Mana 4 Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Pulled into a new area of my inner world, I paused and looked around. Everything was dark around me, except for nine glowing symbols.

One hung above all the others, and the raw power I could feel from it made me reach for it. But as I did, I hesitated. Something in my instincts said that it was almost too powerful, that touching it could lead to my death.

Stepping back, I tried to remember what my mother had told me. I knew she’d mentioned my family held tight control on their bloodline, and I understood why now. It was far more powerful than Guo Ying’s; something worth protecting and keeping from any others.

The power of fate itself. It warned me that touching it now would lead to my own death, drawing upon the power of my Pixiu bloodline would call my family here, and I wasn’t ready for them. I might have wanted to meet my mother and father again, but the warning my mother had given me about our family remained a warning that they, above all, respected power.

And for now, I was too weak to hold myself in front of them.

I shook my head, unsure how I knew these things would happen, but with an almost absolute assurance I knew if I touched that power, I’d be dead within a month.

I looked beneath the top symbol.

Eight more symbols hung below, each of them a different power, a different bloodline. I was surprised to see so many.

But then I recognized one, or at least, it called to me in a way that I recognized. It was the savage aspect of Aurora’s mana that I had learned from Aurora so long ago. Only, it was more… pure. The richness in that power was blinding.

I realized that these eight symbols were from my wives and mana beasts. One for each of them, and the Hua sisters shared the same bloodline, no doubt. Seeing all of our lives tied together warmed my heart, reminding me of all I was fighting to protect.

Motivated, I focused on which to use. I was beat up and in a corner, and Aurora’s savage aspect called for me. Or in Guo Ying’s terms, Aurora’s savage dao.

This time, I didn’t hesitate like with the Pixiu bloodline. I grabbed the character, burning my mind and soul even as I was ejected from that place and thrown back into the world.

Guo Ying was taking his last few casual steps up next to me, and I felt something rise in me.

Power. Savage power was coursing through my body and begging to be released.

Guo Ying’s foot cocked back, ready to smash me into the ground. I knew this would be lethal, feeling the amount of the power he was unleashing washing over me and pressing me into the stone below.

I let the savage dao fill me, and I caught his foot, feeling my forehead shift slightly with new energy.

“What?” Guo Ying’s eyes went wide open and his jaw dropped as he stared at my forehead.

Throwing him off of me, I leapt out of the hole in one fluid motion, landing on the ground hunched over on all fours. My body was screaming as it bled from dozens of lacerations, but each one of those only fueled me with power and anger.

My mind fell into savagery as the world tinted red, and I screamed in rage at the top of my lungs.

Guo Ying’s power came at me in another wave, but this time I met it head on in a collision that made the ground beneath us shudder and massive pines explode in showers of splinters.

Die die die.

Those words were like an endless loop in my head as I charged through the shockwave, even as my body screamed that I was putting myself through too much. But the pain just fueled my savagery further.

I was on Guo Ying in a heartbeat. I hit him in the face with a backhand hard enough to launch him straight through the tree next to him and shatter several in a row.

The falling tree tried to block me, but I lashed out in rage, blowing the timber into dust and chasing after him.

“You have to stop. What in the world.” Guo Ying was picking himself out of a tree he didn’t quite destroy. “That bloodline isn’t safe.” He was talking in a quick, panicked voice. His eyes wide open in fear.

I only licked my lips, enjoying the sight of his fear as I stepped forward. He barely even had time to get his guard up.

I flung my fist into his gut and sent him skidding across the ground. From there, I moved fluidly into a martial art form committed to memory, stepping through it with Mei’s void mana, so each step was next to Guo Ying.

Punch. He rocketed into the mountain side.

Kick. I flung him into the air.

Before I used void mana to leap up and knee him in the gut.

He went skidding through countless trees, blown through boulders and the edges of cliffs. I completely and utterly thrashed him across the side of the mountain and didn’t stop until he was broken and bloody.

Lifting him by the throat, I looked into his eyes, knowing that he’d lost. Then I ripped his throat out, savoring the feeling of his warm blood passing through my fingers. I reveled in the victory, relishing the moment of defeat and survival.

The coppery smell of his blood was so rich, so full of life. I was tempted to take a lick. But another pungent, repulsive smell stuffed its way into my nose and I whipped my head to the side.

Trying to push herself even deeper into the crook of a tree was Tracey. She had soiled herself in fear again, no more than ten paces from where I held Guo Ying’s corpse.

My mind focused on the new target. Tracey, the one who brought me out here into an ambush.

The anger that had started to cool picked back up into an inferno, and I dropped Guo Ying, turning to stalk towards her.

I realized somebody was speaking, but it was like a distant whisper in the wind. I continued stalking my new prey, already picturing how I would tear Tracey limb by limb. Even as her eyes rolled back in her head and she sagged back unconscious, I still was ready to relish the kill.

But bright, shifting eyes appeared directly in front of me, distracting me from my target. I stared at them for a moment, lost in their beauty. Feeling them start to draw me in deeper, I tried to pull back, but I was pulled into my soul palace.

“He’s here. Keep trying.” Kat screamed through clenched teeth.

“Master, let go!” Aurora was screaming as she tried to pry open my hand. “Please. Master.”

I could feel the symbol in my hand. It burned through me with so much power and so much I didn’t understand. My entire soul flooded with the dao of savagery warping my soul palace.

My fingers felt like they were as stiff as a marble statue. They wouldn’t open. “Can’t.” My own voice sounded so raw, so weak, snapping me a bit out of the fog. I should be able to control my body.

Galvanized, I tried again, this time just focusing on my thumb. “Thumb. Help.”

Aurora’s fingers found my thumb and pried it back, like she was trying to wrench open a clam mana beast shell. “There we go, just a little more.” She encouraged me, getting my thumb free of the dao symbol.

“Pointer.” I said next, and she shifted to the next one. We worked together, loosening them one by one.

When the last finger came off, the dao of savagery disappeared back into that space deep within my inner world, and all the strength rapidly left me. I returned to the world and slumped into Kat’s waiting embrace.

I couldn’t even lift my head from Tracey’s unconscious and yet somehow still terrified form behind Kat.

“Shh. I got you. I’ll always be here to catch you.” Kat whispered and stroked my back.

Letting her hold my weight, I closed my eyes and listened as she continued to assure me.

She moved me into a nearby cave where I brought out my mana beasts. Mei took over for Kat, holding me sitting upright. “You poor thing. Nurse Mei will make you all better.” Once again, Mei was dressed in her favorite nurse outfit.

“So will nurse Aurora!” Aurora, seeming to not want to be left out, changed her outfit as well. I chuckled, wheezing a little in the process.

Both of the mana beasts turned expectantly at Quinn, who looked ready to say no, but then took in my rough shape and their pleading eyes and hesitated.

Kat cleared her throat. “I’ll leave these bandages and this food with you, Quinn. That way, I at least know it’ll get done.”

Both of my nurses pouted at the accusation Kat had leveled on them.

Unable to help it, I laughed, regretting it immediately as my body reminded me just how much damage had been done. I was bleeding out of large gashes. Some remembered from my fight with Guo Ying, others were new. Like I’d been so far gone into the dao of savagery that I harmed myself with my own strength.

As soon as Kat left, Quinn leveled a glare at both of the others. “Tell no one.” They nodded enthusiastically as she reshaped her own mana into a nurse’s outfit as well.

“Yes!” Mei squealed and bounced, causing my wounds to flare up in pain.

I hissed painfully, drawing all of their attention.

“If you’re going to be so careless with him, then let me have him.” Aurora pulled me out of Mei’s lap and hugged me close. None of them were disturbed in the least by the injuries.

“Hey, he’s mine.” Mei tugged one of my arms.

“Girls, can we not?” I groaned in pain. Their antics were amusing, but I couldn’t handle being jostled so much

Quinn stepped in and shooed them both away. “As the one with the bandages, I think I get to be the head nurse.” She replaced Mei after shooing her away and helped me get into a more comfortable position. “Here, if you keep wanting to play nurse, we should teach you how to do some things.” Quinn held out the materials to Mei.

Mei pouted but took the bandages and started spreading ointment on them. She pouted for a moment, but her tails gave her away as they started to bounce playfully behind her.

Aurora grabbed some of the water and held it up to me. “Say ah.” She started to spoon feed me with a smile.

Normally when I was on death’s door, it wasn’t such an exciting occasion. I was trying to figure out why they were so cheery at the moment.

“Why are you all so happy?” I asked, a little confused at the current situation. They were all smiles as the three mana beasts tended to me.

“Uhhh…” Mei struggled for words, her tails still bouncing around behind her.

“It’s like old times again.” Aurora smiled before shoving another spoon of water in my mouth.

I looked to Quinn for confirmation as she took the first strips from Mei and started to wrap my chest. “We are happy to be doing something useful.” She clarified. “Not that we didn’t do anything before, but the sect had gotten quite dull.”

“Going to the immortal world, reigniting our adventure, meant that much to all of you?” I asked for clarity.

All three of them nodded with smiles.

I paused, realizing I wasn’t the only one that had been getting restless at the sect. I just hadn’t realized it at the time.

“Master, it’s okay. We will go anywhere you want. We just enjoy this.” Aurora tried to comfort me.

I leaned my head against the cave wall and let myself think about it. Back at the sect, I’d been busy for many years. Managing the sect, dealing with the aftermath of the Sun and Moon hall, arranging new alliances between sects…

It had lost its excitement over time, and I’d needed a new spark. A heavy breath filled with burdens I didn’t even realize I’d been carrying came out. “Thank you, nurses. I feel it too. This is new and exciting; I just wish I wasn’t continually getting so beaten up.”

Aurora kissed me, grabbing the back of my head and pressing our faces together like she couldn’t get enough.

“Stop it. He’s injured.” Quinn chided her.

She pulled back, and I took a deep breath. “Sorry.” Aurora blushed and grabbed one of Tracey’s tasteless trail rations.

“I love you too.”

Turning, I found Quinn’s lips and savored them as well, pulling her closer by tugging on her lips with my own. Her hand that had been applying a bandage kept at it, blindly patting around the side of my chest.

“And I love you too Quinn.”

“Me next!” Mei dropped the bandage she was preparing, bouncing down next to my side and leaning over, giving me a full show down her nurse's outfit.

“How could I forget my favorite Nurse Mei?” I teased, pulling her head down and kissing her with the passion for life that had been renewed in me. “I love you too Mei.”

She gave a little happy squeal and went back to brushing ointment on the bandages with renewed vigor.

Quinn clicked her tongue. “I’m going to have to re-wrap that one.”

I shrugged. “Still worth it, and you three doting on me is kind of nice.” I got a cave full of smiles from that statement.

“Mei, come here. Let me show you how to wrap this so it doesn’t fall off.” Quinn said.

Mei abandoned her task, and Aurora rotated over to keep the bandages coming.

“You too, Quinn?” Kat asked as she came back into the cave, dragging Tracey.

Quinn blushed all the way down to her chest. “You will say nothing.” She leveled a glare before looking more bashful. “Sometimes the patient’s mood can make all the difference.”

Kat snorted a laugh and nodded. “I won’t tell.” Then she focused on me. “I got the young master’s ring. Want to see what’s inside?”

I looked at the spatial ring in her hands as a smile curled up at the edge of my lips. “Ah, the spoils of a fight. It has been a while since I’ve been excited about them. It loses some of its appeal when you manage all the resources of a sect.”

Kat sat down just outside the attentions of my nurse trio and focused on the ring pinched between her fingers. “Looks like they aren’t bound after the owner is dead. Food, water. Boring. Swords, oh some cultivation pills, and what I think are elixirs?” She dropped those out on the floor for me to see.

Aurora snatched up a few of them and started sniffing each. “These, I think are for healing.” She offered me a pill and an elixir.

I downed both of them without hesitation. Aurora wouldn’t give them to me if she thought they were dangerous. Smiling, her theory was confirmed. “Yeah, those are healing.” I felt the effects of them concentrating mana around my wounds.

Kat was still looking through the ring. “Ugh. This guy was poor. He clearly had no intention of paying Tracey.” She dumped out a pile of faintly glowing white crystals before scooping them up into her own spatial ring.

“Oh oh. Shit!” Kat had clearly found something more exciting. Her eyes lit up as she produced a large electric blue mana beast core.

I looked at the core; it seemed to fill the surrounding air with static electricity. “That isn’t what I think it is, is it?” I’d never seen a core that big. At best guess, it was a fifth rank beast’s core. That and the lightning element permiating the air suggested exactly what mana beast’s core that was.

Quinn leaned over and took it from Kat, staring into the core. “I’m pretty sure it is a fifth rank beast, and lightning element at that. Question is…” She trailed off and looked at my other two mana beasts. “Do we let him use it for his 4th ring? We don’t even know it.”

Wait, aren’t they getting ahead of themselves? I thought.

“If it isn’t a girl, it won’t work.” Mei crossed her arms under her chest. “I’m not sharing his soul palace with a stinky alpha male mana beast.”

“Well, of course it is a girl.” Aurora rolled her eyes, and everyone focused on her.

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Kat asked, but we were all thinking it.

“Duh. Master has the bloodline of the godbeast of luck. If he puts that core into his fourth ring, I’ll bet everything I have that it is a girl. Hot one too.” Aurora nodded her head with determination.

Mei’s mouth made a big ‘O’. “Makes perfect sense.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I argued. “In no way does that make sense. Mana beasts here don’t even take human form. It could just be a wolf for all we know.”

Quinn held the core and pondered, looking deeply into it. “I think Aurora might be right.”

“Not you too.” I sighed. I was starting to think I was outnumbered.

Kat just piled on further. “We at least know that it is powerful. Look at that thing! I’ll bet she has a human form. Stud is just too lucky when it comes to love.”

I started to argue, but then I realized Kat had me trapped with that statement. There was no way I could deny that. Luck had followed me in my relationships, and I loved each one of them for it. “Really?”

“I want to meet our newest sister.” Aurora agreed. “Don’t you two think so too?”

Sigh. “You have got to be kidding me. Are you really all in on this?”

Four heads nodded around me before Mei spoke up. “But she has to be different from me. I will be your only fox.” Her tails swished in agitation at the thought.

“Of course, we’ve had that conversation before. I’d never take a mana beast that replaces any of you.”

I paused. We were ignoring one important fact. “The difference here is that I’d bonded with each of you, and you wanted to bond with me as well. This raiju could absolutely hate me and fight the bonding the whole way. She’s a fifth rank mana beast.” I reminded everyone of the risk.

That tempered their excitement, and they paused, thinking through it.

But Aurora brushed it off once more. “No way. Master is the best. Plus, we’ll all join you in your soul palace to welcome our new sister.”

“And we can tell her about the great sex!” Mei added helpfully.

Aurora nodded eagerly at the suggestion. “Yeah, that’ll win her over. We could show her around our soul palaces and maybe show her ‘the game’.”

I had no idea what ‘the game’ was, but the mention of it seemed to spark Quinn’s interest.

“Oh. That might just work.”

“Excuse me, what’s ‘the game’?” Kat asked, leaning in.

Mei whispered into Kat’s ears, and I pushed mana into my ears, hoping to listen in. But Aurora clapped her hands around my head. “No eavesdropping.”

Ignoring that, I took the core from Quinn and stared into it for answers that never came.

Aurora smiled. “Say Ah!” Snatching the core out of my hands, she popped it into my mouth without warning.

They all watched as I swallowed it, giving Aurora a glare over my shoulder, which only made her grin wider. As the core entered my body, I focused inwardly, starting to meditate. For better or worse, it was time to meet my new mana beast.

AN: Just having fun poking at myself. 'Of course it'll be a girl'