Path of the Berserker

I stormed northward along the forest path, Lady Silver Light trailing close behind me. It was strangely reminiscent of my first excursion out with Threja––off on a suicide mission with a cultivator who was clueless to their own imminent demise. Or at least that’s how I had first thought of Threja before she changed my destiny forever by igniting my Frenzied Flame.

But the only flame Lady Silver Light had ignited thus far was my ire.

She started by giving me her bags to carry, which could have been full of damn rocks for how heavy they were. I balanced them on a piece of bamboo that I slung across one shoulder. With my basic Body Refinement, they barely weighed a thing, but keeping them balanced across the choppy terrain took constant attention.

“Careful, handler!” she barked at me like a dog. “What’s in those bags is worth far more than your life.”

I refused to give her the satisfaction of a rise and instead kept a silent wall of [Indifference] between us. She reacted to that with an ever-growing sense of anger, punctuated with lemonade, like I was an object of unobtainable desire she’d rather see destroyed than not possess.

Halfway through our journey I found out what was inside the bags after she demanded to take a break and to be served tea. She’d bought a whole damn tea set with her, made of jade-encrusted china. In the second bag she’d brought a small chair made out of silver rods that I had to spend ten minutes assembling while she hurled insults at me for being too slow.

That made me go even slower.

I nearly lost my shit when she started micromanaging my every move on how to correctly make her tea.

I used it as an opportunity to generate Frenzy, the Struggler maintaining control as my inner fire burned.

This damn bitch, I thought when she was finally finished. Forcing me into a position of servitude by coming to find me on my job. Who does this kind of shit?

I kicked leaves and pebbles off the forest path, venting my frustration as we got back underway.

An entitled rich girl used to getting everything she wants, that’s who, I answered my own question. I should be spending the day preparing for my battle with U’Ren Nghi right now, practicing my ability to harness true lightning, not out here getting pissed off over this stupid shit.

We travelled for another hour without saying another word to each other, moving swiftly through the remnants of old neighborhoods and overgrown city blocks. We then entered the wilder territory where more powerful monsters and spirit beasts roamed. We were close to our final destination and my instincts as a handler kicked, subconsciously guiding me to avoid the dangers of the wild.

But where we were headed there would be no avoiding.

We were instead walking right into it.

If there was one good thing about all of this though, it was that I didn’t feel half as bad now, knowing who the mysterious client was. Getting to know the Lady Silver Light was like getting acquainted with a feral cat. She was aloof, abrasive, and arrogant and a royal member of the ruling clan to boot. Plus, she was a representative of the Warden herself, the same woman who callously left my family to die that night twelve years ago.

She was my enemy.

The empire incarnate.

And she needed to die.

As the thought steeped, my Flame burned, but then, like a strong gust of wind snuffing out a candle, it vanished in my mind’s eye.

Dammit all to hell, I thought. I just couldn’t do it.

This had to be the third time now since we had departed that I had tried to convince myself that getting this woman killed was a good idea. And part of me wanted to strangle the shit out of her for sure, but not literally. No matter how obnoxious she was, Silver Light was still an innocent victim in a murderous plot concocted by scumbags I hated way more than her.

Who was I kidding?

I wouldn’t want to be involved in this nasty Fire Bird shit no matter who the target was.

And to be honest, although the woman was annoying and haughty as hell, Silver Light hadn’t done anything wrong. At least not enough to warrant a death sentence. A good cussing out for kicking her pilot and being a general pain in the ass to me maybe, but not lured to her death out here in the wild. And besides that, she was Xi Xha’s friend and Mu Lin’s now too, I supposed.

My mind was torn.

Following my convictions was not so simple anymore. Maybe it was a refining of my Flame or a growth of my understanding in general, but simply taking revenge against the ‘evil cultivators’ wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

I had to admit that, before I met Threja, the word ‘cultivator’ and ‘empire’ meant the exact same thing to me—literally one and the same in my mind. It had been enough to kindle my Flame, but the spiritual root of my Dao, my deepest pain, had stemmed from the trauma of an eight-year-old’s mind. And that was as simple as my understanding was back then. But now that I knew better, my understanding of my Dao was becoming more refined as well.

The empire that conquered my people was still my enemy and I would defeat it, but not every cultivator was the empire.

And not every cultivator deserved my wrath.

Certainly not the annoying but attractive young woman walking next to me––at least not yet anyway. I glanced over at Silver Light from the corner of my eye—face like a goddess, the nimble yet confident gait of a warrior and enough Qi inside of her to probably fell a whole damn forest with a single technique from one of her three jian blades.

Why the hell did you have to choose today to come pester me? I thought.

Perhaps I could just try to convince her to turn back, the same way I did with Threja. Or hell, maybe I could just start an argument with her to make her want to leave. Then I couldn’t be blamed for the hit not going off. But then there was that asshole Shen Ju out there to worry about.

Even now I could sense hints of his Dark Frenzy in close proximity, watching our every move. Perhaps he was using [Devil’s Shadow] or some other technique to further mask his Qi or something, because surely someone as powerful as Silver Light should have been able to sense him if he were this close.

It had to be how they had managed to get the drop on the other cultivators they had murdered out here before. At just the thought of it, images of those dead bodies being hauled in by skiff raced through my mind. Innocent people killed for Hong Feng’s selfish gains, or mere bystanders like those poor young handlers just trying to do their jobs. That got my Flame stirring for real. If there was anyone who deserved to be gutted by a damn reaper beast it was Shen Ju and the evil little shitheads on his team.

“Do I vex you, handler?” Silver Light said suddenly.

It was the first real question she’d asked this whole time.

I eyed her with [Struggler’s Resolve] as I considered how I should respond.

“You want an honest answer?” I said. “Or do you want me to blow smoke up that pretty little ass of yours like everyone else does?”

Her eyes flared with shock and indignation, but her soul gushed with lemonade. “How dare you speak to me in such a manner! Do you have any idea what saying that would earn you, were I not so gracious?”

I shrugged. “You didn’t answer my question.”

She stared at me again and I swear I could hear her heart pounding as she tried to figure out what to say next. And then I saw it. A small glimpse of her true nature, peeking out from behind that arrogant, warrior-cultivator façade of hers.

This girl was scared shitless, I thought. But why?

“Fine, I’ll answer anyway,” I said and prepared to test the waters as I came to a stop and faced her. “Yes, you vex me, Lady Silver Light, as you probably do a great many people. The only difference is, while they don’t say anything because they’re too busy trying to kiss your ass, I don’t, because I just don’t think you’re worth my damn time.”

Her nostrils flared and her hand flew back as if to hit me.

I didn’t even flinch, engaging [Indifference] as I stared her down. “You sure you want to do that?”

She glared back at me, equal parts shocked and mortified by my quick defiance, but just as I’d figured, her hand didn’t move.

“Don’t tease unless you’re willing to play,” I warned her with a smirk and then reshouldered the bags as I prepared to move on.

I sensed a new emotion building within her as I left her behind. Fear, but not quite.

Embarrassment maybe? More lemonade for sure.

I couldn’t care less though.

I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to do about this situation out here. The flats were in sight now, the ground transitioning from forest to hard-packed earth and broken stone. Ahead, fissures ran crisscross over the desert landscape like marbled tile cracked and chipped from below. I only recognized the place because I’d seen it in books before.

But this was my first time viewing the Reaper Flats with my own eyes.

A subtle anxiety filled me, a sense of dread and doom, but my Flame quickly consumed it and turned it into strength. I slowed my pace regardless, not wanting to get to where we were supposed to be going.

I spotted the red stones Shen Ju had spoken of—a small discreet pile at the edge of the plains. Reluctantly I began heading in the direction of the trap, feeling Shun Ju’s eyes still upon me.

Maybe I could just kill the bastard and all his men, I thought. Then I could bluff Hong Feng that the whole thing just went to hell. Thinking about it, all I needed to do was to get to my fight in one piece tonight. Although winning that wasn’t guaranteed either. Admittedly, that whole concept seemed a million miles away right now. This wasn’t a tournament, this was real life and death out here.

Still, I needed to do something soon.

I glanced about as we wandered across the flats, my senses keen.

A new complication occurred to me. I couldn’t let Silver Light find out about Shen Ju and his men either. Even though they were in disguise, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that it was the hot-fried-chicken gang who had laid the trap for her. If she went to the authorities about their operation or hell, just took vengeance herself, that would start a shit-trail that would eventually lead straight back to me. If I somehow wanted to keep both her and I alive, I needed to get rid of Shen Ju and his men before she ever saw them.

Damn, this was getting dicier by the second.

“How do you know Xi Xha?” Silver Light called from behind me.

I raised a brow at the random question. “Don’t you know that already?”

The quick reply seemed to stump her and she fumbled for her words. “S-she spends a lot of time with you, yes? She speaks of you often.”

“Is that right?”

“How do you know her so well?”

I shrugged, my eyes still scanning for signs of Shen Ju. “Mu Lin’s a mutual friend. She introduced us. Sort of…”

I could sense him still behind us, watching, waiting. But then, suddenly he was gone.

Was he moving to position himself in the canyon ahead perhaps?

Maybe now was my chance to take them out unseen.

“I envy how carefree you all are,” Silver Light said and her sudden shift in tone caught me off guard, less haughty and more introspective. Sad almost. “Free to laugh and associate with anyone you please.”

I huffed out a laugh. “We’re hardly free, lady. Anyway, enough of that right now. I need you to listen to me caref—”

“Xi Xha is free,” she said, looking absently ahead of her. “As a mere scholar she has no responsibilities or obligations. Free to avoid the rigors and sacrifice that comes with cultivation. Free to not care about how much face she would lose in public for being seen day in and day out with mortals.”

What the hell was this?

“Hey, we really don’t have time for a therapy session right now. I need you to pay attention if we’re––”

“She’s even free to love and marry whoever she wants,” she said, looking at me with both desire and disdain. “Instead of having to wait for some arrogant, self-absorbed rival to best her in a tournament match.”

This woman had issues, but I didn’t have time to sort them out.

“Look,” I said. “I have a bad feeling about this place. I think we should leave before one of those reapers show up.”

She scoffed incredulously. “You take me for a coward? This one does not flee in the face of a mere beast. Or is that what you would prefer a woman to do? To be weak.”

“What?”

Her anger suddenly flared. “Is that what you want? Tell me! Tell me what is it that you see in her and not in me? Is it her weakness? Her frailty? Is that what all men truly desire?”

“I don’t know what you’re—”

“I’ve seen it,” she said, her eyes narrowing into slits. “Within my own father even. Marry the strong cultivator woman to bear his children, but then chase after weak and frail mortal whores to make his concubines. If only a woman could do the same. To have any man she desires, despite his rank or reputation. Just like Xi Xha.”

I was beginning to see the picture here and it wasn’t pretty.

“Look, lady, I’m not trying to get caught up in any messed-up shit between you and Xi—”

My words left me as a sudden sickness turned my stomach, a low hum filling the air.

The familiar yet pungent taste of Dark Frenzy overtook my senses as a building pressure increased around my Dantian, as if the dark energy was trying to invade it. I staved it off with [Struggler’s Resolve] as I glanced about looking for Shen Ju and his men.

I didn’t see anyone. He’d said they would ensure the client engaged the beast, but I didn’t think they’d go this far.

“We need to move!” I shouted. “Something’s going t––”

A thunderous roar erupted from below, cutting me off mid-phrase.

The earth shook and not more than fifty feet away, the ground suddenly collapsed, sinking inwards like a sheet of falling snow. At the same time, something the size of an elephant clawed up from out of it.

A reaper beast.

The thing had the body of a baboon, black fur that looked almost like quills or spines, hands the size of an entire person if you counted the two-foot-long claws. Its head was apelike, save for its mouth and snout which was scaled and elongated like a crocodile’s. Twin sets of reptilian eyes stared out from what comprised of its face, a horrific visage that looked like something out of a horror flick. The hideousness of it was rivaled only by the speed at which it moved. I’d never seen any creature that large move so quickly.

It was up and out of the hole in less than a second, the beast roaring so loudly that my eardrums felt as if they would burst. The thing was enraged, its four eyes turning red, the air around it, boiling with Dark Frenzy.

It was just like what happened with the broodmother in the arena. Judging from its size the thing was still just a juvenile thankfully, as powerful as a normal B-Class monster at least, but with the Fire Birds feeding it Dark Frenzy, it had to be the equivalent of A-Class or even higher by now.

“How strong are you?” I shouted to Silver Light above the din.

Silver Light took a full three seconds to respond, her eyes fixed with terror upon the unnatural-looking beast. Finally, she turned to me. “How strong? I am a member of the royal—”

“Cut the bullshit!” I said. “I need to know if you have any chance of defeating this thing or not. What tier of cultivation are you?”

She blinked and perhaps could finally sense the gravity of the situation we were now in.

“Core, 6th tier,” she said.

Shit, I was hoping for way more than that. The Fire Birds had chosen wisely. Even unprovoked the beast would have been more than a match for her. But enraged like this, who knew how long she would even survive?

“It’s too strong,” I said. “It’ll kill you. You need to run!”

“You run!” she said, and with a flash, two of her jian blades appeared in her hands while the third hovered just above her head. “I’ll hold it off while you flee.”

The bitch was as crazy as I was.

I yearned to stay and fight with her, my Flame stirring at the challenge.

But I had something else that needed taking care of first.

And fleeing gave the perfect cover for that.

Plus, if I could kill the Fire Birds that were feeding it Frenzy, perhaps Silver Light would stand a fighting chance against the beast, even on her own.

But I had to move quickly.

I made for the direction of the canyon, dumping my building Frenzy into the quick pumping muscles of my thighs. Glancing back over my shoulder I saw Silver Light charging at the reaper beast fearlessly, her voice resonating through the air as she annunciated her technique.

“[Twelfth Heaven! Silver Arc Strike]!”

She cut diagonally across the elephant-sized monster, moving so quickly she more teleported than moved. A split second later a burst of radiant white Qi pulsed after her like a lightning flash, cutting into the creature with razor-sharp focus. The reaper beast howled as its quills were stripped from its body, but it regained composure quickly and raged, swatting at her like a fly.

I lost sight of her then as I descended into the canyon, loose rocks and pebbles sliding underfoot. The howls of the beast echoed through the sheer canyon walls as they rose up all around me.

I got in about a hundred feet when I sensed a burst of Dark Frenzy come from behind me. Instinctively, I engaged [Iron Skin] while ducking into a roll. A wave of heat washed over me as a massive wall of flames engulfed me from behind. I rolled to my feet, turning to see two Fire Birds emerging from a blind spot along the canyon wall. They wielded straight swords ignited with flames, one of them preparing to pepper me with fire again.

“Looks like we all had the same idea,” I said with a leer as I fed my Frenzy into [Fear the Flame]. I accentuated my Frenzy with fake Qi so they could sense my power as well, and instantly one of them began to shit bricks and backed away.

I pulled out my axe. “You bastards are going to pay for killing those two kids. For all the people you’ve killed!”

I got all of two steps before another wall of fire stuck me from the side. This time there was force as well as flames, the technique slamming me hard into the side of the canyon wall. As I struggled to get to my feet the flames kept coming, brilliant red fire singeing my handler’s uniform as I cried out in pain, the inferno constant like a blowtorch.

My mind screamed.

I had to get out of this!

Channeling my pain into Frenzy, I leapt up and over the stream of fire and charged downward at my attacker.

To my delight, it was Shen Ju.

“Piece of shit!” I bellowed as I swung my axe downward at him with [Two-Log Chop]. “You just couldn’t wait, could you?”

The cultivator somersaulted backwards with qinggong, narrowly missing my attack. My axe hit the ground with a bang leaving a man-sized crater in the hard stone where Shen Ju had just been.

I then gave him a maddening grin. “Well, I couldn’t wait either.”

I sped right after him releasing a howl of rage. Shen Ju kept his distance, firing jets of flame at me as we bounced back and forth between the canyon walls. I dodged and weaved through his attacks but couldn’t get close as he bounded higher and higher upwards.

“Today we correct Master Hong Feng’s mistake with you!” Shen Ju shouted down at me. “You’ll sadly perish along with the Silver Leaf whore. Another excursion tragically lost to the savage Terran wilds.”

“I’ll give you a savage Terran, you little bitch!” I said, coming to a stop.

He was playing me for distance, and with his ability to hop back and forth between the walls, he was effectively flying away from me right now. I needed a new plan. But for as much pain as the flames were inflicting, they weren’t generating much frenzy. And for all I’d been through in the ring, the three of them weren’t convincing me of being much of a threat either. That meant my Frenzy generation was being limited, but I dug deeper for more. These evil bastards were responsible for all those bodies I’d seen and who knew how many more.

They were a blight that needed to be forcefully removed from this world.

And I would be the one to do it.

“[Mark of the Beast]!” I cried.

Liquid Frenzy surged through my veins, my body changing composure instantly as I amped up my presence with [Fear the Flame]. Tusks jutted from my lower jaw, filling my mouth with blood. My fingers and nails elongated into claws. My knees snapped and popped as my bones lengthened.

Shen Ju clung to the side of the canyon wall with his jian blade embedded in the rock, his eyes wide with terror as he stared at me incomprehensibly. I sensed his blood run cold with fear and I lapped it up to replenish my surging Frenzy.

“What kind of monster are you?” he said, unable to remove his eyes from my new form. “Are you truly some kind of demon?”

I grinned at him with my much larger teeth, my tone guttural and raw. “No…I’m a Berserker.”

The world flew past me as I leapt towards him, bouncing back and forth off the walls to reach him in barely a second. The rapid movement caught him by surprise, and he let go of his blade with a scream. He managed to kick off one of the walls as he fell and landed safely with a flip onto the ground.

“Kill him! Kill him!” he screamed, running behind the safety of his two men.

I barely felt the licks of their flames as they unleashed their techniques, my body fully hardened with [Iron Skin].

“Weak as shit!” I shouted with a cackle.

I barreled down the side of the canyon, outpacing their retreat as I bounded forward like an animal. I flew into my martial forms as I engaged the two Fire Birds out front. One of them managed to block the hefty blade of my axe with their sword, but the sheer strength of my blow drove both it and his sword deep into his chest.

I ripped my weapon out with a surge of [Bloodlust], pulling his throat out with it as my Flame burned, hungry for more. The other Fire Bird screamed in panic and turned about to flee, stumbling into Shen Ju in the process. I sprang forward and cut him in two at the waist with a [One-Chop Cleave], covering Shen Ju in his entrails, and he let out a gurgling death cry.

As the two halves of his body hit the ground, I spun my axe—casually strolling towards Shen Ju.

“You’re next,” I said, pointing my axe at him with a dose of [Fear the Flame].

The cultivator’s heartbeat hammered like a drum in my ears, my hearing and senses heightened by my new form as well. His soul spilled fear all over the ground, as if it were a precursor to what would soon be spilling next.

“What’s wrong?” I said. “Aren’t you eager to take your revenge for your stupid sword brother?”

That got a rise of anger out of him, and he flipped his sword into a high guard as he dropped into a low stance.

“Don’t think you will defeat me so easily. I’ve grown much in strength. And as strong as you think you are, your savage technique is as sloppy as you are undisciplined.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said with a grin of [Indifference].

“You jackass!” he seethed with anger. “You make a mockery of all that is----—”

I didn’t wait for him to finish, charging straight in with a quick combination of martial forms instead. His eyes went wide as he struggled to meet each one of my axe swings. To his credit, his technique was on point, but he was no match for Frenzy-heightened speed, much less in Beast mode.

Sparks and flames flew between as I drove him towards the canyon wall.

I spun high then cut low, my axe cleaving through his thigh. He cried out, clutching his leg and I followed through with a quick downward chop to his left shoulder. Blood gushed as he fell back against the canyon, staggering to stay on his feet.

He raised a bloodied hand towards me.

“Wait,” he said. “I was wrong about you…perhaps you are strong enough to be one of us, after all.”

The bastard had to be joking, but by the Dark Frenzy building in his core, I knew it had to be some kind of ruse. He expected me to hesitate, but I rushed in for the kill instead.

“I’ll never be one of you, you murderous piece of shit!”

I swung for his neck and a hissing sound filled the air as he opened his mouth. Torrents of red-hot flames burst from his lips, and I had to cut my swing short to duck low and avoid my head being burned off. I snatched his throat and angled his head away from me as the flames continued to spew from him like an erupting volcano. I held him for what had to be close to half a minute before he finally ran out of steam, coughing and wheezing black smoke as his Dark Frenzy fizzled.

He finally turned to look at me, hatred and hopelessness in his bloodshot eyes.

“I pray that beast kills the both of you,” he said.

I lifted my chin at him with a smug shot of [indifference].

“Hey Ryu,” I said, raising my axe. “Give my regards to Ken.”

Stark incomprehension was the last look on Shen Ju’s stupid face as I neatly cleaved his head in two. Blood sprayed as his body hit the ground and my Frenzy pumped with another burst of [Bloodlust]. It hadn’t been much of a fight to be honest, but still it felt damn good to finally kill his ass.

But there was more yet to do.

Howls from the reaper beast still raged throughout the canyon.

I didn’t even know if Silver Light was still alive, but somewhere there was a handful of Fire Birds who were chanting up a storm. I hadn’t seen them on the surface, so they had to be influencing the beast from somewhere down below. I sprinted further down the canyon, my handler instincts kicking in. Just as I thought, the canyon curved back on itself, slanting downward as it headed back towards where Silver Light was fighting the reaper beast.

The canyon dead-ended at a large cave.

Within it, a group of nine Fire Birds were seated in lotus position in a circle, torrents of Dark Frenzy streaming upwards from them as they hummed in meditation. At the top of the cave, I spotted the large opening that the reaper beast had crawled out of and further past the Fire Birds I saw the cave extending even deeper into the earth.

But I had no intentions of heading down there.

My prey was already on display and ready to be plucked.

“Damn fools,” I said as I approached them. “Shen Ju left the nine of you back here doing this shit instead of teaming up to kill me?”

Shen Ju would have stood a much better chance against me in a 12 v 1.

But to hell with him for underestimating me.

And to hell with all these guys too.

I rushed in with a surge of Frenzy and tore into the unsuspecting cultivators with a fervor. Blood clouded my vision as I hacked into them mercilessly with my axe, my fury exacting every ounce of vengeance due for every last victim they had killed. Their screams became a symphony as they awoke from their trances, realizing too late what was happening to them. Their unbridled fear becoming a new source of my Frenzy-fueled rage. I did away with my axe and relied on the speed of my claws alone.

Ripping and tearing, I dispensed retribution, until it was done....

* * *

“[Eighth Heaven! Zero-Point Strike!]”

The words echoed down from the open cave top as I breathed heavily over the mass of bloodied bodies, my mind still worked up in a frenzy—a literal one this time. Hearing her voice was like waking from a trance, and I stumbled to regain my bearings as I stepped free from the grisly proof of my handiwork.

The Fire Birds were dead, and hearing Silver Light’s voice meant that she was still alive.

And hopefully by killing these fiends, I had just bought her a little more time. I needed to get back up there to help her though. Enraged or not, that reaper beast was still way above her level to kill alone. The hole in the roof was a hundred feet up. No way I was going to make that jump, not even with Beast mode on, but with [Mark of the Beast] I had speed on my side as well.

Retrieving and stowing my axe, I took off in a sprint, moving so quickly I was nearly falling headfirst into the ground. I pushed my hands outwards to stop myself from tipping over and then instinctively found myself running on all fours, doubling my speed.

I reached the top of the canyon in less than half a minute, sliding to a stop as I took in the scene before me. Remarkably, Silver Light was not only alive, but was kicking the reaper beast’s ass by all accounts.

The creature was bloodied from multiple gouges to its limbs and both of its feet had been chopped off. Hot damn, I thought. She’d been smart enough to immobilize the Reaper to gain an upper hand and had pressed it to the max, it seemed. The beast was now clawing at her futilely, crawling on its hip while she literally flew around it, delivering quick Qi strikes from afar.

The beast was more or less dead, but I rushed in regardless to get a few hits in to hopefully explain the blood all over my clothes. I took a wide approach with [Mark of the Beast], skirting out of her line of sight and then reverting to my fully human form, tore into one of the creature’s bloody stumps with my axe.

The reaper beast roared in pain, swiping at me with its claws, but I deftly rolled out of the way in time to avoid it.

Silver Light paused then, coming to a standstill in midair.

Her eyes grew wide with shock and fear as she saw me.

“What are you doing here?! You’re not strong enough! Get away from it! It’ll kill you.”

She swooped down towards me, presumably to carry me to safety, but turning her back, the reaper beast swung at the easy target.

“Look out!” I cried, and without even thinking, hurled my axe full-Frenzy at its hand.

It spun and sliced off three of its fingers, the monster roaring in pain again as it cradled its wounded hand.

“Kill it!” I shouted. “Kill it now, while it’s distracted!”

Silver Light didn’t argue, and instead spun about, tossing both her jian blades at the beast’s chest. The third blade, that was already hovering, flew with them and together they carved a triangle-shaped hole right through the reaper beast’s heart.

The monster released a shallow yelp, heaved once, and then finally grew still.

I stood there in disbelief for a second.

She’d done it, I thought. She damn near killed the thing all on her own. And as only a 6th-Tier Core Realm cultivator too.

I looked at Silver Light with new eyes. Maybe she was worthy of all that bragging and bravado, after all.

“Are you unharmed?” Silver Light asked as she landed next to me, and to my surprise there seemed to be genuine concern in her voice. With a wave of her hand, her three jian blades extracted themselves from the monster’s chest and hovered at her side again. She looked me up and down, concern softening the metallic sheen of her eyes. “You’re covered in blood.”

I looked down at myself, feigning surprise. “I guess I got too close hacking the wounds you created.”

I then noticed that she didn’t have a drop of blood on her. Even her hair still looked perfectly in place.

“Why did you come back here?” she said.

I shrugged at her with a smile. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun to yourself, now could I?”

I laughed and she still looked at me perplexed, clearly not getting that it was a joke.

“I sense you have some strength in you,” she said. “But you were no match for this. There is more to fighting than simply possessing Qi.”

I’d been wondering if she could sense my fake core this whole time. I guess she could, but she wasn’t impressed by it either, it seemed. And that was just fine with me.

“Well, clearly my help wasn’t needed anyway,” I said, switching the subject and then nodded appreciatively at the fallen beast. “And I have to say I’m impressed.” And I was too. “Someone of your cultivation level shouldn’t have been able to kill this thing. It’s right what you said. There’s a lot more to fighting than just Qi. Guess being a Royal Lady of the Silver Leaf Clan makes you something special after all.”

I gave her a wink and smile with [Struggler’s Resolve], letting her know my words were sincere. Silver Light stood there frozen by the compliment, not knowing what to say. She blushed then and tried to hide the smile forcing itself onto her lips by turning away from me slightly.

It was kind of cute actually and I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she said, regaining a bit of her cultivator dignity. “I’ll have you know that—”

Her words cut short as the ground trembled, and another vicious roar ripped through the air. For a second I thought it was the beast she’d just slain somehow reanimating, but the sound was deeper and much further away.

“What was that?” she said, a near rhetorical question now as the earth trembled again.

A hundred feet away, another reaper beast emerged from the hole in the earth that the first one had come through, but this one was much larger than its kin. The creature had to be over two stories tall and as wide as a building. Where the first beast’s quills were dark and thorny, this one had a streak of gold running down its back that appeared to be comprised of feathers, thick like a horse’s mane.

The creature let out an ear-shattering roar as it announced its arrival to the heavens and then slowly turned its baleful gaze upon us. There was more than just fury in its twin sets of eyes as they met our own.

There was anger there, hatred too.

And I felt every ounce of it.

“This is no normal beast,” Silver Light said in a whisper and before she could even say the word awakened, the monster opened its huge jaws again.

“Vile…son of man…” the thing spoke, its voice coarse and grating, like crumbling stone. “You slay my offspring. Now I shall consume your souls.”

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