Cognosticon
patreon
Chapter 350: Over the Cliff
🕑 Added 2024-09-10 17:00:06 +0000 UTCWhen she had first learned about the demons on Rosemount, Zae Zin Nim's greatest fear had been a demon stealing her cultivation. It was a terrible form of violation, stealing away everything she'd worked so hard for. When Lilaetiel howled and leapt at her, she very nearly quailed.
But she wasn't the cultivator she had been when she first set foot on the continent. Her opponent's wild strikes were chaotic and unpolished, with immense speed but little grace. Zae Zin Nim moved economically, deflecting them with the minimum of movements, staying ahead and preparing herself for the counter-strike. She would have one perfect moment...
Lilaetiel reached out, claws attempting to grasp her head - Zae Zin Nim activated her Coldfire Corona in full, enveloping the demon's hand in blue flames. The demoness screamed and reeled back, but Zae Zin Nim didn't let her.
Instead of a palm strike, which could be ineffective against someone with so much cultivation, Zae Zin Nim grabbed the demoness by the wrist. Then she drew up the full power of her Pure Yin Shroud and broke her arm at the elbow.
With a scream of pain, Lilaetiel lashed out wildly, managing to cut Zae Zin Nim's arm. She felt something leaking from the cut and forcibly closed off her meridians as she retreated. The demoness had been injured, but as she cradled her broken arm, there was a new light in her eyes. No more recklessness, just hunger. Slowly the demoness raised her good hand and her claws flickered with blue flame.
"I figured out that mana ability," Lilaetiel said with a chuckle. "It's not cultivation, but I'm happy to take it all too. Anything else for me?"
"Just this." As she spoke, Zae Zin Nim flipped Omilaena's syringe from her spatial bracelet and injected herself in the side. Power flooded through her body and her vision went black.
.
..
.
Troulon had gotten better since their last encounter - she'd hoped to talk, but he seemed unwilling in the presence of true demons.
Now he unleashed swarms of tiny paper birds from his sleeves that fluttered with subtle grace and then darted forward violently. Omilaena took them down with needles, but he could generate paper as fast as she generated steel. Despite her edge in strength, he could probably release more projectiles than she could.
After dodging another set, Omilaena breathed a cloud of smoke to fill the broken corridor. She could still sense Troulon on the other side, preparing another attack as he spoke.
"Surely by now you've noticed that my paper has been treated with an anti-corrosive agent? Your poisons have gotten nastier, but they won't work. You're not that foolish... what are you after?"
Another swarm of birds burst through the poison, though these were less targeted. Omilaena formed a knife in one hand to cut them down while hurling needles with the other - not just at the paper birds, but also at the Crestguards on the other side of the smoke. She was the only thing keeping the majority of the Crestguard from reaching Zae Zin Nim and Kai.
Since the poison cloud was no longer working in her favor, Omilaena sucked it back in. To her dismay, gray smoke replaced it, smelling like burning paper. Troulon had learned a new trick.
"Ah, you're intending to act as a choke point." Troulon's voice floated eerily from somewhere within the smoke and she realized she could no longer sense his presence. "I never thought I'd see the day where you played support. But is that wise? Your friends are both in battles they're hardly equipped to win."
"What strategy are you attempting?" Omilaena asked into the smoky air. "I can understand bowing to the current leadership, but why fight their battles like this? Have you forgotten about the Great Library?"
"That's why I'm doing all this!"
Suddenly a much larger blade of paper slashed toward her - in the opposite direction from Troulon's voice. Omilaena barely twisted in time, blocking it with a syringe. Yet the edge was still driving at her, pushing her back... she stabbed a needle into the side of the paper and smashed the entire creation into the wall until it crumpled.
"The demons agreed, they were going to leave the Great Library alone." Troulon's voice still echoed from nowhere. "But the Council of Elders and the Flaeren Dominion... they've decided the Commonwealth isn't worth the risk. They want to burn it all down."
"That's a bold claim," Omilaena said cautiously. "Do you have any proof?"
"Of course I have proof! Do you think me a fool? But-"
When the wall crumbled behind Omilaena, she didn't move fast enough. She instinctively launched a needle, which went through the eye of the acid-user and dropped her, but the two Crestguards rushed in and grabbed her arms. She took down one with a breath of poison and tried to turn on the other, but a third and fourth rushed out of the smoke and wrestled her down to her knees.
Troulon walked out of the smoke, his eyes glistening with hunger. "I'm sorry, Omilaena, I wanted to talk this out with you. But I can't resist anymore."
A sharp blade formed around one hand and he slashed through her throat.
.
..
.
How many times had he clashed with Anaelina now? Kai had lost count, but he could still remember the bitter and desperate youth he'd been when she promised him the world and tried to take everything from him. In a bizarre way, he had her to thank for his current position, because without her draining, he never would have abandoned his human soul enough to attain this power.
Unlike some of his enemies, she didn't generally seem angry to see him, just eager. As if she wanted to pick up where they left off, or as if she was a gourmet seeing a favorite dish. Sometimes she behaved as if trying to kill him was more of a passion than a vendetta.
None of this prevented them from striking at one another with the intent to kill. Kai skidded back from the impact, unharmed by the lashing silver energy.
They clashed violently, exchanging multiple blows before the Crestguards even got close. It wasn't an even fight: Kai was stronger and he'd increased his edge against her. The problem was that Anaelina was fighting primarily with one hand, building up lust magic in the other. She didn't actually intend to strike him with any of the violent blows, only distract him long enough to land a technique he couldn't block.
<
Name: Anaelina
Total Power: 781
Silver Demon: Spinel Rank (255)
Corrupt Yin Core: Level 43 (172)
Physique: D-1 (205)
Soul Level: 7 (49)
Devouring Yin (+100)
>
Her soul had grown substantially since he'd last gotten a good look at it, suggesting she had fed well. Physique into D-rank, increased Silver Demon rank, and of course that Corrupt Yin Core...
"You know, I have you to thank for this." Anaelina spoke up as she retreated from another of his claws. "Before I absorbed your Class, I was just prey on Rosemount. You gave me the edge I needed to become a predator instead. I've risen faster than any of the others, thanks to that delicious determination of yours."
There was no point talking to her anymore. Since she had stopped moving so quickly, Kai fixed her with Void Gaze. Her seductive sway froze in place and she shivered - first in surprise and then in something more. Her eyes partially closed in pleasure, then suddenly shot wide open, radiating silver light.
Anaelina was frozen in place, but Kai's body stiffened at the same time. The technique wasn't identical to Void Gaze, just her power reaching into his mind. If his allies had been present they could have taken her out, but they were too far away - only the Crestguards were approaching. The longer they stared at one another, the more the silver clouds invaded his mind...
"You know, sometimes I wanted to offer you something more." Anaelina's teeth flashed silver in the light from her eyes. "Once I gained power, I started to sympathize with you. But I knew you'd never believe me... pity, isn't it?"
Drawing up his willpower, Kai wrenched their gazes apart. While his eyes were still closed, he lashed out with a Tyrant's Claw that filled the corridor between them. When he opened his eyes he saw that Anaelina hadn't recovered as quickly and the energy tore through one arm, leaving it hanging.
But before he could finish her off, Anaelina slid to the side, grabbing the first of the Crestguard with her free hand. As Kai took a deep breath, he saw her grasp the guard by the face. In seconds his body withered, all of his vitality draining into her.
Kai filled the corridor with Baleful Breath, blocking them off from the rest of the Crestguards and hopefully burning Anaelina. He knew better. She emerged from the smoke, her formerly ruined arm placed before her, emitting a silver light that kept his breath at bay. It stuttered like it couldn't last long, but she was already leaping at him again.
Her hand lashed out, faster than he'd ever seen before, and he barely deflected it. Kai grabbed her throat with a claw and squeezed... but instead of crushing her, his touch was as soft as a lover's. Those eyes shone terribly bright as her technique flowed through her throat down his arm, into his mind...
Comments
Matthew Osbahr
There's one flaw with that idea, though. Kai isn't really connected with the Savage Heart users. He's pretty much gotten what he wanted from them and never really connected with them at all. The only one he spent much time around, he now understands was simply trying to use him.
AnythingAtAll
Oh man, three back-to-back cliffhangers. I'd be very surprised if Lilaetiel gets taken down this week, but at the same time, I'd be surprised if Anaelina isn't. Troulon is still in this strange middle ground. I genuinely can't tell if he dies or not by the end of the book. Although just as I thought, he isn't equaling Omi through individual power, but through coordination with others. I think that might point to him suriviving at least a little longer than Anaelina since the DA users and the Crestguard really aren't going to be a match for any of the trio without a leader like Troulon. Actually, now that I think about it, there's more. He seemed very sure that the elves and the Flaeren Dominion want to burn the Commonwealth down... Ordinarily, I'd dismiss it as speculation borne out of desperation, but he's a steward of the Great Library. He may grow desperate, but he has consistently shown to never be reckless. I'd been thinking that if there's going to be a book 4, there's almost no way we'll be leaving Rosemount just yet, at least not entirely. The Flaeren Dominion has been left untouched and we barely spent enough time in the Coiled Empire. There's also the purported Slumbering Colossus and the matter of the Elder Golden Dragon from book 2. Even if the SC won't become relevant for a long, long time, it seems strange for the trio to just never visit it during their stay in Rosemount. But the bigger tangential evidence for me is the Golden Dragon, which is 1) native to Rosemount, 2) just two ranks above the Thunderbird, 3) someone who Kai promised he'll eat someday, and 4) someone who Kai is well on-track to eventually have a shot at hunting. The setup is too perfect for book 4 to be about Cloudspire. ALSO, Cog has mentioned that the implications of elven soul cultivation will eventually be explored, just not in this book. So here's my semi-crack theory. Troulon is absolutely right. When the trio disables the First Crest weapon and most likely takes down a grievously injured Matiavel, the Commonwealth is left wide open with a power vacuum. The Commonwealth is a noxiously persistent institution, but its leadership has been notoriously unstable. Neither the elves nor the FD want another would-be tyrant like the demons causing so much trouble, so they have independently decided to go scorched earth on it. Not necessarily burn it down, but just remove its status as one of Rosemount's great empires, ensuring it never becomes a threat again. Which leaves the trio in a horrible position. No doubt the elves will be incredibly grateful, but the trio also have deep ties in the Commonwealth that they won't just watch Rosemount burn down. Omi is attached to the Great Library and Kai is even more attached to the Savage Heart users. When they realize the elves and the FD's plans, they're going to want to stop them, of course, but that leaves them surrounded by two empires AND scrambling to restore order in the Commonwealth, all within a political landscape that, as Ceryyn had feared, just became a lot more unstable. They'll need allies. I don't think it's a coincidence that the trio gain some political capital with the Coiled Empire just before their final missions with the elves. That's one empire that at least isn't going to be hostile since the Empress seems to have a history of being neutral. Troulon, if he survives, can help in the administration of the Commonwealth after this war, like how Krainuun was for Krysal post-revolution. Ceryyn, for taking such a heavy hand in recruiting the outsiders that have now taken over the Commonwealth, is kicked out of the Elven Wilds and seeks the trio out. Whatever demons are left, including maybe even Matiavel if he isn't dead by the end of book 3, will be another miscellaneous threat scattered across Rosemount. The Flaeren Dominion, long irrelevant to the plot at large thus far, is suddenly *very* relevant. It's the perfect setup for book 4. Utter chaos. All of the corners of Rosemount left unexplored gain a greater focus next book. Every element needed to make this mess coherent has already been set up this book. But, most of all, the pressure on the trio to get stronger doesn't let up. Really, it just intensifies. They'll be going against TWO great powers of Rosemount. If they take down Matiavel this book, it'll be thanks in large part due to his injuries. They won't have that luxury this time. In order to survive Rosemount's next great war, they need to collectively be a great power themselves. I could be completely off-the-mark here, but I'm willing to take a shot in the dark. One of the first things we learn about Rosemount is how quickly nations and empires rise and fall. This is the perfect way of showing that in its full, unglorious spectacle.
