[Ashborn-B1] 94. A Day for Feasting (Patreon)

XCIV

A day for Feasting

“Where did we leave off?” I said.

Lightning coursed and turned the grass beneath Raiden’s feet to charcoal. The millions of eyes woven into Gaje’s cloak reflected my image in their vertically-slit pupils, and Aedan twirled her morningstar onto her shoulders. Around them, the Black Fangs and Immortals licked their lips to taste the tension in the air.

A shadow consumed them all, the canopy of a tree which was still growing even now.

No one moved.

Instead of looking away from my enemies, I used Saber to spot what was happening near the central pillar. The king’s attack was ongoing. However, the aftershocks radiating from the attack had lessened.

‘He’s running out of energy.’

The central pillar also didn’t look like it was close to breaking, so the shrine would end soon.

My sight swapped back. ‘That’s not desirable.’ If the shrine finished, the energy flowing through the powerlines may go with it. Should that happen…

The small amount of skin showing under my sleeves turned a dark grey. The rest of my face transformed, too, and my blade whistled out of its scabbard.

Thunder struck the field. Raiden hurled across the distance, less than a blur, more of a smudge against the canvas that was the world.

‘He’s quick.’ But then what else was a lighting cultivator supposed to be?

Skul’s frame tensed so he could lurch forward and intercept, but I steered his attention away from the thunderbolt. ‘Stay in our wings,’ I ordered. ‘Wait until Gaje and Aedan make a move.’ Those two were the biggest threats to my life.

Between blinks, the hurling black bolt was in front of me. I could barely make out the silhouette of Raiden’s warped face beneath the dark light. The strains and pulled nerves on his face reminded me of the drake I’d fought in front of the Tomb entrance. Of Senna, who’d chased me down all by her lonesome in an attempt to cull my existence from this world.

I didn’t step out of the way of the bolt’s path. The branch I was standing on curved unnaturally like a great force had pulled it to the side.

Raiden flew past me and rammed into the trunk. Besides a few splinter of wood, his attack didn’t manage to break anything.

‘Good. It’s sturdy.’ I’d need that if I wanted to battle this many opponents at once.

Raiden’s exposed back was an opportunity but I didn’t strike him. The bark of the infant cindertree loosened and the folds expanded like the body of a serpents to wrap the cultivator in a mother’s hug.

Wood muffled his scream. His lightning sparked to roll across the entire length of the trunk. The tree absorbed it without reaction.

“Cool off for a while,” I said.

The tree wouldn’t keep him locked in place for long—already, steam was hissing from beneath the ropes—but it’d at least take some time.

‘Let’s cull the masses whole he’s out.’

After Raiden charged, the remainder of the army, except for Gaje, had burst into motion, too, albeit without his speed. Skul stayed in the treetops like I told him. Saber rushed into the fray. Aedan was already headed in the tiger’s direction. He hadn’t been able to take her on in his Fang of the Garden state, so he wouldn’t be able to handle her now.

‘Skul, lend him your guardians.’

The two spirits had dissolved after Skul evolved, leaving me to wonder at their changes. They sported the same violet line of ember along the forehead and nose as Skul. That was only half of their changes.

‘They lost their drake like appearance.’ Their main forms were less consistent and more ghost-like. Was it because I’d not chosen the drake path of progression?

Skul’s summons shot out of the treetop like hungry souls on a cold night. Since Saber was fighting directly below the canopy, they arrived at the same time, and all three smashed into a dup of cultivators wielding axes and sporting wolf tattoos. They did not live very long but they got my summons to overextend. A feline cultivator, one that must’ve belonged to the same clan as Maya, leapt into Saber’s blindspot. Meanwhile, a burly boy wielding a two-handed cleaver screamed his lungs out and brought his weapon down to decapitate one of the guardians. The second ghost whirled to support its brethren, but a swirl of essence in the form of a fox head wrapped around its physique and trapped it in place.

The ground beneath the cleaver-wielding disciple broke. Thin but firm offshoots of the infant cindertree’s underground system pulled his attack off-course. I considered doing the same to the feline cultivator, but stopped myself, and I focused on my connection with Saber.

Claws enhanced by pure muscle sharpened into a point above the feline man’s wirst.

Saber tensed so he could jump—

‘Don’t,’ I thought. ‘Prepare for the counterattack.’

The cat-like man laughed. When he set his last step to get in range, the tremors of his footfall burrowed through the earth. This strike would burst my head like an overripe fruit if it found my skull.

But that was only if it was unprotected.

Nerves flexed on my forehead. Since he expected to carve straight through Saber, the cultivator bend his arm so he could angle the blow and completely open up Saber’s stomach. Instead his blow ricocheted off Saber’s fur. Through Saber’s sight, I saw the man’s pupils widen until they filled his sockets. He whirled back to the impact zone—

And never got to see the bark covering Saber’s fur before the summon ripped out his throat.

The thrill of the hunt reverberated through Saber’s bond. He spun around for a second bite. And was promptly smashed in the face by Aedan’s morningstar. My bark broke the hit. Otherwise, that would’ve been his entire head crushed into mush.

One of Skul’s guardians was still being restrained by the fox spirit. My sight whirled across the field and found the cultivator they belonged to. The girl was wearing another one of the spirits like a shawl. They must come in a pair. Or perhaps she created them on the spot.

Either way, I wasn’t worried.

‘They’re not forcing me to come to them.’ Which had them fighting in direct range of the tree. They probably weren’t thinking about the energy dissipating when the shrine finished.

If the shrine finished, I supposed. Kayle should’ve been the one to ensure the final shard made it to the central pillar. Now that she was gone, that job fell to Kiran.

The thief was sneaky enough that he could swipe the stone when the fourth pillar gave it up, but that assumed he was aware of the situation.

‘He must be.’ Someone like him wouldn’t miss the battle taking place here.

‘I should tell him to wait.’

The problem was that I didn’t know where he was. Even if I did, explaining the situation to him would let the others overhear.

‘Just finish this quickly.’

My sight turned on the beast waiting in the distance. Gaje stood entirely still while following my every move, dissecting me for weaknesses to exploit.

Unfortunately for him, I felt stronger than ever.

“Fine,” I whispered. “if you won’t come to me…”

My one arm grabbed onto Skul’s head, and the summon propelled forwards.

Leaving the others behind left Saber and the guardians exposed, but the tree would support them where it could. Besides, if Saber died after taking care of a few more enemies, that was fine. Ashwing was rearing to enter the battle. Also, Saber could still use his Flame Horizon.

In a display similar to my own, the Nightmare didn’t move out of the way of our charge.

‘I’ve got to be careful.’ Skul may have evolved, but I wasn’t aware of everything Gaje could do yet.

The cape hanging off Skul’s neck wailed and embers scattering in the wake of his flight burned whoever they touched to the soul. He twisted so his open jaw covered more of the Nightmare’s body.

Gaje shifted and appeared to the side of where he was standing.

I frowned. ‘He’s fast.’ Way quicker than Raiden. I couldn’t even see him move.

The earth sundered beneath Skul’s wrath. He buries his claws into the earth, used them like hooks, and changed direction.

Gaje was waiting with both his talons glowing a similar hue to that of my balekin.

‘My barkskin won’t stop that.‘ So I leapt off Skul’s rear.

Twin talons came down in a cross-shape and slammed into Skul’s back. The balekin wraith’s velocity changed direction. The force behind the attack was so great Skul’s face deformed from the acceleration.

I continued to create distance as a great cloud of dirt blocked the view. Skul would be alright. Unlike me, he was not a being of flesh and bone. He was also uniquely suited to survive soul attacks. Which was I wasn’t surprised when Gaje whirled out of the cloud towards me, with Skul right on his tail.

Skul wasn’t faster than the Nightmare despite his evolution, but he didn’t need to be. Fires bloomed in front of the summon, whose other end opened beside my head.

I exhaled as Skul rushed past me to block Gaje. “Azure garden.”

An azure ellipse expanded with the balekin at the centre, which cast the world in blue light. Six-petalled, transparent flowers appeared in the path of the pulse and hovered in the air like spirits. One of them touched my neck and sent a chilling touch of frost down the base of my neck into my spine.

Gaje’s feet planted mid-leap. They dug through the soil to kill his momentum, then he smacked Skul out of the way like a blade would another sword.

His hundred eyes whirled on me.

‘His instincts are good.’

The entire time, I’d refrained from making myself the main form of attack. Not only because my summons were stronger than me, but also to condition my enemies. If they did not see me as the main threat, any move I did make would be all the deadlier.

But it didn’t matter if he could see this coming.

“I didn’t get to reveal this one last time, did I?” I whispered.

My bond with Skul thrummed like the strings on an instrument. Leg muscles bulged as I crouched and glared through the strands of hair falling in front of my eyes. I whispered:

“Soul Resonance.”

Skul blazed. Any remnant of moisture on the grass plane evaporated as cold flames slithered outwards from my core. The flames burrowed into every muscle, entered every pathway. I concentrated them in my palms and fed the energy into my blade. The metal ignited. Fires consumed the sword, wreathed around the steel in a dance reminiscent of a festival celebration around a pyre. And when one strained their ears, they’d be able to hear the cries of joy.

There would be no joy to be found at the end of this strike.