On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Fifty-Nine

“Just who are you, you knave-knave?” Shaeula spat in response, eyes glowing with fury at the mocking tone the Raven Knight used. “To know of me…”

“Oh, who does not know of you, little half-breed whelp of Shaetanao, the most pathetic of the Seven Royal Bloodlines? Why do you think you were allowed, nay forced to come to this country where the Seelie Court holds little sway? And with such poor retainers at that.”

It was impossible to see his face under the hood and mask, but I could just tell the Raven Knight was wearing a cruel grin. Still… Shaeula made great pains to tell me repeatedly she was a pure-blooded princess… I guess maybe there is more to her story than I know…

Even so, there was little time to think about that. We were still massively outnumbered, and while we had paused for conversation, the aether drain of his Territory and the darkness was slowly weakening us. Stalling for time only helped him, not us.

I turned to Shaeula, who was biting her lip so hard blood was leaking from it. “Ignore that jerk. We’ll beat him down and find out all we need to know then, all right?”

She looked at me gratefully and nodded. “Very well, my master. We shall destroy his plans and have him beg to be our slave-slave!” with that she raised her hand and unleased the move she had used in the battle against Grulgor and his trolls.

“Emerald Wind Prison! Second Form!”

Second form? Wasn’t that from a magical girl anime she was watching the other day?

A shimmering sphere of wind swallowed the sky. It was far less dense than the wall that had restrained Grulgor’s trolls, though it covered a much wider area, snaring in most of the crows and quite a few winged monsters. For a moment I couldn’t work out what her aim was, but then the sphere began to contract, pushing against the crows. Some of the winged monsters broke free, taking minor damage from the sharp blades of wind that comprised the shining sphere, but the crows were too weak, and as the sphere constricted further even the remaining winged beasts could not escape, buffeted back by the now deadlier condensed wind energies…

“Do not… slander… me-me!” She grated, closing her first, the sphere collapsing in on itself, air rushing in to fill the sudden gap, crackling like a sonic boom. Black feathers and gore rained down from the sky as the sphere exploded, and as a silvery message I had not seen for a while crossed my vision I caught the staggering Shaeula, but she pushed me aside with only a short “I am fine-fine!” and she conjured another Emerald Wind Prison, this time as a long wall, blocking us off from the spider and scorpion monsters.

You have gained in strength. Your level has increased from fourteen to fifteen.

Every boost here was key to us getting out of this alive. The Raven Knight was ordering the jorogumo to unleash flames against the wind wall to consume it, but our white snakes were throwing up earthen barriers to block the attacks, buying us time. Our forces were struggling free of the sticky strands they had been trapped in, and in the skies there were less than half of our foes left…

Hurling some attacks of vibrating jade wind blades at the Raven Knight, who dodged them with ease, I prepared an invisible attack. After my next volley was also evaded I unleashed it, a stabbing drill that was aimed at his chest. Got you!

Just as the piercing blade was about to impact him the Raven Knight spun, and the blade merely blasted a chunk out of his mausoleum. He regarded me with a mocking head tilt, even as he warded off my other visible attacks.

“You think I would fall for that, mortal? I am no second rate fool like the idiot troll or that by-blow over there. Besides, you have used that trick before.” The Raven Knight sneered, turning his head towards the jorogumo, who was directing her forces to tear down the walls of wind and stone, while others were moving around them to flank us, skittering across the webs.

My reply was cut short when Grulgor, covered in a stony armour conjured by the White Snake kami, burst through both the Emerald Wind Prison and the burning stone walls, covered in deep bleeding cuts and with flames licking across his body. “Grul will crush and eat you little bugs!” he roared, swinging a heavy club of hardened rocks, pulverising several spiders to gobbets of meat, while his foot stomped another to ruin.

“Persistent. No more than I would expect from such an imbecile.” The Raven Knight scowled. “Still, you fools are more stubborn than I gave you credit for. But that ends now. First Weal, First Woe!” he cried, raising one hand to the sky, darkness gathering on it ominously.

Shaeula, who was struggling to hold her Prison, let out a cry of shock, her eyes wide, face ashen. “Weal and Woe! This fiend is one of the Unseelie, he must be-be!”

“Unseelie, Seelie…” the Raven Knight let out a harsh laugh. “Is there even a difference? You would know better than I, would you not? Why not ask that troll there what he thinks about it. Only Duke Formor remains a Seelie, no? Trolls and Giants are outcast bloodlines now, are they not?”

As our back-line and flanks were struggling with the ambushers and their reinforcements, more and more of our weaselkin were falling, the trolls were starting to be isolated and beleaguered and the White Snake kami, surrounded by its adherents, were looking worn down and injured, scales missing and blood dripping to the darkened soil. I don’t have time to listen to your ramblings, if I don’t do something we are done…

Grulgor either did not hear or did not care about the Raven Knight’s provocations, as he was roaring and smashing his way through the enemies with bottomless rage, but Shaeula was faltering, her wind wall dying down as her control slipped.

“First Weal… Darkness Blessed!” The Raven Knight intoned, and suddenly the jorogumo and her nearby human-faced spiders were engulfed in night, their very presence now drawing energy more rapidly from both Grulgor, who slowed noticeably, suddenly being pushed back, and also the walls of stone, which were now crumbling away, and the wind wall, which was flickering and fading, ready to disappear at any moment.

Shit. Not good, not good!

“First Woe… Darkness Cursed!” I barely had time to react as the Raven Knight pointed and a light-devouring lance lashed out from his fingertip, aimed directly at the heart of the distraught Shaeula. Acting without thinking I dove at her, carrying her roughly to the ground in my arms, feeling the shock of impact against my ribs, hearing the shattering of wyrm-scale, charred fragments falling around us.

The beam carried on past me, piercing through a white snake, which instantly corroded, dying with a hideous scream. Ignoring the pain that threatened to snatch my breath, I pulled Shaeula to her feet. Luckily she seemed unhurt, but she was still dazed.

“Are you okay?” I asked her. “Not injured? If it is the words of that ass put them aside for now. I’ll listen to what you have to say later, and if I can help with anything you know I will. But first we have to survive and make the jerk pay!”

Shaeula nodded, light coming back into her amber eyes. She was about to agree when she saw my side. The wyrm-scale armour I had so patiently made had a large part missing, and mottled bruises were spreading across my bare torso. “Am I okay? You are a fool, master. Compared to your injury I have suffered not at all-all. Why did you do that?”

“Yes, why do that, foolish mortal?” The Raven Knight tilted his head quizzically, the protruding beak mask making him look much like the bird he shared his name with. “Why save this little half-Fae who was sent out to this foreign land virtually alone? Should you not be more concerned with the oncoming destruction of this rotten world?”

Even as he spoke some flying creatures divebombed towards us and the snakes, but I was done with being pushed back. Aiming to kill Shaeula had definitely crossed my bottom line. No more kind Japanese protagonist for me. I needed the information he had, and then I was going to pay him back in kind. Patting Shaeula’s back with one hand to reassure her, I swung my other and a series of fine vibrating threads of wind sliced through the air, bisecting many of the fliers, scattering the others.

Even as the slain foes were falling, dissolving into ether, I asked the Raven Knight a question. “So you know about the danger I’ve been told will befall the Earth. Don’t you care? Won’t you be in danger as well?”

“You think I fear doom little mortal? I, who have lived longer than your family has history? Besides, your efforts will amount to naught in the end. Those fools who call themselves Gods may try to stave off the inevitable with puppets such as you and others, but this world has lost too much to endure. No, I will simply enjoy watching everything burn, and then I shall leave, satisfied. There are other worlds than these in the Astral. I dare say I can find one more to my liking than this world of faded myth and false legend, where lies are oft truth and truth but bitter falsehoods.”

Damn, I wish he’d say what he knows instead of just hinting about it like some third-rate underling…

“Seems pretty short-sighted if you ask me. If you don’t like the world, then change it, don’t just sit there complaining. Besides, what does that have to do with Shaeula?” I was pretty pissed off. Shielding her, I continued to attack, scooping what little ether I could from the fallen monsters, though most was gathered by the Raven Knight as it was his Territory, and it was barely enough to offset the drain in aether I was suffering from. Flames gushed from my imagination, aether turning into a blaze that ignited several webs, burning the spiders there alive. Still, it did not spread as I wished, the darkness seeming to close in on the fires, smothering them.

“The half-Fae? That was mostly a pleasure. Though there are certainly those who wish to see her… disappear. But what of it? You think you can hold out much longer? I think not.”

As he spoke I looked around. The two Kamaitachi were both in bad shape, though still fighting against the remaining fliers. Most of the weaselkin were dead though, orbs of light constantly joining the faintly glowing constellation around Shaeula. Grulgor was now engaged with the jorogumo, though she was dancing around him, her darkness-imbued legs ripping great rents in his flesh. And the White Snake kami was putting up a good fight, spikes of rock impaling many scorpions and spiders, yet several of his kin were dead, as was one troll, who had finally stopped moving, chopped into multiple pieces, each pulled apart by webbing. Several others were running out of ability to regenerate as well.

I looked Shaeula in the eyes and she nodded, once more gnawing on her cut and bleeding lips. This bastard keeps saying the very things that hurt her. I’m going to rip that mask off so she can find out who he is… “Right, we are going to have to risk it all to take him down. Otherwise this won’t end.” With that said Shaeula unleashed what power she had remaining, her wind wall dying off. The crumbling rock walls exploded, turning into a massive shotgun-style blast of corroded shrapnel. Grulgor and a couple of his trolls caught in the blast staggered, and even the jorogumo could not avoid being hit, one of her legs severed by the debris.

Ignoring the dead and dying mass of spiders I raced forwards, leaving Shaeula to back up the rear. My spear slashed out, spearing and killing several wounded foes as I passed, my aether combining with my wind to create a burning shroud that cut through the lingering webs. Leaping up onto the mausoleum several winged foes dived down to stop me but I expelled my fiery aura in a halo, burning them and some lingering corpses to ashes.

You have gained in strength. Your level has increased from fifteen to sixteen.

Another timely boost. I felt my strength increase a little, so with a final push I crested the crumbling edifice in front of me, spear shimmering with vibrating wind energy. I’m going to make you beg for forgiveness at Shaeula’s feet, you bastard…

Suddenly I ground to a halt, weapon held in front of me. The Raven Knight had jumped to the back of the mausoleum and was a few metres away from me, just out of reach of my spear. In his hands were a half dozen glowing crystals, their rich red glow muted by the darkness. Oh shit…

“You recognise these, yes? I thought a puppet would. Most of the Seelie think these but pretty trinkets washed up on the etheric tides, but you know better, yes?” he let out a dark chuckle. “You have exceeded my expectations indeed. Had I not formed an alliance with the jorogumo you failed to finish, this might have turned out very differently. But still, you chose poorly. Farewell, mortal puppet. That half-Fae and stupid troll will join you soon after. Second Weal, Second Woe!”

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