“…and I think we’ve already settled the hierarchy between us to our satisfaction.”
In fact, Reigan Shen hadn’t beaten Northstrider. The Weeping Dragon had. But Shen was no easy opponent himself, and his mastery over spatial travel meant he could escape anything.
“So let’s just go about our business, shall we?”
Space tore open behind Shen, revealing the blue of the Way.
“Stop,” Northstrider commanded.
The portal sealed itself.
Reigan Shen turned, and his own authority matched or even exceeded Northstrider’s. “Do not play games with me, human. If you want a battle, I will give you one.”
Blood madra began to rise from Northstrider.
He reached into his soulspace and tapped into his black orb. His oracle codex.
His experimental Presence.
Information requested: combat report on Reigan Shen.
The report began, but Northstrider pushed it to his subconscious.
Northstrider had clashed with Reigan Shen many times. He had gathered more information on the Emperor of Lions than anyone else alive, and his construct had analyzed the Path of the King’s Key a million different ways.
But it had taken Dross to bring all that together.
Now, his weapon was complete.
King’s Key madra tore open space to Shen’s left and right, but Northstrider knew what weapons were about to come out.
He Forged a crimson dragon from blood madra, filling it with the authority of the Dragon Icon. The serpent roared as it rushed at Shen, blocking the line of fire from both launchers that the lion had just summoned.
Shen was already traveling away, but Northstrider could see where.
He moved at the same time Reigan Shen did.
The Dragon was not the only Icon that Northstrider had manifested. He launched a punch, and the authority of the Strength Icon empowered him.
Reigan Shen appeared out of the Way, and Northstrider’s black-scaled knuckles caught him in the white-gold mane.
The shockwave cracked the tower beneath them, and Shen was sent flying out of Ninecloud City.
With a brief effort of will, Northstrider followed.
Sophara trembled more violently than the city cracking around her.
She’d failed…and it wasn’t even her fault.
As the ceiling crumbled around her, she knelt on the floor and desperately tried to figure out how to salvage this situation.
The reality crashed in on her: her spirit was finished. Her future as a sacred artist was gone.
She’d borrowed too much from her future, and it hadn’t even paid off. Even if her king was willing to invest more resources in her, he wouldn’t survive the night.
Penance. The arrow was going to kill her great-grandfather.
How could it go anywhere else?
What could she do? There had to be something. There was always something.
A pale human with bloody streaks down his face appeared in front of her.
She swept her sword at him, but he stopped it with one hand. “Don’t forget who you are. We’re going to kill Akura Mercy and her brother, Pride. Come with us, and Reigan Shen can extend your life.”
She recognized the Sage of Red Faith, as well as the half-dozen people behind him. Calan Archer, Yan Shoumei, and Brother Aekin had competed against her, and the other three were Overlords from Redmoon Hall that she didn’t know.
For one reckless instant, she considered trying to kill them all.
If the Dragon King’s Totem could stall the Sage, she could kill the rest, she was sure. Yerin might see it and appreciate that she’d saved Akura Mercy. Then she would use Penance on Reigan Shen instead.
Despair stopped her. She had no reason to think that Yerin would see any of this. Even if she did, she might not even care.
Sophara’s head drooped. The best she could do was cling to this thin thread of hope.
And take out her pain on her enemies.
She drew herself to her feet. “I can handle Mercy,” she said.
The Blood Sage chewed on his thumb. “Then we await our summons.”
When Fury advanced to Monarch, Lindon expected him to instantly wipe out all the enemies.
Instead, a battle had begun that tore the sky and annihilated the city below. Chunks of the surrounding mountains hurled themselves at Fury, courtesy of the Abyssal Palace Herald. The Herald of Redmoon Hall struck with waves of bloody needles like crimson cloud banks, while the Herald of the Silent Servants cut at Fury with endless slashes of a white sword that lit up the sky.
The Stormcallers had no Herald, but one Sage. It was hard for Lindon to follow the exact details of the fight, but the Sage of Calling Storms seemed to be wrestling against Fury’s authority, opposing whenever Fury made one of his echoing commands.
Lindon could feel the will pressing down on Fury, constraining him.
The newborn Monarch kept fighting.
Palms of shadow struck at the side of the Abyssal Palace fortress, sending it careening to the side. A blazing ball of inky shadow crashed into the swordswoman Herald of the Silent Servants, and she had to focus all her power on keeping it from annihilating her.
Throughout the battle, Fury’s laughter echoed.
The remainder of the Akura faction had a war of their own to handle. Most of the enemies had retreated in the chaos, but not all, and it fell to the most advanced among them to stop the barrage of techniques from killing Golds as they tried to retreat.
Lindon himself struck down a cloud with dragon’s breath, used the Hollow Domain for an instant to wipe out a barrage of weaker Striker techniques, and leaped to drive his Empty Palm into an enemy Underlord’s core.
There were relatively few Archlords on the battlefield, and most were trying to help suppress Fury, but four focused on the fortress.
There were only three Archlords among the Akura, and those seven formed the loudest and most intense battle in Lindon’s immediate vicinity. Akura Justice, the old man with the long beard who had examined Lindon’s spirit in Moongrave, used his shadow madra to try and drag their fight away.
It had taken all of Lindon’s power just to deflect some stray madra from that fight, so he was relieved when that flashing cage of madra moved away from them.
He glanced down the stairs to see that most of the Golds were gone. It would be the Underlords’ turn to evacuate next, and Lindon would be happy to leave as long as Mercy and Pride left first.
Though he did briefly wonder who would redeem his points if Fury didn’t make it back.
At the thought of Mercy and Pride, Lindon looked across the roof of the fortress to see them engaging in battle. Pride was covered in crystalline armor, beating senseless an Abyssal Palace priest, and Mercy was keeping up a barrage of dark arrows.
They fought side-by-side with the Seishen Kingdom Underlords, but Malice’s children were doing more than their share of the work.
Grace wove through the few enemies that landed, her sword tracing a black line as she danced. Her cousins Douji and Courage watched over her, covering her with lightning and flying swords as she fought, and Naru Saeya was a green blur in the air overhead.
[Well, it would be rude not to join the gang,] Dross pointed out.
Lindon moved to join them.
Then he saw Seishen Daji pull something out of a pocket and toss it at Mercy’s feet.
It looked like a spike the size of his arm, covered in rings of script.
An instant later, a group of people appeared out of nowhere standing over the spike. A pale, lanky man with long, white hair and bare feet loomed over Mercy, and behind him…
Lindon’s heart stopped.
Behind him, all four enemy Uncrowned.
The Soul Cloak rose up in Lindon, Dross shouted a warning, and Lindon ran as fast as he could.
He didn’t react as quickly as Eithan.
The Arelius Overlord dove and rolled close to the group.
An instant before they all disappeared.