Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (43 page)

“People of Deimos, my
apologies for my delayed entrance. In due time, I will deliver the rest of your
stolen life energy. Until then, please pray for my success to Lord Death.”

The former zombies made
a salute with one hand over their hearts and another at their stomachs.

“May crows watch over
you, Brother Neuro.”

Basilard stood up and
said, “Yes. Thanks for your help, Brother.”

Neuro turned his
attention to the mercenary. “No, I should thank you, Mr. Bladi. It is due to
your actions that I found a lead.”

“Mount Heios?”

Neuro leaned forward on
his staff. “Until now, the Brotherhood has not thought to investigate it.
Because of its Fog and monsters, we did not determine it worth the risk.
Regardless, we kept it under surveillance and noted increased activity since
you arrived. Now we have probable cause. I would like to accompany you, if you
do not mind.”

Tiza ran forward. “We
don’t mind! That was awesome!”

Neuro fell backward, he
was so startled. His hood fell away in his tumble and revealed a face as pale
as his hands, but his cheeks were tinged pink. His eyes were coal black and
avoided the pretty girl praising him.

“I-it was n-nothing, miss.
Just d-doing my job…”

Tiza bent over to help
him up and continued holding his hand when he was on his feet.

“I thought mercenaries
had an exciting job, but you guys are another level.”

Nolien scowled and
stepped forward.

“How do we know he
wasn’t behind this? He could be working with Mr.15 and is trying to infiltrate
our group with heroics.”

Tiza smacked him upside
the head. “Stop being a jealous idiot, Tenderfoot. You should know by now how
important you are to me.”

Nolien looked away.
“Right. Sorry.”

“I see,” Neuro said,
relieved. “May neither of you die before the other.”

Tiza blushed and
shouted, “I didn’t mean that romantically! We’re just good friends and
co-workers! Nothing more!”

Neuro looked to
Basilard, who nodded.

“Yes, it’s like this
all the time. Let’s move on. We’ve lost too much time already.”

They moved through the
town without further opposition. It was emptier than any of them remembered of
it being when they first walked through two weeks previously. Neuro noted that
the number of souls inhabiting the area was less than half of its average; they
fled or died when Mr.15 made his move here. Only a handful remained and they
remained in hiding while the group passed. If the Bladi man with the evil sword
didn’t scare them, then the young man with the black cloak and scythe did.

“Will they be okay?”
Zettai asked Nolien.

“As long as this land
is fruitful, I believe they will preserve.”

“If I do not recover
the rest of the stolen life energy, then the population will diminish further,”
Neuro said. “They might not have enough labor to work the land.”

Nolien matched pace
with him and said, “How did you know we needed help? A second later, and we
would have died.”

 Tiza groaned.
“Tenderfoot, are you still going on about that?”

“The Trickster pulled
my hood over my head and stole my scythe. Naturally, I followed him. Then I
sensed the necrocraft being worked at Mount Daici and hurried the rest of the
way.”

“That certainly
sounds
like The Trickster but –”

Tiza pecked Nolien’s cheek
and he lost his train of thought. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him out
of the town.

As the party crossed
the wasteland, the death priest spoke at length with Basilard. They discussed
methods of subduing the Crimson Killer, his most likely plans, and the
possibility that they would fight a reaper. The other three listened closely to
their discussion.

Reapers were to Lord
Death what tricksters were to Lady Chaos; lesser gods that served a fundamental
aspect of reality. It was their responsibility to travel through all the
universes of a world fruit to monitor the steady process of death and decay.
They were the ones who granted necrocraft to mortals, be they power-mongers
like Caffour or priests like Neuro, and thus their link to their deity.
Naturally, all this meant they were far more than any mortal could engage in a
straightforward fight.

“I’ve heard rumors that
BloodDrinker was forged by a blacksmith who achieved Chaotic Enlightenment,” Neuro
said. “If that’s true, then it might be able to kill reapers.”

“It has such a power,
but it’s more likely to kill all of us instead of only Reno Grade.”

“I see. If that is the
case, then we should strive to avoid him if possible. If not, at least my death
will lead to my own ascension. Then I may be able to petition for your
revival.”

“No!”

Tiza clenched her
fists, gritted her teeth, and glared at the both of them.

“I didn’t escape from
Professor Pathetic’s cage just so you two could talk defeatism! If we find
Rent-a-Spade, then I’m gonna steal his scythe and kill him with it. Even Death
can die, right, Ivory?”

“Ivory?” Neuro asked.
Tiza glowered. “Uh...um…yes. A reaper’s scythe is the symbol of their office
and their rank. They are no more immune to its power than anyone else.”

Tiza thrust her chest
out and said, “Problem solved.”

Neuro whispered to
Nolien, “Your Tiza does not want for confidence. Rarely do these sorts of
people spend their full supply of
kon
.”

“She’s not ‘my’ Tiza
and I will make sure she does.”

“Then you should learn
lifecraft.”

“Then we’d be rivals.”

“How can I be a rival
to someone who’s already won?”

Nolien glared. “Stick
to dead people; that’s a scythe, not a bow.”

Neuro looked straight
ahead. “As you wish.” 

Several hours later, they arrived at the
base of the mountain. Tiza was grateful for the boots under her skirt because
heels would have been torture for such a hike. Even so, the lack of mana in the
air made it tiring. Nolien felt it more than she did and leaned on his staff.
Zettai was better adjusted to the atmosphere, but in worse physical condition,
so Basilard hoisted her on his shoulders at the halfway point. He himself was
fine, but he touched the hilt of his sword every few minutes and his eyes
flashed as power traveled between them. Only Neuro was unaffected by the hike,
but even he gazed in awe upon the sight before them.

A crackling mass of power as thin as air
but as dense as an ocean filled their vision; the sheer magnitude of the cloud
staggered all of them. It swirled upon itself peacefully, but anyone with a
rudimentary understanding of mana knew that nothing inside was peaceful. Part
of it drifted their way and Tiza involuntarily took a step backwards.

A hand stopped her. “Don't
worry,” the voice of her mentor said.

Tiza shook her head. “I'm
not,” she said without her usual vigor. “Tenderfoot is the coward.”

The team's healer was
backing away quickly. “I'm not goin' in there! No! I'm not!”

“Nolien...” Basilard
began, but Nolien rapidly shook his head.

“So much mana-monsters
–
I
might be monster-breathing the air!”

Zettai jumped down from
Basilard and dashed into the cloud. She removed her safety mask mid-step. Once
inside, she took a deep breath and instantly glowed with the sudden intake of
highly concentrated energy.

“Crimson fire! Grant
mmmmph
!”
Basilard clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her out of the cloud. “What
was that for?”

“Weren't you listening
to my lecture on the way here?” Basilard demanded. “If a spell is cast within a
Mana Cloud, it could destabilize the Fog and cause an explosion.”

Zettai hopped, skipped,
and jumped away from both Basilard and the mountain and began the spell again.
An acorn of flame briefly sprouted between her hands and then went out just as
quickly. She ran back to the cloud, breathed in, and then ran back out and
created another, slightly bigger sphere. By now, she was radiant and there was
a mad gleam in her eyes.

“Praise The Trickster!
Praise the Trickster's Choice! GLORY TO LADY CHAOS!”

Basilard rubbed his
forehead. “Somehow, I feel like this was your plan all along.”

“I wouldn’t put it past
him, dear nephew.” Mr.15 walked out of the Fog cloud. “You might say The
Trickster arranged our family reunion.”

Basilard stepped
forward and pointed BloodDrinker. “You are not family! I disowned you.”

BloodDrinker shimmered
in affirmation.

“Where is Eric?”

Neuro stepped forward
and pointed his scythe.

“Exile of the Bladi
Clan Number 586, I am Neuro of the Brotherhood of Death and by the power vested
in me by Lord Death, I formally charge you with the following crimes: 
corrupting corpses, pilfering souls, stealing
kon
to power forbidden
arts, and otherwise obstructing the orderly process of Rebirth. If you come
quietly, you will receive mercy. If you do not, you will persecuted to the full
law and custom of the Abyss.”

“Oh my! Two young and
powerful magic warriors have come to confront me for my evil deeds! Whatever
shall I do?”

He snapped his fingers
and a small army emerged from the Fog Cloud. Scores of teenage to young adult
warriors gathered at his back and spread out on both sides. Basilard's mouth
dried, his legs weakened, and his mind reeled. They were his students, all of
them clones of his first students as a Dragon's Lair instructor. So many at
once put him into shock.

“That man is not part
of the Bladi clan. He is a traitor. Kill him.”

“Yes, Father!”

The army swooped down
on their prey. Too shocked to move, Basilard didn’t try to defend himself, so
Nolien and Tiza engaged them instead. The fighter cut them with her sword and
bashed them with her barrier. The healer cast restoring spells with one hand
and provided cover fire with the other. Neuro raised his scythe to aid them,
but a hand grabbed the shaft on the back swing.

“Outsiders should not
interfere in a dispute between master and student.”

Neuro yanked the staff
out of his grip, reversed his momentum, and then slashed to cut him in half as
he did Caffour. Mr.15 dodged and Neuro followed up with scythe combos. Zettai
watched them dance from a distance, unable to help and hating herself for it.

Basilard didn’t move.
The emotional conflict within his heart was too great for him to take action on
either side. Then clones burned Tiza’s arm and stabbed Nolien in the stomach.
He smelled their fresh blood and burning flesh. His eyes refocused and he
sprang into action.  

Soundlessly, he slashed
the clones, one after another. The clones cried and protested and he struck
harder and faster with each tear. They attacked him and every blow struck him
fully and without defense. Blood ran down his body and it was impossible to
tell how much was his and how much had splattered on him. All of it was
absorbed by BloodDrinker. Then, without warning, he screamed and broke into
such a frenzy that his students feared he'd turned into a monster. When the
last one lay dead, he dropped BloodDrinker, fell to his knees, and cried.

Mr.15 saw his
opportunity and spirit-blasted Neuro into a large rock. He pounced on the
fallen sword, but when he reached out for it, it blasted him onto his back. Neuro
exploited this opening by bringing his scythe down on his head, but Mr.15
rolled away and caught the next strike with his imitation BloodDrinker.

“Even you, BloodDrinker?
Did you
allow
him to take you from me?”

The sword pulsed.
Mr.15’s eyes narrowed. He exchanged more blows with Neuro while processing his
former sword’s response.

“I see. Your sapience
is composed of our ancestors after all. If enough of them disapproved of my
work, then of course you would betray me. Eight years ago, such a thing would
push me into despair, but I am wiser now.”

 He ducked one strike
and mana-bolted the young priest directly at his chest. In the brief respite
that followed, he rushed back to BloodDrinker.

“I will take you by
force!”

The sword shined and
Mr.15’s right hand shined in response. A scar crossing his palm shifted from
crimson red to coal black. He grimaced, yet forced his hand closer to
BloodDrinker’s hilt. When at last he touched its leather wrapping, he could not
close his fingers around it. They were dead. The shock delayed him enough for
Neuro to attack again. An upswing sliced the arm clean off and the following
downswing stuck him in the back. Nothing happened. He crouched and swept the
boy’s feet from under him before he recovered.

Suddenly, he was
surrounded by mana bolts on all sides. There had to be fifty of them. Neuro
scurried away, Nolien clenched his fist, and all fifty impacted at once. Not
one of them breached his barrier, but that wasn’t the plan. The healer’s true
objective was to get his traumatized leader to safety, treat his teammate’s
burn, and if he had time, mend the hole in his own stomach.

Neuro, by contrast,
tried to use it as a cover for a Reaper Cleave. He approached from Mr.15’s
right side because it would be missing an arm, drew back the scythe, and then
followed through. His prey caught his scythe a second time, and with the arm he
supposedly cut off as well.

“How did you –”

Mr.15 groin-kicked him
down the path to the mountain’s summit, rolling over and over down to the
novices carrying their mentor. Zettai was about to join them when she got an
idea. If it worked, she could save Eric, and if it didn’t, at least she
wouldn’t have to go back to jail.

“H-hey, C-crimson
K-Killer…”

Mr.15 blinked and
stared as if for the first time acknowledging her existence.

“What is it, girl?”

The sharp tone made her
jump and she wanted to run, but she remembered what Eric taught her about the
Third Law of Magecraft. She drew strength from it and blurted, “I want you to
teach me magecraft!”