Chapter 259: and 260 - Anrosh and Tali

Chapter 259: and 260 - Anrosh and Tali

Anrosh

Anrosh stood on top of a hill, looking out in the distance. The moon shone from behind thin clouds that moved about. It had rained for a couple of days prior and the ground was yet to dry. Beneath the hill was a large plain, soaked and muddy. She saw fire torches burn in the distance as her warriors prepared the battlefield.

She was anxious, the undead had pushed through two sects at a speed that was alarming. The reports from the refugees varied, but most agreed that the army of the undead was large. The numbers werent confirmed, but they were anywhere from several hundred thousand to million or more undead. Too large for the smaller sects to handle.

Anrosh glanced to the side, where Reki, formerly of the Zenshuen Sect, stood looking out in the distance. The visitors had many powerful warriors, but Anrosh hadnt asked them to fight for them. The reasons for it were many; for one she didnt know them and didnt know if she could trust them at her side. And if she did, the Twilight Melody Sect would lose face, their reputation. If they couldnt defend themselves and relied on their guests, it would mean that they were weak.

Still, some had volunteered, and she had accepted. She wasnt that stupid. As long as it didnt look like they asked for help, the sects reputation would remain intact. Perception was what mattered to sects. Both Reki and Eari had asked to come, but Anrosh had insisted that only Reki and a few of his warriors were enough. In the end, she didnt trust their visitors. They were from a sect that had been on top for a long time, and though most of the people that had come to her sect were younger, they still had slightly different ideals and ways of doing things than the Twilight Melody Sect. But Reki and Eari seemed to be in a more leadership position by virtue of their strength, and Anrosh felt better with Eari remaining back in Consequence with Zenshuen people. He was affiliated with them, but he was still Eervs son. She didnt think that he would let them make any problems while she was away.

How long, do you think? Anrosh asked.

Reki tilted his head. The advance parties are becoming more frequent. It wont be long now, he answered.

Anrosh grimaced. The reports indicated that the army wasnt really tightly controlled, it was just targeted. A mass of undead let loose in a direction. It wasnt a cohesive formation, and some of the undead were ahead of the main army. They had already been fighting advanced parties for two weeks. Some had been pursuing people that were running away, others just seemed to be aimlessly charging ahead. But today was the day when the main horde would arrive.

Anrosh wasnt quite sure what to do really. She didnt have a lot of experience in leading an army, but then again, none of the other sect warriors did either. It was not how sect fought wars; it wasnt how they trained. They trained to increase their personal power, they trained to dominate and demonstrate supremacy, power and strength. They trained to fight in small squads, preparing to fight together in a way that let them be free but close enough to support one another.

The Twilight Melody warriors in the valley beneath were spread out, squads of warriors waiting with torches illuminating it before a large forest that spread in front of them. She hadnt been able to wait for all of her forces to arrive before she was forced to set out, but most of them were here. Tens of thousands, some Foundation, others Lords, led by Monarchs and Heavenly. They had rushed here, because it was the only place where they could funnel in the undead, where their numbers advantage was somewhat lessened. Behind Anroshs position, was a mountain range with one wide pass going through. It was a few thousand meters across, but it would prevent the undead from surrounding them. Which was one of the greatest dangers when fighting them, or so she has been told.

Dont worry, Reki said, grinning. He didnt seem concerned, but Anrosh understood. It wasnt his sect that was in danger. Fighting the undead is straightforward, at least this type is. Whoever this necromancer is, he is no Lord of Death. His army is just a mindless horde. His undead stupid and weak. The only advantage they have is numbers and that noxious cloud that they bring with them.

She nodded her head in understanding. The numbers they were countering by the choice of the battlefield. The mountains behind Anrosh had bases that were hastily raised and prepared so that they could be defended. The pass was the width of the entire valley, so they couldnt just raise walls to block it off, perhaps if they had people with builds that could do that or if they had hired geomancers, but there just hadnt been any time for that. The many bases were where they had their support people, where they could retreat to heal and resupply, get rest. Basically, small forts. The warriors of the sect were spread out all over the pass, they would attempt to rotate and kill undead as they came in.

Their poison they had countered in other ways. The Black Viper Sect had been poison and venom focused, and that legacy remained in the Twilight Melody Sect. Their alchemists had examined and sampled the poison from the undead that the sect warriors had captured, and they had concocted an elixir that would give them high resistance to the type of the poison that these undead bring with them.

They stood in silence, watching and waiting for everything to start.

You should go, Anrosh told him, they had spread their strongest over the defense line.

Right, he cracked his neck. Good luck.

Anrosh looked at him as he jumped away, soaring through the air, then leaping again once he hit the ground. He was an Immortal, just like her, but he was more powerful. Sometimes she did feel like it wasnt fair, the fact that some people were just better than others, that some gaps couldnt be narrowed no matter what. Still, she tried her best. She had spent last three years training, despite her injuries, or perhaps because of them. It was hard, she had been in pain, in agony really, but she had pushed through. Now, she was nearly healed, she no longer had the limp, though, sometimes she did feel pain through her leg if she stepped on it wrong. It didnt bother her that much, some sharp pain was nothing compared to having your soul burned.

That experience had made her appreciate Tali a lot more. She respected the woman more now, compared to how she viewed her before, as a freed slave, a cripple. What Anrosh had gone through had been horrible enough, she couldnt imagine the strength it took for Tali to hold on to her life after what had to have happened to her.

She was nervous, but at the same time she was eager. This was the first time that she would be responsible for defending the sect on her own, without Ryun there to deal with everything. It was a test, and she was eager to show herself. After what happened with Nayra and that man, she needed this. She was already feeling like a failure for not being able to go after her, for losing to that man in the first place. She knew that it didnt make sense, that the man that had taken Nayra was more powerful, probably older. But at the same time, she knew that if Ryun had been there things wouldve been far different. He rarely cared about the scale of the problem or the opponent in front of him. He just pushed through.

Now it was her turn. She had advanced her second path over the last year, she had trained, risen in the sect as a, at least in her opinion, capable Sect Leader. She couldnt let this be the moment where she failed.

She noticed footsteps behind her, but didnt turn around.

The forward parties sent word that they are nearly here, Lesamitrius said.

Anrosh glanced to the side, seeing the ravzor standing there with Kri, her daughter. The mother in her worried about her child, but the Sect Leader knew that they needed everyone that they could get. Kri was only Early Lord, which did put her in the middle upper range of their forces. Still, she was young, so Anrosh had stationed her at the back of their defensive line, further into the pass. Lesamitrius was the one who was going to command that part of the line, as they did expect undead to get past the front line. It was inevitable, there were just too many undead in the horde.

We are as ready as we can be, Anrosh said, then turned to Kri. You ready?

Kri had her hands gripping her spear tightly, this would be her first real battle of this scale. Anrosh had seen battle like this before, in the core. She wondered if the undead would be more terrifying than the Dome monsters.

I am ready, Kri said just as a loud horn blared through the air.

The undead were here. Anrosh nodded to herself, then glanced at Lesamitrius. You should get back.

With one last glance at Kri, Anrosh put on her helmet and started down the hill. The shadows danced in the torchlight as she approached the front line, warriors from her sect surrounded her, all carrying their weapons of choice and bearing armor or robes in the colors of the sect. There wasnt any cohesive command, there wasnt even a line, just a bunch of small groups of people gathered around with a few solo warriors standing in between them. Anrosh was like them, without a team. Her power didnt play well with most of the others, a few of the other solo warriors were like her, having paths or aspects that didnt play well with close combat team fighting.

They stood in silence, everyone already knew what to do, there was no one shouting orders like in the armies of Kingdoms and other non-sect factions. The forest before them was deep and dark, and Anrosh kept her eyes on it. She heard them before she saw them, a sound of thousands of feet running over the ground. She raised her eyes above the treeline trying to watch for any of the flying undead. The reports said that they had seen some karura zombies flying around the army. She could see nothing, the light of the fires made it hard to see beyond what they illuminated. It didnt even matter, they had a few anti-air groups in the line, and two flying groups ready to fight. The Twilight Melody Sect was predominantly human and demasi, but they had members of other races as well.

She turned her eyes back to the forest, waiting as the noise got louder and louder. It sounded exactly as she remembered, an army on the march. Louder than the monster swarm, as loud as the charging of the monsters in the Tournament City. And then, she could see shapes moving through the forest, moving fast. She, and every other warrior in the line pulled out elixirs and started drinking them. The most important among them was the poison immunity one, which Anrosh downed first. She drank others that would boost her stats and stamina regeneration, but she didnt have a lot of them.

The first of the undead charged out of the tree line. A zombie, eerie blue light shining out of the eye sockets. Half of its face was decayed and it was missing one arm, in the other it carried a short sword. The armor that it wore was broken with arrows sticking out of it. Another charged out, wearing a simple farmers clothes, its state of decay much better. Another noise filled the air, an eerie low rumbling of air moving through throats without any attempt of making proper sounds.

That in itself was like an assault on the mind, and perhaps it was some low tier attack. More of them were coming out in a staggered fashion, dozens spread out with no formation or guidance. The warriors waited, the few undead crossed the clearing beyond the tree line and reached them but died quickly. The warriors didnt advance, they waited for the enemy to come. And Anrosh pulled Kagehime out and hefted her large diamond shaped shield. It was night, so her stats increased by 5% from Kagehimes ability.

This isnt much of a challenge, Kagehime said. There is no mastery to them, just savage onslaught.

Anrosh hefted her shield and Kagehime, all she had to do was stand, never give up.

Then the sky broke apart.

Tali

Tali stood on a cliff overlooking the pass in between mountains. The battle beneath had been raging for hours, the torches blazed and the fire that the defenders had set had dimmed but still burned in places. They had arrived just after the battle had started, too late for her to give Anrosh any input. She knew that their plan was a good one, as far as it went. There wasnt much else that they could do or that she could offer. The necromancer had grown his army uncontrollably, and just unleashed it in a single direction. They were lucky that he wasnt the type that could upgrade his undead, otherwise this wouldve been a much harder fight. Still, he had the numbers, and sometimes strength didnt matter compared to that, she knew that firsthand.

The battle wasnt going too well, she could see it as the battle went on. There were too many undead, far more than they expected. She saw a great display of power in one part of the battle line, the world twisting itself as someone used something powerful to shatter the line of the undead and take apart a good few hundred meters of the forest in front of them. It was an amazing display, but it didnt matter when more undead just filled the gap, crawled over their dead.

She closed her eyes and wondered what she was going to do once they fell. Once the undead went through the sect. The warriors that were left behind wouldnt be able to defend against this, they would die and join the necromancers army. She suspected that many would flee, and perhaps she could go with them.

She opened her eyes and realized that she was just fooling herself. She was not who she used to be. She remembered her talks with Ryun and knew that she agreed with him in many things. One didnt leave what belonged to them, and as much as she tried to pretend, she was a part of the sect. It was hers too now.

The four warriors around her were looking down at the battle, the others had all gone to help, but these four had insisted on protecting her. All were in the Lord Realm, and she knew that they wished that they could fight. And so Tali made a decision. She turned away from the battle and sat down. She couldnt help as she was, her power felt so close, but it wasnt yet there.

Once, she wouldnt have done this. Once, she wouldve valued one eternal item over the lives of an entire sect. She pulled the totem out of her storage and placed it in front of her, not caring that anyone could see it. The warriors around her all came from the Wolfs Grove, they were those who had joined Ryun when he first came into the Infinite Realm. She trusted that they would not betray their sect, despite the fortune that was now in front of them.

She felt the totem affect her, and she focused. She had never attempted this before; she was too afraid that she was going to mess up her healing process. Now, she was willing to risk it. All things in the Infinite Realm were Essence, so it stood to reason that the totem healed her somehow with Essence too. She remembered the way that Ryun spoke of Cultivating, of pulling in the Essence into his core by extending his willpower over it.

Slowly, tentatively, she expanded her will and reached out. Her skills had recovered, but she hadnt tried to use them yet. Now, as she focused her will for the first time in three hundred years, she felt the strain on her mind on her soul. She didnt stop.

She pulled at the Essence around her, trying to focus only on what the totem was releasing. And then, she found it. With an effort of will she pulled that in, and she felt it entering her body, her soul. The healing sensation intensified, her body straining under the effect. It was hard, not exactly painful, only it felt as if she was trying to move a mountain with her bare hands.

She kept at it, focusing her will, pulling, excluding everything other completely. The battle and the warriors around her might as well not have existed. She was inside her own small universe, pushing toward her power that was just there under her fingertips.

And then then she felt it give, her soul healing enough that her Cultivation was finally freed. She felt her cores and the power inside of them. Everything changed in an instant as her perks came back fully, the world changed.

She opened her eyes and sighed. She felt for her core, seeing the small amount of Qi inside of it. The second core inside of the first one, was also nearly empty. Some of the Qi had to have regenerated as she healed, but she had expected them not to be full. She stood up and saw the warriors around her look at her strangely, as if they were seeing her for the first time. Perhaps they were.

The moon had turned into the morning sun, the battle had continued, the undead filling the valley pass. More time had passed than she had realized.

Anatalien Far Solla pushed her cloak away, releasing her hidden wings. She unfurled them and stretched. She wasnt healed fully, she knew. She was feeling drained, but there were things that she had to do.

She glanced at the warriors and smiled, then stepped off the cliff. For the first time in a long time, she felt the wind surging around her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed it for a moment before she spread her wings and flew. She pushed her strained will and used |Mine Are The Winds, And The Sky| to let the air move her, finding the right current with |Perfect Air Current Sense|. She moved quickly, getting above the center of the battle. The flying undead came for her and she evaded, reaching for her first core, pulling her Sky Qi and moving it through her body. It came slowly, the unused conduits straining with just the little SkyQi she was trying to use. She knew that she couldnt risk doing too much, she couldnt risk damaging herself. Finally, she had enough Qi and as the undead came, she used {One with the World}. She felt it fill her, her stats increasing and her connection with the sky around her get established. Her Qi was that of a concept, of everything that filled the space above ground. The wind and the clouds, the rain and the air, the grand sensations that people felt when they looked up. All of that was hers to command. The undead came and she slapped it away, shattering it to pieces. She commanded the Sky and so she told it what to do, the Essence around her obeyed and she sent the rest of the undead tumbling down toward the ground. Once she was free she looked around, seeing an area where ice and cold reigned.

She tried to think of how much she could risk, her will was already drained and she didnt think that she could use her fruit techniques to their fullest. In the end she knew that she had to risk something, and so she settled on her will, not wanting to strain her Cultivation more than she was already.

She flew above the forest, where the bulk of the undead were.

She focused her mind and reached for her willpower.

|I Shatter The Sky|

The world around her broke apart, the sky tore open. Cracks appeared in space and spread all around her reaching for the ground and hitting the forest, Essences of all kind exploded out of the cracks and caused everything to shatter. The trees broke apart, the air twisted itself and light bent. Everything went insane for a moment in time. The boundaries high above her cracked and Void slipped through, but only for a moment. Her skill lasted for barely an instant, far less than she had been capable of before. Her will ran out, but it was enough. The undead main body was broken, the ground turned in on itself and the undead torn apart. The cracks in space healed and whatever was beyond it dissipated.

She breathed quickly, trying to keep herself in the air and her mind awake. She saw the warriors of the sect fighting again, pushing the undead. But there were still too many of them for it to be done so easily. She focused on her eyes, closing them for a moment. Then she opened them and saw. She looked at the connections between the undead, the Qi concept that rested in her second core. The Bond Essence was faint, invisible to all but those who had it. She followed it from the undead horde to a hill behind the forest, the place where the originator of the bonds resided, the necromancer. She flew away, moving the last of her Bond Qi through her body and getting a technique ready, so slowly that it was almost painful for her to hold it. But she knew that she wouldnt have the time to shape a technique in combat.

She found the necromancer on top of a hill surrounded by a handful undead. Each undead equipped with armor and items that were obviously of good quality.

She landed in front of it, surprising him. The necromancer had an almost shocked look on his face. He had seen what she had done, he had to have known that it was her.

Her technique ready, she waited.

The necromancer recovered quickly. He didnt speak, for which her respect grew. Fools wasted words and in situations like this. You acted or you died.

He raised his hand and sent his undead forward. She saw that by the way they moved they werent zombies, they were smarter, better than that. Revenants perhaps, or maybe something else, she didnt know enough about all the different undead types.

They were strong, all immortal at least in life. The necromancer had stolen their bodies. Perhaps inflicted True Death on them if their bodies were required for their immortalities. She sensed them activating their powers and she spread her hands as she released her main paths fruit technique.

{Empty World} spread out of her. Bond Qi hitting everything and breaking apart the bonds that held things together. The ground collapsed into dust as the bond of dust essence, of stone and metals, broke apart and the ground just became a collection of individual Essences. The undead collapsed as well, their armor breaking apart into fine mineral fragments, their bodies breaking apart into flesh and blood and bone, falling apart, flowing away in their individual components. The wind around them broke apart into individual air essence and remained stationary. She didnt reach the necromancer, she was too weak to make her technique large enough. He watched as the ground rolled away in something resembling a sand avalanche, taking with it the pieces that used to be his undead.

She was breathing heavily, her wings keeping her in the air as the necromancer stared at her in disbelief. She forced herself forward, flying at him. Her other technique, {One with the World} was still active and she slammed into the necromancer before he could react. She sensed him try to do something, but before he could she grabbed his head in both her hands and squeezed. His bones cracked and she crushed his skull between her fingers, blood and gore exploding in all directions, covering her face.

She landed on the ground and gasped, her technique leaving her. Then she collapsed to the ground, and everything went dark.