Chapter 135: Unwavering Will
Snow, Kai's bonded beast, was a magnificent sight to behold in his adult form—a colossal white tiger with striking blue eyes and glowing azure markings that pulsed with primal energy. He moved with a predator's grace, fangs and claws a blur as he met Shi Xiao's relentless assault. But it was a losing battle. The puppet, controlled by the unseen hands in the shadows, moved with an unnatural, fluid precision that was impossible to predict.
An attack came—a sharp, psychic lance aimed directly at Snow's head. It was too fast, materializing in an instant. Snow, for all his strength and speed, couldn't dodge it. He lacked the sheer velocity to evade an attack that moved with the speed of thought.
But Kai was already moving.
He didn't summon his sword. Instead, his fists came up, swirling with a deep, crimson energy that seemed to drink the light from the air. This was the Crimson Serpent's Flow—a defensive essence technique that focused not on blocking, but on redirecting, on using an opponent's force against them.
As the psychic lance shot toward Snow, Kai intercepted it. His hands moved in a circular, flowing pattern, the crimson energy wrapping around the attack. With a grunt of effort, he didn't stop it; he guided it. He spun on his heel, using the attack's own momentum, and sent it hurling back toward Shi with twice the ferocity. The lance shattered harmlessly against the puppet's own defensive barriers.
For the next few minutes, this was the dance. Shi would attack—a whirling nunchaku, a crushing kick, a blade of condensed air. And Kai would meet it with the Crimson Serpent's Flow. He was a rock in a river, letting the current break around him. He redirected blows into the tunnel walls, sending showers of concrete dust into the air. He deflected slashes back at Shi, forcing the puppet to break its own rhythm. He was a master of deflection, a artist of redirection. He wasn't winning, but he was holding. He was creating a stalemate through sheer, unwavering technique.
Then, without warning, it happened.
The translucent black hands in the shadows twitched their fingers with renewed intensity. Shi's body, which was already fast, seemed to blur. His speed increased exponentially, multiplying by a factor of 1.3. It was a small number on paper, but in a battle of this caliber, it was the difference between life and death.
The world became a hailstorm of pain for Kai.
DHAM! A fist to his ribs. He felt the crack, sharp and sickening.
SLASH!A nunchaku tip tore a gash across his thigh.
PUNCH!An impact to his jaw that made his vision swim.
DHAM!SLASH!
The attacks rained down on him, a relentless, unforgiving barrage. He tried to use the Crimson Serpent's Flow, but he was now too slow. The movements he had perfected were a fraction too late, his redirections a hair's breadth off. His body, already pushed to its limit, screamed in protest.
Seeing its master in mortal peril, Snow let out a roar that shook the very foundations of the tunnel. With a final, desperate surge of loyalty, the great tiger placed himself between Kai and the onslaught. He took the full force of the next attack—a concentrated blast of force meant for Kai's heart.
The impact was devastating. Snow's mighty form was thrown backward, a pained whimper escaping his jaws. His body began to glow with a soft, blue light, and before he could hit the ground, he dissolved into motes of energy, teleporting back to his beast space to recover and respawn. He was not dead, but he was out of the fight, his sacrifice buying Kai a single, precious second.
Alone, Kai stumbled back, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps. His body felt impossibly heavy.
I am fucking tired, the thought cut through the pain, clear and stark. I feels like my limbs have planets attached to it.
Every movement was a monumental effort. His arms and legs were leaden, his muscles burning with a deep, acidic fatigue. But his mind, though clouded with exhaustion, was sharp with resolve.
But I can't give up. This will not only cost Daren his life, but it will also put me under permanent suspicion in Tom's eyes. I have to battle through. I have to.
He saw Daren's still form lying near the dead gorilla, a reminder of what was at stake. He thought of Tom's calculating gaze, the trust that was so fragile. Failure was not an option.
Then, the final blow came. A punch, moving faster than his eyes could track, connected squarely with his chest. The air exploded from his lungs. He was lifted off his feet and thrown backward, crashing onto the cold, hard ground with a force that rattled his teeth.
He lay there, broken. His limbs had literally stopped responding. They felt alien, like they belonged to some fallen titan, not to him. The urge to just close his eyes, to let the darkness take him, was overwhelming. But the fire in his soul, that unyielding, stubborn will to keep moving forward, refused to be extinguished.
Through bruised lips, caked with blood and dust, Kai whispered two words into the void.
"STILL ABYSS."
The effect was instantaneous. From his body, a blackish, tar-like fluid erupted, spreading outwards in a dome that enveloped both him and Shi Xiao. It was not a flashy technique, but one of absolute, desperate control. Inside the dome, movement ceased. The very air became thick, heavy, resistant. Shi Xiao, mid-attack, was frozen solid, trapped in the viscous, light-devouring darkness.
But Kai was like paralyzed, every ounce of his remaining energy being consumed to maintain the stasis field. He could not move a muscle. Yet, his mind fought on.
He focused everything—every last shred of his spirit, every dying ember of his energy—into a single, final command to his sword. Luminis Aquae, lying a few feet away, glowed with a feeble, yet determined, blue light.
It trembled, then lifted into the air.
With agonizing slowness, it flew toward the frozen Shi Xiao.
SLASH! The blade cut through a leg.
SLASH!An arm was severed.
SLASH!SLASH! SLASH!
It was a macabre, automated dissection. Luminis Aquae moved with the last dregs of its master's will, systematically carving Shi's body into pieces, like a butcher dismembering a joint of meat. When it was done, the sword clattered to the ground, its light extinguished.
Kai collapsed, the Still Abyss dissolving around him. He had nothing left. He was a hollow shell, teetering on the brink of unconsciousness.
And then, he saw it. The sight that broke what little spirit he had left.
From each and every severed piece of Shi's body, a golden thread began to glow. They pulsed with light, then pulled the dismembered parts back together. Flesh knitted, limbs reattached, and within moments, Shi Xiao stood whole once more, his blank eyes staring ahead, controlled by the puppeteer in the shadows.
The look on Kai's face was not one of anger, or even despair. It was the pure, unadulterated frustration of a child who has stayed up all night working on a project, only to have someone casually destroy it with a single, careless act. It was the look of utter, soul-crushing exhaustion in the face of an impossible, unfair task.
He didn't even get a moment to process this fresh hell.
An unseen force grabbed him and yanked him violently into the air. He was flying, hurled backward with tremendous force. The tunnel walls blurred past him. He saw the circular building of the Dark Veil Order flash beneath him, and then he was over open space, flying away from it, toward the vast, churning expanse of the Xander Ocean.
The world spun. The last thing he saw was the endless, dark water rushing up to meet him.
SPLASH.
To be continued…