Vir couldn’t help but think something was off there. If they were so suspicious, why would any of the other clans have allowed them to persuade them? Wouldn’t they have had countermeasures in place?
“No doubt you’re wondering why anyone would believe them, given their reputation. It is easy to suspect someone for an hour or a day. What about years? Decades?”
“They really planned that far ahead?”
It was unfathomable to Vir. Humans never operated on such long time horizons. They were lucky to plan a year or two ahead.
“Aye, the Chitran coup was masterful. Demons live longer than humans, you see. Far longer. As such, they plan on longer time horizons as well. The Chits infiltrated every clan, placing agents in key positions. Their coercion was absolute and complete. By the time the clans understood what had happened, it was too late. The troops had been mobilized, the damage done.”
It was hard for Vir to fathom.
“Make no mistake, Vir. The Chitran are your enemies. When you return, they will do everything in their power to end you. For you represent an existential threat to their hegemony. As the Clanlord’s child, you wield the power to rally whatever Gargans remain. You wield the power of a revolutionary. And yet, you will have to find a way to deal with them. Whether you purge them from the face of the realm or decide to pardon them for their sins is a decision only you can make.”
Revolution? Vir hadn’t even met these Gargans, let alone sided with them! Forget staging a coup—he didn’t even know how long he’d stay in the demon lands. As for deciding the Chitrans’ fate… it felt far too heavy a burden for him to bear.
So this is what Cirayus wants of me… This is why he’s training me.
“You want to make me strong so I can restore the Garga, don’t you?”
“Oh no, lad.”
Thank Yuma. Vir was worried the giant would force him into that role, whether he wanted it for himself or not. That would’ve been bad.
“Nothing as insignificant as that. I want you to live up to your name. You are Sarvaak. The One Who Makes the World Whole. Restoring the Garga is but the first step.” Cirayus’ eyes were alight with a zealous fire. “You will unite the realm and usher demonkind into a new era. One the likes of which our people have never seen!”
Vir paled. It wasn’t just bad—it was worse. Much worse.
“Now, I think I have an idea how we can get through these creatures,” Cirayus said. “Hear me out.”
12ASH DYED
“Is this really necessary?” Vir asked, Leaping alongside Cirayus as he cautiously approached a Garga Ash Beast that had separated from its herd.
He did not intend to kill but to lure.
“One does not survive long in this realm being reckless, lad. The degree of confidence you show to your enemy should be proportional to how well you understand them. I’ve never before laid eyes on those gangly creatures,” Cirayus replied, referring to the horde of humanoids they’d come across. “No amount of caution is too much.”
Vir didn’t disagree—he’d declined to fight the Phantomblade a week ago for precisely the same reason—but Cirayus took it to an extreme, especially considering his strength.
Cirayus activated Balancer of Scales. “Stay back,” he ordered, before surging at the unwitting Garga beast.
Vir expected him to strike with his poleax or greatsword. Or, at the very least, bash its face with his shield.
The four-armed giant did none of these things, opting to slap the oversized bull across the snout with his free hand.
The echo was so loud, even Vir heard it clearly, a full forty paces away.
There was a moment of brief silence, and Vir could almost feel the beast’s shock through its blank stare.
Then it roared and charged Cirayus. The demon easily avoided its vicious horns, jumping back twenty paces at a time, taunting it all the while.
“What’s wrong? Show me your strength! Is that all you have?”
The same words Cirayus had used against Vir were now being used on a mindless bull. Vir did his best to ignore that fact. Especially since his last name—the name of his clan—was none other than the name of this beast.
The beast that was blindly raging forward, chasing after Cirayus.
I really hope the Gargans don’t take after that thing…
Assuming, of course, any were still left after the Chitrans’ coup.
Vir followed Cirayus and the beast while keeping a safe distance. Mixed feelings roiled in his chest. He wanted to see his homeland and interact with the Gargans.
Even so, he wasn’t ready to call himself a prince, and he certainly wasn’t about to lead a rebellion. He’d lived his whole life without even being aware of Clan Garga. To suddenly be expected to restore a clan he knew nothing about? It was unreasonable, no matter how much Cirayus said otherwise.
The Garga charged faster and faster… and then it Blinked. Right to Vir.
The action took him completely by surprise, but Vir wasn’t the same person he’d been in the tunnels under Daha when its brethren had gored him.
Leveraging his newfound vitality, Vir hurled his body aside, his legs grazing the Garga as it charged past. Seeing an opportunity, he Blinked off the Garga’s sinewy body, sending him flying away at breakneck speed.
It was another interesting ability he’d uncovered recently; Ash Beasts universally used Ash prana. So did he, which meant he could suck the prana right out of them. Instead of consuming ground Ash prana, every enemy he met acted like a prana reserve. Not just that, consuming his enemies’ prana weakened them as much as it strengthened him. In essence, all of his defensive Talents had now become offensive ones, even if they required direct contact.
The Garga Blinked back to Vir, but Cirayus intercepted it, grabbing its horns and throwing it aside as if it weighed no more than a baby. This was likely true, given how drastically Balancer of Scales could alter the weight of things.
Having recognized Cirayus as the greater threat, the beast charged again after the giant, and Vir soon had to Leap at full power to keep up with the thing. There was no stopping the raging bull now.
With the deft movements of someone intimately familiar with guiding animals, Cirayus led the Garga back to the horde of humanoid beasts, before jumping high into the air.
The Garga hardly noticed. Blinded by rage, it sought the nearest target—a humanoid beast near the periphery of the swarm—and charged.
The deformed human stood no chance. The Garga’s horn skewered it through, then continued to the one behind him. And the next. Impaled on each horn, four humanoid beasts writhed in throes of death, before the Garga flung its head, sending them flying to their deaths.
They don’t seem all that strong, Vir thought. He didn’t know what other tricks the Garga had up its sleeve—or horns, rather—but if the charge was its only attack, Vir felt he could take it down himself, so long as he was careful.
The humanoid beasts couldn’t even do that.
The Garga penetrated deeper into the swarm, goring swaths of enemies and trampling more. Watching the mayhem, Vir wondered whether he’d even get a chance to fight these monsters. The Garga was doing a splendid job of taking them out.
“Watch closely, lad,” Cirayus said, having returned to Vir’s side. “What do you make of this situation?”
“Your strategy was brilliant. I’d never have thought to use an Ash Beast to kill another. Let alone a horde of others.”
“Why fight when you can have your enemies fight themselves? Observe what happens next.”