Chapter 211: The Very Limit of E-Rank

Chapter 211: The Very Limit of E-Rank

The worst part of being the "hero of the revolution" was that Kai saw nothing but defeats.

Intellectually he knew that wasn't true. There were more successful uprisings every day, some city states had capitulated in full cooperation, Cragrila had defeated a Ruby Crystallier in battle, Maggle had stolen half a supply line. As the war raged across Krysal, there were plenty of locations where they held their own or even advanced.

He heard about all those events, but if things were going well, he wasn't there. Instead Kai was thrown into disaster after disaster, trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Often there wasn't even the possibility of real victory, the most he could do was hold back the tide of others' mistakes.

Once he'd ended up near the main Yulthens army and had all five Diamond Crystalliers against him, which had felt like the most hopeless fight he'd experienced since the abyss. He could imagine growing strong enough to fight them all, but he wasn't there yet, and he couldn't even reveal his strongest abilities or he'd weaken their chances in the final battle. That battle had been brutal and it had taken Behemoth's Heart a full day to restore him.

Sometimes he was even called in to stop disasters caused by their own side. When the merchants had chosen brutality, many of the revolutionaries had done the same. In one city that had been mostly peaceful before, they'd executed all the nobles and then moved on to anyone they suspected of collaborating. He'd had to turn Void Gaze on his own side to keep them all from killing each other, and even now that part of the army was a backstabbing mess.

He had no idea what the gold to crystal ratio was anymore. It would have been nice to go back to the days when that was their primary metric of success.

How long had it been? A month of full war, always pushing himself to the limit? The days and the blood all blurred together. The death of Orillia still ached, but he realized that every death he saw around him meant just as much to someone else.Visitt novelbin(.)co/m for the latest updates

Kai fought his way down a street in a city he didn't even remember the name of. He didn't know any of these people. All he knew was that the soldiers would go house to house killing people if he didn't stop them, so he kept fighting.

When the enemy started to run out, he slowed to a halt, his hands still clenched in half-claws, looking for the next opponent. If not here, he'd be sent somewhere else. Instead he found himself facing Zae Zin Nim, which his brain struggled to comprehend at first. It wasn't normal for them to be in the same place at once, shouldn't it be a crystallier instead?

"Kai, it's time." She stepped closer and touched his arm, her expression somewhere between compassion and sorrow. "You can stop."

"But I... I..."

"Come this way. We have a path into Yulthens, so the time of crises is over." As she led him back toward their camp, she spoke of the war in broader terms he'd almost forgotten. "The enemy army has been drawn out, so we're going to strike their base."

"I thought they were too cautious for that," Kai said as his strategic brain began to move again. "We were going to have a diversionary strike on another city..."

"You've been fighting so long, you served as a diversion on your own. Suortril really wants to kill you and he's diverted a whole squad of his Rubies. Our weaker forces are going to strike one of the defensive cities, act like we're planning to punch our way through their defensive wall, while our fastest will go strike Yulthens itself."

So he tried to draw on the full power of Behemoth's Heart while Omilaena plunged a second syringe into his chest. He felt something leave him and almost snarled, his instincts screaming to attack her before she could steal his power. Somehow he managed to rein them in and waited while Omilaena worked. She injected him with a second syringe of his own blood and the heat within him ramped higher.

"This will work." Abruptly she spun back to him, holding a syringe in both hands. "One for each side. In theory your body will manage to survive both and fuse the halves together, but that part is on you, your will to live, and your ability to master your new power. Even if we had a year, there would always be a risk, because we have no one else to run a dry test. Are you ready?"

Kai stared into her eyes, knowing that he was making himself vulnerable to a very dangerous woman. Finally he nodded. "Do it."

Both syringes plunged into his neck and Kai screamed.

.

..

.

Zae Zin Nim had disliked everything about this plan, but she had no choice except to acknowledge that they needed the edge. She couldn't face Ren Ziq Quen, and for Kai to face him alongside Ruby Crystalliers, he needed more strength. Advancing his Physique was the only logical path.

After fighting alongside Omilaena throughout the revolution, Zae Zin Nim couldn't say that she exactly trusted the other woman. To fight at her back, certainly. But the greatest tests were often not in battle, and Zae Zin Nim wasn't certain what would happen if Omilaena had her own interests tested.

Now their army raced across Krysal, ready for the final strike. Kai lay on a crystal litter, still writhing and groaning. He'd bitten through several different mouth guards with teeth that were much sharper than she remembered. His body was twisting and she could feel his Physique changing, but it was impossible to tell if he was reaching the next stage or dying.

"He'll be fine," Omilaena said. The other woman had a strange little smile on her face. "With most you have to worry about them losing the will to live or faltering, but with him, it was just a matter of science."

"You're absolutely sure?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"Nothing this experimental is completely certain, but the rest is up to him."

In any case, there was nothing else to say. There was nothing else to do. Zae Zin Nim had played every card she had been dealt, Krainuun had put all the revolution's assets into play, and Kai was locked in a battle with himself. Everything that had led them up to this point would bring them to revenge or to defeat.

Ahead, the bloody walls of Yulthens loomed.