Soul Of Blades - Chapter 75: The Task at Hand (Patreon)

Authors note: there’s a bit of an introspective throwback to the first chapter and some of his recent experiences to signify some form of growth to begin his journey into ‘badassery. Enjoy.

Chapter 75: The task at hand.

Alex held a deep belief in mercy and understanding, principles that guided most of his actions. However, these beliefs found their limits in life-threatening situations like the deadly contest he was now embroiled in. Here in this zero-sum game, where survival depended solely on the outcome of each move, mercy was a luxury he could not afford. He had almost died trying to save the townsfolk on Pyra, and was beginning to learn the dangers of underestimating his opponents.

A lion will use all of its strength even when hunting a rabbit, Alex recalled the saying with an exhale. That was another of his grandfather's teachings, and something Alex had struggled with in his previous life. The ease with which he faced challenges stifling his need to apply effort to his endeavours. His was a strength that had quickly turned into a crippling weakness. Rabbits were pitiful things and barely worth the effort of a hunt. He could catch them with his eyes closed. That was what he had so foolishly thought, back then, bathed in the arrogance of youth. 

Now, the memory caused him to understand his grandfather's wisdom—about the necessity of full effort in every significant challenge, no matter the apparent scale or ease. To give it your all in every attempt when facing your desires. And in this instance, Alex desired to live. 

So he would become a lion that hunted rabbits with everything it had. He eyed the enemies that stood before him at the thought.

The giant guards that remained were far from mere rabbits and felt more like prowling wolves.

This is no longer a mere death match, he thought with realisation. They hadn’t expected any of their number to die. Now, the guards wanted an Execution. Each sought revenge.

The stakes had escalated beyond mere survival.

Alex had already defeated two of the massive guardians clad in golden armor; another lay stunned in a smoking crater, its body twitching from the electrocution delivered by the swing of his blades. 

Its comrades towered before the fallen, their armor scuffed yet intact. A few stepped forward without even so much as a scratch. Of the seven that persisted, several had exhibited remarkable strength;

Their armored forms had shrugged off electric blows that scoured the earth.

Their swings tore the earth and shattered stone.

They moved with speed, armoured feet skimming the ground.

They displayed strength that rivaled his own, aided by their inflated levels. These guards held too much of a threat to allow them any room to cause unexpected damage.

Mei was trapped in a well of gravity high above, pinned to a floating mound of rocks, immobilised in her gravitational prison.

Alex, once again, found himself fighting solo—

Yet not entirely alone.

A towering figure stood beside him with metallic muscles that rippled in the light. A manipulation of magic that would obey his every whim.

Alex spoke a command to the giant replica, his voice resonant and decisive. It was a command it would follow without question, mindlessly, devotedly.

“FIGHT!”

***

The giant clone’s metallic arm muscles flexed as it launched at the guards, each movement at Alex’s command. A sword swung at the clone, clashing loudly against its golden body. The clone lashed out in a sweeping strike, its gargantuan blade causing the guards to step back as one parried. Alex’s feet shifted cautiously and deliberately as he approached, looking for an opening.

Then the Guards all pounced on the clone, pounding, smashing, and chopping in wide arcs. Dents and scratches covered the giant golden being, but nothing more. It grabbed one guard and struck out blindingly at the rest at Alex's intuitive command.

A worthy distraction.

Alex pounced into the fray, swinging his blade all his might, aiming the perfected technique of his piercing thrust at the back of a distracted assailant’s exposed neck. A Phoenix Leap boosted his flight, and the world blurred. His Sovereign Executioner entered reality from the other side of his target, startling it into defensive action. Causing it to be even less aware of his rocketing form.

Lighting coursed along the Electric Edge of Alex’s blade as he sped through the air, the taste of ionization causing his hairs to stand on edge. 

He struck, and thunder clapped, a flash that blinded all. 

But he met resistance, its skin was far too thick. His blade pierced the neck and his lightning scorched flesh, but the blow stopped at the bone and moved no further.

Phoenix Leap, Sovereign Executioner. 

Alex’s blade dug deeper, lodged firm in thick and magically enhanced bone, the world around him dimmed as fingers the size of his arms shot up, blocking out the sun as they sought to snatch him from the air. 

Stop him! Alex mentally ordered his giant clone to strike, and it obeyed, a metallic gong signifying a a rocking blow, and a second of time purchased.

“Mana Blade, Phoenix leap, Mana Blade!” Alex thrust his blade further, striking with all he had as a platform of mana exploded beneath his feet, enhancing the force of his blow.

Thunder crackled. A flash of light flared.

Alex’s blazing blue blade sliced through thick metal, flesh, even thicker bone, and then more flesh, as lightning crackled once more.

The golden guardian toppled over like a felled tower, clutching at its partially bisected neck in a spray of electrified gore.

[You have defeated level 550 Draconic Kobold (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

Alex landed amongst the remaining six, crouched, as they battled his giant clone high above, each blow causing rumbles and ripples in the earth.

Alex sliced at a distracted guard's ankle before leaping back to safety, his blade bit deep as the guard roared and toppled. His clone stood in front of him in a protective stance, and with a hint of concentration from Alex, a second golden blade rippled and stretched from its palm.

It launched into the guards as Alex leapt back to create some distance, and a storm of golden blades and armour clashing against each other ensued.

The clone won't last long. They're gonna destroy it pretty soon. Alex thought as he watched all ten guards pummelling his giant clone. It fought back valiantly, but it was simply outnumbered. He guided it to dodge and counter, but its destruction was inevitable. He glanced up at Mei high above, he needed her help.

High above, pressed against floating rock and grass, Mei lay flat against the earth. Gravity held her suspended on a small green floating mass. Shields made from blazing mana flashed into existence around her-some of them carving into the earth, slowly prying her free. Her hands danced in front of her, tracing intricate patterns Why does she do that? Alex wondered as he looked up at her. Light surrounded her as she continued to conjure layers upon layers of shields around her, her form trembling against the pressure until she became a blue sphere, a thick bubble of uncountable overlapping shields. And with a determined, almost angry shout, Mei hurled herself off the hill high above.

And on the sidelines, seeing her break free from his control, Tarabyzan raised a reptilian eyebrow in surprise.

Mei's figure, pressed against a floating hill by Tarabyzan’s gravity control, launched back into the fray as if propelled by an unseen force. Her palms turned forward, fingers splayed wide. A storm of magical projectiles materialized, swirling like fireflies and darting toward a guard. Each sharply focused. The first struck the guards cleanly, his eyes widening in shock as it landed and the rest soon followed. They struck, ignoring the guard’s armor as if it were a mere shadow, burrowing into his flesh.

The guard was impaled by all of her missiles, a grisly golden display as it staggered in shock.

Alex sprinted. His fingers curled around Eclipse’s hilt as he snatched it from the ground. His legs coiled then sprung – launching him in a graceful arc toward an impaled guard. His Mana Blade swung, and a draconian head separated from its body. He fell, lifeless.

[You have defeated level 594 Draconic Kobold (E) - Experience penalty due to grade difference]

How did I not get a level from that?, he wondered mid-swing, killing 30 got me eight levels even with the rank penalty, so killing 5 should get me 1 level, if each kill is 0.8? He huffed in confusion. This system is bullshit, it’s like a portion of my experience is stolen arbitrarily… maybe the system uses experience to keep itself running? Maybe that’s why it gave me no experience for killing Jin Li?

Alex found himself beginning to wonder, the cogs of his experiences turning, maybe the system is rigged?

He swung again, and his Sovereign Executioner stepped into reality, slaying a downed guard still unconscious in a crater, twitching from residual shocks of his lightning.

The twitching ceased.

[You have defeated level 410 Draconic Kobold (E) - additional experience points due to the level difference. Experience penalty due to grade difference]

“Enough,” Tarabyzan’s voice rumbled, as cold and imposing as an arctic wind.

An invisible weight seized Alex mid-leap. His body halted, then plummeted to the ground. He struggled as he felt himself dragged downward violently, as if the sky itself were rejecting him. It felt eerily similar to his first arrival in this empire's outer world – a crushing deadly embrace, almost familiar, but now with a source. A concentrated suppression, the malice of one ancient dragon reaching out from the distance.

Tarabyzan.

Alex’s eyes squeezed in the strain and flicked to the ancient dragon standing like a sentinel in the distance.

His giant clone emitted a grinding, screeching noise. Its massive form and metal joints seemed to compress under the intense gravity. Mei's legs buckled, her magical bolts shattered like fragile glass, and her shields fractured into shards of light as she hit the ground hard, her knee buckling under the force, teeth gritted. Her face contorted in a mix of determination and pain.

In the space between them, the largest draconic guard stood. Alex’s gaze, intense and calculating, locked onto this guard – his earlier target of 'Divine Fist.' Through a marriage of True Sight and Outer Focus, he observed a network of foreign mana radiating from the impact site, a vibrant contrast to the guard’s own energy. It beckoned subtly towards Alex, like a tether.

It was Alex's own mana infused into the dent in the guard's armour, where he had punched it. His new skill, Divine Fist had imprinted its mana onto his enemy at the point of impact. The packet of Alex's mana had latched onto the guard like a parasite.

It pulsed.

It was a vibrant, rebellious streak amidst the guard’s own energy, swaying gently towards Alex like a beckoning hand. Responding to an instinct, Alex moved quickly. It was almost like a whisper from the system itself had altered his intuition. One, two, three swords materialized from his inventory, landing in a clatter in his struggling arms.

Simultaneously, he reached with his senses towards the Divine Fist’s residual mana, mentally grasping the tendrils of his own mana. The moment he did, the mana invading the guard surged back toward him, eager and responsive. The swords, as if caught in a draft, shot forward with this action at speed, blurring as they moved – all aiming for the largest guard as they streaked forwards like guided missiles.

In the next beat, Alex’s mental grip on the skill released. The swords, now free, continued their trajectory past the guard and sped toward the unmoving Tarabyzan.

The swords halted abruptly in the air before Tarabyzan and his son. The younger dragon’s eyes widened, and he stepped back involuntarily—a reflex betraying his inexperience.

Tarabyzan, calm and unfazed, extended a hand and delicately plucked the third from the air. The rest met the stone floor with a resonant clang as he released gravity's control over them.

He must be constantly controlling the directional gravity to match their speed in all directions to hold them in place like that, suspended in mid-air Alex realised. That is an insane level of control, what level of mastery did he take that skill to? Alex could only wonder.

"Those guards were weak," Tarabyzan noted as he sat down once more, "to have died at your hands."

“The weak have no place amongst us.”

His eyes, however, remained on Alex and Mei, appraising. “Your classes are interesting," he continued. "Your skills will be useful to the expedition. You may join us."

He paused, his fingers idly tracing the armrest of his chair. "Cause any problems," he continued, his voice a calm, chilling wave, "and you will die before even realizing you have been struck. We leave in four days. Return here by then."

His gaze never wavered from the pair. Mei's foot tapped on the stone floor of the courtyard, her impatience oozing from every facet of her form despite the tension. Does she think she can take him on? After all that? Alex wondered. Tarabyzan, seemingly unfazed, went on.

"The journey will take several weeks," he informed them, his voice betraying no emotion. Each word was carefully measured, as precise as a blade. "And at the rate of deterioration of Phurafel’s lifeforce," his fingers, long and reptilian, steepled together as he continued, looking almost thoughtful "it will take just over a month before Phurfel is truly close to death, and weakened enough to be beaten."

Alex tensed subtly, his senses attuned to the words. He noted the gravity with which Tarabyzan spoke of Phurafel, the ancient dragon they were tasked to confront.

Tarabyzan then leaned back into his chair in consideration. "Phurafel resides amidst a destroyed city, overcome with neglect and reclaimed by nature and wildlife. He has used the Thundergod Jade to warp the distant landscape where he resides, over many years." Tarabyzan’s face was impassive as he relayed the dire circumstances his expedition was apparently venturing into. "The animals and beasts there have been... changed, altered by the mad dragon's experimentations."

"It will be treacherous," he stated, "many will not survive. More bodies will not hurt our campaign."

Alex's hand clenched into a fist, but it trembled slightly in excitement. What was wrong with him? why does something like this excite him? He felt nervous, yes, but the Jade... if he could steal it, absorb it... what kind of power could he gain? It could warp lands and alter creatures, how much stronger could it make him? The thought was doused by the memory of Yan Hau's Qi, and power. He was not ready to face someone of Yan Hau's power. Stealing the Jade for himself was simply not feasible. He would have to find another treasure to absorb, and before that, figure out the conditions of activating his glitched skill. Maybe even try to repeat the conditions that caused it to trigger the first time. Then, he would look for some treasures to absorb. "Four days, then," he muttered, keeping his gaze steady on Tarabyzan, the ancient dragon lord in humanoid form.

Alex wondered if the dragon had a larger form, that matched the dragons from Earth's stories. After all, Mei had mentioned his 'wings'.

As he spoke, his long fingers moved subtly, a single, authoritative gesture. In response, the corpse of the dead guard, who had been felled in the skirmish, levitated into the air as if obeying an invisible command.

"Escort them out," Tarabyzan commanded, his voice devoid of warmth.

The remaining guards’ faces tightened, deathly anger written so clearly that their desire for vengeance was palpable. Five of them had been slain by Alex, and five remained.

The strongest.

They moved closer to Mei and Alex, their large, armored bodies like moving walls, both protective and threatening. Despite their apparent fury, there was a restraint in their movements, a fear of what might happen should they defy Tarabyzan’s will.

Their steps were the silent march of the condemned, an air of desperate fury palpable around the guards.

Each of the guards had anger blazing in their eyes, a raw, lethal energy. They were giants, their scales beneath golden armour shifting in the light, and their bodies radiated power, reflecting their high stats.

He could sense the surrounding guards' desperation to avenge their fallen comrade, overridden by their fear of Tarabyzan’s retribution.

Mei, in contrast, strutted out of the palace with nonchalance, her hands confidently behind her head, her steps carefree and light with her head held high. “What a creepy place,” she commented brightly, her voice slicing through the thick silence. Her eyes darted curiously from side to side, absorbing the details of the hallway they marched down. She seemed bright and her energy boundless, as though she were a child embarking on an exciting adventure rather than a perilous mission.

As though they hadn't just both been fighting for their lives.

Perhaps she's just used to this? Alex wondered in exasperation.

Every servant they passed, whether standing tall or attending to their duties, was a different variation of drakes, Alex noted. He could see it in their smaller sizes and less intimidating visages compared to the guards, or Tarabyzan himself. These guards... They must be some evolution of drakes. Not quite dragons, but something further along the path. This world was far different from anything he could have anticipated.

As Alex and Mei left Tarabyzan’s palace and moved past outer palace buildings and houses, they crossed the threshold into the wild, untamed lands beyond. The scenery changed abruptly from grand architecture to rugged wilderness.

The pair moved away from the nine guards who had strangely, escorted them the entire way. Alex stepped into the wilderness with Mei close behind, the unknown stretching wide and vast before them.

One guard, his voice deep and guttural, turned his stony gaze towards Alex and Mei as they stepped further away and whispered,

"See you soon."

***

Alex turned his head slightly, observing the guards as they walked back to their lord through the large gates. Mei stood beside him, her gaze fixed on the departing figures, her posture relaxed yet attentive. Alex’s hand rested casually on the hilt of his blade, feeling the cool metal under his fingers.

“They're going to be a problem, aren’t they?" 

Mei’s face held tones of skeptical derision, “Pfft, doubt it. Weak‘ass punks, let ‘em try.” Her lips curled into a smirk as she shook her head and flexed a thin arm. 

“And ‘See you soon’? Who do they think they are? The Decimator?” 

Alex’s eyebrow raised in curiosity, his attention momentarily shifting from the guards to Mei. "What’s that?" 

“It’s a story about when an A.I. tries to take over the world, it was a whole thing back in the day, apparently.” Mei shifted her weight from one foot to the other to stretch her heels, watching the last of the guards disappear through the gate. “Lots of robots and androids, too. And a liquid robot that was pretty cool.”

Alex’s response came with a slight nod of understanding, "Oh, you mean like those movies."

Mei turned to look at Alex, her expression one of genuine curiosity.

“What's a movie?”

The two then turned, heading towards the wilderness. Alex trailed off, shaking his head.

“… nevermind.”