Mana 6 Chapter 29 (Patreon)

I nearly teleported behind Edmond as I cut at him. He narrowly dodged, leaving scraps of his robe in the void.

Not waiting, I made my next move. The entire void lit up as I flooded it with sword strokes, each one of them leaving brilliant streaks of sword intent behind, lingering like a trap for Edmond.

He continued to dodge by the narrowest margins, but that didn’t bother me. I’d crafted my strategy, and so far, he was following it brilliantly. Through my strokes, I’d been able to move him into a specific position, forcing him back into the center of all the sword intent.

Pointing my sword at him, I collapsed all the intent on him.

Edmond realized what was happening too late, attempting to wrap himself in dark mana at the last minute to protect his body. Like a maelstrom of swords, each of the sword intent attacks tried to penetrate his defenses.

When it was all done, Edmond was looking ragged. His robes were torn, revealing small cuts all along his body. His face was filled with rage as a scratch on his forehead dripped blood down into his brow.

Edmond screamed as he summoned an axe into his hand and struck at me with attacks that stretched black slashes out into the void.

I wove between them or cut his attacks apart with my sword.

His axe still was nothing compared to my sword skill. Whether intentional or not, he had decided to fight me by mimicking me. But he hadn’t mastered axe intent like I had with my sword. His hits were still hard, backed by his high cultivation, but the skill in the attack was weaker.

“Die!” Edmond screamed.

I could sense more than feel his mana collapse on me. I snorted, sheathing my sword for a moment, waiting for the black mana to come back at me from the void.

Closing my eyes, I reached out my senses, watching and waiting until I had the right opening. It took a few moments that felt much longer, but I saw the opening I was hoping for.

My eyes snapped back open, and I unsheathed my sword as I spun.

A vortex of sword intent spun with me, wrapping me in a column of sword intent. When his dark mana hit it, it broke apart. Most of it disintegrated, but a few chunks were large enough to make it through the barrier and tear at my robes. A cut stung on my shoulder and my hip, but neither was deep enough to hinder me in a fight.

Finishing, I readied myself for the next exchange. Edmond stood, panting with the effort the attack had taken. He glared down at me, floating higher in the void. “Cockroach, die already.”

He rocketed towards me with a simple chop of his axe. While he moved, he closed off the space around me, forcing me to meet him. Taking my best option, I slashed my sword horizontally, meeting the head of the axe. I bit into his weapon, slowing his attack.

Using his other arm, Edmond’s fist lashed out with the strength of his full cultivation behind it. My sword was still occupied with the hit on his axe, so I leaned back, trying to avoid the hit.

But while I avoided the brunt of the attack, the strength of it carried enough force to blow me backwards, sending me tumbling through the void.

“Hah!” Edmond laughed victoriously, as if he’d just discovered my weakness. He moved towards me.

He forced me to block his axe once more while lashing out with a kick or punch. “You can’t bridge the gap, not with those skills.”

Multiple strikes made of sword intent blossomed from me as I blocked his axe and his shin. And while the sword intent moved, my actual sword stabbed for his heart.

He pushed off of me hard enough to separate us, but not before my sword bit an inch into his chest.

The look of panic on his face made me smile. “I thought you had this? Maybe you should have spent a little more time getting combat experience.”

“I have plenty of experience,” Edmond spat.

“Maybe. But I’ve slaughtered armies.” I steadied myself in the void and leveled my sword at him again. “Your fighting style gives you away. You haven’t fought for your life before now.”

Edmond became so mad that he stopped speaking and raised his arm as a colossal black axe formed high above both of us.

I looked up at it. “Yes, exactly. Relying on your higher cultivation instead of true strategy.”

But while I mocked him, I watched his attack, coming up with my counter plan. The gold dragon and black tortoise bloodlines formed on my forehead as I prepared to take his next attack.

Edmond slashed his hand downward, and the massive axe fell.

My sword blurred as dozens of black and gold slashes filled the void. They peppered the ax, slowing its descent, but it was like trying to keep a boulder aloft with punches. I was only softening it.

I then drew my sword back and slammed it down, matching the axe with everything I had. My sword intent cut right through the heart of the colossal black axe. It shattered into little black shards among the void. Little twinkling shards of blade now drifted all around me, each with a bit of extra energy behind it.

I cursed, drawing on the black tortoise bloodline and wrapping myself in a sphere of hexagons just in time as all of the shards converged on me.

I wasn’t fully confident I’d be able to take them all, but the bloodline held up. I smiled as the final shard hit and prepared to release the shield just as Edmond came screaming down with his own bloodline active.

When the axe in his hand hit the shell, it cracked.

But I met him head on, our battle creating ripples in the void. I created two more swords made of my intent, shooting them out and piercing each of his shoulders. The two sword intents ripped their way out of his shoulders, spraying blood into the air.

Edmond shrieked, pulling away as his arms hung limp.

This was no time to let up. I couldn’t give him mercy as my family fought for their lives, or after the torment he’d been fully prepared to inflict on Lanhua.

I charged him, but Edmond spun his hips, blocking my blade with his swinging, limp arm. But I could tell he’d lost most of his force.

Severing his arm at the elbow, I spun my sword and stabbed it into his chest.

Edmond’s eyes were wide with surprise as I pumped sword intent through the sword. It tore through him, tearing him into a hundred pieces.

Pulling my sword back, I flicked the blood off into the void and moved as the items in his soul space splayed out into the void like a blooming flower.

My victory caught the attention of the fighting elders. The Yunpi were grinning ear to ear, yet the Leon family didn’t seem concerned. Only one pair of elders didn’t pay attention.

I looked at the furthest fight, that of Rutu and Duncan, and something was wrong.

Duncan had a clear advantage. Rutu seemed to be holding back, or at least, he wasn’t bringing his full power to bear.

A chill ran down my spine, and I suddenly figured out where the stranger in the market wearing a sheer dress may have been staying. Rutu had so many women, it wouldn’t take much for the Leon family to find a way to infiltrate it.

And now I understood better what I was seeing in the battle. They hadn’t needed to take out the entire family, they just needed to take out our strongest elder.

Now that I had put the pieces together, I could see what was wrong with his cultivation. It was unsteady. He was holding himself back because if he used his full strength, it might break.

I couldn’t turn away as Duncan drew on even more power and threw it at Rutu. Rutu failed to block it and was rocketed through the void.

I flew after him.

I wasn’t sure what I could do, but if he lost, the fight itself would be over and we would all lose. Duncan would quickly settle the rest of the elder fights.

Duncan didn’t even bother to stop me and slowly floated after Rutu.

I found Rutu. He had crashed into a large floating boulder and was prying himself out.

“Kid, get out. This fight is above your level.” Rutu floated up from the boulder and wiped at a gash above his brow.

“He’s damaged your cultivation. The Leon family has a mine full of tainted mana crystals that can damage and weaken a cultivator’s foundation, making their cultivation unstable.”

Rutu turned to me, frowning. “I don’t use mana crystals.”

I frowned, trying to figure it out. The woman must have used the crystals and then dual cultivated with him. It was the only explanation. “But your women do, don’t they?”

“Duncan, did you poison my women?” Rutu bluntly turned his attention to his opponent.

“Doesn’t matter now.” Duncan grinned. “But it was Lulu. The poor girl just wanted to be stronger so that you’d cultivate with her more.” Duncan made a sympathetic face before it cracked into howling laughter. “Your dual cultivation is pathetic. Being reliant on someone else to cultivate. What kind of man allows that?”

Rutu’s cultivation began to overflow as he pushed me away. “Get out of here. Take care of Xiexie for me.”

He knew just as well as I did that we both needed him to be at his full strength, but he couldn’t use it without potentially destroying his cultivation. His cultivation blew me further away as more debris in the void swirled around him.

Duncan’s eyes were wide as he tried to fly away, but Rutu caught him and latched himself onto Duncan even as his cultivation started to roll out of control. The two of them shot away, and there was the briefest moment of pause, like the entire void went silent in respect for what was about to come.

A blinding flash detonated amid the void before becoming a massive ball of mana and blew shockwaves in every direction.

I shielded myself as best as I could and rode the wave away.

I wasn’t alone; the rest of the elders’ fighting were blown away, breaking up all the fights as we struggled to recover.

“Isaac, what happened?” Tianwu came up behind me. His robes were torn, and a few fresh bruises were rising on his skin.

“Duncan poisoned Rutu’s women with tainted mana crystals. When he found out, Rutu decided to grab Duncan and let his cultivation destabilize… quite explosively.”

The West Branch elder sighed. “What of Edmond?”

“Dead, so there’s some good news.” All the fights were paused as everybody waited to see what would happen next.

Rutu was dead, and whether Duncan had survived would quickly impact who won this battle. The Leon family elders were biding their own time.

“Do we fight? Right now, they are outnumbered,” I suggested, watching the Leon family fidget.

Tianwu rolled his shoulders. “Not a bad idea. Each take your match. Isaac, work your way up. Help your mother to start.”

Tianwu led the charge, soaring back over to the granny of the Leon family. The battle ensued again as I charged my mother’s opponent.

Everything happened so fast after that.

My mother and I attacked the Bishou from both sides, forcing him to take repeated losses. But he was a seventh rank cultivator; he wasn’t going down easily.

It felt like I’d only been fighting the seventh rank Bishou for a few moments before a huge cultivation swelled as it rushed forward. My heart dropped as Duncan returned to the battle, bloody and scorched.

“To me,” he yelled at the Leon family. “We are leaving.”

I traded a glance with my mother before shooting off after Duncan.

He wasn’t joining the fight, which meant he must be weakened enough that he wasn’t going to continue fighting and worried about their ability to win. If he retreated and healed his wounds, we wouldn’t win the next battle. We needed to take the chance to defeat them now before they were back at their full strength.

My sword flashed, and Duncan caught my blade, sword intent and all.

I got my first real look at him. He’d had the hair singed from half his body and the skin there was covered in burns. There was also a hole through his side; it wasn’t bleeding, but I was pretty sure he was holding it stable with his cultivation.

“Brat. I’m not that helpless.” Duncan slapped me away.

I barely managed to raise up sword intent before my chest to protect myself from being crushed.

I noticed the Yunpi Elders had started fighting with increased vigor; they all saw the same result. This was our best chance now that our highest elder was gone. And with each of them engaged with their counterpart, my job was to try to keep Duncan from escaping.

I didn’t love my odds, but I’d do the best I could. In my peripheral vision, I saw my mother become more savage in her attacks, realizing I was taking on Duncan. But we both knew she wouldn’t be able to get to me quickly. I had to find ways to outmaneuver him.

I attacked again, two extra strikes of sword intent following my blade at different angles. Duncan roared as he backhanded all three of them at the same time. They shattered at his touch.

But six fluffy, black tails splayed out behind him as Mei chopped at his head with void mana.

Duncan spun, losing an inch of hair as Mei barely missed. His leg snapped up, but just before it caught her in the chest, she disappeared, only to reappear behind me.

Suddenly, the area around me was flooded with my wives and mana beasts. I counted fourteen and frowned.

“Rachel is remaining behind in case we need to escape,” Aurora answered my unsaid question.

My women and beasts fanned out and made a sphere around Duncan. They started launching their most powerful attacks. The Leon family grand elder snarled and tried to blast them away, but they would disappear, reappearing next to another and then expanding to close the gaps.

Lightning, fire, earth, wind, water, void, life, and even steel mana rained down on Duncan from all sides. Explosions peppered Duncan’s body, tearing at his robes and burning his skin.

My own sword intent joined the mess. We were starting to wear the already beaten elder down.

Duncan appeared before me like a ghost, reaching out to grab my skull and try to end it. I felt just the barest whisper of his hand closing around my neck as I teleported to my soul space and bounced back out through Kat’s.

Duncan whirled around frantically until his eyes latched onto mine, confusion and anger swirling within them. He lunged for me.

I cut forward with my sword twice before he grabbed it, snapping it in two. I cut forward once more, momentarily forgetting that my sword was no longer functioning. But my sword intent still came to life, slicing forward.

It was so sharp that it cut into Duncan’s hand before he shattered it.

He made another move towards me, but I was gone, back into the shared soul space and back out by Thea. I didn’t bother drawing a new sword, feeling the sword intent still riding on my fingertips.

Duncan moved once more to try to get to me, and I attacked forward with my Kungpeng claw, this time including the sword intent in each of my fingers. The technique was one of my firsts and one of my most comfortable as a result. It was almost a part of me as I added Aurora’s savage aspect of her mana into it.

The power in the attack surprised Duncan; his eyes flashed with danger as he blocked that attack, stalling his own.

My wives pounced on the opportunity and landed a number of blows. Phoebe, in particular, cut long, deep scratches down Duncan’s back.

Unable to cut off the blows now raining down around him, Duncan stopped targeting me and focused on getting out of the center of the encirclement. As he moved, we adjusted ourselves, concentrating on our forces where he was trying to move while leaving space to pivot and use our soul spaces as needed.

Our attacks were small, but we continued them, getting small gains along the way. We herded him and kept him in the center, making sure he didn’t escape.

While I attacked, I started becoming aware of something swelling inside of me. My sword intent was growing sharper with each attack, and my own power was increasing at a rapid rate.

I had momentum, a tempo that was raging inside of me. I could feel it boiling up inside of me, and I needed an outlet. Stepping into the middle of the circle we’d made around Duncan, I engaged him directly.

“Isaac!” Michelle screamed in worry.

My sword met Duncan’s fist as he grinned like a madman.

Whatever was inside of me churned as our hits collided, starting to solidify. My body was still rocketed out into the void, but I used the shared soul space to reappear at the edge of the ring, rushing back in to strike Duncan once more.

We met again, his fist colliding against my blade like a blacksmith pounding red-hot metal. But this time, I felt stronger, more formed. My sword art grew by leaps and bounds as I continued to attack Duncan relentlessly.

Each time, he blew me away, but I didn’t go as far as the last. Hit after hit continued that way, his puzzlement growing as his hits became less powerful. Soon I didn’t even leave the ring of my wives.

I screamed, drawing my sword back over my shoulder and slashing down as something shattered in me. This time, my sword cut into the back of Dun hand. The blade came back coated with his blood for the first time.

I paused, floating away as Duncan scowled at me and clutched his hand. I felt different, like I could grasp at the world with a thought.

Smiling, I knew what had happened.

Looking around at my wives, I confirmed my suspicion. They were all now seventh rank cultivators. We’d broken through.

Duncan knew it too as he stared at all of us with wide eyes. “Your cultivations are linked. That’s impossible…”

“We may be weaker than you alone, but we are stronger together. You are fighting sixteen seventh rank immortals with the best coordination you’ve ever seen.” I moved to attack once more.

Before our attacks had bruised and singed Duncan, but now they had the power to kill.

Phoebe burned like a second sun as phoenix fire rained down on Duncan; it parted around me like a second skin as my sword stabbed into his leg.

Duncan whipped around and sent me flying, attempting to blow away the fire. But while he focused on the fire, he received a mace to the face as Michelle came up behind me, swinging for all she was worth.

His face crumpled under her mace as he hurtled to another side of the circle.

Foo’s hand was wrapped in a heavy, green gauntlet as she caught Duncan with a two-handed punch, stopping Duncan cold as Aurora came screaming in with her hands out like a claw. Aurora managed to tear half his shoulder away before he scrambled out of the way.

Mei’s seven tails danced, creating a massive array of void mana that blanketed Duncan, covering him in nasty gashes even as he punched through it.

All of us worked together and tore Duncan apart. As he coughed up blood, it floated out in the void.

I floated down; I could tell the fight was leaving him.

He spat to the side. “Fucking sluts. It’s always the dual cultivation immortals.”

There was a slight glint in his eye, and I pulled back, pulling all of my wives into the shared soul space as I darted away.

Duncan exploded, burning all the mana inside himself, not unlike Rutu.

I wasn’t able to move far enough. Getting caught in the blast, I was blown away, but it was back towards the other fights.

Tianwu and the other Yunpi elders were startled by the blast, seeming to realize what had happened while they’d been focused on their fights.

Duncan was gone, and now they could feel the difference in my cultivation.

The Leon elders tried to pull out of their fights, but my wives appeared one by one at my side, blocking their escape. The elders began having to fight three to one.

“Those who choose to fight to the death, I understand. Should you fight valiantly, you will have my respect and a respectful death. Your bodies will be returned to your family. Any who choose to attempt escape are unworthy of the cultivation you’ve built. And you will be treated as such.” I stated it simply, now a powerful elder of a ruling family.

I was a seventh rank immortal now, and I had sixteen seventh rank immortal wives that could join me in battle anywhere, anytime.

I was a walking army that could match any ancient family.

Fengu spat into the void. “I’d rather die trying to take one or two of you with me. Clearly, you’ve grown cocky. Losing a wife may help you understand that you’re not as strong as you’d like to believe.”