Even as Balagra thought it, he knew it couldn’t be. More than a few Aindri had tested their taming skills on Ash Beasts. Most who tried, perished. To Balagra’s knowledge, none had ever succeeded.
Yet… If, by some miracle, Neel truly was strong enough to defeat so many beasts on his own…
Then maybe he isn’t as naïve as I’d thought.
Balagra shuddered. His heartbeat quickened. He clutched his spear tighter, and a feeling he’d not felt in a long, long time awakened.
It was that of excitement. For the future. That, perhaps, their fate may not be as bleak as he’d feared.
Almost before he’d completed the thought, a great avian beast slammed into the ground, kicking up plumes of Ash and rock.
A sickening crunch could be heard, followed by a gulp. The beast beat its great wings, clearing away the ash cloud and revealing half a demon. Only half.
“Shrikes! Get on the ground!” Balagra roared, hurling himself against the sooty dirt.
He almost made it. Just an instant earlier, and he’d have avoided its vicious beak.
As it was, his stomach lurched, the ground fell away, and Balagra managed a single wry laugh, filled with every ounce of spite, regret, anger, and desperation he could muster.
Then his body ripped with agony, and the world went dark.
Vir watched in horror as the Shrike plucked Balagra off the ground and rose to the air.
He watched, but he didn’t freeze. That bad habit had been drilled out of him thousands of dead Ash Beasts ago.
Even before the Shrike took to the sky, Vir was crouching. An instant later, he launched, High Jumping on a trajectory that intercepted the avian creature.
Midair maneuvering was never easy, and while blasting prana out in various directions could somewhat alter his direction, its capacity was extremely limited.
Without hundreds of prior attempts to execute this exact maneuver within the Ash, Vir would surely have missed.
Vir did not miss.
An invisible blade of pure prana ripped forth as Vir sent a Talwar Launch flying. The unsuspecting Shrike never knew what hit it as its head was severed clean off.
Its body continued soaring, but its head, lacking wings to keep it aloft and weighed down with Balagra’s body, came tumbling down.
Right into Vir’s arms.
With his left hand, Vir gripped Balagra’s body securely, and with his right, he hurled the head away.
The Naga was more or less still in one piece, though that was all that could be said about his condition. The Shrike had shorn off Balagra’s left leg, forcing Vir to look away from the gruesome sight as they plummeted to the ground together.
Not out of squeamishness or disgust, but because Vir knew exactly what that meant for the demon.
Not even the Human Realm’s finest mejai could regrow limbs. Even if he survived, Balagra’s days as a warrior were over.
Vir’s eyes played over the field of slaughter, as more and more Shrikes swooped to the ground, each dive reaping yet another life.
Though Vir fired off Talwar Launches as they dropped, he hit none, accomplishing nothing other than delaying a few.
That situation changed the moment Vir’s boots found dirt. With Prana Current surging to its maximum, he Blinked forth, hoisting Balagra over his shoulder. While he worried for the crippled demon, if he went any slower, there would be no one left to save.
Vir’s form blurred as he decapitated, de-winged, and bisected Shrike after Shrike—any attempt at hiding his power long forgotten.
The ravenous Overseer’s eyes tracked his every movement. Vir’s collar allowed only a fraction of his normal prana usage. He shouldn’t have been able to do any of the things he’d done.
Which was why Vir was sure the Kothi must’ve thought he’d just found the prize of the century.
The Overseer could think what he liked. Vir had known early on that protecting his people might require compromising his cover. He’d also decided that no cover was worth the lives of innocent Gargans. If he couldn’t overcome this crisis, then he had no chance of restoring his clan.
When the skies cleared, Shrike corpses lay strewn all over the ground. Too many demons had perished, though not as many as Vir feared. Thanks, in large, to Balagra’s Corruption Field persisting even after Balagra had been taken out.
It’d forced the Shrikes to hesitate. It was likely the only thing that had kept them alive long enough for Vir to reach them.
Which was all the more reason Vir couldn’t let the Naga—his friend—die.
“Is there anyone with healing skills here? Anyone!” Vir roared. He placed Balagra gently upon the ground and whirled, eyes searching for any demon in sight who might help.
Malik was upon him in an instant, ripping off his shirt and wrapping it tightly against the base of Balagra’s leg. The blood raging out of the Naga’s stump lessened substantially, though he’d lost so much blood already. Even with his demonic constitution, Vir was unsure how long he’d survive.
It was the Overseer who answered, a sickening grin plastered across his face.
“Congratulations, Neel. You are now the leader of not one, but two companies of demons. Rejoice, for this is the first field promotion we’ve ever given.”
“He’s still alive,” Vir said, facing the Overseer. “Surely you have a healer among you. Help him!”
“Watch your tone, prisoner,” the Overseer said, purposefully drawing out his words to anger Vir. “You may be a company leader, but do not forget the collar you wear. Yes, we have a healer. No, they will not help you.”
“Help him,” Vir demanded.
“The Naga’s dead. Not a big loss, if you ask me. Their ilk are always a—”
“One more word,” Vir said, barely keeping his prana and anger checked. The feat took every shred of determination he could muster. “One more word, and I swear to Adinat I will end you.”
Even if it risked his cover. Even if it risked punishment, Vir couldn’t allow Balagra to die. He wouldn’t. With such skill and experience, he’d be indispensable to the cause.
The Overseer snarled. “I take it back, prisoner. I was about to give you a promotion. I was about to give you the snake’s troops. I see now that I have made a mistake. What you need is not a reward, but rather punishment. Which I shall gladly award. After that demon is dead.”
The Kothi turned to his guards. “Kill the Naga! Remove us of this dead weight—”
The Overseer never finished his words. Rather, they devolved into garbled gibberish before suddenly ceasing.
For a moment, nothing happened. Those around the Overseer wondered why he suddenly stopped talking.
Then, slowly, like a peeling banana, the corpse that only moments before had been the highest-ranking Chitran present… was split cleanly in two.
44
JOURNEY TO THE LOST CITY (PART TWO)
The Overseer’s body split not at his waist, but rather vertically, down the very center of his body.
Vir stared in stunned disbelief as the wreckage of the Kothi’s body tumbled to the ground. He continued staring a long moment after, as did all who’d gathered around.
Fearing this exact situation, Vir had reduced the prana in his katar. Rather, he’d feared the opposite—that his attack would be trivially brushed away. He expected the Overseer to at least block his well-announced strike. He’d wanted to get the Overseer to back off, not to kill him.