I walk away from the hall at a brisk pace, my limbs a bit shaky under the qi pressure radiating from inside the room.

I’m glad I relinquished my front-row seat. I don’t think I would have survived more than a second or two of the spectacle that’s about to take place. To be perfectly honest, I was almost tempted to stay and watch the battle – it might be instructive for my own cultivation – but when I saw Akasha’s smile, I changed my mind.

It was a pretty scary smile.

So, when those three were focused on each other, I used my concealment magic and made myself scarce. I had a few moments of trepidation, at first, wondering if it would even work against monsters like them.Continue reading

The clouds around me are blown into tatters as I fly through them, the speed of my passage creating a vortex of wind in my wake strong enough to tear them apart. The landscape visibly rolls back behind me, much faster than it should at this height.

I know my increased speed is sign of my flurried heart, but of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to slow down. Not showing weakness or doubt is something I only bother to do in front of my subordinates, in my image as their leader.

And time is short.

Why did they attack the laboratory now, of all times?Continue reading

This cloak is in the way. I can’t fight correctly while wearing it.

Since my blood-qi is sealed, I can’t even open my space ring, so I just undo the clasp holding it in place and let it fall off my shoulders. It drops to the ground, bunching up around my feet.

I step over it and walk slowly toward Jodene and Shen Lei.

Shen Lei takes a few steps back and to the side, spreading out so that, if I attack one of them, the other will be able to strike me in the back in an instant.Continue reading

“This is it,” Jodene says, handing the small glass sphere to me.

This… is a key?

That makes no sense.

In the first place, it’s strange that there would be a lock on a teleport formation. Space magic is quite an arcane discipline. Adding extraneous elements to a teleport spell could easily make it malfunction. In a teleport, the destination coordinates are decided by the frequency of the qi used to power the spell. Normally, the frequency is fixed upon creating the formation, so that all the user has to do is input energy into the formation, but if the frequency somehow changes – for example, if the formation is damaged, or if some random idiot tries to append crude security systems to the formation upon its creation – then the coordinates will also change unpredictably.Continue reading

My image of Akasha as a steely, stoic engine of destruction is steadily crumbling.

She’s sprawled on top of the bed again, and even though her face still doesn’t show any kind of emotion, I can’t help but get the feeling that she’s enjoying it a lot more than she’s letting on.

Who knew a devil could be lazy.

And a drunkard, too.Continue reading

Shen Lei knocked quietly on the door before him.

“Shen Lei, responding to your summons, my Lady.”

A voice, deep and low but obviously female, answered from the room beyond. “Enter.”

Keeping his gaze down in respect, Shen Lei opened the door and stepped inside the lavishly decorated chamber. He closed the door again behind himself.

Continue reading

Night.

Sif, along with most of the riders, except for those on guard duty, are asleep. Shen Lei is sitting cross-legged in meditation near a campfire.

As for me, I’m sitting against a tree, about a hundred meters away from the camp – far enough that no one will easily witness my actions, but close enough that I can rush back there almost instantly if something unexpected happens.

Sanae is sitting atop my palm, nibbling on my fingers as a way to beg for the food I promised her when she woke up this afternoon.Continue reading

The riders are approaching.

Their voices are almost drowned out by the thunder of their horses’ hooves striking the ground, but I can still make out that of the old man from the stall, speaking to the others.

“Remember my instructions,” he says. “Do not draw your weapons. Whatever happens, do not draw your weapons. If you do, you will die.”

“Yes!” thirty-five other voices shout back at the same time.Continue reading

Habit is a scary thing…

I remember that, in the first hours after meeting Akasha, I was scared out of my mind.

Then, I calmed down a bit, and for the next few days, while I resolved to maintain a certain distance between us, we managed to cooperate and communicate rather effectively.

But then, I started flirting with her more and more blatantly.Continue reading

Sif was right.

Islandis Fortress is even noisier during daytime.

Annoying, annoying, annoying.

Should I just kill everyone in here and be done with it? That would reestablish silence, would it not?Continue reading