Chapter 605: Strategy in the Wake of Defeat

  At first, despite the obvious arguments against it, Kai wanted to go back. There was a part of him that was convinced that he could always save the day if he just pushed harder, that he could somehow return and rescue Sheiri.

  The majority of him knew the truth.

  After Kai and his wives had encountered the enemy, the Frontier elites had adopted a policy of completely avoiding them. Kai had remained awake, ready for some new disaster like the invaders spontaneously developing teleportation, or even more impossibly strong sailors showing up. Eventually he reconciled himself to the new normal, helped take care of Omilaena, and they all fell asleep. It was nothing like the rest he had hoped for after the incursion.

  In the morning his body was much restored, but his mind was only further stressed. It was as if he'd spent the night contemplating everything he'd done and might have done differently, not to mention imagining everything that could have gone wrong.

  The first thing he did was consult with his wives; this time it was no relaxed morning conversation, it was unquestionably a war council. Omilaena's arm was healed, but she remained in a distant, analytical mood. Zae Zin Nim had been sullen ever since the conversation with the cultivator that she'd related to him.

  "I don't see an obvious strategy," Kai said to start. "Maybe we could build something around how they seem to hunt me, but... the gap in power is too big, and they have the numbers even if we can isolate the top five."

  "Any ideas about why they're hunting you?" Omilaena asked.

  "Actually..." Kai hadn't thought about it the previous night, but in the time since he'd remembered a parallel. When the god-like beings had fought over the abyss, Kai hadn't been able to sense anything meaningful about their abilities or souls, but there had been one who had used gray power, and he had seemed interested in killing Kai.

  Once Kai finished explaining, the other two sat in silence until Zae Zin Nim nodded. "That may be connected, but I don't think that helps us."

  "Actually, I think it gives us some useful information." Omilaena raised one finger to begin counting off. "First, the people who fought last incursion may not be able to come here. Because if they did, obviously we couldn't fight them."

  "That might not be true. It may be some sort of truce so that no one tries to steal whatever is in the central pit."

  "Eh, can't or won't, same difference for us. But I do think it's clear that the invaders have some kind of foreign power making them hunt Kai, so it's very plausible that this outside being could be responsible. It stands to reason that it's not a stupid attempt, that is, these outsiders won't have an obvious weakness that makes them all melt, and the power controlling them won't make them suicidal."

  Kai wasn't sure whether it really mattered, since they needed to fight the invaders regardless. He realized that he might be avoiding the inevitable conclusion: there was a chance this was his fault. It was bad enough to know that Deadwaste was being invaded and elites were dead because of this senseless invasion, but far worse to think that it was targeted toward him.

  "The counterpart is that this attempt may be limited." Omilaena raised another finger. "Whether this is the most they can do, or trying to sneak under some treaty, I doubt they can do much worse. If they could have sent a thousand fighters like that, they would have. If they had better weapons, I don't know why they'd repurpose random sailors. So if we can take them out, we can beat this."

  "Easier said than done." Zae Zin Nim folded her hands in her lap and scowled at them. "If I could reach Sky Soul, the gap would lessen. But even with a huge boost in power, we need a good strategy..."

  That bothered Kai too, since he didn't see many options, but at that point they were interrupted. The Windborn teleporter took them out of the elite base to a new location, a mountaintop between the Elemental Nations and Krysal. It was a picturesque scene, and he saw Gunjin along with a few other administrators, but they kept speaking among themselves.

  What was the point of summoning them, only to ignore them? Kai decided that he was just taking his frustration out on available targets and pushed those thoughts away. Even if the situation was grim, they could still come up with something - he had to believe that.

  "I agree we need to get stronger," Kai said, "but I don't see how. We already threw in everything we had before the incursion."

  "That's not precisely right." For the first time since waking, Omilaena displayed a small smile. "We did everything we could easily, on Deadwaste, before the deadline. There are a lot of possibilities for growth that we set aside until later. I think now, facing a threat beyond what anyone expected, is the time to take some risks."

  "Huh." Kai shifted back, folding his arms as he considered the problem from a new angle. "I could return to the Blood Current. I'm so much stronger now, I could probably eat some of those monsters and develop new abilities."

  "And that's a good strategy for you, but I was thinking of going to Lostwreck."

  Both of them stared at her, Zae Zin Nim even more than Kai. Omilaena gave them a languid shrug, enjoying their surprise, a bit more like her normal self.

  "I was serious about taking risks," she continued. "We know the Frontier elites have visited at least once in the past thanks to the mortal phase trials and it's just south of their waters. But if I can get some stronger poisons, I could finally recreate my Physique, then I might have a chance against these invaders."

  "They might also have qi." Zae Zin Nim seemed to have come around to the idea quickly, now nodding her approval. "I could join you and assist on my way to Sky Soul. But would Kai...?"

  "I think he should head back to Rosemount. The Glorious Tree supposedly grows those enhancing fruit that no one can survive... well, Kai has already survived one breakthrough like that, so I think he can take more. Taking on an Insanity was risky for me, but it shows us how close we are."

  "Wait..." As he thought about the Insanities, Kai's eyes widened. "Do you think the Insanities...?"

  "That's right." Omilaena shook her head. "I think they're objects from outside the Deadlake, from the 'real world' so to speak. It's most obvious with monsters like the Heaven Eater or the Slumbering Colossus... if our world is in the middle of a giant lake, doesn't it make sense that outside monsters might be able to make it in?"

  "The Impossible Elixir could be just a normal elixir for stronger cultivators." Zae Zin Nim's face fell into neutrality, masking darker emotions. "If cultivators outside are so much more powerful, they might be able to create a potion that grants immortality."

  "What about the Royal Crest?" Kai asked. "It's obviously a coin, I can believe it came from a more powerful world, but what... do they use coins as energy sources out there? Why would they?"

  "I don't have all the answers." Omilaena's eyes unfocused as she stared out toward the ocean. "If anything, I think this is a sign that the outside world is far larger and wilder than we know. I imagine it contains many things stranger than we can understand right now... the Insanities are just a glimpse of it."

  As mind-boggling as it was to think that the legendary Insanities were just objects that had drifted in from the outside world, Kai was willing to believe it. Parts made too much sense: the First Metal in Irun, and the Loam of the Gods in the Southern Rivers weren't divine or unnatural, they were materials from a more powerful world that eventually ran out.

  Perversely, despite the grim situation and the losses they had suffered, Kai felt as though he was a step closer to the unimaginable fight he'd seen in the previous incursion. It wasn't that there was an impossible gulf between him and those powers, they simply existed in a broader world with greater sources of power. As he'd seen, even ordinary men born in those lands could obtain great strength.

  And if he'd learned anything about power, it was that it could be consumed.

  "I don't want to split up," Zae Zin Nim said abruptly. "But will we have to?"

  "That depends on a few strategic issues." Omilaena glanced over at Gunjin and the other planners, who were still apparently ignoring them. "I think we'll find out about that soon enough. But for the time being, we need to start making lists of targets. If we're going to win this in time to save Deadwaste, we need to gain a lot of power, and quickly."

  They started doing that, some on their own and some out loud. For a start, Kai was interested in seeing if he could track down a gold dragon, if it wasn't too late. Transforming his monstrous abilities hadn't been a priority when he was facing the incursion, but now he needed all the power he could get. Omilaena was fixed on the idea of the Glorious Tree, though it struck him as awfully far from Deadwaste when they didn't know how much time they had.

  Before that could go for long, they were interrupted by more people arriving, including teleporters and Inafay. She rushed over to them with concern, asking about their battle, from the invaders to the details of the fight. It seemed like she had wanted to join in, but hadn't been allowed.

  "The frustrating part is that they're probably right," Inafay said as they finished. "If these invaders are really fully phased, anyone except the elites would get killed instantly. It sounds like they've done exactly that in the Water Union, whenever anyone stands up to them. I can try to finish my phase training, but I just feel so helpless..."

  "Even a full sect of cultivators would be unable to deal with them," Zae Zin Nim said quietly. "This is a threat that no one here is prepared to face."

  "We're not entirely useless, though! Some wind users have started doing extremely distant monitoring of the invaders, and it seems like they don't notice. So we can keep track of them without risking anyone getting caught inside their suppression field."

  At that moment, Gunjin and the others came over to talk to them. They all had grim expressions, which was understandable considering the circumstances... but there was something strange about the way that Gunjin was looking at him.

  "Sorry for making you come early," he said, "but we wanted to test something. Until recently, the invaders were moving south through the Water Union. Not always, but their average movements took them consistently south."

  "And?" Inafay asked, puzzled.

  "This morning, they changed direction and began heading on average west." Gunjin folded his arms behind his back. "At exactly the same time we teleported Kai here."

  Chapter 606: A Plan of Insanities

  The announcement wasn't news to the planners, but the rest of them winced as they understood. Omilaena nodded as if she wasn't surprised, Zae Zin Nim frowned, and Kai was just trying to figure out what this meant for him.

  "Do they still have silver eyes?" he asked. "I mean, even temporarily?"

  "No, there has been no sign of that transformation since you left," Gunjin said. "We don't think the risk of testing again is worth it, either: this is probably what it looks like. They can track you specifically via unknown means."

  "Then I'll leave Deadwaste." There was no question about it, not when he'd already been thinking about broader plans. "I know you said it wasn't worth the risk, but on my own I think I can outpace them. I'll lead them out over the oceans where they won't hurt anyone else."

  "And then what?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "Let them chase you for months while the rest of us train?"

  "I would if necessary. You've seen what they've done here."

  "I doubt it will be that easy." Despite being one of the weakest people on the mountaintop, Gunjin still managed to draw all attention back to him. "Their average movement has been toward Kai, but it's inconsistent. Except for during their unusual state, they haven't hunted you with much commitment. The evidence is not consistent with them having a steady conscious awareness of your location."

  "Huh." Omilaena began tapping a needle against her thigh as she considered. "Is it possible that there's some power that's subconsciously guiding them toward Kai?"

  "While I don't know of any abilities that could cause that, according to your account, we have very strong evidence that something similar has occurred. But the reason I bring it up is that Kai isn't guaranteed to work as bait. They still have their own volition, and can cause plenty of trouble on their way."

  "I should still lead them away," Kai said. "We've already lost elites to this, and we can't lose more."

  "That's self-sacrificing of you, but we need to consider the long term." Gunjin's eyes shifted around the ring of people grimly. "That means shifting to a new strategy: surrender. Fighting them directly is plainly a path to failure. We need to buy time until we can kill the bastards, and that means taking the path of least resistance."

  "There's no guarantee that will work." It was one of the other administrators - Gorndron - who spoke up. "Even without any elites attacking them, the invaders have been violent, and they've shown all the usual traits of conquerors. Your suggestion would be tantamount to handing Deadwaste over to them."

  "Only because we lack the ability to inhibit them. The invaders have shown very little regard for human life: if they become aware there's an organization dedicated to defending the continent, I think it's very plausible that they might hold entire cities hostage, threatening to kill everyone unless we reveal ourselves. I think it's better to let them think they've won until we can strike back."

  "That's all very easy for you to say when you aren't the one who will be paying the price."

  "Actually, that's a strange fact." The next speaker was an administrator from the Fire Union, a small woman Kai hadn't noticed before. "Reports say they found all our food disgusting, and while they've been violent, they haven't been rapacious. This is unusual behavior for invaders."

  "I think I can explain that," Omilaena said. "If it's correct that everything in the outside world is phased compared to us, all our food will taste... weak and insubstantial to them. Even the simplest bread out there would be more concentrated than it is here."

  "And women?"

  "It's just an extension of the unnatural beauty we see in elves or certain cultivators. To them, all of us are missing something, even if they can't see what, which is why they're so insulting. Of course, that isn't going to stop them from committing crimes, but I think it's an accurate explanation."

  "Then it's possible that nothing will satisfy them," Gorndron said. "They'll rape and pillage their way across the continent, always unhappy. Which is just another reason why a strategy of appeasement is absolute madness."

  "We won't be inactive," Gunjin objected. "While they're traveling in the wasteland, they aren't harming anyone, and we may be able to maximize time there. This is possible during a time such as this, when we don't have any other crises... we're lucky that they didn't arrive before the incursion."

  Omilaena immediately shook her head. "Oh, I can't believe the timing is accidental: they arrived because of the incursion. But that's no comfort to anyone they target."

  It did seem like a massive problem, and as much as Kai agreed with the objection, he didn't see Gorndron offering any real answers. Kai himself wanted to abandon the meeting and train furiously until he could slaughter the invaders who threatened his home. He needed to force himself to stay, to remember that these decisions could be more important in the short term than any rage or training.

  In the long term, however, they needed the power to end this. He continued to think about the Insanities and everything else that he'd encountered on his travels.

  There would still be arguments among the elites, but the reality of the situation won out in the end: the invaders were too powerful to confront directly without devastating casualties. For the time being, everyone would delay and try to boost the few who were capable of it to be able to fight the invaders. Their options were grimly few.

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  While Omilaena negotiated something with the elites, Kai stalked away, his restlessness getting the better of him. He felt guilty, as little sense as it made. Obviously this was the fault of the people who had actually caused this, the invaders or the gray man or whoever else. It was no different from the threat of the other beings returning to annihilate the continent, and all he could do was build up enough power to eventually fight them.

  To his surprise, Gunjin came out to stand beside him. Having the older man staring off the mountain with his arms folded helped Kai settle beside him and they just stared for a while.

  "I could stay here longer if you want to test," Kai offered. "If they're seeking me, we could jump me from east to west, keeping them moving in the wasteland. I hate to say it, but that might be the most effective use of me."

  "No." Gunjin didn't seem to give it even a second of thought. "I think that's a losing strategy, especially when you're our strongest weapon. The Frontier has dealt with a lot of monsters in our time, and this is just another type. Let us take care of Deadwaste... you need to gain the strength to finish them."

  "Alright." Kai nodded, his former mentor nodded back, and something passed between them. "Before I go... how many have we lost?"

  "Not a single elite died during the incursion... then we lost four against the invaders. It's a bitter pill to swallow, believe me."

  "I'll come back and avenge them, I promise."

  They parted to their separate paths, not knowing when or if they would reunite. Kai went to find Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena, who were clearly preparing to leave: apparently they had made arrangements for the elites to give them a map to Lostwreck. Even though he wanted to argue, Kai could see the determination in their eyes and knew it had to be this way. Against a threat based on a power advantage, they needed to draw on deeper power of their own.

  Tempting as it was to go with them, Kai thought his own path was northwest: not only would it potentially draw away the invaders, it would take him to the paths of the golden dragons and then the Blood Current. Kai might be short on power, but he remembered that his nature had been the only thing that had shocked the gray man.

  So if he intended to take this war all the way back to him, Kai needed to fully master that power.

  With time of the essence and people potentially dying every hour they delayed, they couldn't afford long goodbyes. Kai kissed his wives farewell, gave Inafay a hug, and shook Gunjin's hand. Then, against the arguments of some of the elites, he headed back to the Water Union to take a major risk and set off the plan.

  From the air, the invaders looked like an ordinary band of raiders. They were sitting around a fire, clad in new robes and sitting on ornaments that had been looted from some Water Union palace. Hatred for them surged within Kai, but he couldn't take out one the top five, much less all of them combined plus their dozens of men.

  What he could do, however, was bait them. Kai let Thunderbird's Wings grow out to their full potential, then dropped to the ground just north of the camp.

  As one, the men rose and turned toward him, their eyes gray. It wasn't simply the five strongest, every single one of the invaders instantly focused on him. When Kai burst away, however, it was only the five most dangerous who were able to keep up. Even when Kai activated his full speed, he was surprised by how slowly he pulled away from them. If he hadn't developed his monstrous essence so much, their superior power might even have let them catch up.

  Instead he led them north, toward the ocean and a plan of insanities.

  Chapter 607: Paths Around Deadwaste

  Juray was a veteran of two incursions now, but she had never seen anything like this. When the elites had asked her to come north, she had readily accepted, and what met her was an endless stream of bodies.

  It began with casualties from the Elemental Nations, Waterborn who had been slaughtered by the new invaders. Their techniques tended to tear bodies apart, which was why they desperately called for mana-based healing that could enact more dramatic changes. She could reattach some severed limbs, and heal holes that hadn't punctured too much of an organ, but those who had been torn in half were beyond her help if they weren't already dead.

  These invaders filled her with a new form of an old fear: not for herself, since they were far away, but for all the fighters she loved. If the invaders really had phased power, then Raghi would be as helpless against them as she was. Inafay and her husband were risking death just scouting them. Even the elites had to treat this as an impossible disaster.

  That was when she had realized just how dire things were - even with more injured bodies coming in from the initial conflicts, the elites pulled her away. This time to help their own, because Fornil and the other healers had reached their limits.

  Because the Goralian front had gone so well, Juray still had extra stocks of potions, ones she had prepared for Raghi and the other hunters. Her best, made with rare components, had been treated as godsends, and she had brought a few elites back from death's door. Then all of her high quality healing potions had been absorbed dealing with other serious injuries, then the lower quality ones.

  Now she was back to bandaging wounds and bitterly thinking about how she'd gotten what she'd wanted.

  She was being taken seriously as an Herbalist, taking a role in the defense of the Frontier that she had long believed was impossible. But given what they were facing, she could hardly celebrate.

  .

  ..

  .

  They were like gods here, and all Kojajix wanted was to go home.

  Some of the others were cheering around the fire, or gleefully smashing the treasures they'd stolen, but he huddled next to it, cold despite all the flame. Everything felt thin and attenuated here, even the flame. Eventually his stomach had adjusted to the miserable food, and the clothes didn't feel so scratchy anymore, but he still felt empty.

  "These people just need guidance," Yangix was saying. "They've done the best they can with weak cultivation and other abilities, but someone needs to bring them back to the real world."

  "Fuck that," Jonijix said. "We can live like kings if we just get used to how shit everything is. The women seem charmless, but if you just look at them, some are built for sex. Just gotta adjust."

  "I'll have nothing to do with your debauched kingdom, but there's land enough for all of us. They said there's three continents, right?"

  "No, we stick together." Quorthix stood away from the fire, his eyes shifting all directions. "Those strong ones... you've seen they can harm us. If we split up, they'll cut us down with sheer numbers."

  "Bah, we've killed half of them and scared off the rest. We aren't going to live in fear, not when we're the most powerful people in this world. Coming to the Deadlake was the best thing that ever happened to us."

  As the others debated the merits of these plans, Kojajix listened in disbelief. They'd been ordinary sailors not long ago, men who had gotten in a few fights, maybe running from a murder charge at worst. How had they come to view themselves as tyrants?

  It would be easy to believe that this had been placed inside them. For all that they tried to forget about it, something had taken over when they had seen that man-shaped monster. The power felt so similar to the gray man that Kojajix had to assume this was why they had been sent: to exterminate that abomination. And he would like to believe that the gray man also turned them into bloodthirsty animals or brought out their worst traits.

  Except, shivering in front of the fire, Kojajix couldn't make himself believe it. When he thought about the boasts and dreams of the men, he thought that this had been within them all along... they had yearned for a fantasy of strength, and when they got it, they revealed a vicious self-righteousness. They weren't better than the tyrants who had lorded it over them, they just didn't have enough power to be tyrants.

  He couldn't really imagine a future anymore and felt like he had no idea what would happen. Some of the men imagined setting up their own little kingdoms and all Kojajix could think was that he was a criminal with blood on his hands. The cultivators had attacked them, but what had the nice people who controlled water ever done to him except give food and clothing?

  The fire was so cold, he just wanted to go home and sit next to the miserable little fire in his old rags and eat his mother's thin soup. If this was really a weaker world, that hut would be paradise compared to here. But when he thought about the stains on his sword, Kojajix didn't think he could go home again.

  .

  ..

  .

  After begrudgingly finishing her cultivation, Omilaena sat back in her seat and stretched. She was primarily focused on her Physique, but faced with a threat like this, she couldn't ignore any significant resources available to her. Even though her cultivation worked differently, when she examined the shimmering ice on her arm, she thought she was close to a breakthrough.

  At least she could lean back and luxuriate in the seat. Zin Nim had clearly saved the best for herself, because this was a plush Cloudspire vessel. There were wide loveseats probably intended for cultivation, but Omilaena couldn't help but think they were large enough to comfortably bang in. One of them was even big enough for Kai, which could have been fun.

  Yet Zin Nim didn't use any of them, instead standing at the front and staring forward with grim determination. Omilaena sighed and pulled to her feet, slipping up behind her wife to embrace her.

  "Don't be so stiff," she whispered into the other woman's neck. "We may not be able to relax, but this has become a marathon, not a sprint."

  "We are leaving one danger to enter another," Zin Nim said sternly, remaining very stiff. "We need to remain focused."

  "Even you can't stay that focused forever." Omilaena slid a hand down, caressing the other woman's stomach. "Come on, dual cultivation would even be one of our most effective paths forward. And if you're really concerned about optimizing your training, the journey before we reach Lostwreck is the best time for it."

  "That is..." Zin Nim shifted oddly, frowning back at her. "Your logic is correct, but you are only justifying your own desires."

  "It can be both."

  They remained together, but it became clear that Zin Nim wasn't going to soften up. Omilaena sighed and just hung off her for a while, staring at the ocean ahead. The location of Lostwreck had long been known by the elites, it was just too much of a threat. Once they arrived, they really would be too busy to do anything else, presuming they weren't dead.

  As much as she wanted to make her wife relax physically, Omilaena realized that what Zin Nim needed now was conversation. Well, she could do that for her sake. What strange places her life had taken her to.

  "How are you feeling?" Omilaena asked.

  "I... don't know." Zin Nim was silent for a time, then sighed and relaxed back against her just a little. "When I came to Deadwaste, I thought that everyone here was weak barbarians. Now, these invaders are treating all of us the same way."

  "That cultivator has a lot of power, but I'm not impressed. If you can set up a fight on equal terms, you'll crush him."

  "It's more than that. Krysal was a mess of factions, and we hoped the incursion would unite them all. Now... all three continents are being treated as a single mass, facing an outside threat. I cannot imagine Cloudspire and Rosemount uniting, much less either assisting Deadwaste. We can't forget what we know about the broader world now... what will become of us?"

  Those were deeper questions than Omilaena had expected, so she let the conversation flow, coaxing her wife into less tense frames of mind. It was correct that their world had changed, but the truth was that it excited Omilaena: she had taken an undeniable step toward the higher planes she knew existed. Now she faced a threat of brute force, but if she survived it, she would discover the truth. So many of the problems she faced in unraveling the secrets of power might have been because she was working with only half of the puzzle pieces.

  Their world wasn't three continents, though: the fourth lay ahead of them.

  .

  ..

  .

  The invaders had chased Kai all the way to the ocean, following even after he could only sense them spiritually. Given how determinedly they had pursued him, he half-expected them to plunge into the water after him. He did his best to lead them away from Water Union settlements, to a relatively empty section where they'd do less damage.

  At the shores of Deadwaste he finally left them behind as he streaked out over the ocean. Part of Kai hoped that they would be compelled to pursue him, returning to sailing instead of harming anyone on his home. As he flew on, he knew that was a false hope.

  No, he had to assume that they were terrorizing his home continent. Not as bloodthirsty as the incursion, assuming that they stopped raging and tried to make themselves rulers, but human cruelty could be worse than monsters. The elites would find ways to fight back, and everyone would seek to defend themselves, but they couldn't ultimately deal with this threat.

  This threat that might only have come to his world because of him.

  As he flew, filled with grief and uncertainty, Kai drifted on the edges of consciousness. He discovered that he could partially sleep, letting his monstrous instincts take over to keep him moving. After eating some aquatic monsters and spending hours coasting half-asleep, he was feeling much better physically, but that couldn't clear the haze within his mind. Even if he believed this was the only viable strategy, every part of him was conflicted about it.

  Savage bestial instincts insisted that he was fleeing, abandoning his lair and his wives to the enemy. Monstrous instincts didn't care about any of that, they just wanted to consume the invaders. His human instincts, and they were no better than instincts, tried to believe that this path would take him back to everything that mattered to him.

  Even if he was leaving Deadwaste. Even if he didn't know how long it would take. Even if there was nothing but ocean on every side...

  In the sky ahead, Kai saw a golden light, and all his instincts converged toward hunger.

  Chapter 608: Facing Untold Threats

  It was a golden dragon. Maybe not the same one that had scorned him, but exactly the same breed, with the golden plates and vast wings he remembered.

  In his flight over the ocean, Kai had spotted the golden dragon on the horizon several times, but never gotten close enough to risk a sprint with Thunderbird's Wings. The beast seemed to sense him by some deeper instinct, perhaps the same one that had made it scorn him, and it kept its distance. When he tried to close, he frequently found himself stopped by other threats.

  His flight had taken him to crimson waters, getting closer to the true Blood Current. The dragon might have flown in that direction hoping to scare him off, but Kai wasn't going to be intimidated, not when he actually intended to go there anyway.

  Now he was within sight, close enough to identify the dragon. He looked at it again, more carefully, his spiritual vision struggling to cohere.

  Though parts of the dragon seemed monstrous to him, he decided that it was actually a sacred beast. It had some characteristics that still reminded him of monsters, so he wasn't surprised that he had been mistaken when he first saw a dragon. Maybe he was confused... or maybe it was possible for a creature to be part beast and part monster.

  That should have been impossible, but he himself was an exception, and he had just learned that the world was far larger and stranger than he had known.

  Kai let out a growl and shot forward, using the full speed of Thunderbird's Wings to close the distance. The golden dragon twisted its sinuous neck back and launched a burst of fire, but Kai spiraled around it easily, barely losing speed in the process, drawing ever closer...

  He spotted the crimson sphere a split second before it struck from the side.

  Once that attack might have killed him, but Kai's instincts had been honed by years of hunting and the combat against the invaders made him use a defensive phase instantly. The sphere of power hit like a mountain, but worse than that was how it exploded, trying to burn him from all sides, throwing him down.

  Even though Kai endured without serious injuries, the impact drained his reserves and plunged him deep into the water. He irritably kicked his way back up to resume the chase... and felt tentacles wrap around his leg, pulling him into the depths.

  .

  ..

  .

  After two weeks of top speed travel, Zae Zin Nim finally felt her destination. In that time, the only things she had needed to deal with were concerns about what they left behind, monsters that were no real threat, and a predatory Omilaena. She had cultivated during those weeks, but the true struggle began now.

  As Lostwreck came into sight, Zae Zin Nim was mildly surprised. A dead continent, with so many terrible legends surrounding it, should have been a mass of black spikes and dangerous auras. Instead it looked... more wild than anything, rocky coasts covered in overgrown trees and bushes. More than any danger, what she saw was a land completely untouched by human hands.

  "We're here." Omilaena stepped up beside her, lowering her goggles without a trace of her former teasing. "Looks like there's a barrier."

  "Hmm." Zae Zin Nim had been focused on the land itself, but her wife was correct: there was a qi barrier surrounding the coasts, an indiscriminate field that would try to repel anyone.

  It was the sort of barrier that took multiple Sky Souls in combination to create, so they must have been quite serious about preventing anyone from returning to Lostwreck. Given her current abilities, Zae Zin Nim didn't anticipate having any trouble. Rather than trying to bring down the entire barrier, which had deep reserves and was probably better left up, she flew ahead of the ship to pierce a hole.

  When her palm hit the barrier, the impact swept back through her, but the Blackblood Physique easily absorbed it and allowed her to press inward. Zae Zin Nim placed both hands within the barrier of qi and pulled it open, just in time for the ship to fly through beneath her.

  Inside the barrier, Lostwreck was as wild as before, though there was a curious lack of animal life. She wondered if the continent had any monsters, which would be very relevant if Kai was ever to join them. For the time being, even though she saw no danger, Zae Zin Nim remained high above the ground.

  "Do you sense anything?" she asked Omilaena as she returned to the ship.

  "No, and you wouldn't expect a human-borne illness to have lasted." Omilaena looked to her sharply through her goggles. "However, the Whispering Death annihilated an entire continent, so we'd best be cautious. I'll go first."

  The other woman pulled out a blue cloth saturated in chakra and tied it over her nose and mouth before dropping off the side. On the way down, she surrounded herself in ice qi and generated a thin layer of mana over her body. She really wasn't taking chances, aside from the risk inherent in venturing into the forbidden continent.

  Zae Zin Nim watched nervously, aware that it was possible that she would simply watch her wife die. But as Omilaena landed and explored, she seemed to grow more confident, carefully removing different barriers. It seemed that the land was as dead as they had expected, at least so far.

  Once Omilaena gave the signal, Zae Zin Nim placed the ship back in her spatial bracelet and dropped down to the ground, surrounded by her Coldfire Corona just in case. When she touched the earth, it felt like any energy-rich wilderness, with no trace of the outside illness that had wiped out the continent. Omilaena moved up beside her and gestured for them to explore deeper.

  As they pierced deeper into Lostwreck, Zae Zin Nim saw a variety of fruits dangling on nearby plants. They were rich in chakra, but that was a risk too far, even for their current circumstances. She paid more attention to the qi in the air, which was wild and free. The resources they had brought along from the Brightwind vault should be enough to take her to Sky Soul, but based on everything Zae Zin Nim had learned, she wasn't satisfied with just clawing her way there.

  "Oh, there we go." Omilaena saw something ahead first and muttered sardonically, so Zae Zin Nim focused her cultivation.

  At first it just looked like a strange lump in the forest, no different from the rest except for the odd shape. As she moved closer, Zae Zin Nim started to recognize the outlines and realized that this was an abandoned city. Once they came closer yet, she understood what had made her wife comment.

  The city was covered in human bones.

  They sprawled everywhere, some of them fallen in the street, some slumped over tables. There was even a set of rusted wheels in positions that suggested a cart had rotted out from between them, and several skeletons lay jumbled on the top. It was as if the city had been in the middle of normal life and then everyone had died in an instant, without a chance to even fear.

  "This is probably the first treasure trove," Omilaena said, "but the risk increases too. Let me investigate to make sure that there's no trace of disease."

  "Take your time." Zae Zin Nim sat down and cupped her hands in her lap. Even if they were rushing as quickly as possible to fight the invaders, they couldn't attain such power in a few days, so they needed to take the appropriate steps at the appropriate times.

  And so, facing a city of bones, Zae Zin Nim began to cultivate with dead qi.

  .

  ..

  .

  When Kai pushed his way back above the waves, his jaws were filled with the rubbery flesh of an octopus monster and his heart was filled with rage.

  He could no longer see the golden dragon anywhere on the horizon, not even with his enhanced senses. The far-off creature that had struck him with the crimson sphere attack was nowhere to be seen as well. It seemed as though his progress had been knocked back.

  But no, he wouldn't let a little setback like this stop him. Kai had nearly reached the Blood Current and he had the dragon's scent. The projectile-using creature was probably hunting him, so it couldn't be far off and it might even come to him. As for the octopus, he could avoid similar ambushes if he built up his aquatic abilities.

  So the golden dragon hunt was on again, he just needed to refocus and change the hunt a little...