The Soaring Dune Flotilla was yet another turning point in the life of Xin Wei Long. As a young man, Lin Han had been a mediocre adherent of the Water Temple of the Xin Kingdom. An insignificant ant in the weakest vassal of the Golden Devil Clan, themselves formerly the weakest power of the Desert Tripartite. Itself the most impoverished part of the Virtuous Flipper Region, and so on and so forth. Did it ever end?
The man who had been born of Lin Han wondered. Beyond the dead sea. Beyond the Turtle World. Was there perhaps more and greater beings that overshadowed all he had once known, just waiting for him to reach a new plateau before shattering the foundations of his confidence and accomplishment anew all over again?
He did not know. But still, as he skirted through the frosted dunes to where a skiff lay cunningly hidden to join the Commodore in returning North…Xin Wei Long could not help but wonder.
...
"The Jingshen Bei," Jingshen Bei Wan spoke, the Grand Son of Heaven joining him to gaze at the coming dawn, "What do you know of us?"
"Not much," The elementalist replied, "Your Founder was brother to the other founders of the Jingshen Clan, though only one of them became a Nascent Soul. The Bei took the Western mines, and were the most military minded of them. From there…" He gestured outwards.
"Hmm," Two hands, wrapped in faded silks, clutched behind the small of the old man's back, "A shame that so little was shared with you within Cloudy Jade City. There's a bit more to that story. Our pride, in fact. Let me tell you why the Bei Elder became the most militaristic of his brothers - the man possessed an affinity for warfare, unique among the Jingshen of that first generation, as they fled to the desert."
Xin Wei Long said nothing, watching the dunes pass and the sun continue to rise. Eventually, the Expert continued his story.
"The Jingshen were originally of the West - We came from the northern plains, but were forced out due to the intrigues of the Gemstone Justice, and the dangers of the demonic powers near the Ghost-Curse Vein. Back then, the Ma Clan were a tribe of butchers, for all their pretensions at empire." The Commodore smiled, "How times have changed, yet remain the same."
"What does this have to do with the Bei Elder?"
"Where the father and brothers saw crimes and danger, the Bei Elder saw a learning opportunity. As it so happens, the Ma Clan share some overlap with the Jingshen's old stories - the tale of a divine king, ruler of the storms and breaker of iron. A great sword that chilled the soul of any who laid eyes upon it, accompanied by an army of archers unequal to all the rest of the world."
He snorted, "More serendipity."
"Breaker of iron?" Xin Wei Long had no clue what the epithets had to do with one another, but surely such a legendary command of the elements would have left an enduring legend in the rest of the region, right?
The Commodore shook his head, "That's all we know. Other than ourselves and the Ma, no one else knows the story of the Rain King. Foolishness, really." His hands gripped more tightly, "It is only in recent years that some of us have come to believe that the old stories refer to a costly battle that badly reduced the Golden Devils, forcing them to hole up within their mountain homes before the coming of the Demonic Soup Chef."
"Foolishness indeed," Nature's Son shook his head, "If more knew, then perhaps we could have discovered the secret to harming the Golden Devils so." Even as he said it, a hole opened up within his breast - raw curiosity, a desire to know.
"What was this man's name?"
Jingshen Bei Wan paused, then turned to face the younger man, Favored of Heaven.
"We do not have a name for him." Flinty black eyes, burning with resolve stared into his own, "But the Ma named him 'Temujin', and in the absence of anything better, so do we."
...
The Soaring Dune Flotilla were beyond audacious, as things turned out - there were only so many safe routes in the Northern lands, and none could safely be traversed on foot due to the draining nature of the desert. It was for this reason that a sole, single road lead from the Jingshen Lands up north into the mountains, the caravan that had taken this trip was not made to pay tariffs in the traditional sense - rather, the caravans were forced to allocate a number of Spirit Stones with which to fuel the Arrays and Tools which enabled cargo and passenger both to survive the trip.
Dangerous, and only mildly profitable. The Magic Oak Sect were generous for a demonic power, even if they were foes of the Jingshen themselves. But that mattered little in the face of profiteers, and that trade was one of the most reliable ones for the Servant Elders of Cloudy Jade City. A path towards wealth that no proper Jingshen pursued, and yet another card that the Golden Devil Clan were unaware of, never bothering to pay for the cooperation of the Jingshens' longest victims.
After all, why go North? The route to the plains was far less treacherous, and for all the evil that the Golden Devils would commit in depriving the Jingshen of their rightful wealth, the Invaders at least took their promises of security seriously.
That was why, when the Soaring Dune Flotilla had been worse than decimated during the opening stages of the Sorrow of the Desert, they had retreated to the sole place that none would ever bother to look - a hidden hanger, a rich Spirit Stone mine that lay behind a region crisscrossed with Qi Draining Sands, only possible to traverse at speed and at extreme expense. The very geography forming an ideal defense for the final redoubt of the Jingshen Resistance.
Clouds carried by the northern winds obscured the sun, casting all into qi-aspected shadow as its energies were greedily dragged into the earth, the distance great enough that by the time they fell to ground level the Qi was stripped enough that it could be assimilated without issue.
The skiff flew in between a set of particularly tall sand dunes, the helmsman of the craft expertly maneuvering between the obstacles with the ease of practice before directing them straight into a wall of gently falling sand.
Xin Wei Long shut his eyes, and held his breath as the particulate washed over him for a mere second, before a great breeze pushed against the Grand Son of Nature, blasting the grains of the desert off his Favored body.
"Welcome to the Black Gold Oasis," The Commodore said with pride as the elementalist opened his eyes, the older man's arms spread wide to reveal an expansive cavern. A stupendously massive dry dock occupied every visible inch - scores upon
scores of airships suspended within, and each of them being endlessly looked over and maintenanced by cultivators and array smiths.
"Remarkable," Xin Wei Long said honestly, "Are these all from the war?"
Jingshen Bei Wan shook his head, "We spent many years after the fall of the desert replenishing our losses. The Black Gold Oasis was always intended as a forward operating base to hold against the Magic Oak Sect. The unique positioning and nature of this spirit meant that we were out of position to truly strike back against the Devils, save for when they sent their Juniors en masse to harass our lands behind the front lines of the invasion."
He spat back into the falling wall of sand.
"Pathetic."
Nature's Son continued to look upon the array of martial might before him, feeling impressed at the sheer concentration of craftsmanship and martial might around him. Even if he could one day suppress this military power as easily as overturning his hand, he would only ever be a single Qi Sorcerer, and thus unable to project his power with the same speed and coverage that the Soaring Dune Flotilla could!
If the Commodore had stood by his side in the Xin Kingdom, Nature's Son would have feared no Xuan, and certainly no Devil!
"This is the strength of a former Great Power," The man in question said, observing his guest's attentions, "We had planned around matching our wealth and innovation against the brute, thuggish strength of our adversaries. But they moved more swiftly in their treachery, and abused their blasphemous powers to raise up another Nascent Soul in secret." He shook his head, "Were it not for those perfidious and cowardly actions, the Jingshen would have had the time to leverage our greater strength."
Xin Wei Long turned back towards him, "How?"
The Leader of the Resistance smiled toothily, his teeth showing.
"Let me show you."
...
Like majestic birds, or perhaps cunning bats, a dozen's dozen of shadows flitted across the star-lit sand of the former Jingshen lands. Flying in tight formation, their shapes were obscured by the darkness of night - captured yin energies distorting star and moon light, having it pass through their forms without directly interacting with them. A discovery made long ago by the Bei Elder - most senses relied upon the Law of Light, merely processing a reflection of where it fell upon and enveloped them. As Light was of Yang, then the natural opposite - Yin - could be used to confound it.
An easy enough conclusion to make, but one that the Arraysmiths of the Resistance had toiled mightily to realize. Far too late to turn the perfidious shadow against its greatest wielder, but after the element's betrayal at the Invaders hands, those engineers and craftsmen found themselves uniquely motivated to bring to heel what had once been taken for granted.
Thankfully, the Black Gold Oasis always had an abundance of Yin energies on hand, powering their artifice.
But as the raiding force crossed the desert, Xin Wei Long found himself curious. Even if the ships were cloaked and swift, once they entered close range with their targets there was no way the Arraycraft of the Golden Devils would fail to detect their airships. He himself had spent many years acquainting himself with the nature of the defenses that Waycastles possessed, and the settlements that were springing up around the Jingshen's old holdings would doubtlessly benefit from their standardized schema.
Still, though the ships bent light, the other elements of the Laws of Earth were unaffected.
Five Elements, Heaven Above and Earth Below. Then Yin and Yang.
Nature's Son considered lending his own abilities, but the Commodore had laughed. Clapped him on the shoulder.
"Glad to see the initiative, but we couldn't ask for a Guest to exert himself like that," The older Expert's eyes had twinkled, "Not yet, anyway."
Thus, the flotilla proceeded. The whispers of the wind and the shifting of the sands are the only sign of their passage beneath the night sky. Hours pass, and eventually the clouds part - a glimmer of moonlight descending upon the desert to reveal an aberration among the dunes. A series of walls, constructed of compacted sand layered over with a mesh of array script.
"Construction site," Nature's Son muttered in recognition. It was something he had seen many times during his journey, standalone constructions out in the desert saw tons upon tons of sand raised up and used as temporary obstacles against the predators and Spirit Beasts that roamed while a more secure and permanent foundation was prepared. Xin Wei Long's fists clench, popping with the force of the gesture.
The shadows split apart. Many slow, as others move forward in accelerating wings, beginning to encircle what he knew now to be the destination. But how will they attack? Though the dunes were far from their most impregnable defense, they drew up the sands themselves, ensnaring and entrapping whatever sought to breach them. The airships simply weren't hardy enough to survive ramming several tons of empowered sand, let alone escape intact.
What was the Flotilla's plan?
In moments, the shrouded craft complete their formation, and in concert all move at uniform speed once again. Encircling the construction, qi beginning to fill the air with the thrumming of prepared arts.
To his side, dozens upon dozens of crewmen managed to pull out bows. Some crafted of spirit beast horn. Others brilliantly carved of spirit stone. The Experts among them withdrew their own works, composite, etched with array script.
Jingshen Bei Wan revealed his own weapon - a cunningly shaped thing of glass, shot through with veins that glowed with power. As one, the Jingshen Bei nocked their weapons. As one, they aimed them into the sky.
"Volley!"
As one, they loosed.
A cloud of missiles fell upon the fortification. Death from above circumventing the defenses of the perimeter entirely. The
thudthudclangthud of hundreds of arrows descending like rain in a storm caused his internal Water Pillar to twitch, ever so slightly.
The Commodore smiled at him, as the volley came to an end. With it, the Devils responded.
Part of the wall blew open, revealing twenty-one Golden Devils, already moving into lockstep. Xin Wei Long frowned as threads of qi strung between the Invaders, shimmering gold as their individuality was subsumed.
Forming a giant entity, glad in bronze and spearing both spear and shield.
"Hoplite Formation," Nature's Son muttered in awe. As a former vassal of the Golden Devils, and one who sought to keep himself as unnoticed as possible on his way north…Xin Wei Long had never before had cause to see it in action.
"It's not so impressive," The Commodore of the Soaring Dunes replied with a smirk, "Let me show you how we deal with
that."
The great Bronze construct strode forward confidently into the encirclement, spear striking out deliberately towards the shadowy, flitting airships. The Hoplite did not bellow. Did not taunt. Only wordless roars of anger bellowed into the night sky.
In futility.
The airships of the Soaring Dune Flotilla were not meek lambs, awaiting a wolf to slaughter them!
They were a pack of wolves, slavering for the feast before them!
As the Hoplite ventured further and further away from the fortification, the encircling shadows darted around the new target, forming a new encirclement. Its diameter
just beyond the furthest reaches of the Qi Construct. The Hoplite Formation was strong, yes. Mighty beyond compare for what made it up. But ultimately, it was still a Golden Devil.
And the greatest weakness of any Devil is their lack of agility, even with their prodigious strength.
Airships dove in, strafing at the sides of the Hoplite as its occupants fired arrow after arrow into its unprotected mass of qi. Their whooping and hollering and taunting carrying far into the night sky even as more and more arrow hafts sank into the false flesh of the colossus before them.
When the first arrow-riddled corpse fell out of the Hoplite, the wolves scented blood.
The Hoplite, which had struck so aggressively and stood so domineering until now switched tacts; instead of endlessly stabbing and sweeping, the shield of the Formation took center stage in its fighting style - endlessly repositioning its thickest side to as many airships as possible.
But that had been a mistake. The helmsmen of the Soaring Dunes Flotilla were too skilled, too swift. Faster than the Hoplite could turn and reposition itself, the airships strafed the opposite end of the shield itself. More and more arrows sunk into the qi construct with reckless abandon.
The sand grew slick with Golden Devil blood. Invader blood. Corpse upon alien corpse fell into the sand, and with each new death the Hoplite grew just a bit weaker. Just a bit less domineering.
Twenty corpses littered the sands, and only a single Expert stood defiantly at the end. Their Qi all but guttered out, but corpse-arms still gleaming dully.
Commodore Jingshen Bei smiled, then fell to the desert with glass bow in hand, and he nocked his arrow.
"Where's the second one?" He called out to his quarry, arrow pointed away from the Golden Devil.
"Centurion Outi was struck in your initial volley," A soft, attractive voice chimed. A woman. She might have been beautiful, but Nature's Son had learned his lesson on the value of making assumptions off that alone.
The Commodore hummed, before aiming his bow forward, bowstring pulled taut.
The womanly expert charged, desert sand exploding behind her with the force of her charge.
A shining glass arrow flew, sinking deep into the charging woman's breast. Her body stumbled, skipped, then plowed through the sands before coming to a rest at last. At the Commodore's feet.
The night sky was split by the cheers and adulation of the raiding force, and Nature's Son couldn't help but get caught up in the shouting as well.
...
Xin Wei Long came upon the Commodore later in the site, now revealed to be built over a cavernous mine, which had only been in the process of being widened and stabilized by the workers present. The older man stood alone, knees pressed against a work bench as a bronzed figure was sprawled across its top. In his fingers were curled blond trusses, a knee dug into the small of the back of the corpse. Nature's Son took a look at the face, expression stilled in death.
"He's young."
"Yeah," Jingshen Bei Wan said with a groan of effort, "Damned Invaders are benefiting from the Great Era too. They keep making these Centurions younger and younger every year." The older man spits to the side, his free hand reaching behind his back to withdraw a wicked knife, steely and gray with array script swirling over its surface.
"I'll be right with you." He promised.
The knife sunk into the exposed throat, and with the ease of long practice began the process of disassembly.
"There's a rumor, you know." The Expert said, arm sawing back and forth, "The key ingredient to making their corpse-arms isn't the heart or the muscles or anything." The hand strains, begins moving more
vigorously, "So we tried to get to the bottom of it. Any weakness is good for us, you know?" A hard pant, a grinding sound, "We never
did find out the whole reclamation process. But what we
did discover is that the only times a Golden Devil body are consistently not melted down after death?"
A crack. A tear. A scream of pried apart flesh and bone.
An affectionate pat to an object in hand.
"It's when they're missing
these babies."
Xin Wei Long glanced away again, seeing the skulls hanging upon the prows of the respective airships. He shuddered, realizing the true macabre nature of those decorations at last.
"So!" Jingshen Bei Wan replied as he set his prize to the side, "What did you think?"
"Effective," Nature's Son answered sincerely, "I've never heard of a Golden Devil Formation being defeated so bloodlessly before."
The older Expert smiled, "Yeah. These kinds of guerilla actions had been the point of the Flotilla from the start. Find isolated pockets of our enemies, surround and ambush them. Destroy them through mounted cavalry. Then return to safe harbors."
"Your archery was impressive," Xin Wei Long continued, "I remember asking about it when you picked me up, in fact." He gestured towards the glass forged bow hanging from the older man's back, "But you instead talked about the Ma Clan?"
Jingshen Bei Wan nodded, his expression turning wistful even as he held his prize out to drain out over the ground, "That was necessary, dear Guest. The Bei Elder was an archer by profession, having spent his youth entranced by our stories of Temujin, and spending time traveling the Plains seeking to hone those same skills. First taking him to the practitioners who would go on to form the Arrow and Flowers Sect, he became a superlative marksman, even within Foundation Establishment. To that end, the Jingshen Founder looked upon his son's talent, and commissioned a treasure be crafted for him with all the wealth that a power of the Gemstone Justice Sect could muster." The Commodore's empty hand reaches back to heft up his own bow.
"Is…" The younger Expert gestured towards the proffered weapon.
"No," Jingshen Bei Wan shook his head, "This Threaded Vein Glass Bow is merely a replica of that great treasure. The original played upon the strengths of the Elder's own archery style - endlessly calculating the positioning of the battlefield and his targets, predicting every movement. Relentlessly hunting down and drawing his foes into his line of sight." He sighed wistfully, "Always ensuring that each arrow landed when and where he had intended it."
"Sounds impressive. But what does this have to do with the Ma Clan?"
"They, too, possess an archery tradition. And when they first came across the Cursed Ghostly Vein, they caused a great clamor as they sought to displace our Jingshen Clan from our holdings in the far north of the plains." A finger points westwards, towards that presumed ancestral homeland, "Naturally, the Jingshen Founder took exception to this, and checked the at the time Ma Emperor through the power of his cultivation and alliances. But this was a tenuous state of affairs, for the Ma were many, and of a wicked bent. It is not for nothing that the Horse Slaves were considered a Demonic Power at first."
Nature's Son nodded, already picturing the scenario in his mind. The hapless Jingshen, forced to confront a great wave of demonic cultivators in their prehistory, another set of Invaders preceding their current predicament.
"By now, the Bei Elder had advanced to Core Formation, and as an archer he was considered without peer in the Virtuous Flipper region. Endlessly besting even the Archers of the Plains, winning tournament after tournament and much renown to give teeth to his families endless accumulation of treasure."
A shake of the head, accompanied by the steady pitter patter dripping liquid from his outstretched hand.
"The Ma, even as their perfidious Emperor was held in check…Their rabble were not. And as raiders do, they descended upon the noble merchants of our ancestral homelands. Their archers endlessly felling many innocent caravans, stealing wealth from where it truly belonged." Teeth grind with inherited enmity, "Until the day the Bei Elder decided to strike down the horse slaves himself. Standing atop a mountain, he laid eyes upon the Great Battlefield, three spatial rings filled with arrows on hand, the Clear Compass Bow ready. And for three days and nights, the Bei Elder fired arrow after arrow into the plains. He never moved, yet his strikes never erred. You've seen the Devil's Glass Spear Array in action?"
The image of a great pillar of jagged glass soaring through the air like an eagle flits through Xin Wei Long's mind, the swiftly descending missile striking a blood path cultivator dead in the chest, his torso evaporating with the force of the blow.
"Yes."
"Imagine that, but far more magnificent. Repeated endlessly, like a great rain of the things. The Bei Elder reaped the horse slaves like wheat before the scythe, before they finally took their collective heads from between their captured woman's legs for long enough to mount a response." He spits again, this time into the drying pool of crimson liquid before him.
"A cadre of
mounted archers dispatched to slay him. Each of them in Core Formation, but none his match! No, the Bei Elder was not cut down. He was merely
checked. The Horse Slaves Core Formation elders too swift to catch easily, and their own skill with the bow sufficient enough to endlessly present a threat to that hero even at such extreme distances, even if they lacked his raw accuracy. A number of techniques and mean tricks were likely used to harass and pressure him."
"Did the Righteous Path not assist them?"
"Did they assist us forty, sixty years ago Junior?" The older man sneered, "But no. By then we Jingshen sought to pay for protection. And oh yes, the Righteous Path took our money. Not just from us, though. The Ma Clan paid an immense weregild. All our pillaged wealth and holdings, in exchange for fealty to the Righteous Path forever and forgiveness for the crime of displacing us."
A pause, as the words sank into Xin Wei Long. He had understood that the nature of Heaven's Justice was at times only loosely upheld by those who claimed to walk the Righteous Path. But to hear it laid out so baldly…
"What of the Bei Elder, then?"
A snort, "Our illustrious ancestor survived, of course. Then, ever the pursuer of his art, he spoke to the Ma themselves, walking alone into our former lands to do so. It was from those visits that he learned of our shared legend of Temujin. He saw that as a sign, swore eternal friendship with them, and walked away with the secrets of their own mounted archery.
"Just in time for the Jingshen to be exiled from the Plains powers by Gemstone Justice for 'defaulting on debts owed', let that be a lesson to you, Junior. If someone says that your money is really their money, then they are a perfidious thief. Whether it is a banker, whether it is the taxman. Only the Jingshen can be trusted to fulfill such a role! Everyone else just abuses their power to unjustly rob you."
He shakes his hand vigorously, the tussle of blond hair in his grip flapping about wildly to emphasize the point.
"The Devils
especially." A thumb gestured behind him, towards the incomplete mine even now being ransacked by the members of the Flotilla, "This is just us taking back what we are owed." A black eye warily observed the Grand Son of Nature.
"There were some things that caught my attention, Commodore."
"Oh?" He gestured with his bow, "Speak your questions, then."
"How did your Jingshen cross their way into the desert?"
Jingshen Bei Wan snorted, "Even back then, the Golden Devils knew better than to offend our Jingshen Clan. If they'd dared to charge us like they did after moving into the desert, the Righteous Powers would have driven them thence centuries earlier, mark my words!"
"And the Clear Compass Bow? Was that lost to the Devils as well?"
A content smile split the elder man's face for the first time in the conversation, his bow being placed aside to withdraw a new knife. This one curved, its tip filed away into a scraping point.
"Our ancestors inheritance is beyond the reach of the Devils, Junior." The knife is effortlessly twirled between dexterous fingers, "Before the Sorrow, our greatest scion inherited it, and took it to prove himself by breaking the Iron, as did ancient Temujin in the times of old." With satisfaction, he plunges the knife into his prize, the tip only dimpling the skin.
"My younger brother Wulong took the bow, along with our most critical remaining clansmen west to Strength Purity lands." His arm wrenched back and forth with the effort of trying to sink the knife in, "From what we have heard, after defeating the Iron Prodigy and crippling her, he has since proven his dominance over his peers in the Blood Defiance Federation. Our most critical heritage is beyond the reach of the Devils, and so we of the Resistance can fight with all our strength without hesitation."
Heaven nudged the thoughts of it's Favored, "Because there is nothing left you need to protect, correct?"
"Exactly right, Junior." The Commodore of the Soaring Dune Flotilla worked his arms for slightly longer, before eventually returning his knife to its sheathe.
"This is a bit embarrassing, but could you help me clean this?"
Nature's Son nodded easily, flame and wind flensing flesh from metallic bone.
When the airships departed before the arrival of dawn, they did so while carrying a trove of spirit stones, and twenty two freshly cleaned bronze skulls.
...
It would be a mistake to assume that the Soaring Dunes Flotilla were a ragtag bunch of freedom fighters. To the contrary, the Jingshen themselves refused to operate in the squalor that he had often found various villages and lesser mortals in the former Xin Kingdom living in. The Black Gold Oasis was affluent on a level that Nature's Son had never before seen - it quickly became clear the reason for the Resistance's high performance and morale was due to great care being taken to their amenities. Even more so when regarding their logistics.
The natural proceeds of the Oasis went purely towards empowering and fueling the artifice that enabled a high standard of living in the isolated, subterranean military complex. And it was precisely that - a complex. The dry dock of the Oasis alone was not merely a thing of maintenance and ensuring that the airships would remain intact. They were the endpoint of a massive underground industrial pipeline, the exiled and rebellious artificers of the former Great Power doing all they could to recreate the self-sufficiency of the Jingshen Bei's old home, if at a lesser scale.
That is why, only a few months into Xin Wei Long's stay there he was pleasantly surprised to receive a gift.
"You've given me my own airship?" Nature's Son asked Jingshen Bei Won, "Why?"
"The
Heaven's Fury is something of a passion project by our shipwrights," The older Expert had explained, knocking his knuckles against the freshly smoothed wood of the machine, "It's not suited for usage by a typical helmsman, and is intended to be use as few Spirit Stones as possible for its fuel."
Heaven's Favor nudged its Chosen's thoughts, "So you're essentially stiffing me?"
The Commodore snorted in disdain, "You already receive an enormous share of plunder in order to fuel your cultivation, Guest Xin. Our Logistics department has no stomach for spending more money on you than is needed."
"And what, precisely,
is needed?"
"Enough to break you into Core Formation, Guest Xin." He gazes thoughtfully at the smaller, sleeker airship. Its sails are shaped as streamlined blimps in imitation of the Soup Sect style, a number of cunningly worked metallic ports lined along the hull. Too small for any weaponry Nature's Son can think of to be mounted, the wooden exterior is similarly reinforced at critical points with gleaming array-inscribed spirit steel.
"...
Why?"
"Why indeed?" The elder Expert smiles mysteriously, keeping an admiring gaze on the smaller craft before him, "Let me show you aboard." With an empowered leap the Commodore crossed onto the deck of the
Heaven's Fury, and he proceeded to receive a tour. The airship was small, smaller than the Grand Son of Nature had expected - though he had expected the craft to be fitted for holding a larger crew, that had proven to not be the case.
"An experimental Five Phase Pentagram Engine," The finely inscribed machinery that took up the majority of the space beneath the deck, "It is intended to take a mass of neutral-aspected Qi and serve as fuel for the ships functions as well as a resource pool for you to draw energies from in order to exercise your Sorcery to its fullest extent. This was quite the dilemma for our shipwrights, as the space this would have demanded would have required a considerable stockpile of spirit stones in order to keep the engine operational for any appreciable amount of time."
"Did that require too much space, or something?"
Jingshen Bei Wan looked at the younger Expert with an expression of disdain, "Were you not listening, Guest Xin? This design was intended to keep you from needing to rely on our logistics to fuel your ability to contribute to our operations. It would defeat the point
entirely if we were forced to
give you an advance on spirit stones you have not yet even earned! On top of the investment represented by designing this ship and its systems in the first place!"
Xin Wei Long hears nearly inaudible mutters about 'upjumped sand peasants' but magnanimously chooses to give the older man some face. He was still being treated well as things stood anyway.
"This one apologizes," A clasp of the hands and slight bow, and the Commodore was appeased.
A clap of the hands, and a cheerful smile banishes the foul mood as if it had never been, "So long as you understand, Guest Xin! Now, as I had been saying, that had
been an issue, one that has thankfully been averted in full. For you see, it turns out that as we put out feelers for potential alternative means, the Servant Elders had apparently stumbled upon a singularly unique resource."
With an easy gesture, a door coldly gleaming with metallic qi resolved itself before Xin Wei Long's eyes. With a precise rapping of knuckles, the mysterious portal opened silently, revealing a bright - Heavenly - light that resonated deeply with the whispers that had accompanied Heaven's Favored since he had been reborn.
"The Elders in question had been able to secure a most curious resource," The older man continued, hand shadowing his eyes against the brightness before him, "A treasure that only a hundred years ago would have been considered too precious to ever be lost, left to fall through the cracks.
"A fragment of Five Element Tribulation, crystallized upon the ascension of a Single Pillar King."
The former heir to be of Xin stilled.
It couldn't…possibly be?
He turned to stare at Commodore Jingshen Bei Wan, the other Expert's proud gaze meeting his own.
...Could it?
A small shake of the head, and a pressure that he hadn't even noticed unwound itself from his shoulders.
"Not of the Silver King, unfortunately. That would have been far too serendipitous, and impossible besides. Lady Jingshen Jiao was driven off and away, and back then Single Pillar Kings were still unique and irreplaceable existences for the perfidious Devils." He sighed, "No. This is a fragment of Tribulation Lightning from the breakthrough of the less commonly known 'Consuming King'" He accompanied this sobriquet with exaggerated finger quotes, "Who had a partner on hand to store such things for whatever ends. Which was eventually considered low priority enough that it was transported into the Northern Desert for 'educational purposes' in whatever the Devils have planned for the Underworld Spirit Palace."
"But the Servant Elders managed to obtain it instead?" Xin Wei Long asked wonderingly.
"Just so," The Commodore nodded, "In exchange for us taking on a few specific targets at their request, the Servant Elders provided us with this fragment, along with wishes for it to "find its fated recipient"." The Expert paused, before gesturing towards the source of Heavenly Light before them.
"What do you think?"
Nature's Son turned to look towards that not-so-blinding light, his blood pumping thunderously in his chest. Pressure rose, his blood roaring. He took a step into the chamber, heat rising, spreading through his limbs as he approached the source of that Heavenly energy.
A second step robbed the hold of Gravity from him, his steps becoming light. His thoughts, formerly disordered, aligned with startling clarity of purpose - the Grand Son of Nature
must complete that approach. The whispers of Heaven's Favor became insistent, grasping. Recognition of kin, of power. Opportunity and greed put an end to all doubt, and with reverent, hurried steps the light ceased to be so bright. Alien.
Something within the dantian, the soul of Xin Wei Long
clicked, and the bright Heavenly light fell away from his eyes as he stared upon a multifaceted, jagged not-crystal. Beautiful and wild. Austere and vicious. Five lights shown prismatically, ever changing and feeding into one another. Resting upon a great pedestal flowing with qi-stone infused ink-written array script, the Five Elements Heavenly Fragment reached out to the Heavenly Favor within him. And in that moment of connection, he understood.
"This…" A hand hovered wonderingly over the fragment, its energies flowing through the ephemeral connection between the two, "This is
alive!"
The Commodore snorted, "Thought so. We couldn't make use of it until our engineers started to build the
Heaven's Fury for you. The Engineers thought it was a matter of digestion, but I knew better." Eyes flash knowingly at the younger cultivator.
"That fragment of Heaven's Fury was waiting for
you, Xin Wei Long. This ship is your fated partner. You're meant for it."
"And it means I won't have grounds to ask for any more spirit stones from the Black Gold Oasis, right?"
A chuckle, "Now you're getting it."
Heavenly energies descended upon the Grand Son of Nature's dantian. The Five Element Pillars within grew excited, agitated from the nourishment. The Earth Below Pillar drank greedily, drank deeply, and in virtuous cycle the Six Pillars feedback form and function and enlightenment to their wielder.
In wonderment and satisfaction, Jingshen Bei Won watched Nature's Son step into the peak of Foundation Establishment. Now more certain than ever that this wild bet of his was fated to succeed.
There was no need for him to digest his gains. The Tribulation Spirit recognized its kin, and easily integrated the strength into its chosen wielder. With the
Heaven's Fury as its vessel, it would become the Guardian of the Grand Son of Nature, and ensure that this Chosen would meet his glorious, glorious destiny.
"How would you like to take it out for a shakedown voyage?"
For the first time in many, many years…A heartfelt smile crossed the younger Experts lips.
...
"The Battos Family, ironically enough." The Commodore began the mission briefing, "Are the philanthropists who provided us with the core of our new airship." He gestured towards Nature's Son in doing so.
"Did they do it for free, sir?" A random Jingshen Bei captain shouted.
The Commodore ignored the interruption, but his grin told the story still, "And part of the agreement for being provided this donation? Why, we go and show these self-declared researchers a first hand opportunity to obtain data on its usage!"
A few amused chuckles, Xin Wei Long included, accompany this declaration as a pile of loose sand arises from a podium at the center of the briefing chamber, forming a map of the region. It shifts, focusing on the western part of the former Jingshen lands, magnifying to encompass Cloudy Jade City, the Jingshen Bei Mine, and Haoshen Fort. The image resolves again, showing an expanse of space north of said fort, situated near the road that used to serve as the premier travel artery between the mine and the Scorpion Road.
"As most of you are aware, the Golden Devils have parceled up our core family lands as a sort of competitive territory for them to offload the newly ascended families within their perfidious ranks to struggle for dominance and wealth. The majority of our strikes have been calculated to destabilize this Theater Scale Gu Pot, and prevent any such force from entrenching itself enough to consolidate their strength so as to safely move towards driving us out. The primary beneficiary of this strategy has been Cloudy Jade City, of course." He points towards the location in question.
"As such, the Servant Elders provided us with intelligence and a base of operations within the City from which to acquire necessary resources as well as additional recruits." A nod to Nature's Son is - again - given, "The Battos, however, reflect a changing trend in the inter-family politics of the perfidious Devils. A subordinate family of the Duca Family - who are apparently a rising major power in the Golden Devils now - they were able to secure a better than average location with which to set up their operations, and were able to acquire the resources necessary to hold out against most hazards."
The Commodore paused, before grinning wickedly.
"Most
known hazards, that is."
"But aren't we a known hazard?" A particularly slow Jingshen called out again.
"Why do you think we always took pains to only send out a fraction of our true strength?" The older Expert shook his head, "The Golden Devils are only aware of out of date information on the Flotilla, and the Black Gold Oasis is a well hidden secret even among the Jingshen clan themselves. Not even the Servant Elders are aware of our hidden power!!"
The implications become clear - the Servant Elders had likely intended to play both sides against each other. The Battos Family represented a powerful rival interest in their part of the desert, and enjoyed the backing of an enormously entrenched faction among the upper echelons of the Golden Devils themselves. Should Cloudy Jade City ever truly come into conflict with the Battos, then the Servant Elders would be crushed as easily as turning over a hand!
The Flotilla was hardly any better! A force that had held out for decades, competently led with precious few assets revealed and even fewer casualties! The "Desert Tiger" was a legend in his own right among the Jingshen of the desert, even if his true identity was unknown!
Naturally, the former Servant Elders could not allow the Commodore to create a rallying point for the remaining Jingshen splinters in the desert. There were powerful blood pacts that forced the Servant Elders to - if not completely obey - then at least not willingly betray the secrets of the main family! Should the Soaring Dunes Flotilla become the new Main Family of the Jingshen, then who would the Servant Elders complain to should Jingshen Bei Won seek to secure his grip over them?
The natural solution therefore presented itself - by presenting the Flotilla with a rare treasure they had no use for, and had stolen from their other rival, they would be able to use the Flotilla to in turn weaken or eliminate the Battos, thus eliminating evidence of their crime! And in the process weakening and eliminating both of their principal rivals in the region!
Though the current circumstances were not ideal, Cloudy Jade City's Elders still remembered those days of frustration and bitterness at the hands of the Jingshen line! When faced with a Tiger to your left and a Dragon to your right, it's only natural to let the pair fight each other rather than risk either one turning on you!
"The Servant Elders were generous with providing us intel on the Battos compound, gathered when they obtained the Five Elements Heavenly Fragment only a few weeks ago." The sand shifted once again, displaying the beginnings of a great compound situated around a minor mine, "As you can see here," A line drew from overlarge mining equipment to a sprawling residential complex in construction, "The Battos are prioritizing their central dwellings, intending to integrate their home into the mine directly from the start. Presumably to research the properties of the desert." He chuckled, "What sort of a fool wastes time with studying Spirit Stones when they have wealth to make from them?"
A chorus of chuckles arises in the briefing room, before dying down.
"In the meantime, however." A finger drew circles around three larger buildings in the compound, already completed, "We have identified the temporary living quarters for their family. The garrison for the forces seeking to base themselves out of the future Waycastle, for now serving as guards. And, of course." A finger dropped heavily down on a squat, sunken building. Its low walls seeming to hug the dug out quarry of the newly opened spirit mine.
"Their newly constructed laboratory, which we have designated as the primary objective, due to the Battos Family Patriarch reportedly spending nearly all hours within its premises."
"What can we expect on site when we arrive?" Xin Wei Long asked at last.
"Good question, Guest Xin!" A finger tapped the garrison, which enlarged and revealed a flag standing proud over the building - A green field interrupted by a turtle shell split in half.
"We are looking at a detachment from the 817th Legion
Shellcrackers. Our sources tell us that it is expected to be at least at
Century strength, which is a One Hundred Man squad in the parlance of the Devils."
"Will they be led by a Core Formation?"
"Unlikely," The Commodore replied with a shake of his head, "The Legion is apparently fairly newly risen, and its Core Formation leader is out in the East, presumably working on something closer to the Devil's administrative heart in their Dawn Fortress."
"Heard something about that actually, Commodore." A new voice pipes up, and the CO gestured for him to speak, "Apparently there was a big move by some hotshot among the younger Devils. Some kind of deal to take control of the Three Forts, and a
lot of the ambitious ones are up in arms over the decision."
A shiver ran up the spine of Nature's Son. A creeping sense of familiarity took hold of his senses.
"Ha!" The older Expert barked out a laugh, "Their misfortune is good for us, then! Those Invaders may be united against all foes, but when competing amongst themselves they throw away that vaunted honor of theirs! Not even they are beyond selling their own mother for an extra spirit stone!"
Another wave of laughter erupts, and after some minutes the Commodore motions for silence once more. So great is the assembled Jingshen's respect for the man that even this slight admonishment was taken with grace and dignity. After all, without the Commodore they would have long suffered the indignity of expulsion, unable to even fight back!
Chatter died down, and three arrows are drawn to the Primary Objectives.
"Much like other settlements we've raided in the past, the Battos Compound is surrounded by an active Dune Churning Wall Array, with a larger and more comprehensive wall under construction at a considerable distance away to serve as the border of their future settlement."
The map zooms out once more, showing a vaguely circular border for the limits of the construction work, with a smaller circle near the center that would be the eventual heart of the settlement. A dark arrow is drawn, looping in from the south of the settlement before driving straight into the heart of the settlement, after crossing the illustrated barrier of the center splitting into three prongs - one of which is notably smaller than the others.
"We shall approach from the south, as that appears to be the least guarded direction of the Battos and 817th detachment, after reaching the operational zone we'll split into three different detachments." Two thicker lines stretch towards the barracks and temporary residence, while a much thinner one hones in on the laboratory.
"While the first detachment under me shall hit the garrison, the second shall hit the Battos Family's temporary residence, burn it to the ground, and butcher them with no survivors. Is that clear?" A rumbling cheer and affirmation meets this query, and with a smile turns towards the Grand Son of Nature.
"Guest Xin, you shall be handling the Battos Patriarch directly. You'll likely want to take what you can of his research, but at the very least you shall be better equipped than most to handle him. It is for this reason that you possess the
Heaven's Fury."
Xin Wei Long stiffened in his seat, gaze turning steely as he looked upon Jingshen Bei Won.
"You intend for me to go after a…"
"Peak Expert."
"
Peak Expert in their place of power, alone?"
The older man smirked, "You're a Peak Expert yourself, you know?"
Nature's Son snorted, "Only recently ascended." He was no fool, he had no intention of risking his life. New partner or not!
"That ought to be enough," The Commodore said placatingly, "The Battos Patriarch has stagnated at cultivation for the past decade, focusing as much as he has on his research. Nor is he an array smith of any particular note. He is merely an avid researcher, focused on theory." A finger tapped the sunken laboratory once more, "We've been told he mostly came to our Jingshen lands on a whim, and cares little for larger affairs in the territory." His face grew ugly.
"But that may not always remain the same. The Devils have proven adept at raising up more and more Core Formations lately, fat off the wealth of our plundered lands, no doubt."
"So this is largely a practice run for me, then?"
Jingshen Bei Won shook his head, "No, no. A shakedown is still necessary for you and your ship. But…" His hands rotated, "Did you not once cripple a Core Formation Elder with your own two hands, Guest Xin?"
Nature's Son stilled.
"That…" He paused, mulling over his words, "Was a very long time ago, Commodore."
The Song resonates. It's echoes strumming doubt and fear. In times past, performing to his true strength, true potential had attracted foes he had not yet been ready for. Exposed him to humiliations that he bore the scars for to this day. In reaching once more, the echoes of that Voice come closer, clamor louder.
"Surely you're not
afraid, Heaven's Chosen Son."
"Never." He lied.
And you should be, too. If you knew what manner of monsters you seek to provoke with this.
"Then can we count on you to dismantle the Battos Patriarch while the rest of us deal with everyone else?" Nature's Son nods, "Then look at the bright side! Chances are that the majority of wealth will be kept in that laboratory, so you'll at least have first pick of the best share of the loot!"
Xin Wei Long hummed at this. One of the oldest tricks in the book - where logic could not sway a potential mark, instead appeal to their greed. Nature's Son knew this is what was being employed against him. But as the moments passed, he realized something.
It was working.
He nodded.
"Excellent, Guest Xin!" The Commodore clapped eagerly, "Then dismissed! The rest of you, your assignments will be posted to your quarters. We launch during the next cloud cover!"
...
The
Nature's Fury was a unique airship in many respects. While most of the flotillas other deployed craft departed from the Black Gold Oasis laden with spirit stones to fuel them through their circuitous route to avoid detection, Xin Wei Long's personal airship had no notable air stores for fuel.
Nor a crew, for that matter.
Heaven's Chosen had no experience piloting a normal airship of the Flotilla anyway, but he had learned enough by observation and interaction to grasp the forces at play, as well as how an airship moved through the air. So it was as he laid hands upon the steering wheel of his personal airship, that a now-familiar connection snapped into place, between Nature's Son and the heart of the
Nature's Fury.
The Spirit at the center of his partner. His very own Guardian Soul.
Earth, Water, and Fire flitted through the bond, and the corresponding phases of his Elemental Dynamo resonated with the Qi. Earth lightened, the grip of the Law of Gravity loosening. Water, next. What moisture exists in the air gripping the airship, buoying it. Within the heart of the Five Phases Engine, Fire roared to life, traveling through purpose built channels to vent the heat and force of the energy into two great ports situated at the back, and a number of smaller ones near the back and rear. Xin Wei Long felt the gentle pull of Qi from his dantian, the Pillars of his soul resonating with his partner. Fire was drawn out endlessly, amplified by the shard of Heavenly Tribulation, and then channeled it through its artificial meridians in a pair of great gouting jets which reduced all unfortunates who could stand behind it to be slain instantly by the pressure and heat of release.
The
Heaven's Fury lifted from the drydock, and with great fanfare
soared through the sandfall that hid the Black Gold Oasis from the world.
The airship shuddered, and Nature's Son was struck by the simple wonder - the feeling of the open air, crisp with the suffusive Yin energies around him. The wind on his face. All taking a new meaning, for the very first time. A sense of
liberation. Freedom at last from the chains that had bound him for so very, very long.
Up ahead, the cool air lent itself to the flight of the other airships of the Flotilla. Flitting back shadows darted across the dunes in numbers greater than any that Xin Wei Long had yet seen since coming to the north.
His airship shuddered, the pull on his qi already subtle enough to be comfortable.
With a sense of descending ease, two arms spread out wide. Feeling as much of the night breeze as he could.
Yin energies spring forth from the bow, and the
Heaven's Shadow is reduced to a shadow as well. It feels both natural and not, and with that satisfying yet contradictory feeling in his breast Nature's Son charged forward.
The flight of the Soaring Dunes was circuitous. The Devils had the obvious arteries heavily watched, and thus any direct approach south from Cloudy Jade City was doomed to alert their targets of their coming. Though the Golden Devils had adapted too poorly to resist the Flotillas efforts to stop them, they
had adapted all the same. With ample warning time, defenses could be hardened. Reinforcements could be mustered. A Core Formation could arrive on the scene, and slaughter them all.
Thus, the Jingshen Bei circled around the rear of their former home, relying on territorial knowledge to guide the fleet through secret ways hidden among the desert. Approaching from the Northwest, they flew to the space in between the Battos Family and Haoshen fort, before abruptly veering North, drawing a line straight for their objective. With no sign of any Golden Devils having spotted them. No sentries alerted, no alarms raised.
Wood is drawn from Nature's Son, the physical body of the ship becoming an extension of his will. It throws its considerable weight off course, the cunning artifice of the Black Gold Oasis shipwrights revealing themselves, the water qi skidding the craft and easing its passage through the air. The heat of Fire was no longer channeled through the ships internal channels - now a much more subtle draw of that resource was funneled into the balloons above the body of the aircraft - heated air providing considerable lift, even as shifting momentum provided guidance and propulsion.
The Yin energies enshrouding the craft held true, even as the shadowed airship flitted towards the opened mining shaft at the heart of the settlement. The squat, adobe bunker already within his sight. Arrays covered the construction quite thickly. Reinforcement. Privacy. An admirable rush job for a hired engineer, but only that, perhaps.
A day ago, Xin Wei Long would be at a loss on how to lay siege to such a fortification. But that day had passed by, and his partner eagerly supplied him with the knowledge of how to proceed.
Earth give shape and weight, wrapped around a core of freshly grown wood within the depths of the ship. A spark of Fire at its heart, and guided by the keen edge of Metal.
The Qi drawn from his Meridians was considerable, but nothing too lethal. Beneath his feet, the Five Phases Engine kneaded that Qi through its Heavenly fragment, amplifying those donated energies through the cast off of its own Virtuous Cycle! The Tribulation Spirit guided the amplified energies through its channels once again, the weapons flash fabricated, spawned whole from the body of the
Heaven's Fury itself.
The night was still dark, the moon shining brightly.
A shadow gave way to flickers of silvery light, and like falling stars they soared down upon the base earth. Weighty and mighty, did eight weapons fall with screaming descent, their metal tips cleaving deeply through array script reinforced stone, each digging more deeply than the last as they buried themselves deeply into the sunken facility.
The hearts of flame erupted upon impact, drawing deeply from the core of solidified Wood Qi, fueling the Fire Qi's own explosive growth, creating a flagration and then
detonation. Eight strikes. Eight explosions. The lab lay upon the ground. Cracked, damaged, unable to field reinforcements.
"Let's give them another."
Eight more screaming attacks launched forth, and this time, the fortified laboratory was cracked open like an egg.
"You
fool!" A voice came from within the crumblings of the site, "
Years of research,
ruined!" Nature's Son circled his partner around, eyes fixed upon the shape of a Golden Devil Expert shaking his fist at the skies, the man screaming to the point where foam and flecked spit seemed to physically form and launch into the air in a futile attempt to capture the
Heaven's Fury.
There is nothing you need from this creature
And that was true. The airship angled itself towards the enraged Golden Devil.
There is no need for honor, when dealing with it. Invaders know nothing of the concept.
The presumed Battos Patriarch took a step back.
Eight more missiles screamed forth, and in an instant the Laboratory and its owner were consumed by a cacophony of explosions.
...
"Heavenly energy when striking against offenses (i.e. "Tribulation") is a phenomenon ruled by quasi-sentient intents propagated as extremely advanced programming into said manifestations. The more discerning and imbued the actions are, oftentimes are similarly mostly the least affected by potential facets or imitations of personality. The sole observed exception to this observed phenomenon (Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing breakthroughs) are the ascendancies of achievers of the Four Olympian Keystones ("13th Heavenstage"). Recorded instances state that these manifestations of Nascent Soul-grade retaliations manifest in exotic and specifically tailored fashions - oftentimes specifically calibrated to introduce doubt to the nascent cultivators intended Way. In many ways, I speculate that the 13th Heavenstage represents the assertion of a separate territory beyond the reach of the Heavenly forces, and that this affront is what leads to the disproportionate investment in said "Tribulation". To overcome the retaliatory stroke is to repel an invader, thus establishing the Single Pillar cultivator as sovereign over their world. It is from this truth that I postulate the term "King" arises from, and thus find it quite applicable indeed."
Xin Wei Long stumbled back, foot sliding on smoldering scraps of metal and stone, sparking with energies even after the violent destruction of the arrays containing them.
"This fool was studying Apostates?" An eye glanced back towards his partner where it had landed when Nature's Son had disembarked. With an effort of will, he accessed the intact console containing the Battos Patriarch's remaining research. He searched for the most recent project records next.
"Studying the Five Element Retaliatory Phenomenon has been largely a waste of time. The crystallized energies do not react with anything, possibly a hold over from their previous state of quasi-sapience. It is strange, but as a phenomenon it has inspired me slightly in regards to a much grander project - the efficacy of draining the Heavenly energies more directly. The nature of the Great Era has proved inspiring! Heaven nurtures, and the earth grows in response. With the intention of the human element being the intended target and beneficiary of both pressures made clear, it becomes clear that even if larger accumulations of those energies are drawn to chosen individuals ("Chosen") the majority of the spill off is free to be absorbed and drained without discrimination. That not only includes ourselves, but even the land beneath our feet! It might be possible to draw these mindless, unattended forces in and concentrate them into a pillar similar to what the Kings use. Call it the "New World Ordering Array". But what would be a substitute for the presumed human element? Perhaps "
Xin Wei Long blinked, "Perhaps…? Perhaps
what, you useless corpse?!" The ramblings of the Golden Devil had been an unexpected boon! Providing additional context on himself, and the nature of the path and insights he had chased down! Ever since he had stepped into the peak of Foundation Establishment, with the creation of his Heaven Above Pillar, Nature's Son had realized that there was space in his dantian for a final, eighth Dao Pillar!
"Couldn't you have moved just a bit faster, old man?!" The Qi Sorcerer dashed out of the ruins to where the sizzling charred corpse of the former Expert lay sprawled in an upturned plume of sand.
"Useless!" A kick, "Old!" A punch, "Fool!" Another kick, denting the cooling metallic flesh, "Why couldn't you have ignored me for a few more minutes?! At least finish your own damn thought before letting yourself get interrupted, idiot Devil!"
Panting in frustration, he turned away from the corpse to head back to inspect the site once more, when a glint of bronze and gold flickered at the edge of his senses.
A great Hoplite formation, larger and more intricately formed than any Xin Wei Long had ever seen before in his life. Where before most such formations had only been masses of dark qi forming only a bronze shield and spear, this new construction featured a comprehensive lamellar armor, around which he saw the shadowed airships of the Flotilla buzz around, firing volley after volley to no effect.
One shadow broke away from the encirclement, darting to and fro in the air as it prepared its own attack run, eventually diving for the obvious weak point of the formation - the neck, exposed where the armor would be thinnest.
The shadow became a blur, a black star descending, but as it made its final approach the bronze giant shifted ever so subtly - its great bronze shield interdicting itself between the neck and its would-be attacker.
Then it
shoved, and the shadow sputtered, then faded away in the face of bronzed rays of light.
Debris and bodies of Xin Wei Long's comrades fell to the sand in an ungainly heap.
He took back to the air almost immediately, another blur. But this one sleeker. Carrying a much deeper aura of threat than the rest.
The Flotilla had been in communication silence since the operation began, but there was no need to pass messages at this point. Heaven's Favor whispered the truth of the matter into his ears - The residence had been empty, evacuated each evening once the Battos had learned that their elemental fragment had been stolen en route.
What had been one hundred Devils was now twice that, the Invaders having husbanded their true strength as well.
"So," a voice, booming and metallic, issued forth into the night air, "The final
barbaroi raiders reveal themselves at last to these noble soldiers of the
Imperial Optimatoi?"
The Refined Hoplite stood firm, taking up a wide stance with shield and spear.
"That makes this simple, then. Let me thank you,
barbaroi raiders. I am
Tribunus Laticlavius of the DCCCXVII Legio, Oeneos Battos. In life you suppressed many of our Battos family's rivals and future obstacles, clearing our road to ascendence in your former Jingshen Lands. In death, you shall give our Shellcrackers new glory by which to lead the Persephone Despoina into the future!"
The air grew thick with hostility, with bloodlust. The night sky filled with the smell of blood being spat at the temerity of the offense! What Persephone?! What glory?! This was Jingshen lands! These would
always be Jingshen lands! The audacity, the offense!
Such emotions grew thick through the air, and Nature's Son felt himself oddly in tune with those pervasive sentiments.
"How will you rise up, Devil?!" A voice called out, and Xin Wei Long discovered it to be his own, "When your Battos Patriarch is but a charred corpse, his skull soon to be added to our prows!"
A snort came from the great figure, its stance still firm, "Because of
you, Soaring Dune Flotilla. Far more than the Core Formation Elders that resorted to mere banditry and wretched cannibalism to escape the might of the Clan, your force alone remains a disciplined fighting force. One that survived the invasion mostly intact, and if your numbers here are any indication…
Even stronger! While the former patriarch may have been fooled by Cloudy Jade City, this Tribunus was never convinced! Not for one moment, one second!"
Bronze eyes flared within the metallic giant, its helmeted face turning to stare at the Grand Son of Nature.
"Greed is ever the downfall of you
barbaroi, and your naked lust for treasure is what led you Jingshen to contemplate war against our
Imperial Optimatoi in the first place! Just as your perfidious greed drew you into inevitable defeat at our hands, so too could you not resist the lure to fall into our snare!"
Ghostly bronze scraped in the air, the Refined Hoplite Formation tensing once more, the qi in the air growing ripe with the promise of violence.
"
Now, Soaring Dunes Flotilla! Become the whetstone that will enable our glorious Shellcrackers to overcome that treacherous Old Hag of Dawn!" Punctuating the words, the bronze spear of the hoplite swung with monstrous force, far beyond the level of any among the Flotilla.
"Core Formation!"
The true might of the Devils in conjunction. They and they alone were able to unite in sufficient numbers that their combined strength could overcome the gap in Great Realms! A truly heretical ability, to concede the glorious self and subsume one's individuality for the sake of another! Not sacrifice! Not noble! Enslavement, surrender, foulness!
But even so! The strength such violations of the natural order provided were quite real!
The strength of a Core Formation cultivator propelled the arm of the construct, shattering the carefully arranged encirclement, scattering the enshadowed airships utterly. The lighter frames buffeted by the wind propelled by the massive spears passage in space, and sending dozens of ships tumbling through the air!
Screams rang through the night, as more bodies fell to water the sands beneath them.
A garish laughter piped out, the great qi construct moving far more dexterously than a creature of that size ever could had it been made of flesh and bone. Even so, arrows upon arrows were loosed. Endless shining volleys fell upon the Refined Hoplite like shooting stars, with a singularly brilliant bolt lashing out against the bronze, forcing the Formations massive shield to angle itself to defend.
"DO NOT FALTER, SOARING DUNES!" The voice of Jingshen Bei Won echoed across the battlefield, "THE DEVILS ARE NOT INEXHAUSTIBLE! WE ONLY NEED TO DRAIN THIS GAUDY FORMATION, AND THEN THEY SHALL BE AS VULNERABLE AS ANY ONE OF THEIR KIND BEFORE OUR BOWS AND PROWS!"
The
Heaven's Fury repositioned itself. It's Captain and sole crewman seeking the same weakness to exploit that a previous craft had failed to do - the neck beneath the projection of the head. If the self declared
Tribunus was in any way connected to the rest of that Hoplite variant, it would be from the head. His instincts sang their agreement, where else would such an ostentatious and ambitious figure place himself, then if not the crown?
As Nature's Son resolved himself, a thin black arrow impacted the housing of the ship's wheel, attached to it was a scrap of paper.
Strike with my third arrow.
Another brilliant comet issues forth from the swarm of shadows, and the variant Formation shifts again to catch it upon its shield, the endlessly volleys hitting against the qi formed lamellar almost ineffectually.
The eyes of the Formation alight once more, the head shifting back and forth with a steely gaze as it keeps track of a single ship among the dozens encircling it. Its great spear becomes less active, only furtively stabbing out to catch targets of opportunity now that the threat has been assessed.
Xin Wei Long coaxes his ship forward, positioning the craft so that it is at a level with the shoulder of the giant Hoplite's spear wielding arm.
He sees the moment that qi begins to form a corona, even stronger than the last shot that the Commodore had launched. And with eagerness the guiding intelligence of the Formation stabs forth, extending its spear out in a picturesque thrust to strike down the sole identified threat.
A single, deep breath.
Earth, to give shape and weight. Metal, to pierce through and guide. Water, to remove all obstacles and flow forward uninterrupted. Wood, to fuel all that was to come.
Repeat the prayer five times, and Heaven responds. The Tribulation Spirit magnifying intent and a desire to strike down the foe before him. Though he was once a King of a small land, here in the nadir of his life the Jingshen Bei had given Nature's Son a fresh start. A chance to begin anew. Heavensent.
And with the strength of that same Heaven, he would protect them in return.
"Kindness and Offense, repaid twice over!" Xin Wei Long snarls, and he feels a pull for the final ingredient.
Fire.
"Fire!"
The
Heaven's Fury stills, shudders, and then with a roar eight steely bolts loose themselves through the air, traveling like lightning. Then another roar. And then another. And then yet again. A fifth volley declares its ascent, and forty bolts soar through the night sky.
Yet a Golden Devil is not blind when in command of a Formation. Indeed, they still benefit from the senses of awareness of their subordinates, however muted the attempted coordination may be upon their acting intelligence.
Sensing danger, the lunge is abandoned, the shoulder of the variant Hoplite contracting into a defensive delta, seeking to protect sensitive vitals. The soaring constructs are tipped in coldly gleaming metal qi. Empowered by Heavenly intent and hatred of the perfidious Golden Devil Clan, Invaders from another star. Ghostly Bronze buckles from the killing intent of Heavenly Fulmination, eight lances of brilliance digging in, cracks appearing throughout the sacrificed limb as the water qi guides the digging weight granted by the earth ever more momentum.
Then the fire qi cooks off.
Eight explosions erupt, and ghostly flesh and armor are flung into the night sky before evaporating into ambient energy. The burnt corpses that had been too slow to evade the point of impact did not vanish so cleanly, their constituent chunks and viscera falling upon the desert sands like a hail of charcoal.
The spear arm visibly
sags, the posture of the Hoplite having to readjust itself to the unexpected loss of energy and bodies fueling it. Amorphous black Qi shone with a new luster, bronze surfacing to replace what was lo-
Eight more missiles sink in, marring that new surface utterly.
With panicked, impossible movements the Formation detaches the arm, and interposes its great bronze shield in between itself and the amputated limb as the attacks detonate, the explosion slamming against the massive qi construct with a powerful conflagration.
The third volley does not get the chance to dig in to the hardened pseudo-bronze, instead eight points of metallic qi slam against the Hoplite with great force and destructive energies, impossibly knocking the Formation off balance. Yet with a roar, the pondrous course is reversed, and the stance is firmed, One leg planted forward, one slanted back Thus as attacks twenty-five through thirty-two detonate, their flames and concussive force are scattered across the stalwart surface of the shield. Baleful eyes glow, and Oenos Battos focuses his full attention upon the final volley, and the perfidious
Barbaroi who had dared strike at him with the stolen power of a Single Pillar King.
A needle is threaded through the night sky with superlative skill, laced with killing intent and the certainty of the aged hunter, the throat of the colossus is pierced by a subtle knife, severing the connection between mind and body for a fraction of a fraction of an instant.
The stance loosens, the final volley
screams.
A giant falls, its glorious bronze visage shattered and scorched by heaven's wrath manifest.
With a thunderous crash, sand and stone are sent upwards, the insubstantial qi of the Formation still providing its own weight.
"Is it…over?"
"
Treachery…TREACHERY!"
A new pressure emanates from the fallen colossus, rising with anger and
indignation.
"You revolting thieves, you
barbaroi! How dare you use stolen strength against our glorious Prime Hoplite! You should have meekly accepted your fate like the beaten dogs you are,
JIIIIIINGSHEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"
The energy composing the fallen formation undertook a qualitative
shift. The forces brought to bear, as a familiar sensation assaulted his senses, and rippled through the amorphous mass of the defeated Hoplite.
"A breakthrough to Peak Expert?!"
"Honorless
dogs!" Oenos Battos roars, "You won't be leaving here alive! This insult will be avenged! Our Glory shall be regained!" Brilliant golden light
erupts from the crumpled colossus, and with a keening cry in stereo two vast wings raise into the air!
"Behold!" Two voices trill, "The Two-Headed Golden Eagle!" The light shatters, revealing an august plumage. Great rending claws keenly gleaming, as four gleaming eyes focus with baleful intent.
"First,
you," Water and Fire Qi are channeled into the Five Phases Engine, "
Thief!"
Gouts of flame lurch from the front of the
Heaven's Wrath, and Nature's Son begins his retreat, Earth and Metal focusing intently onto a single hole at the very furthest point of the airship's prow.
The twin-headed eagle cries, its glorious wings flap, and the reinvigorated Formation barrels straight for its target at incredible speeds.
"Steady…" Xin Wei Long mutters, he and his Guardian Soul strenuously guiding the ship in reverse, as they align the prow with its intended assailant.
Fabrication complete!
A steely glimmer manifests upon the airship's hull, a massively condensed mass of stone recessed behind it. The metal qi begins grinding against itself, endlessly churning in a predetermined fashion, guided by intricate Array script as the stone is chewed apart, fist sized chunks torn away and shaped. Sharpened and infused, condensed further.
"Stone Cannon!"
The
Heaven's Fury rocks in recoil, a steely light tracing its arc through the night sky with the speed of true lightning. Where metallic gleam meets golden radiance, the illusion of solidity is shattered - the Eagle's momentum is halted with a cry of pain, its four baleful eyes widening in lambant shock.
Energies condense a second time, and in a panic the wings of the eagle tuck, its colossal body rolling through the air as it cracks in report.
Now, break through Master!
The momentum shifts, fire energies rerouted back to the great channels leading to the ship's stern, two great gouts of flame erupting as the airship charges forward.
Towards the enemy Formation.
A third shot fired, this time into empty space. Yet the Eagle still made way, unwilling to risk facing the increasingly deadly frontal approach. Three times now, was the Devils' pride humbled. Three times, was he forced to kneel. Each time a small humiliation, but the
Tribunus was no fool.
He was merely adaptable.
Aerial combat was rare beneath the level of Nascent Soul, but it was not unheard of. In the desert the Twin Headed Eagle was nearly unequaled in its realm, the power and temperament of the Core Formation entity too swift and too vicious to be caught. Thus, better to discard face now for glory later rather than waste time on a pointlessly suicidal charge! If the rules don't favor you, then change the rules!
And as powerful as this sole airship was proving to be, the reckless nature of its actions made things clear:
Its captain was a novice in the third dimension of combat!
A burning shadow soared into the cloudless sky, trailed by a soaring eagle loosing its hunting cry.
Higher and higher they rise, black bleeding into crimson, bleeding into gold and black again. Soaring past the clouds, soaring towards the stars, the distance between them shrinking more and more, as the columns of flame grow ever so slightly thinner. The compulsion of the Law of Gravity tightening its grip ever harder.
Distance closes.
The Eagle soars over the shadow, its talons grasping lazily at the balloons giving its buoyancy, yet even as they barely miss the Formations intent becomes clear:
A dozen glittering spears, fallen onto the deck. Ten Devils, ready to die. Nine Legionnaires. One Centurion. The boarding party charges forward to the minimally covered wheel of the ship, shields raised high as they grip the fallen weapons of their comrades.
Yet the ship is alive, it's animating soul intelligent and
hateful.
The wood of the deck warps, forming roots and tendrils that ensnare even the weighty bronze of the Invaders. The Five Phases proceed, and brilliant flame erupts upon the entrapped figures, their mighty bronze bodies resisting the heat, but not the pain.
"Get
off my ship!" Nature's Son says with strained voice, summoning chunks of hardened earth to batter the boarders even as he desperately attempts to track the progress of the Golden Eagle, its twin heads crying in anticipation as it circles back through the air towards its prey from port side.
Though they burn, the Blood of Bronze does not yield easily. With dogged determination, the Alien endlessly stomps forward. Advancing upon Nature's Son, and splitting his attention. These ten are already dead, and they intend to get their money's worth for the sacrifice. The barrage of stone intensifies, once, twice, three times. The weaker Qi Condensations begin to bend, to buckle.
Xin Wei Long targets her knees, desperate to shatter them.
A thread of bronzed qi extends from their sole Expert, his charcoal visage twisted to reveal a grin of pearly teeth. In alien tongue, he begins to chant. And something within Nature's Son rises up in warning.
You cannot allow them to complete this act!
On instinct, he acts. A calloused, tanned hand - so different from how it once was - thrusts outward, away from the ship wheel. The palm turns upward, and it is as if Nature's Son holds them all within his hand.
His qi seeps into the burning wood, the most basic of basics of its manipulation returning to the forefront of his mind.
"Branch Falling!"
In the same instant, he
spins the wheel, and the ship begins to tilt dangerously to its side.
Several things happen in that moment.
The boarders muster up the will to unite their strengths even through their respective agonies, and give birth to a Hoplite Formation. Not as ostentatious as the thing felled earlier in the fight, but with reach enough to skewer Nature's Son where he stood.
The wood of the deck curled upwards in a violent burst, forming a half shell beneath the ghostly "feet" of the Hoplite.
The
Heaven's Fury continued its tilt, finally turning into a bizarre, corkscrewing barrel roll.
A great squawk and scream of rage erupted in stereo from this distance.
Xin Wei Long curled his open palm into a middle finger, even as he desperately held onto his airship with the other.
The Law of Gravity is merciless. It can only be resisted. Fought against. Ignored. It does not know beseechment. It does not know favor. It only knows one thing.
Down.
And even were the Law of Gravity of a discerning type, rather than an unthinking rule of nature. Would it ever extend its hypothetical grace to the alien? To the Invader?
Nay!
Thus did the nameless Contubernium descend. Perhaps, if their discipline had held true, they could have done as the larger cohort had done and formed an Eagle of their own to arrest their fall. Yet the fires raged still, the Formation not extinguishing nature's fury - now fed by the amputated wooden body of the airship they had sought to spend their lives suppressing.
Now, like any infection against a healthy body, it was burned out.
The cloudless sky shook with the furious cry of the Eagle, one voice mournful, the second sonorous in its outrage. Death! Death to the
barbaroi! The guilt was obvious! The offense was unequaled! Twin wings curled against the air, august plumage alighting with renewed strength! Talons gleamed keenly, and as the moment of grief passed, vengeance was the only thing reflected in that lambent gaze!
Xin Wei Long's feet found purchase in the deck of his ship once more, the ponderous barrel roll it had taken twisting the aircraft so that its prow nearly aligned with the soaring Twin Headed Eagle once more.
Two hands settled upon the wheel in firm grip, and Nature's Son gazed across the gulf in space separating him and his partner from their pursuers.
"
DEATH!" Over a hundred voices cried in symphony.
"
DEATH!" They repeated, a condemnation and a promise.
A steely glint entered the Grand Son of Nature's eyes.
"But not for me!"
A shrill cry in stereo rose up, piercing the ears of all those who could hear for a thousand
li around.
Twin plumages struck against the air, and the Formation soared up into the arrow, beaks tearing at the sky, building up momentum as they ascended and acquired additional height.
Five Phases roiled in harmony between the Guardian Spirit and its Master.
The Eagle reached the apex of its climb. Four eyes gleamed with the strength of the third Great Realm. For a moment, all was still. A pregnant pause as the Law of Gravity was yoked to the will of the Invader.
A hunting cry pierced through the heart of Xin Wei Long, his eyes shaking with the strength of the killing intent aimed against him.
And the Eagle descended.
Majestic wings swept back to narrow the profile, talons tucked in like a swooping raptor upon its prey. The only sound the scream of the wind being pierced through, sent tumbling as the sky
shuddered with a muffled boom, already left behind in the wake of its assaulters passage. The phenomenon repeated itself thrice more, and with a flicker of motion, its talons twitched on approach.
"Fire!"
The frame of the
Heaven's Fury shuddered once, twice, thrice! Three volleys of bolts issuing forth, and arcing directly into the path of the Eagle's own attack run!
But the great Formation did not deviate. Did not so much as twitch even as the far slower moving projectiles swam through the skies towards its august countenance. Instants passed as the distance closed. The great Eagle growing faster and faster. It's killing intent sublimating into something far richer as the terminal moment approaches.
As gifted as Nature's Son was with qi this could not go on forever, he knew that this was the deciding moment. Either the Devils would fall.
Or he would.
Thus, those volleys constituted most of his remaining reserves, having had no time to acquire Spirit Stones with which to restore himself - Jingshen logistics at work.
The terminal distance was crossed. Water qi guiding the weapons to the flesh of the great Eagle in the final moments, yet the Devilish bird did not so much as flinch, even as it dove into the depth of the volleys.
Not fast enough!
The earth qi invoked their own imitations of the Law of Gravity, swinging their momentum into directly falling upon the descending eagle–
When it spread its wings open at last in a glorious golden moment of radiance. Spears and shields fly out from its form, slamming into the approaching volleys with their own scattered shot…
And it
worked.
In panic, the Fire within each weapon cooked off, seeking to buffet the Golden Eagle with its explosions. In pain, Xin Wei Long fed nearly the last scraps of his reserves into the mass of earth and metal upon his ship's prow, more and more Stone Bullets tunneling through the heat and smoke, punching through to finish it off!
But a triumphant cry met his efforts, a soaring single-headed Eagle emerged from the flame and stone, once more poised in a terminal dive as it fell upon the
Heaven's Fury!
"It used the explosions to propel itself!"
Another Stone Cannon struck the side of the Formation, clipping off a substantial mass of its right wing. Black Qi dribbled out of many wounds, dispersing into the air as if it had never been. But the air was too unstable from the repeated shocks - the explosions he himself had caused now paired with the signs of the Eagle's own passage preventing Nature's Son from lining up a killing shot.
"
Death!"
A single gleaming talon stretched out, and two damaged wings unfurled as the Eagle arrived. The wind beat at the august plumage, and it swooped upward, the surviving claw slashing deeply into one of the balloons that helped keep the airship aloft. Heated air rushed out explosively, equalizing with the frigid air of the night sky, and the violent action propelled the bird further up, spiraling majestically.
"I just need to reangle before it comes around for another pass!"
"
BARBAROI!" Oenos Battos screams, "You have driven me and mine to the brink! But know this! The Turtlecrackers shy not from sacrifice! We shy not from glory!"
"What is he up to now?!"
"Even as a mere Foundation Expert, you wield strength to threaten, no,
kill two full Centuries unaided!" The Eagle continued its ascent, even now slowing as it reached its apex, even though it made no effort to reposition itself for an attack run, it remained stubbornly directly above the
Heaven's Fury.
"
WE SHALL EXTINGUISH YOU HERE! AND YOUR DEATH SHALL BE THE ACHIEVEMENT OUR GLORIOUS LEGATUS SHALL USE TO DENY THAT SILVER BITCH THE ERINYES!"
"What?" A chill ran through his skin once again, at the mention of the Turtlecrackers mysterious foe.
"
FOR THE IMPERATOR!"
"""
For the Imperator!"""
A growing feeling of threat overwhelmed whatever composure Nature's Son had left. A profound urgency gripped his spirit, and he drew all his remaining strength into a single pillar.
"
TURTLE SLAYING CATAPHRACT!"
At the apex of its flight, the Eagle's wings extended, the Formation lighting up once more with an austere, august corona of gold and black. An alien majesty descended, a new bronzed star in the sky. Short lived, yet brilliant.
The wings grew ever brighter, the light reaching an incredible intensity before reaching an apex.
At which point, they shattered.
Golden feathers fell, disintegrating into motes of golden light. The wounded body of the eagle losing cohesion with the intensity of the transformation, condensing, shrinking. A singular point of killing intent that was all or nothing.
One way or another, this fight would end here!
Their lives would be well spent! Their deaths, glorious!
A spear pierces through the shroud of bronze light, heralding the emergence of a shining horseman, clad in bronze upon a mighty steed. Its four muscled legs gallop, impossibly finding purchase in the night sky, descending downwards at incredible speed.
Nearly two hundred roars cried out in victory, their final charge coming for the threat that their gambit had dug out into the open. Whether Chosen, Favored, or just a freak of nature, this threat to the Clan could not be allowed to reach Core Formation!
In the blink of an eye, the distance between the lance and its target is halved. There is no time to fire back, and even if there were, that would not be enough to divert the course of their death charge.
The Pillar of Fire
lurched within the dantian of Xin Wei Long, and he communicated all that he could to the Tribulation Spirit he was connected to. The wood of the ship grew less lustrous. The metal became scuffed. The ship itself became heavier.
But the Five Phases Engine grew hot. Hotter than ever before. A single burst of energy concentrated for a single moment. Xin Wei Long was many things, but his eyes were not ready to track an opponent at such speed, and he knew in his Dao-Heart that were he to time this poorly the Kataphraktoi would merely adjust its charge to impale his ship and kill him regardless.
Thus, he prayed.
"Please…"
Please...
The Devils final declaration finally reached him, delayed compared to the speed of their final charge. And even then, he waited for the space between moments.
"Now!"
Now!
Two souls as one, united in purpose and guided by Heavenly Favor acted. Two great pillars of flame erupted from every open vent and hole along the rear of the airship, and lurched the
Heaven's Fury forward at high speeds, sending Xin Wei Long flying flat on his ass from the sudden exertion of force, far beyond the tolerance of any Peak Expert.
The shouts of triumph finally met his ears, and his eyes snapped open with fear in his heart.
But there was nothing above, as the sound abruptly changed to screams of rage and despair.
Nature's Son walked to the side of his ship, and glanced over the edge, barely in time to spot the moment where the glorious Golden Kataphraktoi exhausted its energies at last, and began to crumble into scores upon scores of gleaming bronze forms.
The lustrous golden aura dimmed the last at the point of the thrust lance, resolving into a richly proportioned figure, his gleaming bronze armor only marred by the great rent torn through his torso, his right side a ruin of pulped flesh and bone. His right leg similarly gone, cleanly severed at the knee.
Lambent eyes met his own even from across half a
li away, and on a whim Xin Wei Long raised his hand in farewell.
"
JIIIIIIIIIIIIINGSHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"
"I'm not a Jingshen," Nature's Son muttered as Oenos Battos' death cry echoed into the night sky, the battle over at last.
"I just work for them."
A.N.: This was originally intended to go up in a joint post with another 15k word chonker, but by the time I was plugging away at it I managed to get a chance to kickstart my quest again for a bit, and now that Occi's posted the Collab and moved us into the endgame for the turn I figure that I may as well leave this out in the hopes I can pivot from an IQ update to finishing that up soon.
