Vir looked unamused.
“Alright,” Cirayus said, stroking his beard. “Fell the remaining Domain Lords, and we will leave this place. ’Tis what you want, is it not? To venture deeper into the Ash?”
Vir thought it over, then nodded. “Shouldn’t take long.”
Cirayus’ eyes twinkled with anticipation. He had a feeling he was about to see something quite special.
Vir walked toward the Domain Lords’ territory, his mind a dark storm of thoughts.
Why didn’t she tell me? he thought. If she only said she couldn’t go through her own Ash Gates…
What would he have done? Lingered in the Mahādi Realm until he’d devised a solution?
How absurd. Ashani was many times more knowledgeable than him. If she hadn’t figured out a way, what hope did he have? She must have known he’d behave this way. She must’ve wanted to keep him from worrying.
Vir ground his teeth. The goddess was too nice for her own good. She was better than him. Superior. And yet, she’d chosen not to worry him, even over her own chances of survival.
Arriving at the Valley of Lords, he took in the scene.
Despite having been gone a month in the Mahādi Realm, he’d only been missing a day here. And already, a new lord had moved into his territory, while the lesser lords no longer allowed him passage.
The first—an Ash Wolf—died to Vir’s Fist Projection. He Blinked up to it so fast, it had no time to react.
Vir’s bare fist—coated in a blade of Ash prana—skewered it through. The black beast died before it knew what even hit it.
One down. Four to go.
Vir walked across the lord’s domain and confronted the next in line—an Ash Biter.
The bipedal humanoid beast, seeing Vir slaughter the other lord, moved quickly in anticipation of the upcoming attack. Just not quickly enough.
Haste activated, and the world slowed to a crawl.
Raising his palm, Vir fired a volley of Prana Darts. He darted behind the enemy and fired another, and finally a third volley.
Like the Ash Wolf before it, the Biter collapsed without ever having understood how it died.
Vir cracked his neck, moving steadily on.
The third lord was the one who moved into his domain, and it, too, was familiar. The remnants of the Tusker colony he’d driven out had returned, claiming this new territory as their own.
The Tuskers bounded out of their burrows, forming a line before Vir. While they hadn’t yet had time to restore their original numbers, they still numbered over fifty.
Swarms of enemies had always been Vir’s bane—he’d lacked an ability like Balancer of Scales to suppress a group of enemies.
He still lacked area-effect magic, but he now had some weapons that came close. Well, weapon. Just one. But it was worth a thousand, all by itself.
Vir’s Artifact chakram blazed to life, buzzing its deadly song. Vir hurled it at the swarm of Tuskers and followed up with a Katar Launch.
Prana ripped the soil, cleaving through a dozen of the rodent-like beasts.
The chakram took care of the rest. It carved through Tusker after Tusker, barely even slowing after detaching their legs from their torsos.
Seeing the devastation, the Tuskers panicked and fled for their holes. A barrage of Prana Darts ensured they failed. The darts weren’t as powerful as a Chakram Barrage, but consumed far less prana—and that meant he could fire many more. Though, of course, his Prana Channeling capacity had increased so monstrously, he could easily keep Barrage up for ten minutes before burning out.
Against the Tusker’s minimal Prana Armor, the darts were more than sufficient.
The stragglers scampered away, disappearing into the nearby forest.
Two Lords left.
The fourth lord was one he hadn’t so much as fought before, but assassinated when he’d first arrived at the Mahādi Realm. This would be his first time fighting one head-on.
The Garuda stood ten paces tall on its hind legs. Its humanoid arms were attached to bat-like wings, and despite having the torso of a man, its head was attached to a great beak.
Vir couldn’t say how much weaker this one was compared to the one in the Ash, but he’d seen this thing casually kill Ashfire Wolves. It’d even managed to grievously wound Ashani.
He’d hold nothing back.
Prana Current activated. Until now, he’d kept it off; he hadn’t needed it, even with the lower ambient prana density sapping his strength.
The energy of life flooded into his body, reinforcing his Prana Armor.
The chakram flew, and with Haste active, Vir Blinked around the beast, firing a barrage of Chakri Launches—disks of black energy that cut through the air, while Vir held onto the actual metal rings.
Chakris—being smaller than their larger counterparts—required less prana to turn into a launch.
That wasn’t to say they were weak, however. Not even close. Chakri Launch offered a level of devastation in between Prana Dart and Chakram Launch, and with his extended Prana Channeling capacity, Vir could maintain the barrage for over a minute.
The Artifact chakram dug into the Garuda’s Prana Armor, but unlike the Tuskers, it didn’t immediately cut through.
Even so, Vir’s barrage was relentless. When the Garuda focused on him, the chakram would swoop in, eating its armor away. And when it focused on the chakram, Vir hit it with Chakri Barrage.
The Garuda grew frustrated and Blinked at Vir, swiping at him with its deadly claws. Claws that had cut an Ashfire Wolf in two.
Vir observed the attack in slow motion and met them with his own. Three deadly claws flared from each of his fists. Instead of blocking, Vir lashed at the enemy’s own claws.
The two strikes met, but one was of prana—the other mere metal.
Vir’s claws sliced apart the Garuda’s and plunged into its Prana Armor, aiming for the spot his chakram had been whittling away.
The claws penetrated, and then it was over. The layer of prana protecting it failed, and the chakram cut through in a dozen different places.
Vir recalled the deadly disk to his hand, looking away from the gory devastation his chakram had wrought.
Last one.
“Lad, that Naga is different from the rest,” Cirayus called as Vir began descending down the hole that led into the Mahakurma’s shell. It was a narrow space, barely wide enough to fit Cirayus, and stretched down for some twenty paces.
“What do you mean?” Vir asked as he made his way down the chute.
“It used to be one of us—it’s demonkin. It may be able to use chakras. Do not allow its strikes to hit you.”
Vir paused. Thus far, he’d been invincible, and if he was honest? It had felt good. He’d needed a release—something to take out his pent-up anger on, and the Domain Lords he’d once struggled against served that role well.
He’d avoided taking a single hit, but he hadn’t been worried even if he had. With Prana Current active, his Prana Armor was far stronger than anything he’d been able to muster in the past. He had faith in its protection.
Until now.
He’d never encountered a foe that could use chakras. Vir would have no defense against them—not as he was. All the Prana Armor in the world wouldn’t protect him from an attack that struck directly at his soul.