by Yuri Ajin
At least that’s what Kai thought.
The top of the hive suddenly exploded. But before Liu could react, a torrent of black arrows pierced every inch of his body. This lasted for several seconds until the Royal-rank technique finally ended. Looking up, Kai saw a huge hole in the dome.
Above them was a combat helicopter with the sign of the Mexican Alliance. Visible through its door was a handsome young man in a long dark cloak, and with a low-quality, Royal-rank black bow in his hands.
Seeing him, Kai almost started laughing.
“Once again, my gut hasn’t disappointed me! There really is something very interesting going on here! We meet again, my friend!” Shacks greeted with a smile. “I see you’re having fun as usual! I’ll be right there, don’t start anything else without me!” he added and disappeared into the helicopter with the intent of teleporting inside of the hall so that he could help Kai and the rest with their little problem.
But just as he did that, he, as well as everyone else, heard Liu’s voice in their heads.
“Filth!” the insectoid cursed. He seemed to have recovered again. “If someone had told me that a bunch of worthless primates would actually force me to transform I would’ve laughed in their faces!”
This time, the blood didn’t take a shape but continued to expand. Within seconds, Liu took on his true form, turning into a giant, terrible monster resembling a scorpion.
And Kai turned his gaze inward. Inside his soul.
Not wanting to do this, but having no other choice, he decided to use the award he had received as the winner of the Grand Tournament.
Chapter 17
POWER OF THE SPIRITS
Kai’s mind was sinking deeper and deeper. This went on for some time until a bright and very complex energy structure appeared in front of him.
Seal of the Sword Spirit
After looking at it for a while, he made his final decision. He reached out to it and prepared himself for what was coming.
Controlling Spirits wasn’t an easy task. The stronger they were, the more difficult it was to tame them. When Kai first tried to do it, he ended up almost dying and survived only thanks to the timely intervention of his mentor, who banished the Spirit and forcibly closed the seal. Fortunately, thanks to his bloodline, Kai recovered in less than a day.
It was Jiang Yui who ordered Kai to open the seal because she wanted to show him how dangerous it’d be for him to try to control a Spirit. The reason this was so difficult and perilous was because of the Spirit’s desire for freedom. Possessing a soul, and hence a certain degree of consciousness and thought, they were aware of the fact that they were being used, which is why they tried with all their might to kill those who wished to control them.
Usually, in order to merge with a Spirit, the cultivator had to be at least at the last level of the Soul Stage. However, success also depended on the Spirit’s level of development. To merge with a strong one, the cultivator had to be at the Exorcist Stage. Only the strongest of all could try to tame them earlier.
As a reward for winning the Great Tournament, Kai received a Mature Spirit, which was too strong for even those at the Source Creation level to deal with. For that reason, Jiang Yui forbade Kai from breaking the seal until he grew stronger. Until then, he was to contemplate on the seal to create a connection with the Spirit.
Rune’Tan, on the other hand, thought that this was all nonsense. Not only was he more knowledgeable about cultivation and its many aspects, but he had once possessed a very strong Spirit. He was able to teach Kai a special technique that’d allow him to bond quicker with the Spirit, which should, if everything was done right, allow him to not only merge with it even at the Soul Stage, but also help the Spirit grow faster.
The Spirit mostly dozed and grew inside the seal on its own. But, like any other creature, it needed food — the Force of its element. Thus, in order to develop it, Kai had to give a chunk of his Forces to it.
Normally, a cultivator could transfer from one to five percent of Force particles at a time. One could summon as many Forces as one’s soul could control at a time, which, in turn, depended on one’s stage, and they could also be summoned a few times a day — the quantity was directly influenced by the quality of the mastered Forces. But that still wasn’t enough. Because of this, the average time it took a Spirit to reach the next level was about two decades.
But thanks to Rune’Tan’s advice and the high quality of his Sword Forces, Kai managed to speed up the process several times, reaching as much as forty-six percent in just a year and a half. However, he’d still have to wait another two or so years before his Spirit would become a more mature one.
All this was possible only because Kai would transfer ten percent every time he summoned the Forces of Sword. Also, once a week, he’d undergo a special meditation session, during which he’d saturate the Spirit with twenty times more particles.
The Forces didn’t just allow the Spirits to grow, but were also their life force. Which was what a cultivator received when they merged with a Spirit. This was why Kai didn’t want to open the seal just yet. Because if he did, the strength he had been accumulating for a year and a half would be spent.
But he had no other choice.
Yeah, it’s a step back, but not a big one… It’s time to show just how strong you are, my Spirit, and how strong our bond is... he thought, finally breaking the seal.
As soon as he did it, a storm of furious power entered his body. At the same moment, everyone in the hive felt a sharp surge of ki.
Kai opened his eyes. Their violet color seemed even brighter.
Along with the power, he felt rage. The rage of someone who was imprisoned and used. The awakened Spirit was angry, and it immediately tried to kill the one who wished to control it.
But Kai came prepared. Not only was he stronger now than he was back then, but he also understood the Forces of Sword better, and had a stronger connection with the Spirit, which was why it didn’t attack as violently as it did the first time. Concentrating, Kai hit the unfortunate specter with a single attack of his will. Several rather deep cuts appeared on his body, but he got what he needed.
The storm died down and became a part of Kai’s power, increasing his ki reserve five times, and making him physically stronger. The power of his Forces of Sword also increased, and his body was saturated with it. The scarlet energy filled his every nerve, making his movements quicker and senses sharper.
His appearance had also changed. A crimson glow enveloped the ends of his hair, and a long cloak of the same color formed over his shoulders. Mystical red symbols appeared on his face symbolizing all seven Forces of Sword.
Looking at his palms, Kai saw that they were covered in a scarlet glow, which made the blades seem like they had merged with his hands and become their extensions.
“It looks great on you!” Shacks exclaimed, appearing next to him.
Kai looked at him. The archer had gained a couple of inches, and was now an initial-level Exorcist. The oddest thing of all was that he seemed much more powerful than Elize who was a few years older than him. A fashionable black leather cloak was draped over his shoulders. He wore gloves, boots, and the uniform of the Bright Moon Clan in the same color.
“Glad to see that you’ve also made it.” Kai chuckled.
“Sure did! We got to the portal right after you,” Shacks said. “My clan is an expert on murders, but we specialize in reconnaissance. We knew about the Seven Blades and their plans, and were able to prepare. Unfortunately, there was only enough energy in the Tower for a dozen of us. All Exorcists!”
“I see...” Kai said thoughtfully. His head was full of questions but he remained focused. He had more important matters to attend to right now.
Are the rest of the Bright Moons alive then? Are they on Saha? I suppose they’re taking care of things there then... They outwitted those who wanted to deceive them.
Little did he know that the Bright Moons were behind the entire mess. That
it was they who inspired the Old Man and the rest of the Seven Blades’ founders to open the Tower, while they remained in the shadows. Little did he or anyone else know that the Bright Moons were actually the oldest and the most powerful clan, surpassing even the Dragons, and that the clan wasn’t even founded on Saha. Its members came to the Plateau from a completely different world, becoming the first people on it since the time of the Belteise Empire.
As for the other clans, they were founded by the descendants of the refugees that the members of the Bright Moons brought with them, and who, over the next millennia, settled throughout the planet. That was why only the Bright Moons knew the truth about how people appeared on Saha.
They came to this world in search of a new home as theirs had been destroyed in the great war on their former planet. They intended to recuperate, and then go further to find a place for themselves in some more developed world. However, the artifacts and other remnants of the Belteise Empire made them stay longer. In their world, they lost everything they had, which made the fallen empire and its culture valuable prey. Unfortunately, having lingered too long in one place, they ended up trapped on Saha after the Gates closed.
Their plan to leave seemed to go smoothly at first, but the Tower ended up being opened too early.
But what happened, happened. They had to adapt. One way or another, they got what they wanted — the Gates were opened and they’d remain so until one of the worlds was destroyed. The only thing left to do was to collect enough Energy Stones and reactivate the portal.
As for Shacks — he and his group were sent to Earth as scouts. It was they who would have to pave the way between the worlds, along which the entire clan would walk in the future.
They had one very rare artifact to help them in their mission. It was used for leaving special marks that even a peak Holy Lord wouldn’t be able to notice. These marks constantly emitted a hidden signal, which could be detected only by another artifact.
“Sir, your orders?” As if stepping out of Shacks’s shadow, eleven Exorcists appeared behind him.
“You can have some fun. But be careful. Don’t play heroes and back off if things get dicey.”
“Yes, sir!” one of them answered, after which they dispersed.
“Get ready, Liu has almost finished transforming,” Rune’Tan said, observing the insectoid through Kai’s energy vision. “Though, he’ll no longer be able to regenerate. He needs blood to recover. He’s used this technique twice now, so I’m pretty sure that his reserve is empty... Not to mention that he lost what little ki he had left defending himself during the transformation. You should be safe.”
A fifty-foot-tall, silvery scorpion emerged from behind the scarlet curtain. With a powerful roar, it swung at Kai and Shacks with one of its pincers. The attack was surprisingly fast. No one had expected that such a big thing would move so quickly so it took them by surprise.
Fuck! Kai swore as he teleported two hundred feet away from the place of impact. Good thing I had the Spirit! I wouldn’t have dodged otherwise! It’s difficult to teleport with this monster being so big. I have to move rather far away, which takes a lot of ki...
Purple eyes flashed, and then he disappeared. All that remained in the air was a long, scarlet smear.
Finding himself less than a hundred feet from the scorpion, Kai jumped, and slashed the air in front of him with lightning speed. Relying on his instincts and intuition, he didn’t fully realize what he was doing, so imagine his surprise when both of his swords shone with the power of the Space Destroying Sweep Technique. Merging with the Spirit allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of his own strength and do things that he couldn’t do before.
The double technique broke the scorpion’s armor, dying its body and the earth a deep blue. Unfortunately for Kai, the wound was so small that it immediately healed.
The stinger rushed toward him the next second. It sent him flying and slamming into the wall.
Shit! Kai winced as pain shot through his entire body, looking at the acid spit flying toward him. We’ll never win at this rate!
Dodging, he looked around the battlefield. He found his friends standing next to one of the tunnels, rather far away from him. Ivsim had dragged the wounded Jiang Si, Jiang Yong, and Lily to safety. Diamond was there, too, as was one of the Exorcists from the Western Alliance. As for the few surviving Union members, they left the central hall, just as Rogers had ordered them.
There were only seventeen people left. Rogers and Dale were engaged in close combat while Laura stood behind them and directed the long-range fighters. The Western Alliance had only two — Alexander and the girl with whom Ivsim had previously fought. Elize was helping them, attacking the scorpion’s legs, while Alexander covered them from afar with his abilities.
The Bright Moons surrounded Liu from all directions.
But no matter how much they all tried, no one succeeded in piercing the incredibly strong armor and inflicting a more serious wound than Kai had.
“Are you not gonna help?” Kai asked, appearing next to Shacks.
Glancing at him, then at the battle, and then again at him, Shacks smiled and scratched the back of his head.
“Oh, right, right! I thought I forgot something!” he replied in his usual silly manner.
But before he had time to do anything, another one of Liu’s terrible roars shook the hive again. Two Bright Moon Exorcists had stabbed him in the eye.
After that, the course of the battle changed dramatically. Feeling pain again, Liu decided to stop wasting time and start killing. With a sharp turn that forced his opponents to jump aside, he aimed at the wounded at the far end of the hall.
“Bastard!” Kai shouted as he ran after him.
“Oh, this is the perfect moment.” Shacks grinned, summoning a simple, seemingly old, wooden arrow from his Ring.
At the same moment, the seal on his soul began to open.
***
Quickly approaching the wounded, Liu raised both pincers. Diamond and Ivsim still had a chance to avoid the blow, but the rest were too wounded to get away in time.
But before he could smite his opponents, something strong hit his pincers, knocking them away. Drenched in his own blood from head to toe, Kai stared at the scorpion as heavy breaths rolled off his cracked lips.
Having caught up with Liu, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to stop him with an ordinary weapon or technique and that he’d have to risk it. Having closed all the Body Gates, except for those of Power, he directed most of the Spirit’s power, as well as the entirety of his ki into them. For a miserable fraction of a second, he gained enormous physical strength. He would’ve probably died from the violent surge of energy had it not been for Ultimate Focus, with the help of which he redirected all this power to the Gate of Regeneration.
The scorpion’s armor was broken, and it looked like it was about to crumble. Perhaps for the first time in his life, even if for a fraction of a moment, Liu was afraid of a mortal.
“Gotcha!” shouted one of the Western Alliance Exorcists, finding herself on the monster’s head. She held a huge blade doused in fire. She was about to sink her sword into the brain of the wounded and wobbly scorpion and bring this battle to an end when an alarmed cry caught her attention.
“KATE!”
Not understanding why there was so much horror in Alexander’s voice, she looked down. Her mouth opened in mute horror when she saw a thick tentacle piercing her stomach. “N-No...” she mumbled as her vision blurred and weakness overwhelmed her.
“Kate... My little Katie...” Alexander mumbled in a broken voice, tears flowing from his eyes, and fell to his knees. One tentacle tore off his right arm, but even that didn’t make him move.
At the same moment, ten more tentacles, escaping from the scorpion’s mouth, darted toward the rest of the people.
Seeing the attack approaching, Kai could only stand and watch as his body was still recovering from the last attack.
However, a moment before
the seemingly inevitable death, a Bright Moon Exorcist suddenly appeared before him, repelling the attack.
The rest of the Bright Moons rushed to help the others, but not everyone was lucky. Elize broke a hand, Dale’s spine was oddly crooked, and Rogers lost an eye. Still, they fared much better than the four soldiers who didn’t manage to escape and were killed where they stood.
“This is bad!” Rune’Tan exclaimed. “It’s not much, but he’s got blood. It looks like he’s going to recover again.”
“Shit,” Kai cursed and tried to move. “Never mind...”
Rune’Tan arched his eyebrows, surprised by the response. He had thought that Kai was desperate. But then he and everyone else felt a wave of powerful energy that made them shiver.
Looking around, they very soon realized that Shacks was the source of this energy. Like Kai, he had broken the seal. However, unlike him, the archer merged not with one, but with two Mature Spirits at once. Those of Arrow and Mist.
Shacks instantly transformed. His already long hair became even longer, almost reaching the ground. Just like his eyes, it became bright green with traces of silver. Bicolor runes showed up on his face, and a long gray cloak, woven of mist, appeared on his shoulders. A translucent light green armor covered his arms and legs, and a quiver with arrows of the same color appeared on his right shoulder.
Shacks was well aware that it was pointless to use ordinary attacks on Liu so he waited for the right moment when no one could stop him from attacking.
Nocking an arrow, he pulled the bowstring back.
The power of the two Spirits poured into his weapon. Both items contained at least one temporary symbol of an attack technique of the Royal rank.
Too bad that I have only three of these left. Shacks sighed. But I have to try... When will I get another chance to kill an Elementalist as an Exorcist?! With a grin, he activated two techniques at once. “Misty Dragon Arrow! Piercing Night Shot!”
