blackened flesh around the wound told him that it would be an uncomfortable few days as the wound healed. Worse, he could already feel the Fire Qi the Beast had injected trying to burn him from the inside. This would further slow him, as his own Qi battled to rid him of the toxic invader.
Roy began running again, striking out left and right to try and keep the Beasts back. They swung around a pillar, finding two of the creatures in their way. Behind, Roy could hear more coming and knew that if they slowed down, they would undoubtedly be caught.
“Get the right one!” Roy yelled, striking out with his Projected technique and aiming for the leftmost of the lizards.
Thankfully, Aika reacted quickly, and even as the golden beam of Power tore into the Beast on the left, a half dozen lances of Light slammed into the lizard on the right. Neither of them was injured too badly, but they were tossed out of the way, leaving it clear for just a few more seconds.
Roy was breathing hard by now, his cycling rhythm all but destroyed. It was difficult to keep going, as the oppressive heat threatened to topple him at any moment. The ground seemed to ripple and shift, coming up to meet him as he ran, and several times, he nearly stumbled into one of the pools of magma.
Aika let out a scream of pain, and Roy whirled, seeing that one of the lizards had leaped on her and clamped onto her right arm. He lunged, driving his Exploding Fist-Strike into the Beast and tossing it free. A trail of red followed, and though Aika was clearly in a lot of pain, Roy grabbed her arm and dragged her behind him.
A single look over his shoulder showed him that nearly a hundred of the lizards were giving chase, all hissing and crying for blood. He swerved to the right, avoiding a magma pool, then stopped short, allowing a lizard to sail across his path. He pulled hard to the right again, cutting around a pillar, and found himself facing the wall.
It took him a few moments to realize that they’d made it. However, as he looked to either side, he saw that the hole they’d noticed was some thirty yards to their left.
“We pulled too hard to the right,” Roy cursed, seeing the lizards closing in and trying to cut them off from escaping.
He took off, feeling Aika drag momentarily before following. Their Movement techniques were barely doing anything by that point, their breathing so ragged that it was nearly impossible to keep their Qi flowing correctly. Roy cursed silently as several lizards managed to get between them and the safe zone.
Looking to his left, he saw more Beasts incoming, which meant that trying to cut around them would be all but impossible. There was only one thing he could do now, and for that, he was going to need to reestablish a modicum of control.
Roy breathed in deeply, ignoring the burning pain of the Fire Essence as it entered his lungs. He felt more of his body’s resources turn to the task of getting rid of it, which meant more exhaustion. But, along with that Fire Essence came air, sweet, sweet air that he then used to reestablish some small control over his cultivation.
They closed within five yards of the lizards, and Roy breathed in deeply again, pain wracking his body as it tried to fight off the invasive Essence. Two yards. Roy inhaled. The Beasts were right on top of them…
Golden light exploded from Roy’s feet as he leaped into the air, dragging Aika behind him as a nearly dead weight. The lizards hissed, one of them leaping and managing to snag his ankle, but Roy kicked off again, the force of his Airstep throwing them up and over the Beasts and dislodging the lizard’s grip.
Roy landed badly, his ankle twisting and pain shooting up his leg, but he stumbled onward, finally tripping and falling into the opening in the wall. He felt Aika land on top of him, the air being forced from his lungs. But, when he breathed in reflexively, no pain greeted him.
Cool, soothing air flowed into his lungs, revitalizing him in a way that shouldn’t have been possible.
He groaned as Aika slid off him and half-turned to peer through the opening. The lizards had stopped just short of the entrance. Some were already leaving, while others stayed a few extra seconds, hissing in annoyance at having missed out on a meal.
“How are you doing?” Roy asked, still sounding breathless as he forced himself upright.
“My arm burns,” Aika said, her eyes half-lidded. “And I think I broke something in my shoulder.”
Roy looked down at his leg. Lancing pain radiated from his ankle, and he knew that if it wasn’t broken, it was definitely a bad sprain. That was not to mention the burning in his shoulder where one of the lizards had bitten him. Even once they recovered their stamina, Roy knew that neither of them would be going anywhere for the next few days.
He looked around the small cave, noting that there was a small pool of water near the far wall, as well as some vegetation. The air was cool and damp, which felt amazing on his burned and raw skin. It soothed his lungs as well, a cool mist entering to combat the scorching heat of the fire.
It wasn’t a large cave, only twelve feet in width and seven feet tall, but after what they’d just endured, it was the most beautiful place Roy had ever seen.
“Come on,” he said, reaching for Aika. “Let’s get you over to the water so we can wash out those wounds.”
Aika groaned as Roy pulled her along the ground, having to pause to pull himself with the same arm. Only one arm was whole and uninjured, and with his ankle the way it was, he wouldn’t be walking anywhere.
His hand dipped into the water, and Roy let out a sigh. It was cool and clear. He wanted to dunk his head into it and just drink, but Aika needed it more than him. Groaning, he fished an empty bottle from his pack and plunged it into the water.
“Here,” he said, lifting her head and placing the rim of the bottle to her lips.
Aika immediately latched on, her good arm coming up to try and drink faster.
“Slowly,” Roy said, keeping the bottle still.
Aika whined low in her throat, but Ro
y didn’t relent. He kept the water coming slow and steady until her arm slipped from the bottle. For some reason, she’d fared worse than he had down there, which was odd, considering how Fire and Light Essence were so closely related.
Roy kept giving her water until she turned her head aside, then refilled the bottle and drank himself. He took slow sips, enjoying the blissful feeling of his insides cooling down. Aika tried to curl up and go to sleep, but Roy didn’t let her until he’d washed out and bandaged her wound. Only once he was sure that she’d gotten her Qi moving through her body to combat the burns did he concentrate on himself.
“Shouldn’t I be more exhausted?” Roy asked to try and distract himself as he began washing his burned shoulder.
“Maybe,” Geon said. “Maybe not.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, wincing as the water touched his sensitive skin.
“What I mean is that you’re weird,” Geon replied. “You’re a Blue-Belt, but you’re also not a Blue-Belt. You’ve had the power of Purple-level Qi running through you, and it changed you permanently. Once something like that happens, there’s no reversing it, even if, for some reason, your Belt is still only Blue.”
“My parents managed to take everything I had,” Roy said, carefully binding the wound and moving on to examine his ankle.
“Yes. But no one’s stealing your power now, are they?” Geon replied. “You have the capacity. You have the strength. You have the constitution. What you don’t have right now is the ability to use it all. The Belt is keeping you locked to the rank of Blue so you can’t utilize your full potential. But, at the same time, your body is still made of the same stuff. See what I mean?”
“Maybe?” Roy replied, pulling his pants' leg up and examining the ankle that was already starting to swell.
He rotated slowly, sinking his foot into the cool water, hoping that it might take care of it. Then, he would bind it and pray that his Qi would help him recover within a few days.
“What part of what I just said didn’t you understand?” Geon asked.
“The part about my body being tougher,” Roy said with a sigh. “If I’m supposed to be stronger, why did I suffer the same injuries as Aika? Why is moving through this level taxing me so much? And why did a small fall of maybe four feet hurt my ankle so much?”
While a fall from four feet onto an ankle would undoubtedly have broken for someone weaker, it shouldn’t have done anything at his level of advancement.
“You’d almost completely lost your cycling rhythm by then. Plus, you were exhausted,” Geon said. “Remember, even the strongest Martial Artists can fall when they’re tired and depleted of power. Yes, a White-Belt will probably never be able to kill you, no matter how tired you are, but a Green-Belt most definitely can, if you’ve exhausted all of your resources. Is it any wonder then that Peak Blue-level Beasts managed to injure the two of you?”
Roy hadn’t actually gotten a chance to see how strong those Beasts were. The fact that they were only at Peak Blue was surprising but meant that they weren’t fighting the terrifyingly overwhelming odds he’d feared.
“I guess you’ve got a good point there,” he admitted.
“Of course, I do,” Geon said haughtily. “Because I am amazing.”
Roy lapsed into silence then, feeling the cool water reducing the swelling around his still-throbbing ankle. About thirty minutes later, he removed and bandaged it. Aika was fast asleep, her skin looking particularly red, though that could have been a result of the light bleeding in from the outside.
Now that he’d had a chance to relax, the adrenaline that had been keeping him going was all but gone, leaving him feeling utterly drained. Roy didn’t remember closing his eyes as sleep claimed him.
37
Hermit stood at the center of the meeting room once again. Behind him, he could feel Ikari all but glaring holes through his back, but he ignored his sister in favor of addressing the room at large. After that little display he’d put on when Duncan had been on the verge of advancing, he’d earned the ability to speak freely without being interrupted.
It had taken him another three days to convince Ikari to return. By the end, he was pretty sure that she was doing it just to spite him. However, she’d finally agreed to come back, so long as Duncan agreed to not even look at her. Duncan had said that nothing would give him more pleasure, and so, here they were. As expected, nothing was happening.
“I still don’t understand why we need to bring our fighters all the way out here,” Sora Ame said.
Just as before, she lounged in her chair, her muscular arms bare and crossed beneath her chest.
“As we previously explained,” Inu Pelata said. “Once they have the Windblight, all of Safaia is open to them. We realize that you have the farthest to travel but can assure you that our clan will cover any extra expenses.”
“And why, exactly, are we allowing the Inu clan to take charge?” Nami, the Sovereign of the Kuren Clan, asked. “Our lands, as well as the Heralds’, have just as much to lose, if not more. If Nev Caldera is taken, the Beast will have access to the sea and all of my shipping routes along the coast of Safaia. Not only will our home be destroyed, but they’ll have access to ports in four of the Seven Clans.”
“Then, pray tell,” Pelata said, clearly trying to control his temper, “who would you have in charge? Tell us? Which one of us would garner a majority of votes to be put above the rest?”
Silence fell over the room at that, as all of the Sovereigns – with the exception of Duncan and Ikari – looked to one another. Although they weren’t all technically on the same level, they all carried the same title and role as the head of a clan. If any of them agreed to bow to another, they would be weakening themselves in the eyes of the others.
Truthfully, the only way for them to really be unified would be if one of the Scions were to make an appearance and take control. However, Hermit highly doubted that any of them would. They had a different way of thinking about things and only tended to act when they felt like it.
“Perhaps we’re going about this all wrong,” Makura Amber said, getting the room’s attention. “Instead of looking for a single leader, why don’t we all just agree to remain as separate parties? We can still work together. Our forces will all be in the same place, so what’s the big deal?”
“Typical answer from someone who has no clan affiliation,” Ikari growled.
“That’s not how things work,” Sora Ame said, tapping one of her fingers against her bicep. “If we have no single leader, then we’ll be acting as seven independent forces. Even if we’re all in the same place, seven armies will fall before a single unified one.”
“Much as I hate to agree with a Sora, she has a good point,” Pelata said, earning him a glare from the woman.
“And so, we’ve circled right back around,” Mizumi Tokei said, her quiet voice carrying through the room.
Everyone went silent at that, a couple glaring at her for daring to point it out and others smirking to themselves for the same reason.
“I guess the first question would be, who wants to lead?” Hermit said after the silence had stretched for nearly a minute.
As he’d expected, every single hand in the room went up, with the exception of Sanshoo Kumo, who nobody would agree to follow.
“I say we rule the outsiders out from the start,” Sora Ame said, all but glaring between Hermit, Amber, and Ha.
“You do realize that we don’t need to be here, right?” Itami Ha said in a dry voice. “We can leave if we want to and won’t have to deal with any consequences. Unlike all of you, I don’t need a clan to have power. I can get it all on my own.”
“You take that back!” Ame yelled, shooting to her feet.
She wasn’t the only one. Ikari, Pelata, Nami, and Duncan all shot to their feet along with her. The only clan head who remained seated was Mizumi Tokei.
“You all need to stop behaving like children,” she said, hiding a smile behind an upraised hand. “It’
s beyond shameful.”
“This is coming from the youngest one here,” Ame snapped. “How old are you, three hundred? Come talk to me in a few more centuries when you’ve had a chance to hit puberty!”
Tokei didn’t rise to the bait, only smirking wider, the corners of her lips becoming visible.
“That’s a typical answer from a brute like you, isn’t it?” she replied. “You have nothing intelligent to say, so you resort to name-calling to try and belittle me. I am the epitome of refined beauty in my clan and have men kicking down my doors to be my fourth husband. Unlike you, whose betrothed scorned them for some other woman.”
Her eyes flicked to Pelata for a moment when she said that, and Ame’s face went a deep shade of crimson.
“Oh, I am so going to enjoy killing you,” Ame said, a gust of wind kicking up around her and a blazing green aura outlining her body.
“What, you think just because you’re a few Dan higher that you stand a chance?” Tokei replied, her chair cracking as blue light began radiating out from her in waves.
Hermit tensed, preparing himself to intervene again if needed. Mizumi Tokei was a 3rd Dan Gray-Belt on the base Path of Water, one of the most powerful Martial Artists on the continent. However, Sora Ame was an 8th Dan Gray-Belt and had already passed the threshold. Aside from him and Duncan, she was the single most powerful Martial Artist there, and in terms of brute strength, he was fairly certain she could outclass them all.
A loud crash came from outside the room, startling them all, and a moment later, the very last people Hermit expected to see came stumbling in.
“What the hell are you doing here, traitor?!” Ikari hissed, glaring at one of the new arrivals.
“I would like to know that as well,” Pelata said. “Who are you, and why have you interrupted this meeting?”