But the Blackflame, Lindon, ducked as though he'd known it was coming, and the air around him exploded soundlessly. Some kind of wind technique. Kiro was shoved backwards.
Into one of the natural treasure displays.
Daji sauntered forward, waiting for his brother to emerge. Most of these nooks didn't contain anything dangerous to an Underlord. Even if they did, if it didn't kill him immediately, Kiro would only have to take one step to leave.
But he didn't take that step.
A spark of concern kindled in Daji's chest, and anger along with it. How dare this Truegold touch his brother.
Daji shouted, drawing the Blackflame's attention; black-and-red eyes fixed on him. A rectangle the size of a closet door suddenly appeared next to Lindon, and he reached inside with his one remaining good arm.
Daji didn't care what kind of weapon the Gold had inside. He had weapons of his own. He raised his swords, reaching out for their Striker bindings.
Then tendrils of shadow grabbed him from behind and pulled.
He was hauled off his feet before he could react, dragged back around the corner and down the hall.
In a second, he flexed his full strength, tearing the strings loose around his arms and slicing them apart. He rose to his feet again, ready this time, looking around. Maybe he had activated a security measure, or someone new had shown up.
Akura Mercy stood at the end of the hall, holding her bow in one hand, straightening her ponytail with the other. Her green armor had been broken, and he could see bloody holes in the robe beneath, but the skin of her ribs was now whole.
Daji suddenly felt danger.
She was Truegold again, and stronger this time, but she had suddenly raised her advancement before. It hadn't helped her then.
This time, she had returned to life.
Something strange was going on.
Daji summoned the shield from his soulspace, replacing it with his left-hand sword. Now he held the shield in front of him, approaching with caution.
“Why did you have to threaten them?” Mercy asked, and for the first time he saw anger in her eyes. “You think killing them will make Aunt Charity happy?”
Aunt Charity. This was the Heart Sage's niece.
Daji's anger receded a little further, replaced by fear. If Mercy had stayed dead, he might have been in some real trouble.
But she was alive now. Everything was all right, he just had to be careful not to kill her this time.
“This is a battlefield, not a playground,” Daji said, firing a beam of blue lightning from the point of his sword. To be safe, he aimed at her leg.
Mercy's hands blurred, there was a flash of darkness, and his Striker technique deflected to splash onto the wall between natural treasure displays.
She had blocked it.
With an arrow.
Daji decided to change tactics. “How about this?” he yelled, his tone challenging.
He raised his sword, letting her think he was about to attack. Then he poured all his power into his shield.
He used the Titan’s Blade, injecting the technique with soulfire, and a curved gray wall bloomed from floor to ceiling. It was solid as stone, at least for the next few minutes, and it would block her off.
He wasn't allowed to kill her, but he hadn't seen her use any big destructive techniques. She would be trapped in there while he rejoined Kiro and Meira. Then, once they'd gotten rid of the other two, they could decide what to do with the Akura.
Daji ran away, proud of himself. Kiro had looked like he was in the most trouble, so Daji would go to him first. Then...
The aura of the vault shifted, like a river suddenly changing course. Suddenly, a spirit began to swell with power.
~~~
Sweat ran down Yerin’s face and her spirit trembled as she held her technique. She had never maintained the Endless Sword for so long before; it wasn’t like her to fight for a stalemate.
But the longer she could hold Meira in place, the better.
The Underlady’s armor had practically crumbled off her by now, and strands of gray hair were falling to the ground. Still, she tried to push forward, as though pushing against a strong wind.
The light blinked off.
For a second, Yerin wondered if her eyes had quit on her, but only a moment later the younger brother Daji ran around the corner, his footsteps pounding on the stone floor. His armor hung heavy on him, and it wasn’t glowing as brightly as before. It was almost out of power, she was certain.
Not that it mattered for her. The swords he held in his hand would bury her well enough.
He turned his helmet toward her, adjusting his grips on his weapons, and the bottom fell out of Yerin’s stomach. This was it. She always figured she would meet her end in a hopeless fight.
Then Meira extended a finger and screamed, “Kiro!”
Yerin felt hope again.
Daji turned away, running the other direction, but she couldn’t relax. Daji was going after Lindon. Even if Lindon could hold his own against one Underlord, he wouldn’t stand up against two any better than she would.
She pulled harder on her spirit, though her madra was getting dangerously low, her channels aching and strained. A little more, and maybe she could hit the Underlady hard enough to matter. Her Blood Shadow sensed the same opportunity, and though it must be running dry just like Yerin, it pushed harder too.
Yerin’s knees buckled.
She fell, bracing herself against the floor with her hands. Her Endless Sword technique faded, and rather than pushing against a strong wind, Meira staggered forward.
Yerin’s vision doubled, and she was seeing two of her master’s sword lying on the ground, then four, then six.
She turned her sense inward.
Her lifeline was gone.
Instead of an unbroken line of green running down her spine, it was like a faint wisp of green gas. She had gone too far, and now she was out of time.
But the fight wasn’t over.
With the last dregs of her strength, she stumbled to her feet, raising her master’s sword. She couldn’t let Meira get away…
Meira wasn’t running. She had sensed Yerin’s condition and turned, scythe spinning up.
Yerin’s Blood Shadow snarled and rushed in, firing a blood-fueled Rippling Sword Striker technique, but Meira batted it aside. Yerin moved in, lifting her white sword, though it felt a thousand times heavier than normal.
Only minutes ago, she had thought she was ready to die, but now everything was different. Now, she was an inch away from Underlord.
She was too close to give up now.
Her Blood Shadow swept a sword at Meira, but the flaming blade of the scythe cut into its side. The spirit shrieked, stumbling back. Yerin prepared her own sword.
Then the aura swept down the hall as Lindon started to advance.
As soon as Yerin sensed it, she moved. Meira would be distracted. This was her chance.
Sure enough, the Underlady shifted, her attention moving to the other battle. To Kiro. She let down her guard for an instant.
Yerin tumbled forward, sliding her sword through the gap in the woman’s helmet as she passed.
She ended in a heap on the other side of the hallway, out of strength, as Meira screamed and clapped a hand to her eye. Yerin wanted to follow up with another attack, but this time something caught her attention: a shimmering silver display that she hadn’t seen before. It looked like a blacksmith’s shop, packed full of spears, axes, knives, and blades of every description.
Natural treasures of sword aura.
Using her master’s sword like a cane, Yerin pushed herself to her feet. She shoved her way over, inching forward one step at a time.
Life madra erupted from Meira. It formed a pillar connecting her to the ceiling, and then the top of that pillar bloomed. Spreading outward into leaves and branches.