The strike knocked the breath out of him. Struggling to breathe, Vir sailed into the rocky cavern.
If Cirayus was hoping to incapacitate him with that blow, he was sorely let down. Vir was no amateur. Even while asphyxiating, he maintained his presence of mind.
The Shadow Realm opened, and Vir sunk in.
He knew now how to defeat the demon. If Cirayus was concentrating Balancer on him, he simply needed to shirk the demon’s eye. Not even he could follow Vir into the Shadow Realm. No one but the Iksana could.
Immediately choosing Cirayus’ own shadow, Vir exited. So did all the momentum he’d carried in.
Using the force of Cirayus’ own strike that had sent him flying, he extended his katar, wreathed in the most violent and powerful Prana Blade he’d ever mustered.
The magic poured from his body onto the blade in such a torrent that it destabilized around the katar, arcing off the blade.
Wasteful, but ultimately stronger than his ordinarily deadly variant.
The blade passed effortlessly through Cirayus’ Giant’s Hide Bloodline Art and penetrated deep into his flesh. But not flesh that mattered.
Cirayus had defended with one of his arms—the blade passed through his bicep.
How did he…
The truth dawned upon Vir. The demon might not be able to follow him into the Shadow Realm, but he didn’t have to. He had something that could track Vir the very instant he popped up. That, when combined with his monstrous intuition, gave the demon a sort of limited prescience.
The Third Eye Chakra.
Vir cursed as Cirayus grabbed his arm with a vice grip, preventing him from sinking back into the shadow. Vir flared prana, causing it to surge from his body, but the demon held strong, despite the agony he must’ve endured.
“You’ve come a long way.”
“Eat this.”
Prana Blade extended, turning into Blade Projection, which ripped clean through Cirayus’ flesh.
The demon roared in pain and let go. Vir instantly dove back into the Shadow Realm, where he took his time to plan.
Getting close to him’s too dangerous. To have any shot at winning, Vir had to remain unpredictable. His only chance was to pop into the cave, fire an attack, and retreat to the shadows. If he was fast enough, he might avoid Balancer of Scales. Even if he couldn’t, his attacks would still fly true, despite Vir’s reduced speed.
Mind made, Vir extended just one arm from a shadow above Cirayus’ head. Simultaneously, he extended another arm through the giant’s own shadow, below him.
He’d tried this once, but the act had been incredibly disorienting. Controlling his body from two separate places was not something his mind was created for, and the result was generally a haphazard attack where he flailed his limbs.
The trick was not to look. Vir closed his eyes and fired off two Chakram Launches.
Hit from both directions, Cirayus narrowly dodged one, but could do nothing against the other.
Yes!
Vir popped out from a shadow, employing the same tactic. Again, one of his strikes connected.
And then, when his head emerged from the third, Cirayus made his move.
Vir froze, unable to register just what happened. It wasn’t until a few moments later, when he saw Cirayus’ glistening blade—when he felt the blinding, debilitating pain explode from his throat, that he understood.
Cirayus’ poleaxe’s spear tip had skewered his throat.
Vir’s first thought wasn’t of fear for his life, or that he’d lost. It was disbelief. He felt betrayed. Never in his dreams did he think Cirayus would harm him like this. It was partly why he could afford to take risks fighting the demon.
Hadn’t Cirayus sacrificed everything to protect him?
Why?
And then, all at once, the pain disappeared. He stood before Cirayus, whose talwar was pressed against Vir’s throat. His intact throat; the weapon had drawn only a trickle of blood.
Vir was unharmed.
“What in the realms…”
And then the truth dawned upon him.
“Chakra!”
Cirayus nodded, grinning. “Congratulations, lad. You now know how it feels to be attacked by an illusion of the Life Chakra.”
Vir dropped his katar and fell to his knees. He felt his throat. The small prick Cirayus inflicted had already clotted—Vir barely felt it. And yet he still felt like his throat had been skewered.
“I… concede.”
Vir was too exhausted to be enraged. It was as if all of his energy had been drained. He looked up… and laughed.
51
OF KINGS AND QUEENS (PART ONE)
Cirayus could hardly believe Vir’s progress. When the boy disappeared only a day before, he’d been struggling. True, he’d gained the ability to launch prana attacks at his enemies—a significant advantage—but he was still sorely lacking. From his physical strength to the level of his magic, his powers were nothing like his prior incarnations, even accounting for the tattoos.
But now? Now, the lad ended Ash Beasts barehanded, with claws of prana so thick, even he could see them.
After witnessing Vir reave through enemies that would have given most warriors pause—and do so barehanded—Cirayus had shuddered. After fighting against him himself, he was now sure. This was power on a level most demons could only dream of.
Power that he would sorely need for the trials that lay ahead.
Whatever made his ancestors so strong, Vir found it in that blighted realm. And he’d found more, apparently.
“You mean to say the energy for your magic comes from within you?” Cirayus asked for the fourth time.
“As I told you, my prana capacity is roughly a hundred times what it was when I first entered the Ash,” Vir replied.
He’d handily decapitated the Naga—the most fearsome Ash Beast on the Mahakurma’s back—only moments earlier, making an enemy that would have ended most demons look like a pushover.
“And I’m telling you,” Cirayus said, following Vir up the hole that led to the surface, “you’re the only demon in recorded history to pull anything like that off, lad! Not even your past selves had such an ability!”
It was true. Powering spells off of one’s own prana had been the pipe dream of many demons throughout the ages. Demon children throughout the realm fantasized about wielding the power of Ash Beasts in their prana-starved lands. A delusion they swiftly abandoned when faced with the stark reality.
Demons were beholden to their barren realm. Even Cirayus was no exception. Despite the prana capacity he’d painstakingly nurtured over the centuries, he couldn’t fuel Balancer of Scales at its full power even once using his body’s reserves alone.
What Vir accomplished, no demon ever had. Certainly not ever to this extent. The amount that coursed within a person’s body was simply insufficient, even for the most basic of magic, let alone powerful Bloodline Arts.
And the lad managed it within a day?
Granted, he’d spent nearly a month in the Mahādi Realm, but even still…
No. ’Tis the opposite. He grew so strong ‘because’ he survived that realm.
Whether or not he had help didn’t matter. Vir ventured to a place where no one ever dared—or at least, those who had never returned alive.
Cirayus beamed with pride.
He’s ready. More than ready.
At least, his body was. But what of the rest? What of his mind?