Mana 4 Chapter 12 (Patreon)

By the time I heard Mei returning, I was feeling much better. But as Quinn struck out, I realized it wasn’t Mei that had entered our cave.

Metal struck metal as the intruder blocked Quinn and shouted, “In here!”

I groaned. There wasn’t an option, I’d have to be healed enough. I started to get up, but Kat pushed me back down. “We’ll take care of it. Keep an eye on her.” Kat narrowed her eyes at Tracey.

I nodded. I knew that Tracey would make a break for it or take an opportunity if presented with one.

Pulling out my bonesword, I leaned against the wall and watched.

Kat streaked forward to help Quinn. As she moved, she skewered a mage before he realized the threat. Another’s eyes went wide as his body crumpled to the floor, far beyond what any physical wound should have done.

Then again, Kat didn’t exactly fight fair. There’d been a brief moment that light reflected in his eyes; Kat had no doubt gone for his soul at the same moment she killed the other.

More shouting came from outside, and Quinn transformed back into her human form, readying herself at the cave entrance.

Mages swarmed the entrance to the cave as Quinn and Kat fought them back. Quinn was a brutal but straight forward fighter, relying on her element of steel to be a sharp offense and dense defense. Which meant that all she needed was brute force, something a dragon had in spades.

Kat, on the other hand, was far trickier. Sometimes mages would stop short of their attacks and crumple to the ground like the first man. My wife could be truly terrifying when she was incensed.

Men dogpiled the entrance and pushed into the cave proper.

I pushed myself up against the cave wall and scooted myself to a standing position, holding my sword out, ready to fight those that made it past them. But it didn’t end up being necessary. Quinn screamed in frustration, sounding like a roaring beast lashing out.

She was clearly letting loose some frustration as she became an absolute savage. Quinn took small wounds to the arm or shoulder in order to get her other hand in for a lethal pass, as the metal mana coating her hands tore through underarms, chests and throats.

None of the fighters even looked past those two for me; They focused their entire attention on my terrifying women.

But sure enough, as soon as there was a gap between the fighting and the exit, Tracey bolted like a scared rabbit. Her halting speed stopped just short of my attempt to snag her, and then she blurred around me.

Damn it, I wasn’t ready for this.

I didn’t want to distract my women as they took on several times their number, so I scooted around the wall to see if I could make a break for it to catch Tracey.

When I got a clear view, I found Mei just outside the cave, with several dead mages at her feet and Tracey pinned to a tree.

I moved to go to her, but she already had Tracey down, dragging her by the hair back towards the cave entrance. As she approached, she shot a few spells into the backs of the remaining mages fighting Kat and Quinn.

The attack from behind swiftly ended the battle.

All in, there were eight dead. Quinn looked like a bloody mess. Small wounds dotting her limbs, while her hands were soaked in blood. It took me a moment to realize why there was so much blood in her hair, though. She’d used her horns to gore someone.

“You shouldn’t have run.” Kat stood over Tracey. My fiery love looked a little extra terrifying, caked in blood. “I’ll give you one more chance to hand over the crystal.”

Tracey stubbornly shook her head, but Kat wasn’t paying attention to her. I had a bad feeling about this.

Instead, Kat was waking up the first man that had come through. Apparently, she hadn’t killed that one. She held a sword to his neck. “How many of your group are there in the mountain?”

His response was to spit blood at Kat’s foot.

Her eyes glowed, and the glow was reflected in the man’s own for a moment before he started screaming and clawing at his face.

I didn’t need to see Kat’s darkness. Focusing on something else, I tried to drown out the garbled noises coming from the man as Kat tore through his soul for information.

Tracey, however, couldn’t seem to look away. Her mouth and eyes grew wider as she watched Kat search the man’s soul for information. The sound of resistance faded until there was a chilly silence in the cave.

There was a trickle of water that hadn’t been there before and caught my attention. I realized it was Tracey peeing herself after watching what Kat had done.

“Die.” Kat said simply, and a thump sounded as a body hit the floor.

I turned back to Kat, handing her a cloth to wipe off the blood.

She took it, looking up at me. “Well, there’s good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”

I indicated for her to wait a moment, turning to Tracey. I might as well capitalize on the moment. “Crystal now, or I let her do that to you.”

The obstinate woman pulled out the crystal in a heartbeat. “Please,” she begged.

Kat snatched it out of her hands. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it less painful.”

“No. She did what we asked of her, and I have an idea for how she may be useful. Now, tell me what you learned. We need to get out of here.” I pushed off the cave wall, and Mei came up to my side to help me walk. There was a moment of my own hesitation before I decided to just lean on my lovely mana beast and accept the help.

Kat grunted and focused on what she’d learned. “The Ying family is out in force. Bad news is that even Guo Ying’s father came out. He’s here to deal with the raiju. He’s a fifth rank mage, and soon there’s going to be a real battle on the top of this mountain.”

“Good news?” I asked, not feeling great about a powerhouse coming into the mountain.

“He’s not much stronger than the raiju, which means hopefully they cancel each other out to some extent. And the Ying family doesn’t actually have that much strength. Apparently, they’ve dwindled over the last few generations; Guo Ying’s father is their only fifth rank mage, and even Guo Ying is one of the family’s top ten experts.”

Tracey interrupted. “No way. They might have fallen far from their history, but they are still an ancient family.” As Kat turned slowly to her, she clamped her mouth back shut.

“They’ve been blustering about. Their own status is perilously perched on the edge of a mountain.” Kat explained. “Half of this is all about them trying to put on a front of power to the city. You just happened to prickle someone who couldn’t afford to have others thinking they were weak and was also looking for a chance to prove themselves.”

I scoffed. “You mean he picked a fight with someone fresh to this world to look strong? Brilliant strategist.”

Kat could only shrug. “Apparently. They wanted to show that they will squash anybody who messes with the Ying family, even a servant.”

What crap luck. I gritted my teeth, thinking through our options. “You think this expert is going to be laid up after his fight with the raiju?”

“Maybe? They weren’t expecting his help in finding you, thinking that he was going to head back to the Ying estate after defeating the raiju. At the very least, he won’t be close to his full strength if he’s still out here.” Kat answered.

I started to form a plan in my head. With the new information, I had a better sense of what they were after. They needed to use me to be a show of strength, which meant they most likely wanted to humiliate me. And to do that, they’d need to catch me and likely keep me alive.

“Keep Tracey alive. We’ll need her, but she doesn’t need to be conscious for now.”

“Wai—” Tracey hit the floor before she could finish a word. Kat turned away, the glow fading from her eyes.

“Thanks. I’ve been wanting to do that.” Kat smiled.

I nodded and hobbled forward, Mei helping me. “We need to leave here for now. There’s no telling if more will be coming. Quinn needs to rest. Kat, you and Mei can get us to a new cave. For now, we need to rest and wait for this battle with the raiju to occur.”

Quinn came up and looked into my eyes for a moment before kissing me tenderly, her wet horns just grazing the side of my head. “Love you.” She disappeared into her ring.

The love and concern in her eyes made me realize how much of that ferocity she’d shown in battle was for me. “Love you too.” I placed my hand over her ring.

Mei flashed me a warm smile and nuzzled my shoulder in her own display of affection.

“Are you going to make me carry pissy pants?” Kat grumbled.

Mei looked over her shoulder. “You caused it.”

Sighing, Kat made no motion, but her big gray bird mana beast appeared in the cave. Kat pointed at Tracey, and it snatched her up in one claw while it hopped out on the other. The mana beast didn’t look like much, but it was big enough for all three of us to ride if we squeezed.

As a rank three beast, bringing it out of her rings was dangerous with higher-level beasts and cultivators around, but for now it was necessary. I hoped we’d be able to progress the mana beasts to fourth rings more easily in the immortal world.

Hopping on, we took to the air just long enough to get some space between us and the cave. Landing on another part of the mountain, Kat dismissed her mana beast.

“I don’t think we were up in the air long enough for someone to spot us.” Kat said.

I generally agreed, but in my weakened state, caution sounded great. “Let’s find a cave a little further up the mountain. More likely the raiju causes them trouble if they get that close.”

Kat grabbed one of Tracey’s arms and started dragging her. Thankfully, Mei was much kinder to me, supporting me with a shoulder as we walked.

“So what’s this grand plan of yours?” Kat asked as we moved through the woods.

“If they are so concerned with saving face, then they want me at this point. I don’t think they’ll kill me. They’ll most likely bring me back to the city and put on a show.”

Kat nodded her head, along with my thoughts. “I think you are correct. Though, he didn’t know any plan for that.”

“I’m confident enough. I know the young master’s type. And we have Tracey here to promise it to them in hopes of luring Guo Ying into an ambush.” It wasn’t an overly complex plan, but simpler plans also left less room for something to go wrong.

“Do you really think it’ll be so easy?”

I shook my head. “Sometimes giving someone exactly what they want makes them ignore the small inconsistencies. Guo Ying didn’t exactly strike me as an intellectual. I think he’ll take the easy win.”

“Devious.” Kat smiled. “How do we set the hook?”

I pointed to Tracey. “She makes great bait. Set her loose, and she’ll wander the woods like a fool. Guo Ying’s people will spot her, and he’ll come.”

“What about us?” Kat tilted her head in confusion.

“We let her escape. Play up my injury, or just let her escape at night and she’ll think she still has something to use to bargain with the Ying family.” I moved a branch aside for Kat to pass through. “But first, I need to recover more, and we need to wait for the raiju to finish.”

“I like it when you are a little devious.” Kat leaned in and nipped at my throat.

“Kat.” I warned. It wasn’t the time for where she was taking my thoughts.

“You’re well enough to dual cultivate, and it’ll speed up your recovery.” Her voice turned sultry, and she batted her lashes at me.

I looked down at her blood splattered clothes. “I think your clothes could use a wash first.”

“They won’t stay on long. Oh look, there’s a nice cozy looking cave.”

She wasn’t wrong. A cave that bordered the edge of a ravine presented itself through the trees. The path outside the cave was thin enough that it was quite the defensible position.

“You want to take him, and I’ll scout?” Mei handed me off to Kat, who took me eagerly, dropping Tracey in the dirt as Mei went into the cave to check it out.

“I’m not some invalid.” I groaned and forced myself to stand up, putting the weight on my own legs. Unfortunately, my thigh gave out and Kat had to take my weight before I fell.

“Guess I’m doing all the work.” Kat whispered in my ear, her lips just brushing my skin and sending prickles along my scalp.

Her hand wandered down into my pants. In that area, at least, I wasn’t weak. I felt myself come rapidly to attention as her nails danced lightly on my sensitive skin.

Her fingers traced out its form, just barely touching it before her nails found the base and scraped up the bottom of the shaft. It was like she was casting some sort of spell as I rapidly hardened wherever her nails passed.

“Kat.” My breath felt hot.

“Shh. Let me take care of you.”

Mei came out with a smirk on her face before she pointedly stepped around us. “I’ll take care of this one and keep watch. Have fun.”

I threw her a look that was a plea for help, but her smirk only widened as Kat led me into the cave.

“Don’t be like that.”

Kissing along her neck, I fought back. “But I know you like it.” I could feel her skin prickle under my lips.

Kat had a little wicked streak in her, and dragging me away for sex fit squarely into what fed her sexual needs. She wanted control, at least during the windup.

Sometimes it was worth giving a woman what she wants, Kat didn’t disappoint.

The cave was in the shadow of the mountain at this time of day and thoroughly dark. Kat was barely more than a silhouette as she helped me to the ground and took out a candle.

The warm light lit up her red hair and her eyes, which kept shifting, never deciding on a color for more than a moment.

Her robe slid over her shoulders, but then she surprised me by doing something new. She picked up my head and pressed it into her chest as she kissed the top of my head. “It’s okay. You don’t have to keep being so strong.”

She dragged her nails along my scalp as she continued. “You do so much for the family. For thirty years, you’ve been a pillar holding up the family. Coming here wasn’t about putting more burden on you. We all wanted to let you free, to fly once again.”

I was stiff as a board. She wanted me to relax, but I… I just couldn’t. If I relaxed, I could die. What would happen to Kat, the rest of them?

Kat shushed me like she could hear the thoughts starting to swirl in my head. “So much pressure on yourself. Just relax. Let me and your mana beasts handle things for a day and focus on your recovery.”

I understood what she was saying, but it was difficult to relax. It felt like doing so was moving burdens from my shoulders to theirs. I didn’t want to do that to them. They were mine to protect.

Kat’s nails dragged along my head again in a slow, steady rhythm. “Isaac, let go. I will take care of you.”

Taking a deep breath, I worked to release some more of the tension coiled through my body. Sinking my face into her chest and working to breathe away my worries and responsibilities.

At least for a time, I was able to put all of my trust in Kat as she held my weight, my face still pressed into her chest as she kissed the top of my head and then down around the edge of my brow.

Soft feathering kisses of her lips helped me relax further as she gently lowered me back to the cave floor and pulled away.

Her shifting eyes sparkled with her smile as she slowly parted my robes, peeling them away and exposing me.

In the moment of hesitation, I’d lost my vigor, but her soft sensual touches were like a pump as it raised with each beat of my heart, like a slowly rising fire. It felt like her hands were everywhere, tingles spreading through my entire body.

It wasn’t till it was right on the edge of full mast that her nails came and every so lightly scraped from the inside of my thigh, coming up to softly cradling my balls.

At that point, there was no softness in me. I was rigid with anticipation. But her hand didn’t move an inch farther as she dragged herself down between my legs. “May I?” she breathed out over the head. Her hot breath made me twitch.

I wanted to grab her head and push myself into her mouth in response, but I knew she’d just toy with me more. So instead, I simply nodded.

She used the flat of her tongue and ran it over the head, the point of her tongue curling up under the edge and sending shivers up my spine. My toes curled as she finally gave me the stimulation I’d been craving.

The smile she gave in response said she knew exactly what she was doing. She slathered her tongue over the head and down the shaft, lubricating it thoroughly before leaning back and standing up to straddle me. “Focus on cultivating.”

She smiled as she pressed her hands to my chest and rested on the balls of her feet, careful not to put any weight on my thigh as she slid herself over me.

I grunted in pleasure as her sex enveloped me. Her soft breasts swung in my face as she positioned herself over me, and I couldn’t help but reach up and feel their softness, letting my fingers trace the tender flesh on the underside.

Her slick sex glided over my lubricated member until her lower lips kissed my pelvis. She was well accustomed to my size and had no issue driving me all the way home in a single stroke.

I savored the sensation as she paused for a moment before beginning to bounce her hips and drive me into her. She moved herself down and back up, keeping the upper half of her body still.

Familiar cycles of mana started up. We began passing mana between ourselves, building up the pressure and using the cycling to draw in far more mana from the atmosphere.

Immortal mana flowed through us, dragging the pleasure of each of her strokes to a new level. Kat’s face was glowing as she began panting and letting out soft feminine sighs. “Oh Isaac. I’m going to take such good care of you.” One of her hands played with herself at our union as she cried out.

Letting go of her breasts, I relaxed and let her do just that. Her hips got more aggressive and added a slight twerk, increasing the friction and syncing with the cycle of mana.

Being passive in sex was driving me crazy, but at the same time, it let me focus on the physical sensation. Feeling her pump herself on me, sliding me in and out of her sex with wanton abandonment, was sexy to watch. Kat tossed her hair as she lost herself in the throes of passion. Her hair and breasts bounced in tandem with her hips as they pounded my own with wet kisses.

I could almost feel the bumps and ridges inside her sex as she squeezed herself around me. The cycle of mana heightened each sensation as she rode me. Kat arched her back and tossed her hair over her head as she screamed at the ceiling of the cave.

Like a hummingbird hovering before a flower, Kat pleasured herself on me, ratcheting me to a higher pleasure until she was breathing raggedly and moaning with sweet pleasure. I had to grab onto her and keep her steady as she came undone around me. Her sex suckled at my own and released our cultivation, sending one last enormous wave of mana crashing back into me and setting off my own loud orgasm. I released my seed into her along with all of my pent up tension.

Kat threw herself off me and landed on my side with a wet thud. She lay there, a puddle of satisfaction and relaxation, as her chest heaved up and down. “Thank you for letting me take care of you, husband. Let me keep taking care of you until you are better.” She pulled my head back into her chest, and this time I didn’t put up a protest.

The mana produced by the cultivation flooded into my system, and I fed all of it to Aurora. I needed to rely on others for at least a short while, but soon I’d be strong and able to take on those that were coming for us.