Path of the Berserker

KELSEY STARED INTO the glowing orb with eyes the size of quarters.

“Holy crap, Max!” she said, grabbing it. “You did it! I see stuff!”

I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.

We were in what I was now calling the town square. The courtyard under the lean-to right outside the sealed bunker doors. Most of the residents still hadn’t moved back inside, despite the domicile being cleansed. They watched us from a short distance away as Kelsey and I sat facing one another in lotus position in front of Threja’s sword.

“Can you see any writing on that?” I asked, pointing to the massive blade.

As expected, Kelsey shook her head.

It confirmed she would need to master her Fear of Certain Death and break through to the Core Realm like I did to see it. But for her to actually understand the script, it would take even more than that. I had managed to transcribe her Orb with English, but to read Threja’s sword, Kelsey would eventually need to learn Yee.

It was a reminder that despite all I was doing for the people here, the true goal would be to eventually integrate them into Yee society. And for that I needed two things. One, I needed to ensure the strength of the Terran Sect was beyond reproach. That meant me doubly needing to progress as high as I could within the Gold Bracket and qualifying for Jade. And two, I needed to teach my people Yee.

“Hey, is there anyone here who is really good at languages?” I asked.

“Hmm?” Kelsey said, looking up from the orb. “Sorry I was in a really deep zone just now. Max, this is amazing. There is so much information here. It’s not even like I’m reading it. It’s like the words are appearing right inside my mind!”

I chuckled. “That means you are training your Mental Capacity already. Focus on memorizing it and you can commit the Shuras to your very soul.”

She nodded. “There is so much for me to learn.”

“That you have, little sister,” I said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “And now that you have that orb, you are truly on your own Path of the Frenzied Flame now. No longer look to me as your guide, but to the scriptures. I will forever be your elder brother, but remember we are equals before the Flame. Fellow practitioners along the same path, not teacher and student like the other sects will teach. Remember always. A Berserker has no master, we----—”

“Have no sect,” Kelsey completed the verse for me. “Pain, rage and struggle are our only true teachers.”

I smiled proud as ever. “Well done, little sister.”

Kelsey amazed me by shifting to her knees to give me a bow I’d never taught her to do. “Thank you, Max, for starting me along my journey. I’ll take it from here.”

I returned the bow.

“Oh, and to answer your question. June knows a couple of languages, I think. Why?”

“I need someone to start teaching everyone Yee,” I said. “I’ll probably need to find someone that’s a lot smarter than me to teach them, but I need someone with the ability to learn and teach others.”

“I wash…good…yes?” Kelsey suddenly said, speaking in Yee.

I laughed taken by surprise.

“What?” she said. “Did I say it wrong?”

“I think you meant, I learn good,” I said, switching to Yee to say the phrase.

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“It’s loo-oo not loo,” I said emphasizing the phonetic differences between the Yee words for learn and wash. “It’s the tones that will kill you. There are seven of them you’ll have to master.”

“Damn,” Kelsey said, shaking her head. “Guess I’m not ready to go to the city yet.”

“Soon,” I said. “But I’ll need to find you all a good teacher first.”

We chatted some more, with Kelsey filling me in on the state of the community. Jim’s team had begun clearing strips of land to create fields to plant some of the seeds I’d brought. Kelsey meanwhile had been practicing her cultivation by bringing in a steady supply of fresh meat. But aside from that, things weren’t exactly back to normal at all.

“Everyone is still shaken up by the attack,” she said. “We’ve haven’t lost people like that in a long time. I don’t think we’ll all feel safe until we destroy that gate or whatever it is back at the second base and make sure those demons never come back from the underground ever again.”

“We will,” I said, remembering my promise to her. “We’ll deal with it as soon as we’re strong enough. Speaking of that, I had a bit of a breakthrough back in the city. All thanks to you I might add.”

“Me?”

I laughed and felt a little embarrassed. “Your relationship advice worked. We’re back together again.”

“Who?”

“The girl I like, remember?”

“Oh!” Kelsey said with a laugh. “Congratz. Sorry I forgot what I even told you. But if it worked, you’re welcome.”

I grinned like an idiot. “It sure did. It’s what got me to finally scribe the orb. Now I just need to master the [Soul Shield] technique before we can truly take on I’xol’ukz. Or attempt to anyway.”

I then filled Kelsey in on all I had learned from Xi Xha about the dark god. The reference to I’xol’ukz in that ancient text and how it could be related to the Cursed Stars. As I recounted the information to her, I had a second chance to reconsider it all myself.

“It took someone with the strength of a Soul Emperor to seal this thing away thousands of years ago,” I said. “So the entity that I encounter while I’m under the effect of the Bloodmoon can’t be the real it. I wouldn’t be powerful enough to resist it at all, if it were. I think I’m seeing a shadow or projection of this thing maybe. Like a ghost. And it’s not trying to kill me either. It’s trying to possess my body like it did Hong Feng’s.”

“Who is Hong Feng?”

I then had to explain that whole story of the Fire Birds and their use of Dark Frenzy and how I’xol’ukz actually materialized in the physical world, by using Hong Feng’s body after I had killed him.

“Sounds like a parasite taking over the host’s body after it kills it,” Kelsey said. “My mom knows about stuff like that. Like these weird zombie snails that get taken over by parasitic worms which cause them to sacrifice themselves to birds.”

“What?” I said, looking at her confused.

“Nevermind. It was a weird nature show thing. Anyway, maybe that’s what this Dark Frenzy really is. Like a parasitic infection that turns you into a monster. Only if you’re strong enough, you can resist it longer. The same way you can.”

My Flame surged a little. “That was brilliant, Kelsey.”

As I pondered on it some more a new thought occurred. What if the tentacle monster I thought of as I’xol’ukz was not its true form at all, but a mere manifestation of itself. The same way it had manifested in the real world within Hong Feng’s body. One thing remained consistent throughout all my encounters with it. Whether it came in the form of the Bloodmoon or those demonic cultivators or the gate I experienced on the 4th floor of the bunker.

It was the Dark Frenzy.

I searched within myself and recalled how the being never truly referred to me as myself at all, but rather my Flame. It saw my Flame, not me. It saw me only as a husk. But what if I, as a husk, could only see its husk? And if that tentacle monster was but a husk, then what was its true self?

My Flame surged with Insight as the truth suddenly hit me.

“Oh my God,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about this all wrong.”

“What?” Kelsey asked.

“I kept thinking that maybe this I’xol’ukz simply produced or radiated Dark Frenzy, like the same way Threja’s sword radiates Pure Frenzy. But it’s not a physical being, I think. It’s a spirit. A force of will. Just like our Frenzied Flame. It’s on the same level as that. A primal eternal entity we can’t fully comprehend.”

“So what does that mean?”

“It’s as you described it, Kelsey. It’s a parasitic force that devolves anything it influences. It turns animals and humans into demons and spirit beasts and can manifest itself in the hearts of cultivators who practice demonic arts.”

“I still don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I’m saying that I’xol’ukz, this dark god or King of the Moon. It doesn’t just radiate Dark Frenzy. I’m saying it is Dark Frenzy.”

My Flame flared a shade brighter as if unlocking some great truth and I saw the world through new eyes. “This whole time I’ve been thinking of coming back here and chopping apart some giant tentacle monster. But how do you fight against a force like Dark Frenzy itself?”

“I don’t know,” Kelsey said. “But you’re going to need to figure it out kind of quick. It’s fall right now and I don’t know if we can survive out here when winter rolls around.”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying we still need to get all these people back inside the bunker before winter comes, Max. We’re still talking about securing the bunker, aren’t we?”

Crap, I’d never even thought of that.

The winters this far north were brutal even within the city. I could only imagine what it would be like for mortals surviving with little to no shelter at all.

“Jim says we can probably start building top side after we plant the fields,” Kelsey said. “But we won’t have enough shelter for everyone. And it won’t be good structures either. We used up most of the raw materials on building the wall. We need to secure the bunker so everyone can survive the year.”

I glanced up at Threja’s sword with new eyes. If I’xol’ukz was Dark Frenzy, then I needed to fight fire with fire. The gates were but conduits. Fast tracks to spill more Dark Frenzy into our world. But I needed to think beyond that. “We still need to destroy that gate,” I said. “But maybe there’s something more important we can do in the meantime.”

“Like what?”

“The barrier from the sword went down three floors when the demons last attacked. If I keep strengthening the barrier, maybe I can push it down even further. To the bottom even.”

Kelsey nodded. “Well, we’d definitely need to use the whole bunker if we’re going to be stuck in there for months again. You think it will work?”

“I’m not sure, but like you said. Won’t know unless we try. And knowing what I’xol’ukz truly is now, anything we can do to fight against the influence of Dark Frenzy, the better.”

I looked at Threja’s sword with even more appreciation. It was just as powerful as the aetherite crystals holding aloft the giant pagodas in the sky, able to suppress the influence of a dark god. A dark god that was clearly at the heart of those Cursed Stars as well.

“So let’s get to killing giant monsters then,” Kelsey said with a smile. “We need to buff that sword.”

I looked up at the sun, now approaching midmorning. “Wish I could, Kelsey, but I need to get back.”

“What? Already? You literally just got here.”

It was true.

I’d left the square at dawn and powered all the way here in less than three hours. My Dantian was well spent, but I still had what I figured was a quarter of a tank left to get back home. Not enough to sprint all the way, but enough to hopefully limp the last couple of miles to reach the city before the Bloodmoon rose.

It seemed almost trivial now compared to the revelation I’d just had, but there were things still as equally as important to me as defeating a cosmic entity in my eyes. I needed to keep my date with Fia and considering my resolution with her was the key to unlocking my spiritual blockage, perhaps maintaining my earthly relationships was far even more important than I could foresee right now.

“I’ve got no time,” I said. “I need to get back to start my training tomorrow morning. That girl I like is going to teach me how to beat up her cousin.”

Kelsey looked at me like I was crazy. “What?”

“Yeah, I’ve got to fight her—her cousin that is—in a tournament in five days.”

“Damn you guys really like to fight, huh?”

I shrugged. “It’s what we do.”

“I thought you said there is no master and teacher though. What is she supposed to be teaching you?”

“Oh, that rule doesn’t apply when it comes to fighting techniques,” I said. “The Path of the Flame is your internal strength, but it kind of assumes you’re already a badass at fighting. So don’t worry. I’ll still teach you your axe techniques. And whatever else I pick up. Speaking of which...” I looked back to Threja’s sword again. “I really need to find my teacher to learn how to use that properly. It’ll take me a year to extend the barrier with how bad I am at using that thing right now.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a lot to do before you can start killing giant monsters again,” Kelsey said, standing from her knees in one go. “Next time then?”

I nodded. “Next time. Give me about a week. I’ll hopefully have a couple of lessons under my belt by then. After that, it’ll be full speed ahead on killing monsters until winter.”

* * *

I arrived back at the city with minutes to spare, hauling my Frenzy-drained body over the finish line right before the Bloodmoon rose. I was punch drunk tired and would be meeting Fia in the morning out in the wild. I wanted nothing more than to hit the sack and prepare for my day of training with her, but after my conversation with Kelsey, I knew I had more than just the Iron Bracket win to prepare for now. After grabbing a quick bite to eat in the market district, I made a bee line for Master Edrik’s place to check on the sword.

“Another couple of days,” he said as he showed me the still unfinished work.

The Phalanx Glaive had taken shape, but was still rough around the edges, needing to be sharpened and polished. Or so Master Edrik explained. I took a hand at giving it a couple of swings and it reacted just like the original. Massively off balanced and hard to control.

“Feels about right,” I said.

Edrik chuckled. “Looks like you’re going to chop your own head off with that thing.”

“Tell me about it,” I said with a laugh. “Speaking of which, I need to seek out a glaive master to train me with it.”

“A good idea,” Edrik said, still chuckling.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find a place called the Golden Spire, would you?”

Edrik furrowed his brows. “I do. Why?”

I smiled. “I know a guy who promised to buy me a drink there once for beating him in the ring.”

Edrik continued to stare at me baffled. “And that will help how?”

“Said guy happens to be the great Iron Pot Wong,” I said, admiring the unfinished blade. “I’m hoping I can convince him to become my teacher. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the best damn glaive master in the world.”

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