167: Ash Dyed (Patreon)

“Is this really necessary?” Vir asked, Leaping alongside Cirayus as he cautiously approached a Garga Ash Beast that had separated from its herd.

He did not intend to kill, but to lure.

“One does not survive long in this realm being reckless, lad. The degree of confidence you show to your enemy should be proportional to how well you understand them. I’ve never before laid eyes on those gangly creatures,” Cirayus replied, referring to the horde or humanoids they’d come across. “No amount of caution is too much.”

Vir didn’t disagree—he’d declined to fight the Phantomblade a week ago for precisely the same reason—but Cirayus took it to an extreme, especially considering his strength.

Cirayus activated Balancer of Scales. “Stay back,” he ordered, before surging at the unwitting Garga beast.

Vir expected him to strike the beast with his poleax or greatsword. Or, at the very least, bash its face with his shield.

The four-armed giant did none of these things, instead opting to slap the oversized bull across the snout with his free hand.

The echo was so loud, even Vir heard it clearly, fully forty paces away.

There was a moment of brief silence, and Vir could almost feel the beast’s shock through its blank stare.

Then it roared and charged Cirayus. The demon easily avoided its vicious horns, jumping back twenty paces at a time, taunting it all the while.

“What’s wrong? Show me your strength! Is that all you have?”

The same words Cirayus had used against Vir were now being used on a mindless bull. Vir did his best to ignore that fact. Especially since his last name—the name of his clan—was none other than the name of this beast.

The beast that blindly raged forward, chasing after Cirayus.

I really hope the Gargans don’t take after that beast…

Assuming, of course, any were still left after the Chitrans’ coup.

Vir followed Cirayus and the beast while keeping a safe distance. Mixed feelings roiled in his chest. He wanted to see his homeland and interact with the Gargans.

Even so, he wasn’t ready to call himself a prince, and he certainly wasn’t about to lead a rebellion. He’d lived his whole life without even being aware of Clan Garga. To suddenly be expected to restore a clan he knew nothing about? It was unreasonable, no matter how much Cirayus said otherwise.

The Garga charged faster and faster… and then it Blinked. Right to Vir.

The action took him completely by surprise, but Vir wasn’t the same person he’d been in the tunnels under Daha, when its brethren had gored him.

Leveraging his newfound vitality, Vir hurled his body aside, his legs grazing the Garga as it charged past. Seeing an opportunity, he Blinked off the Garga’s sinewy body, sending him flying away at breakneck speed.

Ash Beasts universally used Ash prana. So did he, which meant he could suck the prana right out of them. He'd never tried it before, but the principal was sound.

The Garga lurched, nearly falling over before righting itself. Vir's gambit had worked!

Now, instead of consuming ground Ash Prana, Vir had another source. Every enemy he met acted like a prana reserve. Not just that; consuming his enemies’ prana weakened them as much as it strengthened him, and Blinking off of them in that state did monstrous damage.

In essence, all of his defensive Talents had now become offensive ones, even if they did require direct contact. What's more, they were powerful. Easily on par with his strongest attacks.

Vir could scarcely believe the rate at which he was gaining new abilities. Since entering the Ash, he'd already drastically increased his body's prana capacity, filling him with newfound vitality and strengthening his muscles. He'd learned Blade Projection and Blink, and now this! What more was in store for him? The Chakras, for one. But Vir felt that was only scratching the surface of what would come.

The Garga Blinked back to Vir, but Cirayus intercepted it, grabbing its horns and throwing it aside as if it weighed no more than a baby. Which was likely true, given how drastically Balancer of Scales could alter the weight of things.

Having recognized Cirayus as the greater threat, the beast charged again after the giant, and Vir soon had to Leap at full power to keep up with the thing. There was no stopping the raging bull now.

With the deft movements of someone intimately familiar with guiding animals, Cirayus led the Garga back to the horde of humanoid beasts, before jumping high into the air.

The Garga hardly noticed. Blinded by rage, it sought the nearest target—a humanoid beast near the periphery of the swarm—and charged.

The deformed human stood no chance. The Garga’s horn skewered it through, then continued to the one behind him. And the next. On each horn, four humanoid beasts writhed in throes of death, impaled, before the Garga flung its head, sending them flying to their deaths.

They don’t seem all that strong, Vir thought. He didn’t know what other tricks the Garga had up its sleeve—or horns, rather—but if the charge was its charge was its only attack, Vir felt he could take it down himself, so long as he was careful.

The humanoid beasts couldn’t even do that.

The Garga penetrated deeper into the swarm, goring swaths of enemies and trampling more. Watching the mayhem, Vir wondered whether he’d even get a chance to fight these monsters. The Garga was doing a splendid job of taking them out.

“Watch closely, lad,” Cirayus said, having returned to Vir’s side. “What do you make of this situation?”

“Your strategy was brilliant. I’d never have thought to use an Ash Beast to kill another. Let alone a horde of others.”

“Why fight when you can have your enemies fight themselves? Observe what happens next.”

Vir frowned. He didn’t think Cirayus would say that without a reason, but what more was there to watch, other than a slaughter?

Then, almost as if some demon had taken control of the swarm of humanoids, they lurched into action, blurring at speeds Vir wouldn’t have thought possible just moments earlier.

The group descended upon the Garga like locusts, attacks blurring together. Vir couldn’t even see their individual strikes, but he certainly saw the marks they left on the Garga. Its prana armor protected it, at first. But after a few dozen strikes, the humanoids finally broke through. It wasn’t long after that.

Crimson marks appeared on the Garga’s thick hide one after another, crisscrossing it like a painting, and before long, there was more red than black. They didn’t stop there. They cut deeper and deeper as the beast howled and raged. They bit into it; they sliced.

Soon, its muscles were laid bare. Then bone. The Garga’s throes grew more desperate as its death approached. It lashed out, killing some, but the humanoids were relentless. They swarmed without care of injury or death. All to destroy the newcomer within their ranks.

Then their strikes found something vital. The Garga paused, its eyes wide with horror. It fell, buried under enemies that continued to devour its flesh.

Vir looked away. It was a horrible way to go, being eaten alive.

“Do you still feel my caution was unwarranted?” Cirayus asked after a moment.

Vir shook his head. “If we’d rushed in…”

Cirayus might’ve survived, but Vir certainly wouldn’t have. Not while those beasts moved so quickly. They’d chase him. He’d eventually tire, and that would be the end. Death came so easily, almost trivially, here in the Ash. It was as if death was the natural state of things, and that all life was an abomination defiling the landscape. A blight that the realm sought to vanquish through all means possible.

“Aye. And now we have some grasp of their abilities. Tell me, Ekavir. What did you see?”

“The disorganized shambling is just a disguise. Or perhaps their dormant state. When they encounter a threat, they all band together like a single entity and move at multiple times the speed. Their agility increases as well.”

“Good. What else?”

“Their nails. I’d thought them merely useless accessories, but they’re actually lethal claws. They seemed to use the claws to whittle down the Garga’s prana armor. Then they used their mouths as well. I think those are their primary means of attack.”

Vir put the Garga’s Balar Rank around sixty. The humanoids individually might only have been around ten, but together? Four hundred might’ve been a conservative estimate.

“Very good. Notice, too, how the Garga ended them easily before they swarmed. This tells us there is a delay in their reactions, and that individually, they are quite weak. It doesn’t appear they boast the same sort of armor most Ash Beasts possess. We can use that to our advantage.”

“With Balancer?” Vir asked. With his powers, Cirayus could easily negate their speed advantage. Even if they withstood its crushing weight, they wouldn’t be moving anywhere fast. Cirayus and Vir could then weave through their ranks, reaping them.

“I’ll distract them with Balancer of Scales while you close the distance enough to slip into the shadows. From there, observe, and strike when you deem it safe. Do not ever bring your whole body out. Do not draw their attention to you. If you are ever swarmed, retreat through the shadows to safety.”

If Vir hadn’t just seen the brutal display earlier, he’d think Cirayus was being overly protective. Now, he was happy for the precaution.

“Ready?” the giant asked.

“Let’s do this.”

“Remember. Our goal is not eradication. If that is what it takes, then so be it. We only need them to leave so we can gather our things and begone.”

Cirayus jumped away with such grace that, even after seeing it so many times, it jarred Vir. As if there was a fundamental wrongness to how he moved with Balancer of Scales aiding him.

Vir was hardly one to talk, slipping into the Shadow Realm. The existence of a domain that lived in some mysterious space was far more bizarre than any weight-altering ability could ever be.

Still too far from the humanoids, Vir waited, keeping both arms outside the shadows to allow time to pass. Precious few exits were available to him; this part of the ash was a barren landscape that stretched forever, but even here, rocks of various sizes dotted the scenery, casting small shadows of their own.

He didn’t have to wait long. Cirayus laid down a suppression field with Balancer of Scales that covered the entire region, crushing the humanoids.

Seizing the chance, Vir sprung from a nearby boulder’s shadow, Leaping near where the creatures roamed before falling into his own shadow again. Vir considered using Blink, but rejected it. The ability was useful for moving blindingly fast, but due to how it worked, it wasn’t much good for covering long distances at a stretch. It operated identically to Leap, just with all the power condensed for short-range bursts of terrifying speed.

Now within range, Vir had a multitude of exits to choose from. He picked a target somewhat separated from the others and snaked his katar from its own shadow. Prana shot out from his arm, coating the seric with Prana Blade.

Empowering the arm and activating Prana Channeling, Vir swung at the humanoid’s ankles, bracing for the resistance the creature’s prana armor would inevitably give him.

He’d braced for nothing; there was no resistance. Vir didn’t even feel his blade pass through the gangly creature’s bones, and he wondered for a moment if his foe had detected his attack and dodged.

But a shadow was inevitable, escape impossible. The Ash Beast’s ankle separated, making the beast fall.

It also caused the shadow he’d been using to collapse. Not wishing to have his arm amputated, Vir hastily retracted his blade, then attacked again from a nearby shadow, ensuring he kept the bulk of his body within his realm as instructed.

He aimed for the same beast, but this time targeted its neck. As before, his blade met no resistance, making him wonder if he even needed his pranic abilities against these foes.

“Vir!” Cirayus bellowed from a distance. “You may leave the shadows if you wish. If you wish for an extra challenge, sheathe your weapon and fight barehanded!”

Surprised, Vir shifted his attention to the giant from within the Shadow Realm. If his body wasn’t frozen while inside, he’d have gawked.

Over four hundred beasts had roamed around the den when they’d started. Now, barely half that number remained. They lay crumpled on the ground, crushed under the tremendous weight of Balancer of Scales.

In the time Vir had taken to kill just one of these beasts, Cirayus had downed two hundred.

This is why his Balar Rank was so high in the Human Realm. Because he can end entire battalions in a single blow.

No matter how good Vir was at killing powerful mejai, he lacked any ability that allowed him to exert his power over a large area.

And he wants me to fight barehanded? Okay, bring it.

Vir Leaped out of the shadows and crashed into a nearby mob. The moment his feet touched ash, he spun, converting his forward momentum into a deadly spin of prana and fist.

Chunks of the skulking creatures blew apart as Vir ducked, bobbed, and weaved through them like a reaper. For while his fist was hardly deadly, the prana surrounding it absolutely was.

He was gone before their bodies had hit the ground, targeting another clump of enemies. Lacking an ability like Balancer, he had to be tactical about which enemies he chose if he wanted to maximize the impact.

“Be warned!” Cirayus bellowed. “They’re moving faster now!”

Sure enough, the creatures had come out of their stupor, moving with such speed and dexterity that Vir could no longer dominate them with agility alone.

Razor-sharp claws lashed at him, but while he no longer had absolute superiority in this battle, neither was he pressured by their speed. He could evade them if he was careful. When he couldn’t, he sank back into the shadows.

Vir switched back to his katar, reaping their lives one after another, albeit at a much reduced pace. A pace that continued to decline as the mob thinned out.

Acting on a whim, Vir Empowered his arms and began lobbing chakrams instead of Leaping to his foes. To his immense surprise, the strategy worked, tearing into the beasts with ease.

When he ran out of chakrams, he switched to the smaller chakris, which were only slightly less lethal, but demanded more careful aim. As deadly as these creatures were, their defense was only slightly better than that of an average human.

It was only when Cirayus squashed the last of them, when Vir stood in a field of broken bones, tattered robes, and ash, that he learned why.

For on their robes was sewn a most familiar symbol. An emblem composed of three identical circles, enjoined by an equilateral triangle. The very same symbol that occupied the center of Vir’s own chest tattoo. Except, instead of white, it was black. Its perfect inverse.

The symbol of the Children of Ash.