Chương 323: This was his path

Dragonfly landed on the edge of the torn, smoldering hole leading down to what had once been a hidden ritual chamber, although flopped might be a better description as several missing parts of her body were still regenerating.

"Heavens, that was some backlash," she breathed raggedly as she heard the rustling of chains as River landed next to her, dismissing the ones that were melted and warped. Even the gold-ranker sported the marks of disrupting an ongoing ritual that was channeling that much force, although they were much less pronounced than Dragonfly's missing pieces. However, when River only stood frozen in place, Dragonfly cocked her head as she glanced up towards her masked companion.

"What?"

"Silence. I am trying to focus."

"On?"

"On locating the priestess. Now that Kite has died, I need to make sure she does not–""What?!" Dragonfly shouted, springing to her feet and wobbling as one was still half missing.

"What do you mean–""He died. I could sense his aura disappear." Silence followed, River turning towards Dragonfly, who had frozen in place.

"What? He's a gold-ranker with the power Immortality. I can already feel his spirit piecing itself together," the acolyte of Pain said, annoyance and confusion clear in her otherwise flat voice. Instead of responding, Dragonfly merely sagged to the floor once more as River felt pure relief blooming through her aura.

"You had to know that, no? You are his wife. I thought that meant some level of personal knowledge of your partner."

"I… Oh thank the heavens," was all Dragonfly could say where she lay, wiping at her eyes.

"This is highly irrational behavior."

"Oh shut up. Sometimes my emotions run way ahead of my thoughts. You should try it sometimes. Might be an enlightening experience," Dragonfly laughed in reply, forcing down a sob or three.

"Is he–""He's returning. Come. I've picked up the priestess. We must make sure she does not get away again. With Kite's help, it should be manageable."

"Alright, alright– Hey!" was all that Dragonfly had the time to say before a few chains circled around her and tugged her along as River sped up, dragging her human cargo through the halls of the palace at a speed that would tear anyone beneath silver rank to shreds. However, at that moment Dragonfly couldn't bear to complain. Now she too felt the occasional touch of her husband's aura as it reappeared - weakened but recovering quickly - through the spiritual din which pressed down upon the capital.

There were too many gold-rankers present for her to make out too much, but at least the small spiritual glimpses were regular during their return journey. But it was only once they emerged into the now very broken throne room that Dragonfly truly relaxed as she saw Kite - tattoos aglow and very much alive - snap a collar around the neck of the unconscious high priestess of Discord called Ametrine.

"Oh thank Fortune!" she called out, leaping through the air as soon as River released her to crash into her husband.

"Thank Fortune indeed," Kite breathed in reply as he hugged her to him.

"I barely dared to focus my spiritual senses your way this entire time, dear wife. Not when you were receiving that level of punishment. The Threefold Guard?"

"Yeah. Not so many of them are left now. They got more than their fair share of punches in, but I gave a lot better than I got," Dragonfly replied.

"Well, I can… see that," Kite replied meaningfully, glancing down at what few tattered remains of clothing still held together across Dragonfly's body, far, far beyond the limits of modesty.

"What? It's not like it's the first time."

"That it isn't. But it is for me."

"Wait? What– Oh? Oh! So beneath–""Nothing at all. Turns out that getting disintegrated is bad for your clothes. And - well - basically anything you are wearing that is not soulbound to you. Had I not been gold rank, the chafing alone might have done me in…" Bonk!

"... May I ask why you hit me, dear wife?"

"Because you scared me half to death. Don't– Don't get disintegrated again, you hear?"

"I shall always strive to abide by my wife's will," Kite replied sagely.

"Honestly, I did not have time to feel much. Not until I came back. Immortality is restoring me still, and I am at least back in fighting condition if far from fully restored."

"Was it the King? Who…" Dragonfly said, gesturing vaguely towards Kite's body.

"He did most of it. Almost everything," Kite agreed.

"That man, Dragonfly. His power was absolutely fearsome when facing him alone like that. But it was actually the priestess who finished me. Some kind of execution power that felt very familiar." This caused the both of them to turn and look towards where the woman still lay collared and unconscious, but perhaps more at River who stood frozen above her.

Rarely had Kite seen anyone stand so still, their aura hidden and unreadable, and he was unsure if the acolyte of Pain was holding back from visiting tremendous violence on the target of her vengeance or if there was some other reason for her stillness.

"River." No response. No aura fluctuating. Nothing.

"River?" More silence. Then, slowly, River turned her masked head to look towards Kite.

"I know this is important to you," Kite said, "but I need to know. Did you find any trace of the ritual? If not, we should–""It is gone. Sundered," came the flat response.

"What? When–""I felt it. Or rather a fault in their concealment. Your wife helped me get to it. It is shattered."

"So… you went after it instead of the priestess?"

"Yes."

"Thank you." This had River cock her head to one side as she seemed to emerge slightly more from her daze.

"What? Why?"

"Because I have gotten a slight idea of how important getting your vengeance is to you. And yet you prioritized the greater goal when you found it."

"Nonsense. I did it to punish her. To lure her in. Either I destroyed something she held dear or she returned to stop me and therefore gave me a chance to capture her."

"I see. Well, either way, you still have my gratitude."

"Unecessary. Just give her to me, and our business is finally concluded." Kite glanced at the unconscious priestess, one of the masterminds behind all of the corruption that had burrowed its way into his homeland and its very culture. It was hard to feel much remorse for what might befall her, but there was still one thing that needed clarification.

"We will also want to question her. Thoroughly. So you must return her. Alive. And that is after we head out and provide assistance to the others. Heavens, when did Soul arrive here at the palace?"

"I don't know, but I think it was on the heels of that other priestess. Want to go help her?" Dragonfly asked, to which Kite paused a moment before shaking his head.

"In this, my will and that of the Blessed of Warrior diverge to the extreme," he sighed.

"I pushed against her aura slightly and got slapped back as if I was an annoying fly. She's really lost herself in this bout, so for the sake of her path, we'd best let her see it through. Besides, there are plenty of other conflicts about where we can tip the scales. River, can you bring the captive?" At his words, River's chains sprouted from her back, one winding itself around the unconscious, collared gold-ranker as it lifted her into the air.

"Good. Then come. While I long for some rest, this is not the time. Let us see if we can find Wander or Obsidian Crow and have them sweep the palace to search for more rituals or other traces now that the defenses have seen better days. In the meantime, let's see if we can't help force some of these conflicts to end in our favor. As Auntie Crow often says; where you can lift a leaf, you can ease a burden. And given our combined strength?

I believe that we can do a lot more than that for all of our allies and far-flung friends who have come so far to provide their assistance. Bleeding golden blood from numerous rents in her form, Glint heaved with her mana once more as two massive spheres of shimmering, conjured water collided with the vortex-being she had been engaging for so long now.

The pressure upon her mana and spirit had been as constant as that upon her body as she used every opportunity for her karmic magic to protect the city around them while also delivering more retributive strikes towards the living calamity. It was a battle of attrition on both sides, but given how the thrashing of the creature was growing more erratic, Glint also hoped that it was a sign that elegance was about to prevail over destruction.

"For the perfection of the Young Mistress!"

"For a beauty transcending the stars!"

"Witness me, oh radiant one!" The battlecries around kept echoing as Glint's suitors fought, many with an acceptable degree of fervor in their auras. Being a gold-ranker was a marvel when determining the true intents of silver-ranked young masters, and Glint found that she - for good or ill - had begun to view several of them in a new light. However, just as Glint was about to ward off another attack upon her, she froze. Something was wrong. She couldn't sense Kite through their bond. At least not as she used to.

The link was fragmented like a broken vase; still there, but not whole. What was happening? How– Apparently sensing her hesitation, the swirling being of destruction pressed even further, pain snapping Glint out of her shock as more gems were torn from her protective shroud and more golden blood spattered the rooftops below. Cries of anguish and outrage rose from all around and the ambient mana churned as several of the fighting draconians unleashed their most potent attacks and spells.

Their emotions were all well and due - Glint wouldn't accept anything less from any suitor of hers, after all - but moreso, she felt a ripple of fear and worry in so many other auras around them too, a reminder that the battling parties were a minority of the onlookers, most of whom had no power to do anything but wait, watch and hope. It seemed like whatever had happened to Kite would have to wait.

"This Young Mistress shall accept your trespassing and ruination of this city no more, wretch!" Glint bellowed with all the dignity she could.

"It is the duty of one of my station, a duty I will not fail." The monster did not seem impressed as it whirled backwards, only to turn once more and surge towards her, leading with the maw that was at the center of its whirling body. Glint could wait no longer. It was time. With as graceful a turn as she could manage with her injuries, Glint swerved in the air to make sure that she was facing away from the city center as the destructive vortex beast dove at her, opening her fangs wide.

As she did, radiant and shimmering light burst into being around her crystalline antlers while a small sphere of the very same started growing between and slightly in front of her open mouth. Further cries of alarm came from all the draconians still alive as Glint made no further move to evade, pitting all of her shining splendor against her foe and meeting it head on.

As the vast creature drew close - close enough to start snapping its swirling maw shut over Glint's head - it was as if the world slowed down for a moment as shimmering outlines and threads suddenly connected the monster to the growing orb in Glint's open fangs.

All that the incoming attack was - its force, its intent, its devastative and destructive potential - was measured, weighed and judged as the starlight of karma within the orb rose to become a radiant beacon that painted the whole city in shimmering white for a moment. Then that moment - like a lone bubble on the surface of a pristine lake - burst." Breath of Karmic Retribution!" For one moment, stillness. Then in the next, a line of pearlescent light divided the air above heavenward in two.

Compared to its majesty, everything seemed dull and drab before the rich shifting colors among the white. It pierced the vortex monster along its whole length, the swirling being suddenly locked in place as it was lit up from the inside. Then that light started rising, tendrils of karmic energies bursting out in more and more places across its body until all of it burst apart with the sound of a thunderclap and the last death throes of a mighty storm. This story has been stolen from Royal Road.

If you read it on Amazon, please report it All over the city, guild members and sect warriors had frozen in place to note the spectacle before whatever battles they were embroiled in once more pressed in and demanded their attention as the undead did not have the good taste of being impressed. Others, however, had been. As she felt the tumultuous aura of the vortex monster vanish while its body likewise started dissolving, Glint let herself hover in place for a moment to simply center herself.

Then the cheering began.

"Amazing!"

"Beautiful!"

"Our saviour!"

"Praise be the great dragon!"

"Like a river of pearls, she swept the beast away!" Glint felt it in their auras too; relief, awe, adoration. The battles still raged, but this - she - managed to distract them even from that. Pride blooming in her chest, Glint also realized that there came a responsibility with that. Perhaps even beyond what she had thought. But before she could properly consider her next move, there was something else Glint needed to understand. What had happened to Kite?

However, that worry was quickly dispelled as she could feel him once more, sensing his determination as he seemed to be diving into some kind of conflict again. Worn and exhausted beyond what she thought even a gold-ranker should be able to withstand - as if he had experienced something beyond even his understanding - but alive and well. Quite a relief, and another sign that she needed to keep doing her part too. Shouldering the responsibility.

"You have all proven your valor so far, and I have seen the deeds and spirits of all of you," she said, addressing the proud draconian scions still on the field, many of them sporting injuries of their own. But this time, Glint found it easy to look past their disheveled state. Some exceptions had to be made.

"But our trials are not yet finished. The city is in turmoil, and it is our responsibility to set things right. To those who seek to remain at my side, I grant you the privilege of stepping onto my radiant form and joining me as we do what is needed to restore order." Some reactions were exultant, others awed while a few seemed reluctant.

Glint filed all of that away for later verdict as she flew closer to the ground, to allow the much smaller figures to fly or leap to reach the shimmering, gem-clad scales of her back. Then she veered off to other places where she felt the members of the guild fighting. Resplendent intervention awaited.

"Sect Leader! We have it confirmed! The Singing Grove Sect has headed in and engaged the undead."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Indeed, Sect Leader. Multiple sources…"

"So… What are they planning? A trap? Or perhaps…"

"I am sure they are, Sect Leader. You can never trust the likes of them," one of the elders declared with conviction.

"Or perhaps…" another voice said, the gathered elders of the Iron Howl Sect turning to regard the inner disciple who had spoken out.

"Inner Disciple Storm. It is brash of you to speak out of turn like that with your elders present," the sect leader began.

"But due to your performance and honor it brought to the sect during the last Grand Proving, I shall look past it this time and give you the benefit of the doubt. Speak."

"Sect leaders. Elders," Inner Disciple Storm began.

"Perhaps the sects already involved are not doing it as a trap, but to claim glory before the rest of us are able? Would it not risk casting us in a bad light if we only stood idle?" As she spoke, Inner Disciple Storm couldn't help but look out over the city and wonder if her little outcast was out there somewhere with the guild. Vista had not been a member last they spoke when he left the sect after spending his allotted year there, but perhaps that had changed.

Given his words to her at the end, she thought that the swordsman would not be involved in a mere trap or ambush upon their sect. And much more importantly, he had probably gained quite a lead in enemies slain already, so she wanted and needed to get down there into the city as soon as possible so as to not risk being outdone. Her pride and emotions would not allow it.

"Sect leader, do not listen too closely to the ideals of the young. The inner disciple means well, but she does not truly know the treachery of our enemies," the elder vouching for caution replied, glaring daggers at Storm, who in turn met his gaze with all the confidence she could muster. Why was he pushing so hard for this?

"We should considering striking against the Singing Grove now, while we have the chance–" He fell silent, however, as the sect leader held up a hand to forestall further comments.

"I understand your caution, elder, but the inner disciple raises a fair point. She is deserving of her station. Send out our silver-ranked warriors to claim a tally of undead worthy of the Iron Howl. The grand elders and I will keep watch and protect them from potential treachery, thus securing both tempering and glory while baiting out potential ambushes."

"But Sect Lea–""I have spoken. Iron Howl, make it so." Inner Disciple Storm was the first one to answer with a warcry, conjuring her golden tetsubo as horns appeared on her forehead. If Vista was indeed there, he would soon have a lot of competition.

"Yes, that way! A little more to the left–""Wander, they are fighting gold-rankers with their auras on full display. Fortunately controlled enough for the populace, I hope. I couldn't miss them even if I actively wanted to," Kite replied as he ran through the air above the capital, leaving a brief, shimmering trail of barriers behind him in the air before they decayed.

"Well, you did just die and come back? How can I know that didn't leave you– I dunno? Addled, or something~?"

"So, Dragonfly already told you?"

"Yep! We had the chance for a good girl talk while she made her way back to the Tengu Clan compound. Filled me in on all the juicy details~."

"I can imagine."

"So… Are you okay~?" While Kite didn't stop in his tracks, he was still rather taken aback by the sudden serious note in Wander's tone, even though it was in stark contrast to her usual squeaking, sing-song voice.

"It… Was not pleasant. At all. And it was only through Fortune's good will that I wasn't forced to use Immortality until then. The King was a terrifying opponent, but I felt that I needed to keep it in reserve until the very end. Which, I suppose, came rather abruptly. The end, that is. I… Is that how you feel, Wander? Every time one of your bodies dies?"

"First of all, I don't think Fortune's got that much to do with it, Kite. She's great and all, but have you tried facing… Well, you, in a duel? It's amazing that the King lasted as long as he did~."

"That's–""Hey, hey, I'm trying to compliment you. Don't go denying it now. I may not have fought you myself, but I've seen a lot of others do it. Besides, now that this Immortality power of yours could actually bring you back to life, you won't miss out on the rest of the fun. It would have sucked to lay in the palace, victorious but barely alive and felt all your friends fighting for their lives but been unable to help. Oh, woe is me! I have struck down the evil King, but at what cost?

If only an awesome swarm of rats could swoop in and–""Wander, there is deflecting a question, and then there is… Whatever you are doing. Nothing affirms a bond as much as experiences shared, or so the saying goes at least."

"... Yeah. You're right. Sorry. Habit. And yeah, it sucked at the beginning. Felt like I died, but didn't. But that was back at iron rank. A lot more pain back then. Now? I guess I've become used to it? It's more like… blinking my eyes? But with a slight buzz? Brief darkness and then that mental space goes to whatever other bodies I have around. And it's not really dying to me, not in the same way as you apparently did. But I have had bodies disintegrated a lot of times, so… yeesh. That does suck~."

"Heavens, it does indeed. But that's something I'll have to meditate on more after this is done," Kite said, stopping in the air. Heavenward spread before his feet, and while the city wasn't completely consumed by violence, there were several hotspots spread out around the detected lesser ritual sites. Kite wasn't completely sure of their purpose, but suspected it was to help the main one somehow.

And even with that - hopefully - having been stopped, the fact that the gathered undead remained was a threat that had to be dealt with. From his vantage he could also see a few of the sects setting up their own staging grounds, and was both surprised and relieved to see that more than one group were heading into the fray, fortunately to side with the guild and two sects already fighting.

"I think this should be a good location," Kite declared, stretching out with his senses. With the Heavenly Stairway at his back, he had a decent vantage looking over most of the conflict zones of the city, especially the ones where gold-ranked undead or other greater threats still remained. What he would attempt would not be an easy feat, but in another way it was already what Kite had been doing for quite some time, the difference being a matter of scale.

A good third of Heavenward was a lot more space to cover than most battlefields he had been part of.

"Well, you're the guy actually doing the fighting. Sooo… what kind of fighting are you intending to do here, exactly~?"

"Less direct fighting and more tipping the scales, I suppose," Kite replied.

"But I won't be the only one. First, I'll need you to help me prioritize targets. Or well, target areas."

"No problem there~."

"Then, it's time for you to come out again, Sage." In response to Kite's words, the mass of dark symbols returned, forming its usual disc-like shape even though the injuries the familiar had sustained during the duel with the King were still clear as chaotic rents and flickers among the otherwise orderly concepts depicted therein.

"I believe that you haven't been able to properly make an attempt such as this since our ascent to gold rank. Do you feel up to the task of letting loose a little bit?" Kite asked the astral gatherer, who immediately flickered through his emoted responses.

"Ready To Unleash Gather All See All Know All."

"Thank you, Sage. We'll pick out your targets with care," Kite said, nodding. There wasn't much in the way of physical affirmation that was available when interacting with the odd being, but hopefully Sage could feel Kite's sentiment in his aura. With a mental command, Kite then gave the familiar leave to unleash its new capabilities gained at gold rank for the first time. Sage floated upwards a bit before it started expanding; the space between its symbols growing until its disc was around five meters in diameter.

Then it was as if something locked in place in the space around those symbols, and Kite felt Sage's invisible, magic-gathering senses spread out to blanket the city.

"I've found one. Big and nasty. There, down near the river~!" Wander pointed out and it only required a brief moment of focus for Kite - and therefore Sage - to find it.

"Then, if you please Sage, unleash your might. But with precision and care. It would not do for us to add too much to the collateral damage." Kite got no further response from the symbols of the familiar before several glowing lines shot out from them, coming together into a single beam that lanced downwards towards the place Wander had indicated. It was the normal white of resonating force, thick as Kite's arm and straight as an arrow.

Within a heartbeat, it had reached its target, striking a lumbering bone creation straight through its torso as it was making its way towards a small barricade where silver-rankers were already pouring out whatever damage they could muster at range. The beam fortunately was precise enough that it was only the poor street behind the creature that suffered along with it, the resonating force digging deep as it pierced the undead.

The monster didn't crumble completely of course, but it was at least staggered somewhat which bought more time for the silver-ranked bombardment. Then another beam struck, and then another.

"Excellent work, Sage. Please keep it up," Kite said, nodding with approval. Now that Sage had anchored itself in place, the numerous conflicts around the city could all feed it remnant mana from discharged spells and the like, providing the familiar with a continuous stream of charges for it to use more frequently than ever before.

"Time for me to try contributing as well then. Wander, would you mind relaying something for me?" Frost Among Morning Dew gritted her teeth to keep in the racking coughs that once again tried to force her body to spasm and shudder. She hadn't coughed in over a decade, and was unsure of how much of her lungs even remained in her gold-ranked state, but apparently the magical diseases of another gold were enough to let her relive the phenomenon.

The pale priest of Plague was about to send another fetid bolt of some kind or another her way when Anasta flanked him and forced him to whirl his staff in defense while charging her way, still moving with impressive speed and - most of all - showing a frankly ridiculous level of resilience which let him shrug most attacks thanks to the strength he seemed to draw from the widespread but relatively harmless afflictions spread before this battle even began.

While her Subjugator of Autumn - the large armor made of ice Dew had conjured - was broken in some places, the ice was replenishing fast enough to help her keep it in workable condition. Sending out a few more ice shards as she readied herself to re-enter the fray, Wander - ever present on her shoulder even inside the armor - spoke up.

"Oh? Oh! Dew! Message from Kite~!"

"What?" Dew asked, tone a bit clipped as she was still resisting the wracking coughs.

"If you can keep that guy still for a moment, Kite might be able to help. Or rather, a few moments. Best to be sure~."

"At this rate, I am willing to try almost anything. I can't believe how well this priest is standing up to the both of us."

"Oh, I know. Hate the prepared baddies. They- Eeep~!" Wander's words were interrupted as Dew suddenly sped up with all her gold-ranked speed, the rat starting to bounce around the ice juggernaut's somewhat hollow interior. Dew ignored her, however, instead entering a sliding charge which the priest of Plague met with his usual calm smile. One massive blade of ice was turned by his black staff, but then the armor's other hand shot out to grasp the man around the chest and lift him high.

This didn't seem to bother him much, which was understandable as Dew could see foul energies starting to spread through her ice at the prolonged contact while he started raining blows upon her. Ice cracked and chips flew beneath the barrage as Dew hoisted him up as high as her armor could reach. Then the arm holding the priest cracked, but not before three huge icicles burst from the ground around the man and converged on his position.

The priest might be tough, but the sharp ice managed to impale him enough to lock him in place even though this conjured ice was also starting to weaken immediately. Whatever Kite was intending, he needed to– Crack A ripple in the air suddenly struck the immobilized priest, a ripple Dew recognized, but the strike itself barely made a sound. The shattering magic inside the man certainly did though, clearly visible through Dew's magical perception. Was it–? She had to trust that it was.

Diving forward again, Dew used the remaining arm of her armor to conjure a thin blade which she thrust into the priest of Plague just as he broke free. Once more the man was skewered, but this time there was a distinct difference. The blade pierced his body a lot easier than before, and given the slight widening of the eyes and the flicker in the man's aura, he realized it too; the empowering boon that had given him such might based on the number of nearby infected was gone.

Dew did not know how long this suppression of Kite's would last, but she knew that it would be foolish not to capitalize.

"Anasta! Now!" Anasta Temren appeared in the air above the skewered man, dark scissor seeming to drink in all the light that was able to pierce the overcast skies above as she prepared to sever and sunder, and at the same time Dew's frozen domain started condensing in a much smaller area around them. They had their opening. It was time to finish this.

"Well, if only that had gone as easily with the King's nemesis powers, then I would have had a much easier afternoon," Kite thought as he made out Mistress Dew and Branch Director Temren pounce upon the suddenly weakened priest of Plague, who must have been a fearsome combatant to pressure the two of them for so long. All of the King's magic had been so hard to shift that the slight feedback of his Disrupting Strike finding its mark felt almost too easy, but Kite did not dwell further on it.

He would not be able to hit a human-sized, moving target with his projected attacks from this range unless they were held in place, but he had plenty of larger targets to affect around the city as he stayed close to Sage to keep recovering as well as to protect the familiar as it unleashed its gold-ranked splendor.

To an observer, his motions looked almost akin to a ritual dance as he stepped, pivoted and struck in different directions, projected attacks impacting bony exteriors or magical defenses while the barriers of Heaven-and-Void Warding were conjured to shift blows and save lives. This was Kite's path put on full display, him the eye of the storm in the madness of combat, reaching out to tip the scales in his desired favor all around him as he worked his gold-ranked mind, perception and precision to their utmost.

This was his path, and he would gladly keep leveraging it for as long as needed to finally put an end to the madness Discord and their forces had wrought upon the capital and his kingdom. These days, his ambitions would allow for little else. After all, he suspected that the aftermath of this day - should they prevail - might provide enough complications.