“I see. So what’s different about the primordials?”
“Every Ultimate tattoo they inscribe links up to a prong on your chest tattoo, and the placement doesn’t seem to matter nearly as much.”
Eight powers as strong as Balancer of Scales… It was nearly unfathomable.
“Unfortunately, only six remain.”
“Six? Then why does my tattoo have eight prongs?”
For the first time in their conversation, Cirayus looked anguished. “Some of the tattoos have been… lost, I’m afraid.”
“Lost. As in misplaced? How does a clan lose their most powerful weapon?”
“When they’re wiped out by another clan. Perhaps someone hid them, dying off before they could tell another. Perhaps the invading clan burned the inscription scroll. Demon history is a long and bloody one. Such things happen, though of course, clans do everything in their power to save them.”
Vir’s throat went dry. “And… the Ultimate tattoo of my clan? What of Garga’s?”
Cirayus looked away. “I cannot say, lad. I left before Garga truly fell. I doubt your father would allow the scroll to fall into the wrong hands, but I cannot see him destroying the inscription so easily. Not while you lived. He was better than that.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t send it with you, to be honest.”
“Far safer to keep it in the Demon Realm. Losing you would be a tragedy. A terrible tragedy. But if the worst were to happen, the Akh Nara would eventually reincarnate. Perhaps not soon, but one day. The same cannot be said for the inscription.”
Vir wondered why they didn’t simply make copies of the thing, though doing so came with its own risks. Especially if the master inscription was a closely guarded secret.
“There’s more,” Cirayus continued. “Jalendra accumulated more tattoos than any other Primordial. Least, that we know of. He was also the most well-informed of them all. Trust me, I’ve spent more than my fair share of time studying this topic over the centuries. It’s one of the great demon mysteries, after all.”
“And? What did his writings say?” Vir asked, urging the giant not to take any more tangents.
“In his writings, we find mentions of a power. Seemed he spent the last years of his life searching desperately for it, but never managed it. Called it the Supreme Arbiter. Apparently, it was a power that put even the Ultimate abilities to shame, if such a thing can be believed.”
The Supreme Arbiter? The name felt familiar to Vir, though he couldn’t place where he’d heard it. Or even if he ever had. To motivate someone like Jalendra, who already possessed so much strength, it truly had to be in a league of its own.
Vir turned to face the giant. “I can’t do it,” he said with a look of frustration. “I just don’t have enough information on the Phantomblade to know I can safely fight it. I’ll have to pass this time.”
Expecting a look of disappointment, Vir braced himself for a lecture.
“An excellent decision, lad,” Cirayus said, clapping his shoulders. “I agree. Phantomblades can launch a hundred of their scales as fast as you can Leap. As you stand, you have no way of taking the beast down in a single blow. If you had tried to attack, I would have stopped you.”
A hundred! Vir blanched. The Phantomblade he’d fought could only fire one at a time. I’d seriously have died.
Cirayus rose from his spot across from Vir, offering his hand. “We’d best not linger long. Especially not with so many corpses lying about. Even the scavengers in the Ash are more than capable of biting your head off.”
“Where do we go from here?” Vir asked.
“First, I need to get my bearings. The Ash’s landscape shifts continuously, but certain features remain. Before we venture deeper, we need to visit that cache I buried before leaving for the Human Realm.”
“What’s in it?”
“A weapon and a guide. Sikandar, my trusty blade of several centuries, and an Artifact that will point the way to the Demon Realm.”
Vir’s eyes narrowed. “That exists?” It seemed awfully convenient.
“Aye, a handful do in the Demon Realm. I wouldn’t call them common—Artifacts are never common—but they’re numerous enough to be bartered between clans for exorbitant sums. We don’t understand their true purpose, but the devices are bonded with their paired partner. So long as its sister in the Demon Realm is active, the Artifact will point the way to the nearest gate.”
Vir could hardly believe what he was hearing. “You buried such an important Artifact? In the Ash?”
“Would you risk allowing such a device to fall into the hands of humans? We didn’t know what to expect from the Human Realm. None of us had ever traveled there and returned safely. If the device fell into their hands…”
“Prana poisoning keeps them out. But you couldn’t have known that at the time. If they were strong enough, they could march right into the Demon Realm.”
“Aye. Better to hide it in a safe spot. One that we can easily find, yet one unlikely to ever be stolen by some errant beast.”
“Er, such as?” Vir asked, beginning to fear the response.
“The lair of an Alpha Shrike.”
Shrike… Shrike. Ah, yes. The avian creatures with a Balar Rank of Four Hundred to Eight Hundred. Wait, Alpha?
“Is that a stronger variety?”
“Oh yes. Stronger, and far, far larger.”
The power ranking in this realm simply defied common sense. That went both for their enemies and for the giant himself. Vir had to remind himself Cirayus was the strongest Talent wielder alive in the Human Realm. Here, he wasn’t even close to the strongest, but his Balar Rank was likely easily over a thousand. Perhaps even two thousand with his chakras.
Vir hadn’t fully grasped the true magnitude of their power. Besides, he suspected there was more to the chakras. More that Cirayus hadn’t yet divulged. Based on how much it relied upon meditation and learning insights into one’s own self and the world around them, Vir had to wonder… Was there some other meaning to unlocking chakras? Some other purpose?
Vir had faith the demon would divulge all in time. Right now, he was more curious about something else.
“By the way,” Vir asked, falling into step next to the demon. “What is my clan’s Ultimate Bloodline tattoo?”
“You mean I never told you?” Cirayus asked with a look that said he was just waiting for Vir to ask. “Aspect of the Demon God.”
“Uh, that sounds impressive? Does it give you horns and let you breathe fire or something?”
Maiya would get a kick out of that, he thought.
“Nothing so flashy, I’m afraid.”
Figures. Nothing could ever live up to such an overly pompous name. Vir wondered whether the Garga Clan was trying to make it sound cool, or if it was just bravado.
“It simply makes you invincible.”
Vir’s jaw hit the floor. Right before he stumbled and fell into a pile of ash.
9ROYAL SCALPEL (MAIYA)
“You will report to me directly now.” Princess Ira sipped her tea, regarding Maiya with a contemplative gaze.
“I’m… honored, Your Highness,” Maiya said in a fluster. “But I’m unsure how I can help you achieve your goal. Though I’m alright fighting Ash Beasts, I’m sure you must have plenty of strong warriors already?”