In fact, he ran away entirely, screaming “Ash Biter!” Leaving Vir and Neel alone with the enemy.
Well, I guess I know what it’s called now…
He had just one advantage—they weren’t in the Ashen Realm. The prana was denser down here, yes, but it shouldn’t be anything compared to the Ash Biter’s natural habitat. That made it weaker, or at least it should.
The creature lunged at Vir, biting at him viciously with its oversized maw. Without Prana Vision, he would’ve lost his head. Or a limb—those fingernails were sharp.
Despite being shrouded in darkness, and although Neel’s light should have been the only thing the Ash Biter could see, Vir found himself targeted with pinpoint precision.
Vir threw himself aside, barely avoiding his end. It felt like every Ash Beast he encountered had mastered cladding their limbs with prana—something he still hadn’t figured out.
Neel was upon the Ash Biter in an instant, clawing at the creature’s back, trying to take a chunk of flesh out of it.
Unfortunately, its skin was far more durable than a human’s, and so Neel settled for plunging his fangs into the creature’s back, latching on as the Biter wailed and snapped its jaw into the air.
Guess that’s why they call it an Ash Biter…
That was all the opening Vir needed. Prana Vision told him that the Biter had no heart—that its primary organ seemed to live within its head. But if it was anything like a human, its skull would be difficult to pierce through, especially for his iron katar.
So instead, he aimed for its neck.
Vir Leaped into the shadow realm and appeared directly in front of the Ash Biter, surging upward at incredible speed.
And yet, the Ash Biter noticed. It twisted away at the last moment, deflecting Vir’s blade away from its throat and into its chin.
The blade penetrated, ramming upward through its mouth… but the damage was superficial. Where a normal human would’ve been writhing in agony, the Ash Biter calmly swiped at Vir, forcing him to let go of the stuck blade and Leap to safety.
Two chakrams flew out of Vir’s hands before the Ash Biter could follow, but its prana-armored limbs stopped them dead in their tracks.
“Neel!” Vir cried, ordering his friend back to his side. The bandy was still desperately clutching onto the Ash Biter, but Vir didn’t want his friend that close to an enemy who could bisect him in a single strike.
Neel disengaged and came running back, and the Ash Biter finally went on the offensive. It Leaped to Vir, forcing him to defend. His steel bracers caught the brunt of the Ash Biter’s assault, deflecting blow after blow. It was only a matter of time before the beast broke through his guard.
Neel chomped on the Biter’s leg, distracting it, which gave Vir the perfect opportunity to grab his katar. He twisted the blade as he brought it out.
This time, the Ash Biter roared in pain, biting at the empty air. It switched its attention back to Vir, but it was too late. He’d already Leaped into the shadow realm.
If a single Leap wasn’t enough to take it down, that just meant he needed more. Vir exited a shadow several paces away, directly behind the Ash Biter.
Once again, Neel distracted the beast, biting its legs and darting off before his opponent’s claws could hit him. It was a dangerous gamble; eventually, the Biter’s claws would connect, and that would be the end of Neel.
Vir wasn’t about to let that happen. Having Leaped into the shadow, he leveraged the momentum to shoot back out. Instead of attacking the Ash Biter head on, he kicked off the ground, Leaping again, quadrupling his speed.
His katar slammed into the back of the Ash Biter’s neck with superhuman speed. Against such force, not even the Ash Beast’s prana-empowered skin could hold. The blade struck true and sunk deep… and kept going until it severed the Ash Biter’s oversized head from its body.
The beast paused, and for a horrifying moment, Vir wondered whether it could survive without its head. Then it collapsed to its knees and fell over, dead. This Ash Biter would bite no more.
“Yesssss!” Vir shouted, pumping his fists in the air.
Aroooo! Neel howled in victory, running circles around him happily.
Then Vir fell to his knees, echoing the Ash Biter just moments before, fatigue overcoming him. He let out a long breath and let his katar slip out of his hands.
For the second time in as many hours, he’d felled an Ash Beast. An Ash Beast! And, for the second time that day, he comprehended just how tiny, weak, and insignificant he truly was.
With that realization came the understanding that if he dared press on any farther, he needed to be stronger. He needed Prana Blade. That morning, he had no leads on how to obtain it. But after witnessing the Ash Beasts up close, he’d gained a few ideas.
And what better place to train than the depths of an infested mine? An infested mine… where Ash prana ran strong.
16PRANA BLADE
Prana can do damage, Vir thought. Or rather, prana combined with intent can do damage.
Riyan’s Blade Projection flung Earth prana from the blade, extending its reach. Kamna’s Blade Launch took the concept even further, firing off a concentrated burst of prana that ripped through the ground. And Ash Beasts wreathed their bodies with prana to toughen their hide and sharpen their claws.
Vir had already finished marking the Ash Biter’s corpse. He looked around the pitch-black space, illuminated only by the Magic Lantern that hung around Neel’s neck.
Most would call him insane for training at the bottom of a dark mine where arcane horrors roamed, but then again, it was the most ideal training ground Vir had ever come across. While the prana density wasn’t quite what it was at Valaka Amara—the hidden outpost of the gods under Daha—it was noticeably greater than at the surface.
If there was any place that would help Vir master the secrets of Prana Blade, it was this place.
“Keep an eye out, Neel. If anything comes close, you let me know,” he said as he crossed his legs on the cold stone and closed his eyes.
The bandy barked in acknowledgement, slowly patrolling a perimeter around Vir.
Sinking into thought, Vir trained Prana Vision inward. He already knew from prior experiments that launching his body’s Ash prana outward accomplished little—the prana merely dissipated the instant it left his body. He also lost control of it the moment it exited, making it quite useless.
And with Ash prana being such a limited resource, he couldn’t afford to waste it inefficiently. Lately, he’d been thinking about ways to counter that. An arrow thrown by hand dealt minimal damage, but when launched by a bow became a lethal weapon.
What if I ‘launch’ prana out of my hand?
Granted, Vir doubted this was how Prana Blade actually worked, but it was the only lead he had to work with.
The only reason this worked was because of his body’s prana saturation. Most creatures existed in equilibrium with their surroundings—Ash Beasts excluded. They seemed to do what he did, though he suspected it came naturally and subconsciously to the beasts.
Most Talent wielders had to channel prana from the ground to fire off a Talent, but with the amount of prana he kept trapped in his body, unleashing his stored up prana as a weapon became viable. At least it ought to be. Except for Toughen, all of his existing Talents relied on ground prana to operate.