Dao 4 Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Dar awoke to his whole harem present outside the locomotive, yet inside the wall he’d built to help protect them overnight.

Cherry had made a table of twisting branches and was leading a discussion before she turned to see him awake. The beautiful dryad had her green hair cascading down her back and it swished as her jewelry jingled when she animatedly spoke to the rest of the ladies present.

“Dar. My love. Welcome to the waking world again.” She looked up at the sun, which was well halfway to its zenith. “You must have needed sleep. I’m glad our two maids were able to coax you to sleep.” She had a knowing smile on her face as she patted the bench beside her.

Tami, Valdis and Neko were sitting while Amber and Marcie milled around, getting everything ready. Valdis and Tami scooted aside to make room for him.

He climbed out and walked over to plant himself between the two as Tami blushed and Valdis grinned like a fox in the hen house. “It seems all of you are in a good mood.” Dar observed.

“We’ve been talking.” Cherry replied with a grin that seemed like it might be trouble.

But Valdis surprised him. “I tried to cultivate dao underneath your tree and further understand its importance. There is another Mo sealed here in Kindrake, not that far from where we are going. It was sealed again just before Lilith traded her life for yours.”

He had thought that Karn had mentioned there were only two, but he trusted Valdis more on this.

“Oh?” Dar had picked up a pastry from the basket on the table, but he was going to listen to what she had to say before he dug in. “Where?”

“At the edge of what was once Toldove. There was one time that Lilith went to seal it and the people of the city attacked her, preventing it. They allowed the Mo to be released.” Valdis shook her head. “The White reacted poorly when she learned of it. Not only had they persecuted the ancient races, but they had allowed a Mo to be freed. She joined forces with Lilith and destroyed the entire city that had become nothing but a breeding ground for devils.”

Dar considered the change in the story he had previously heard. But not many would know of all those details; they only saw The White destroy the village. Even Karn seemed to use that time as a threat rather than dispell any misunderstanding.

“Then Lilith resealed it?”

Valdis nodded. “Lilith might have been a powerful demon, but she did not possess the wide destructive abilities of one like The White. Furthermore, the Mo sealed here possesses attributes of the cold that make them more difficult for The White to destroy. She needed to attack with such force that the city was shattered by her in the process.” Valdis looked in a direction that he assumed was the ruined city.

Dar followed her stare. “That makes sense. The stories told now are much different.”

“Human memory is very flawed.” Valdis said with a wave of her hand.

Dar could only give his head a rueful shake. She wasn’t exactly wrong.

“So. We can head that direction and break the seal to kill it?” Dar asked.

“Yes, I believe we would be able to break it. I watched Lilith make enough of them.” Valdis put her hand on her hip where a sword rested.

Dar smiled. He loved a bit of brute force, if that was what she was implying.

“We are already well ahead of schedule.” Cherry added. “I think stopping to destroy this Mo would be beneficial, especially if you were able to get some dao related to cold before journeying up Frost’s Fang.”

All of them seemed suddenly intent on those words, nodding along. It was clear that the group feared The White and her response. And Dar knew that Cherry wouldn’t be concerned for nothing.

“That sounds like a wonderful plan. I assume we can reach it today?” Dar looked to Valdis for confirmation.

She nodded. “It isn’t far and you travel very quickly with your artifact cart.” She gestured at the cart while she struggled to remember what he had called it. “If we reach there this afternoon, we can fight it. The Mo should still be weak from its battle with Lilith, since it was more recently sealed.”

Dar bit into the pastry to find an incredibly sweet berry filling. He smiled, guessing Marcie had made those. She had a serious sweet tooth.

“Okay. Then the question is, are you all wanting to slow down to work on each of our dao?”

Cherry glanced towards Tami. “One of us will focus on a dao related to the cold and then your dao companionship along with the tree will help you progress quickly.”

Dar nodded slowly, eating more of the pastry to buy himself time. “Is that the best use of Tami? She could be helping me scout once we reach the hills.”

Valdis crossed her arms. “I’m able to scout from the air. Besides, you need to focus your efforts on learning the dao of life for me.”

“I don’t like transactional relationships.” Dar grumbled at the valkyrie.

“Oh?” She leaned forward. “You want me to love you?” Her eyes went wide like a love struck girl as a blush spread across her face. “Blush and cling to your shirt for your attention?”

Dar swallowed. He knew she was faking it, but he kind of liked the bashful sweet look on her face. “I don’t need a blushing school girl.”

“What is love but a bond formed between two with shared experiences? The idea of coupling for love is such a novel experience. You do realize most marriages even among humans are for some sort of benefit. Love comes after and easily with shared experiences.”

“Then call me a romantic sap, but I’m still not sure I believe that.” Dar rolled his eyes. “But we will have many shared experiences here to come.”

“That’s the spirit.” Valdis clapped him on the shoulder. “Fighting together is a hell of a drug. I’ll even let you save my life a few times.”

Now she was just fucking with him. And giving an excuse for the next time she faltered in battle. He saw straight through her.

He also saw all the walls she’d put up when it came to any romantic connection. It would take time for her to bring those down.

When your dao was death, Dar imagined that you knew better than anybody that relationships were fleeting. Death was inevitable, even for an immortal. He may not die from his body giving out, but Dar certainly had big threats ahead of him.

“Just make sure to blush a little and let me carry you when you get injured.” Dar played her game.

Valdis threw her head back, laughing. “Not a chance in hell.”

Cherry was less amused. “Don’t think this is all a joke. Even if it is a weakened Mo, it is still powerful enough that if you don’t take it seriously, you could find yourself in trouble.”

“Yes mother.” Valdis quipped back.

“Neko doesn’t care. Feather Brains can not enjoy Dar. More kittens for Neko.” The jaguar demon pressed her chest against the table, making her breasts bulge above the edge of it.

The move drew Dar’s attention, and Neko wiggled a little bit, pleased that she had his focus.

Tami and Valdis seemed to notice as well, leaning in a little closer to him and wrapping around his arms.

“You are doing well, I’m sure, little kitten. But once your man gets someone with experience, you will have to up your game.” Valdis smirked.

Neko’s ears flattened against the top of her head and her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare threaten Neko’s kittens.” She planted her hands on the table and looked like she was preparing to pounce.

“Might have gone too far there Valdis.” Dar stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth and put his hands on the table, a signal that both women respected to let go of his arms. “Let’s pack up and head out. I want to fight a Mo.”

“Someone remind him that he said that later.” Valdis laughed. “You are the only person who has ever wanted to fight one.”

“Can you blame me when they offer so much power?” Dar replied. “I want this dao of cold or ice or whatever it is.”

“It’s like a living snow storm.” Valdis clarified.

“Oh. That sounds peachy.” Dar drew everything back into his inner world, including all of his harem except Valdis. “Get in.”

She leapt the distance with a flutter of her wings.

Dar swung himself over. “How is flying? Fun?” He pushed with his dao, consuming quite a bit of mana to get the locomotive going. As soon it was rolling forward, it began carving two groves in the ground as he dismissed the wall.

“It’s not that different from walking once you get used to it. But it can be quite convenient. The air doesn’t have the same obstructions as the ground. You want to fly?”

Dar rolled his eyes. “Duh. Flying is awesome, and I could travel far faster than this.” He gestured at the locomotive. “Think you could carry me?”

“These are actual wings, not some dao. No, you’d be like trying to haul a boulder around. Even if you had wings, I don’t think you could fly.” She laughed at the idea. “It would be funny though.”

He grunted and rolled on forward through the snow. “What about if I made myself lighter for you to carry me?”

“Yes, because I’m some ferry service? No. You’ll still catch a ton of wind and throw me off. I wasn’t built to carry anyone.” Valdis scowled.

***

It was past mid-day when Dar and Valdis broke out of a forest trail and the landscape opened up before them.

For miles and miles, there was nothing to see except flat land. Not a single tree or shrub was visible for miles, and in the distance there were snow covered jagged ruins, like they had been made of glass and shattered long ago.

“That’s Toldove?” Dar asked, noticing the ruins.

“Yes. If it wasn’t winter you’d see the ground. There’s no grass. When The White froze the area, she turned the ground into a harsh broken surface like the desert under the sands.” Valdis got close to him as she shaded her eyes and looked around, trying to piece together their direction.

“That way.” She pointed a little further off to the east. “Actually. Let me get into the air; it’ll be easier for me to recognize it.”

“Go ahead.” Dar headed the direction she had pointed, mostly using the momentum he already had in the cart.

Valdis flapped her wings and flew out and over the vehicle, circling higher, more like a bird of prey than he imagined. Her wings were huge once she had them out; her wingspan easily more than double her height.

Dar couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to fly, a bit of jealousy and wonder taking over.

Valdis waved from above and pointed in the direction he was already heading before she swooped low and fast, skimming over the snow and towards something only she could see.

Dar had no problem following her around the edge of the city, not wanting to go through. Even with the runes etched into this locomotive, he was going to have a hard time if he hit a chunk of a building.

“Here.” Valdis shouted, backwinging and landing as she sprayed snow everywhere. “Do you want to bring out the others?”

“No. Let us take care of this and tell them later.” Dar replied, pulling up a good distance away. “Where exactly is it?”

“Here.” Valdis pulled out her sword and poked the air before jerking with the blade. Little gold sparks shot off the edge of her blade. “Just gotta crack it open if you know where to look.”

Dar sent blasts of heat from his body, melting a large area around him before four huge pillars of lava rose around him, Valdis and the seal. Then he let his lava stretch out and enclose them in a small arena maybe twenty paces wide.

“What’s this for?” Valdis looked around, her sword still idly poking at the air.

“You said it’s a living blizzard. Maybe we don’t give it a shit ton of snow to play with?” Dar frowned at the death spirit.

She stuck out her tongue. “It’s weak. I thought you wanted a challenge.”

“I want it dead.” Dar glared at her. He wasn’t messing around, and he wasn’t looking to play with a Mo. He wanted its dao, and he wanted it gone.

“Okay. Let’s see if we can’t do this.” Valdis’ sword glowed an eerie green of death as her wings flew out to the side and her whole body radiated the dao of death. “Time for you to die, seal.”

Dar paused, now understanding her plan. She could use death dao to destroy the seal.

The seal became visible to him, a sparkle of gold dao characters spread into the air. It grew larger and larger to reveal a vessel made entirely of those characters, and inside of it was a tempest of swirling snow that unfurled from itself as the seal expanded.

Two red glows emerged from the storm, a pair of eyes that immediately locked on Dar.

Dar knew that the Mo were intelligent, far more capable than a typical devil. The one before had figured out how to use a giant to stay alive.

And the Mo was most definitely glaring at him.

“Fuck.” Dar summoned four more pillars of lava, but he didn’t let them cool as the seal started to shatter, the gold characters losing them luminescence before shattering into particles of mana.

The Storm waited amid its cage and didn’t struggle to free itself, saving its energy for the fight it saw coming.

“This is a Mo. Get ready Dar. It looks pissed.”

The final strand of characters disappeared, and Dar summoned the huge black ax and swung with all of his might as he collapsed the four pillars of lava over the Mo.

The Storm howled as the lava cooled and froze over it, the pillars shattering and throwing the shards and enough wind to toss houses aside buffeted Dar. The Storm swarmed upwards, freeing itself from Dar’s first assault.

For a moment, Dar thought it was going to escape the cage he’d made.

But the Mo seemed to consider its choices and decide to move back to attack Dar. It didn’t like the threat to its territory.

Dar swung, infusing his ax with enough heat to melt iron.

As he fought, it was like being suddenly plunged into the middle of complete white out conditions. He couldn’t see his hand in front of him as it lifted him up into the air as cold crept into every fiber of his being.

Thankfully, Dar was ready. Activating the dao of heavy, he slammed back into the ground before summoning pillar after pillar of lava around him, trying to box the Mo in and wear it out.

“Fuck you.” Dar screamed, spraying lava everywhere and forcing the Mo off of him.

Valdis was flapping her wings just outside the storm, also dodging the spray of lava. “Careful with that shit.”

“Do something then.”

“Fine. I wanted to see more of your current strength though.” Valdis flicked her blade at the storm. Eerie green scythes filled the air, chopping at The Storm and ripping sheets of ice off of it. “It might not die, but I can try to kill it.”

Dar grit his teeth, drawing a huge pool of lava below the surface of the ground. It was obvious as snow melted for hundreds of yards around him. “Bring it down!”

Valdis changed the direction of her attacks, pushing the Mo lower before Dar jumped up and touched The Storm, giving it dao of heavy.

The snow that made up the living storm crashed into the ground as Dar made a lake of lava rise up out of the ground and cage in the Mo.

The Mo swirled in his red hot prison, fixing Dar with a red angry stare. “The dawn of man’s strength will be the undoing of everything.” Its voice was hollow, but it howled with the full might of a windstorm. “You are an abomination.”

“It talks!” Valdis shouted in surprise.

“Later.” Dar shouted, reinforcing the cage he’d made for The Storm with more and more lava. “I’m not so sure I’m the one that is the abomination. All you do is destroy.”

“We are the first and will be the last.” The ancient Mo sounded old and tired, yet it thought its words were absolute. “You cannot kill us.”

“But I can.” Dar grinned. “And I will. Soon I’ll go hunting for the others.”

The Storm suddenly shifted, trying to escape, but Dar blocked it in piling lava pillar after lava pillar around it. It couldn’t escape through the heat.

“Then you will meet a worse end than everything else.” The Mo rushed Dar in a swirl of sleet and snow.

Dar summoned a wave of heat as he swung his ax, wiping out a huge amount of the Mo’s snow and reducing it to a strange swirling blue mass crackling with electricity.

That was when the dao tree finally reacted and Dar smiled, letting it loose.

The tree reached out through him, tendrils of its great roots shot out of Dar’s navel, growing, expanding and forming a net over the Mo even as it made one last attempt to escape.

But deathly green scythes blotted the sky and stopped it in time for the roots to penetrate it.

“NO!” It wailed. “You cannot. We are eternal. We will be the last thing when the universe returns to the void!”

The roots of the dao tree turned blue as they drained the Mo.

The Mo was fully captured by the tree, shrinking into itself until it was nothing.

Dar stopped holding up all of the lava, letting it return to the earth.

“It’s dying.” Valdis landed next to Dar and gasped. “The tree is killing it and absorbing something from it.”

“I told you.” Dar grunted as the Mo disappeared and the tree’s root retracted into him.

It took a lot of strength to hold himself up. Once the tree finished, it was suddenly gone and he collapsed to one knee. “Believe me now?”

“Yes.” Valdis looked from where the Mo had been back to Dar. “You are everything and more than Lilith could have hoped for.”

He wasn’t sure why that praise struck a chord with him. But amid the chill from the Mo, he felt his heart warm. “Thank you. I hope her passing on was worth it.”

“She would have loved to see this, but maybe she foresaw it.” Valdis smiled. “We should rush to the next seal. Crush all of them.” The Valkyrie got excited and grabbed Dar’s shoulder, helping him up.

He waved her idea away. “Not now. I should check in on the dao tree. Then we have plans to see The White. Maybe she could even offer me faster transportation to these seals.”

Valdis nodded at his logic and helped him down to a sitting position. “I just don’t think you understand how momentous it is that you actually killed a Mo!” The excitement got the better of her.

Dar smiled. It was some of the first true excitement Valdis had shown. She had spent countless years with Lilith as the celestial demon likely tried all manner of things to remove the Mo from the world and was unsuccessful. What she’d just seen she’d begun to believe was impossible, but now there was hope.

“Actually that’s the third.” Dar reminded her.

Valdis scoffed. “The first sounds like it was an easy one, then the second you didn’t even fight. This one was weakened, but certainly not weak. Dar, there are dozens of them. You don’t understand.” She sat down next to him and pulled her legs up.

“That I just solved hundreds of years of yours and Lilith’s work?” Dar asked.

“Yeah… fuck you.” Valdis put her chin on her knee. “Want to do it again, and again? Lilith—“

“What about you?” Dar interrupted her. “I don’t want to hear what Lilith wanted once more.”

“I want to see just exactly what you can do with all of this power.” Valdis turned to him. “Can you really help me form a dao of rebirth?”

Dar shrugged. “Anything is possible with this power.” He lifted up his hand and for the first time wondered more about dao. So far he had taken much of the power it had given him for granted, but something that the Mo had said stuck in his head like a nagging splinter.

“Don’t dwell on it. I’ll watch over your body as you go check out the tree, and then we have to head up to Frost’s Fang. Though… I think your enchanted cart is done for.” Valdis looked over at the shattered thing.

Dar sighed. They’d have had to abandon it anyway. It wouldn’t do well on the hills. “Thank you. I’m going to check on the tree.”