"Oh-my-gosh-Jas-you-were-totally-right-I'm-so-sorry-I-could-kiss-you-right-now-wait-forget-I-said-anything," Nova fired off as Gray Long came charging out of the sensor room, his shroud of darkened ghost following him.
Apologies, dear, my grandmother said in my mind. These are harder to deal with, and he isn't staying still long enough for me consume them.
No worries, Grandmother, I said to the dragon woman, as Nova and I pulled each other the last bit needed to get out of the way.
"Insolent, clever rats!" Gray Long shouted, raising his fists to summon more power around them. "I curse and commend you for your reasonable and annoying tactics!"
"My thanks, senior," I replied, as Nova and I continued to back away from him. He was probably faster than us, but his bulk prevented him from bringing all of his power to bear. "And my half-hearted apologies for their continued use. Vessa," I called out, and the ship itself answered.
A kinetic round of whatever magical, solid object passed for a bullet in this ship slammed into the head of our enemy. He staggered backwards, and blood flew through the air, but to our surprise he did not go down. But as soon as he wiped the blood from his forehead two more rounds fired, smacking into his shoulder and chest. The round to his shoulder lodged into his muscle, but didn't go nearly as deep as I thought it needed to, and the round to his chest didn't even penetrate his breastplate.
The flood dragon did seem to grow more irate, however. Gray Long let out a roar that would have shamed the largest sott-jotun from our earlier battle, and began to glow with flood essence and death mana. The next two rounds that struck him were deflected by the shroud and the new spell shielding him.
A mana practitioner, Grandmother Mara said calmly in my mind. He kept his Advancement as a Sourcebeast, and found a way to fully become a practitioner as well. Like the bloodbeast had.
You do not sound impressed, Grandmother, I replied as Vessa began to fire at our implacable enemy with larger rounds. These struck his shield hard enough to make him stumble, but they still didn't penetrate his armor or Source protection.
I am not, dear, Grandmother responded. He would have gotten a much better deal if he had bound with an Anchor Knight, even if it took longer. But beware his strength. His practitioner level is at least the fifth stage, and he is just shy of becoming a seventh-stage Sourcebeast.
That sounded like a significantly stronger foe than Vessa was expecting us to deal with. Nova and I continued to back away as I spoke with Mara. By now we were adding our own ranged attacks, from Nova's baton and my various techniques. Combined with Vessa's kinetic rounds, that seemed to slowly drain Gray Long's magical shield, but the dragon-man just gritted his teeth, lowered his crocodile-like snout, and began to push his way through our storm of attacks in a low-slung, loping run.
Would you freaking die already? Vessa's magic text scrolled across my eyes as she activated more of her shipboard weapon systems. Great gouts of flame washed out from hidden holes in the walls, and the tiles under the flood dragon's feet began to electrify him. Those spells combined with our attacks to create just enough force to knock Long backwards, and I could finally see smoke rising from his skin, testament to our piercing his magical protection. But he still was not dead.
"Work harder to kill me!" the dragon-man suddenly shouted, dropping to his hands and knees and opening his mouth wide. A large orb the size of an ancient volleyball, made of swirling water and wailing smoke belched out of his mouth, hurtling straight toward us. As it passed through the hallway, Vessa's different weapon systems began sizzling and shorting out.
I swore a quick half-dozen oaths, resummoned my spear, and hurled it into the billowing ball. It splashed through the cloudy orb and dissipated some of the water essence, but most of the missile continued on its course to destroy us. Nova blasted it with a fire-mana-infused blast from her baton, and I summoned up the largest ball of earth qi I could muster and hurled it, but enough of the ball remained to form a baseball.
Get down! Vessa typed. Don't let it hit you!
Nova and I did as directed and dove for the floor. Vessa's remaining weapon systems from further down the hall fired, sending kinetic rounds and great gouts of flame that fully dissipated Gray Long's powerful attack.
As I rolled to a crouch I locked eyes with the corrupted Sourcebeast. His shroud was almost completely gone now, but his eyes were still full of a strange mix of hatred, determination, and respect. As he inhaled again, I realized this was our only real opportunity.
Nestor, now.
The little mouse didn't reply. He just leaped from his hiding spot onto Gray Long's throat. As the mighty creature began to exhale, the little mouse unleashed the lightning attack he had been building up ever since the enemy had identified himself as a flood dragon. I saw a brief glint of what looked to be outrage across Gray Long's face before the creature he couldn't believe he had failed to detect sent enough amps into him to make him begin cooking immediately.
Best of all, it ruined his attack, making the dragon-man's breath weapon detonate inside his own mouth.
Nestor half-leaped, half-hurtled through the air, landing on his feet but skidding almost a full meter away afterwards. I felt an impression of pain from him through our link, but no serious damage.
Even more surprising was that Gray Long still was not dead. The flood dragon was on his knees, clutching his throat and coughing. His throat and both jaws were blackened and torn, but his composure suggested that he had been wounded this badly before, and recovered. He proved my observation correct the next minute, when a new shroud of darkness began billowing out of his back.
Go now, dear, my grandmother said. I will give you everything I can.
A surge of power suddenly filled my body. I had no idea how long it would last, and did not dare waste time speculating. I burned all of my mana, qi, and essence to empower my strength and speed as much as I could without destroying my internal organs and rushed forward. As Nova fired another blast from her wand to ensure our enemy stayed down, I snapped my spear up off the ground, took a running leap to bound off one of the walls and landed spear-first onto Gray Long's back. There was a flash of silver light as my weapon pierced his-still forming shroud, and then his back, then his chest, before finally getting stopped inside of his breastplate.
Mara's head leaned out of my Soulscape to begin snapping and devouring the shroud of restless dead. The angry ghosts of Vessa's boarders screamed as they were destroyed a second time, and I nearly sighed in relief when I realized none of the spirits felt like they were the ship-woman's old crew. But Long looked up in horror as he finally recognized the spectral dragon over his head.
"You," the dragon-man croaked, his entire body trembling now. "You're not his Soulscape."
"No, traitor," my grandmother rasped, her head glaring down at him from my chest. "I am not. Nor am I even the main source of his strength. I am merely one that spoke of the past that you maligned in current memory and past deeds."
"What is his strength?" Gray Long croaked, still trying to push himself up.
"My soul, I suppose," I answered as I crouched down, drew my halfblade and slashed open his throat. "And the fact that it is a much greater thing than my enemies always seem to think."
"Had you been more patient, and less treacherous," Grandmother Mara continued mercilessly as the flood dragon-man collapsed onto the floor and began gurgling, "such power would have easily been yours as well. Instead you threw everything away to gain a lesser wealth. Die now, disgrace. Tell King Yama of the dead to expect the rest of your false empire, when you see him."
To my horror, Long managed to chuckle at that pronunciation, ruined throat notwithstanding.
"That's… problem…" the flood dragon croaked. "Yama…coming… here… all empires… doomed…"
With that news, he let out one last gurgle, and his head lolled to the floor.
CHAPTER TEN
The reptilian Sourcebeast’s body heaved in a final spasman instant before Nova stabbed
him in the head.
"Jerk!" she shouted, as Source energy began to spill out from our enemy's frame. "Maybe next time, you'll be a little more polite to the woman with the flaming sword!"
She panted heavily, but she seemed to be feeling better after her outburst. I tried to think of something to say that would not antagonize her, and then gave up on the idea.
Nestor, are you alright? I sent to my little mouse, even as I typed a question to Vessa in my mind. How badly are your systems damaged?
Am-fine, Nestor sent to me as he scampered over. Ouch-though. Big-boom.
That was freaking annoying, Vessa texted into my mind. My first time fighting with you guys, and he tried to make me look like a chump.
"Same here!" Nova shouted, apparently receiving the ship-woman's text at the same time. "'No, I don't need to talk to you, ship-woman,’" she mouthed, apparently mimicking the flood dragon's speech patterns. "'You're only a piece of an immortal star-faring ship-woman, the whole reason I'm down here! Instead, I'm going to spend all my time talking to your Earthling friend, and totally ignore the fact that you came from Earth, too, because that makes sense!’"
I know, right? Vessa wrote quickly and furiously. It's like he was confronted with the whole reason he was down here and decided to spend like fifteen minutes talking to who he thought was just another subcontractor!
"Yeah, and then he didn't even—"
Source energy poured into me, and I could no longer concentrate on what the two women were saying.
Steady, dear, my grandmother said in my mind as my body started trembling. This will be difficult, but you can handle it. Concentrate as you did when you absorbed pieces of the bloodbeast.
I did as she said, and closed my eyes. With his two different Sources, Gray Long had actually been close in power to the Bloodbeast Vessa had slain on the world we found Mara, and this time, I had played a significant role in his death. My Soulscape began rotating furiously, siphoning essence, mana, and qi into it, directing them to the proper locations in my body and spirit. I was surprised to find that there had been so much qi to absorb, since I hadn't noticed Long use any during the fight, but as something that was both a powerful practitioner and Sourcebeast, I supposed he had plenty of all kinds of energy to spare. Furthermore, his nature as a flood dragon gave me plenty of water qi to absorb.
So I concentrated intensely, and within moments, my mosaic let out a wail, another coppery wisp formed in my mana ore, and the pool of qi in my chest deepened, gaining a murky depth just below the surface. Through our bond, I could feel Nestor shudder with power as well, gaining stronger muscles and organs, as well as improved channels to direct his own Source energy.
Even the dragons inside my soul benefited from the powerful deluge. Dimali and Topa opened their mouths wide, like I had seen baby birds do when they were fed. Mara had landed again, and seemed content to just let the leftover power wash over her, absorbing whatever amount reached her.
I didn't mind. It certainly wasn't like I could absorb all this power on my own.
But since my enemy was a Sourcebeast, the primal aspects of his power began to sink into me as well, a ball of black-and-blue power. My planet stretched it in the same way it had done with the cage drake's power, pulling it in a way that let it break down each element. I absorbed Gray Long's raw strength, but I found that there was a much larger concentration of toughness and protection to his overall power. As my muscles and skin were reinforced, I learned two charms. One allowed my armor and clothing to merge more closely with my body, making any gear I wore both more effective and less restrictive. The second charm coated my skin with a layer of protective gray scales, and if the first charm was already active, those scales would augment any armor I wore as well.
The water qi slammed into me next, being even more forceful than the primal-powered essence was, and I realized it wasn't water qi at all. It was flood qi, the aspect of water that conquers and overwhelms. With some effort, and relying on the lessons I had learned from Vessa and Mara, I was able to direct it into a new technique I could use, one that built off my earlier ones. I used it to replace my old qi barrier technique, creating a much stronger shield over my body, that also enhanced my attacks with the force of a powerful blast of water. To my relief, this barrier could cover my equipment as well, including my weapons. It cost a bit more power than my old barrier, but I would likely be making heavy use of this new power.
Gray Long's mana was the hardest part of his primal power to absorb. The mana reeked of death, darkness, and necromancy. I began to realize that the flood dragon had been on his way to becoming a deathbeast himself, which troubled me. I remembered that he had learned his arts from his Glorious State benefactor, and also that one of the mad shadows had used deathly powers in our last meeting. There was too much of a connection between him, the Glorious State's creators, and the nightmare monsters in the dark. Could there be an even deeper link between corrupted creatures such as bloodbeasts and deathbeasts, one that tied the Glorious State to the nightmares from beyond the night sky?
Then I put the question away, and began to consider how to make use of this power in a way that did not take me down a similarly corrupted route.
Here, dear, my grandmother told me, let me help.
Mara extended her consciousness toward mine, and I began to recall her lessons of soulcraft. As I remembered her first lessons, I extended my soulsense out to the deathly mana, and took a better look at its composition, the way it held together, instead of dissipating under the natural laws of decay.
In a flash of insight, I realized that this mana could be utilized by my science of analytical chemistry. I could create a shield over myself, or someone else, that helped them battle the influence of spirits, or even help counter another individual's soulcraft.
The latter was supremely useful. It would reinforce Vessa's own concealment wards over me and make it much more difficult for a being with powerful soulsense to rifle through my protection and uncover all my secrets, or even worse, attack me with their spirit.
It was another ability I suspected I would make frequent use of.
As I directed the rest of Gray Long's power into my body, my mosaic wailed again, another coppery wisp formed in my mind, and my pool deepened again. For my role in slaying such a powerful foe, I had gained two more substages in every Source.
Meaning, after the results of a single day, I was already halfway to the third stage, which was where the vast, vast majority of practitioners simply stopped at, either never able to reach beyond this point, or simply dedicating themselves to another profession that they could now enhance with Source energy. According to Vessa, most armies were composed of warriors or Sourcebeasts that were below the fourth Advancement level of the three Sources.
I tried to remind myself that I had gotten this far only by surviving life-or-death scenarios, and that it only took one mistake to end both my life and this resplendent future I was supposedly heading toward.
I looked over to see Nova panting as well, adjusting to her own gains.
"Sorry," she huffed as she tried to catch her breath. "Just gained… two substages… in…everything…qi almost ready… for… third stage…" She turned and looked at me, eyes narrowing.
"Jasper," she said, breathing finally under control. "You weren't panting nearly as hard as I was. It better not be because you absorbed twice as much power as I did, with only half the amount of work."
"Just two as well, actually," I said as I shook my head. "My grandmother helped me with it, but otherwise I gained no more strength than you did."
"Good," she said, brightening immediately. She glared at Gray Long's corpse. "See that?" she shouted at the dead body. "I'm just as special as he is! Not some flowery damsel there for decoration!"
You tell him! Vessa typed over both of our eyes. I chose to ignore that the two powerful and amazing women were still arguing with a dead body, and focus on the more positive fact that at least they weren't fighting with each ot
her anymore.
How are you feeling now, Vessa? I asked the ship-woman, since I knew her vessel also absorbed Source energy whenever we slew an enemy.
Much better, thank you, she typed to me. That was more than enough power to fix what the idiot just broke. In fact a lot of it went directly to my flesh-body. There was a brief pause before she began writing again. But I need to figure out how he was able to get down here. My wards really should have stopped an enemy that powerful… and I should have realized he was that strong. I'm sorry, Jas and Nova. I was only able to detect his Source energy as a practitioner. His shroud had hidden his more powerful stage as a Sourcebeast. You two could have been killed in there.
But we weren't, I sent back to her. Instead, we came away even stronger than before. There are too many dangers down here for us to be aware of everything. The only thing we can do is to keep growing in power and get as much as your ship-body back online as we can.
You're right, she sent back to me. And thank you, Jas. I'm ready when you three are.
Nova and I headed back to the living quarters where Vessa was waiting for us. This time, she was almost able to exit the capsule without any help at all. I held out my arm for her, so that she could just walk with assistance this time. But we had made it only a dozen or so steps before she made a frustrated expression and gestured toward my chest. So I scooped her up once again, settled her against my chest, and walked at a quick pace down the halls.
Her lightness worried me, until I realized that she was still gaining healthy increments of weight.
I was just feeling the opposite because I had gotten so much stronger.
"Yes, I think that was it," I heard the gray woman mumble in my arms. "He was unaffected because he was already this deep in when those wards went up. He had to rely on his shroud to repel them, and even then his power was reduced. Otherwise, the four of us probably wouldn't have been able to hurt him at all…"
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