Chapter 9: The Monster Army Mobilizes
Aether's Sacrifice
The Shadow General's scythe descended, aiming for Jade's head.
Just before impact, Bao, fueled by the raw loyalty commanded by the Divine Eye, intercepted. The massive Pixiu/Lion Hybrid roared, taking the scythe deep into its shoulder. Bao howled in pain but held the Shadow General's weapon fast.
"Bao!" Jade screamed, the pain radiating through their mental link.
Aether, seeing the immediate threat to Jade and the desperate need to sever the corruption, made his choice. He unleashed a furious, targeted blast of sapphire elemental energy, not at the Shadow General, but at the cluster of dark wires and the roots of the Heartwood Bloom.
CRACK!
The wires snapped, but the energy backlash was immense. The explosion of dark magic slammed into Aether. He was thrown backward against the stone wall, his obsidian armor shattering in several places. He slumped, breathing shallowly, his sapphire sword clattering away. The Dragon Prince was critically injured, but the wires feeding the parasitic anchor were severed.
Seraphina, watching from her ship, let out a shriek of rage. "Fool! You have destroyed the cure and nearly killed yourself! Shadow General, finish the human and secure the Heartwood!"
Commanding the Legion
Jade knew Aether was out of the fight and Bao was severely wounded. The only thing standing between them and death was a Level 80 Shadow General and a dozen enraged Eastern Dragons who were slowly breaking through the Jiu-Wei Hu's illusions.
She had to mobilize everything.
Jade clutched the injured Bao and focused her Divine Eye on the entirety of the Nine Peaks. She projected a single, powerful command laced with pure, unadulterated Authority: the instinct for territorial defense.
"ALL YAOGUAI OF THE WESTERN PEAKS—OBEY THE AZURE EYE! DEFEND THIS SUMMIT! ATTACK THE BLACK SHADOWS!"
The command was devastatingly effective. It bypassed the Dragon's Law, speaking directly to the creatures' primal instincts.
From the crevasses, caves, and icy slopes, the legendary creatures of the Dragon's Graveyard erupted. Giant, three-headed serpents (Xiangliu), lumbering, rock-skinned beasts (Dijiang), and hundreds of smaller, vicious mountain sprites rushed toward the summit.
Jade had inadvertently summoned an army of chaos. The summit became a terrifying melee of mythical beasts attacking the uniformed Eastern Dragons.
The Shadow General, however, was immune to the new recruits. It tore its scythe free from Bao's shoulder, focused entirely on Jade.
The Dragon's Weakness
"You cannot command me, human!" the Shadow General snarled, advancing on Jade. "I am loyal to the Night Weaver, not to chaos!"
Jade, using the last of her strength, focused the Divine Eye on the General's newly repaired, obsidian armor. She saw a flicker of purple energy—Seraphina's signature—healing the armor joints.
The Shadow General's strength comes from the corruption, Jade realized. And the corruption must be sustained by a source.
She scanned Seraphina's massive vessel. The Eastern Princess stood proudly on the deck, radiating smug confidence, her elemental energy high.
"He's powered by the ship!" Jade yelled, clutching Bao's neck. "Seraphina is using her own elemental energy, channeled through the ship, to sustain the Shadow General's corruption and repairs!"
Aether, struggling to rise, heard her. His eyes, though clouded with pain, flashed with deadly realization.
"Seraphina," Aether rasped, channeling a tiny, residual spark of energy into his remaining hand. "You have weakened my father, but you have left yourself exposed!"
He wasn't strong enough to attack the ship, but Jade was.
The Final Command
The Shadow General lunged, raising the scythe for the killing blow.
Jade closed her eyes, channeling her final, desperate command not to the monster, but to the elemental forces around the ship. She focused on the core weakness of Seraphina's vessel—the stabilizing array.
"CHI-WEN! TARGET THE SHIP'S STABILIZING ARRAY! PURE ACID BLAST!"
The Level 35 Flood Beast, already airborne, unleashed a massive torrent of corrosive elemental acid. The blast slammed into the underside of Seraphina's vessel.
The ship lurched violently. Seraphina screamed as her footing vanished. The power surge she was channeling to the Shadow General was instantly cut off.
The Shadow General, deprived of its power source and facing a sudden surge of chaotic mountain beasts, sputtered. Its obsidian armor dissolved into dust, revealing a frightened, weaker Yaoguai core underneath.
Aether, using his last bit of strength, focused his elemental will. A shard of ice erupted from the rock and pierced the now exposed Yaoguai core. The Shadow General dissolved into a black smoke, finally vanquished.
Seraphina, regaining control of her damaged vessel, glared down at the ravaged summit, realizing her costly defeat.
"This is not over, Aether! You have won this skirmish, but you still have a dying King and a corrupt realm! Enjoy your last moments of peace!"
The Eastern Dragon Princess initiated the emergency warp, and the celestial vessel vanished in a flash of angry emerald light.
Jade stumbled toward Aether, who was slumped and heavily injured, the Heartwood Bloom lying untouched on the ground beside them. The army of Yaoguai that had saved them was already dispersing, their immediate command fulfilled.
"The Bloom," Jade said weakly, picking up the incandescent golden flower. "We got it, Aether."
Aether looked at the bloom, then at Jade, his amethyst eyes filled with a mixture of pain and profound, unexpected emotion. "You commanded the very spirit of the mountains, Jade. You saved my life... twice. And you are exhausted."
"We need to get back," Jade insisted, forcing herself to focus. "The King..."
But Aether shook his head. "First, we face the highest price of the forbidden pact." He reached up and touched the fresh, jagged crack in his obsidian chest plate. "Seraphina is gone, but the Dragon Council will soon know everything. And my father is beyond the help of this flower alone."