For each and every demon assembled had witnessed the aerial battle. They’d seen the true might of his Artifact Chakrams.
And so, they knew to be afraid.
“Tell me,” Vir said, grinning viciously. “Which one of you chals wants to be the first to die?”
88MONSTERS OF THE ASH
The sneers and jeers all vanished when everyone spotted Vir’s chakram.
“Who’d you steal from to get your hands on that?” one of them said.
“I don’t get it,” Tara cut in. “Wouldn’t you sorry sods rather try to win this thing than gang up on us?”
“Couldn’t care less about you, girl,” a muscular red demon said, pointing to Vir. “It’s him we’re after.”
“Why me?” Vir asked. “Because you saw me with Cirayus? Is that truly enough of a reason to throw away your spot?”
The same red demon grunted. “Most of us don’t stand a chance. Barely even managed to get here. Coin, though? Now that’s a hard thing to say no to.”
Vir frowned. “You’re being paid to do this? By whom?”
“Someone who likes you very much. As a corpse.”
Vir rolled his eyes. It seemed bullies were the same, regardless of realm or race. At least they had a halfway decent reason. Someone was paying them, but who? Who had such a grudge for Vir that he’d hire lackeys to eliminate him? Vir hadn’t recalled making any such enemies, at least.
Keeping his eyes trained on Vir, the demon called out to his posse, “It’s just one Artifact. Sure, it’s deadly, but it can only be in one place at one time. Besides, you saw it miss those Acira, didn’t you? Just be careful and you’ll be fine.”
“So?” Tara asked. “What do we do? Every moment wasted here is precious.”
“I know,” Vir said. “I’ll take them on. I’ll be quick about it. When enough of them have…”
Vir trailed off.
“Yes?” Tara asked, before following Vir’s gaze into the distance. Her expression changed from one of confusion to skepticism to shock, before finally landing on horror.
“Run!” Tara shrieked. Ordinarily, their opponents wouldn’t have fallen for such an obvious deception, but the abject terror in her voice forced a few of them to look.
They yelled in panic, and soon, everyone saw what Vir had spotted.
An Automaton Guardian. Hurtling straight for them.
Vir scanned its shoulders, hoping against hope… But no. There was no mad Thaumaturge riding atop the Guardian.
For the briefest of instants, Vir thought about attacking the Automaton. At Saunak’s tower, he’d learned of a way of interfering with its movements. He banished that thought, however. Even under ideal conditions, Vir had done little more than to make the Automaton twitch. Attempting the same tactic against a mobile enemy who could shoot lethal beams out of its eyes seemed foolhardy at best.
“It must’ve heard the Shrikes,” Vir muttered.
“Who cares!” Tara said. “Let’s go!”
Their enemies had already turned tail and fled—all thoughts of heckling Vir purged by their sense of self-preservation.
“Yes, let’s,” Vir said. “But I’d like to move faster than our previous pace. As such, would you mind if I carried you?”
Tara blinked in confusion. The Automaton was only a few hundred paces away now, and closing fast.
“Sorry. Time’s up. I apologize in advance.”
Vir scooped Tara up and energized his legs. Given that everyone around was currently running for dear life, he felt he could stretch Leap’s range a bit without anyone getting too suspicious. Not quite to his maximum, but more than enough to outpace the creation of the gods.
Vir launched into the air, eliciting a surprised shriek from Tara. Like Maiya, she squirmed initially, before her eyes bulged upon seeing that they were fifty paces above the ground. Then her grip tightened, and her mouth snapped shut.
From the indignant glare she gave him, Vir knew he’d have an earful before long.
That was alright. With this, they’d bounded over their would-be opponents, which meant the Automaton would run into them first.
Vir sincerely hoped that none of them died, but this was the Ashen Realm. Even with a curated event such as this, the dangers were very real. Each and every combatant understood the risks the moment they stepped foot through that Gate.
Besides, as Vir looked back, he noticed most of them outpaced the Automaton. Those who couldn’t split off, angled away. The giant construct paid them no mind.
Why was it here? Vir wondered. He only hoped the machination wasn’t after him.
The next checkpoint came and went with little fanfare—there were no crowds fighting it, and with it being in the middle of an open ash field at the foothills of a nearby mountain range, Vir and Tara took only moments to have their tablets updated. The added pressure of an Automaton in hot pursuit helped motivate them.
“Any idea how many of these there are?” Vir asked as he took to the air with Tara once again. Their next checkpoint seemed to be atop the peaks of these mountains, and Vir stopped at their base to reposition Tara to his back.
She happily obliged, hanging off him like a backpack.
“I have to say, while I can climb, you’re doing me a great service by letting me piggyback like this,” Tara said.
“And you were a great help healing my wounds, so let’s call it even.”
“Well, I’m glad we each have something to offer, at least,” Tara replied, tightening her grip.
As Vir Leaped his way up the sheer mountainous walls, he saw at least a dozen other demons climbing their own way up.
Some bounded like he did, while others climbed the old way. Among them was a four-armed red demon that felt familiar.
“Is that…”
“The Ravager,” Vir confirmed. “Looks like the old man has to climb the old-fashioned way.”
“I’m amazed we even saw him,” Tara said. “I thought for sure he’d be one of the first to return.”
“With Balancer of Scales? He’d be the clear winner. I’ve never seen another demon bound as far as he can with that ability. Without it, though, he doesn’t actually have any movement arts that let him cover ground quickly. Not like he’d need one, with that ability.”
“I suppose,” Tara said. “The Ravager is an exception among exceptions, though.”
“What do you mean?” Vir asked, bounding up the face. Coating his katar with Prana Blade, he drove it easily into the rock. The prana did the cutting, protecting the edge—otherwise, even his seric katar would’ve been rendered useless from the abuse.
“I mean Ultimate Bloodline Arts consume a dizzying amount of prana,” Tara said. “Here in the Ash, it’s no issue at all, but in the Demon Realm… Suffice it to say there are those with the same tattoo who can’t match even basic movement art tattoos.”
“Right. Cirayus has had centuries to perfect and hone his technique,” Vir said, feeling a knot of worry develop in his stomach. It wasn’t the first time he’d had this thought—if it took Cirayus so long, and if Vir struggled so much with his Chakra, then how long would it take him to master his Bloodline Arts?
The Automaton finally arrived at the base of the summit, but like the one Vir had encountered during his earlier trip through the Ash, this one remained there, not even attempting to climb.
“That’s… surprising,” Tara said, looking down.
“I think they can climb, but something tells them not to. I don’t know if it just consumes too much of their prana, or if it’s some self-preservation instinct.”
“You act like you’ve encountered one before,” Tara commented from behind Vir’s back.
“Well, maybe,” Vir said. “Or maybe Cirayus just likes to talk a lot.”
Tara snorted. “That he does. Though that only makes me wonder how someone as young as yourself is so close to someone like him.”