Chapter 30 #2
Xien Tang smirked, raising his voice to take in the entire plaza that Alex had turned into an absolute killing field.
“Cursed Disciple of the Fox whose master’s jealousy knows no bounds, I challenge you!”
Alex shuddered. Until the memory of Lini’s haunted eyes jolted him out of his momentary dismay at the sight of this fully kitted Gold-tier monster who looked born for the battlefield.
His heart pounded, yet he flashed a fierce smile.
Momentary apprehension at the raw crackling potency of his foe transformed into a fierce hunger to AVENGE his friend and all the others whose lives had been lost, all the hopes and dreams of their families and loved ones turned into broken nightmares and despair.
So many precious lives too fragilely holding happiness, only to be crushed like egg shells under the boots of tyrants.
A silver cable screamed through the endless void.
Alex snapped his wild gaze to lock with Xien Tang’s own.
The man’s eyes widened, his mocking smile turning into a snarl.
“Terms.”
Alex’s singular word echoed endlessly through the plaza, drowning out the hushed murmurs, whispers, and cursing, so great was his mastery over Wind itself.
Free of a wujen’s complex spiritual constructs and chants, obeying Alex at that moment, simply because he refused to exist in a world where it didn’t.
Xien Tang actually chortled. “Impressive. To link Wind Qi with Spirit Qi. So eager you are to bind me? So be it!” the Gold roared, happily smacking fist to palm.
“Here are the terms I propose. You and I duel before the palace. The stakes are nothing less than Wanshi itself! Should you win, the city falls under the banner of the Fox, and my soldiers and I will depart peacefully. Should I win…”—the monster flashed a cruel smile—“I will take savage delight in tearing out your heart and claiming the Fox’s might as my own! ”
Alex gazed at the man coldly. “And if I should kill you?”
“Ha! As if you have any chance of that, fool!” the towering titan snorted.
His hard glare took in the countless regiments of wide-eyed men witnessing their byplay so raptly, before turning to gaze up at the squadron of aerial wujen that Alex had been extremely fortunate not to run into, before now.
Perhaps because even Xien Tang knew better than to start raging fires in what was normally a water-starved desert, within a city at least partially made of exceptionally dry timber, and the caldera lake a good half mile away.
“But so be it. EVERY LAST SOLDIER WILL PEACEFULLY WITHDRAW!” Xien Tang roared. “Should I fall or perish to you, they will leave without contest, ceding all claims to this caldera for at least a year and a day!”
Alex flashed a cold smile that didn’t quite reach his blue eyes. “And does that include Xien Su and the rest of your coterie of assassins posing as courtiers, and your infernalist Guo as well?”
The titan’s smirk became hard and cold. “Yes. It does. And I’ll even let you keep all your friends.”
He flashed a brilliantly sharp smile before gesturing up at the aerial wujen who were, to Alex’s horror, holding up none other than Linnea, Nili, and Princess Sunlay.
“There you are, boy. You’ll even get back your harem!
It’s amazing how many foolish bitches follow you to their absolute destruction in so many tales, isn’t it?
I’m afraid I’ll have to keep the men on their crosses, however.
But these, at least, are yours with nothing more than a missing kneecap or two! ”
Alex’s eyes widened with horrified fury at seeing their slumped-over, bleeding forms. He was absolutely certain he knew what the coldly smiling titan meant, yet knowing as well that he dare not dwell on horrors and depredations suffered by those he cherished.
He needed to keep his focus on point, if he were to have any hope of rescuing his friends… or surviving himself.
The giant smacked fist to palm a second time, the wujen ascending once more, along with the desperate cries of his friends.
You have successfully shared potency with 3 party members!
“Well, Cursed Disciple of the Fox? Will you accept my challenge and meet me, free of all armaments and weapons, before the palace, where we will hone our souls in the crucible of combat? Forging ourselves along the Path of Peril so that one may rise to divine heights and the other fall to the River of Souls, as he so richly deserves?”
Alex took one shuddering breath after another, fists clenched, choking back the urge to scream and unleash Black Lightning that would obliterate so many smirking monstrosities… and his friends as well.
“Does that include you, Xien Tang? Will you meet me and fight free of arms and armaments, where fists and feet alone will decide the outcome of our battle?”
The titan roared with laughter.
In the blink of an eye, his armaments were gone.
Though his fists radiated a crushing gravity well of weight and pressure that Alex, heart racing, feared he could fall right into. Even if it was just the tiniest echo of a Jade’s power, it was still enough to seal his fate, unless he dared to—
And then it, too, was gone.
“Neither enchanted artifacts, armaments, nor Gold-tier striker techniques will I use, boy!” Xien Tang’s smirk turned into a hard scowl.
“And you will curb yourself as well. No lightning that mirrors the power of gods forever beyond you. No corrupted dark foulness echoing your twisted alliances with fallen deities and the river of death!” The monster’s eyes crackled with Earth’s fury.
Alex, heart hammering, felt the weight of the entire caldera…
no. Even more so. The spiritual pressure of a Gold-tier treasure powering an inconceivably potent enchantment array tightly wrapping about his soul.
Yet he refused to hold back from saying what he must, if he was to have any chance at all of saving his friends.
The ones who still lived, at least.
“So long as I’m free to use what defensive techniques I may, and everyone aligned directly or indirectly to Dongfang Hong within Wanshi will also swear to peacefully withdraw and cause us no further trouble, then I accept.
We fight to my death, or to your submission or expiration.
My victory means Dongfang Hong’s forces retreat in full for at least a year and a day, and the city is mine.
All those I consider citizens or allies that are still alive as of this moment need fear no further injury.
And should you actually manage to best me…
” He flashed a bitter smile. “I fear you’ll be tasting just how bitter my heart truly is. I hope you choke on it.”
Xien Tang’s laughter seemed to echo endlessly through the city streets, as if taking in the entirety of the caldera he would claim as his own.
“So be it! I accept, and so do my men!”
Alex’s eyes widened. He felt a chill of apprehension when his ears rang with the crash of countless thousands of men falling to their knees in perfect unison.
To have such control over the fates of so many souls…
for the second time that night, Alex felt a trace of pity for the doomed soldiers, sensing just how much like puppets they truly were.
Binds he had been able to tear free of only one soldier that night, whom he would hopefully never have to face down again.
And the looks in countless eyes as these men sensed their souls momentarily seized, the caldera’s Gold-tier bindings instantly wrapping around all their cultivation bases before they shuddered, blinked, and rose back to their feet, clearly in full control of themselves once more, was beyond horrific.
For it was clear as sin that among Dongfang Hong’s troops, autonomy was a privilege and not a right.
Any commanding officer could seize their underling’s souls for absolute control at any time, and who knew just how horrific a price they’d have to pay in Death’s waters to scrub free such a severe taint, regardless of their malice or lack thereof, before they could ever be reborn again.
If Xien thought anything of Alex’s momentary dismay, his sneer made it clear that he thought it was merely the realization that Alex was sure to fall in the fight to come.
“You have a quarter glass. Of course, you can always flee like the vermin you are…” Xien said with a mocking smile. “But I, for one, am anxious to hone my killing edge against the bitter hate of the Fox before I eat your heart and cast you back into the river where you belong!”