Chapter 465: Last Actions in Last Moments

Kai had only seen a few of the large teleportation techniques during his time on Cloudspire, but he knew they were used to take multiple people across large distances. The swirl of amber energy grew larger, and human-shaped forms began to glow within it, before the qi suddenly folded in on itself and vanished.

It left behind a group of about a dozen cultivators: Yul Wei Ren with his usual bodyguard Grandpa Wan Fei, as well as ten Earth Souls. Their robes were covered in blue or green blood, and one of them was still holding a severed tree branch that bled like flesh. Most of the group looked surprised to have been teleported, but Yul Wei Ren turned to stare at his father and stamped a foot.

"What are you doing, father? We were about to destroy the last of them!"

"I brought you here to tell of your accomplishments this far." The Masterful Crown patriarch spoke to his son, but his cold gaze never left Nymidria. "What have you done, at my command?"

"We annihilated the dryad village!" Yul Wei Ren declared proudly. "It burns even now, and we stack their bodies like-"

"No!" Nymidria let out a scream and unleashed another spurt of power, but Zae Clen Ban made a gesture and swept it away with a burst of wind. The impact cracked several of her branches and she sagged again around the spear of qi through her body.

The sight nearly made Kai leap to her defense, even though he knew that the dryad matriarch was mortally wounded. What stopped him was Omilaena, who caught his eye from half-way across the battlefield. Instead of saying anything, she just glanced toward the buried dome where Zae Zin Nim was still struggling to break through.

Had they bought her enough time? Despite everything that had happened, it hadn't been very long, not by the standards of cultivation.

The Masterful Crown patriarch stroked his beard with a pleased expression. "This is what happens to all those who oppose us... and our vengeance is not yet complete. You still have family back home, don't you? More of your kind related to you by blood or root or whatever you have."

"I barely remember them," Nymidria said, though she sounded defeated and put no emotion into her lie.

"They will die all the same. We will slaughter them and whisper your name to each, to let them know that you are responsible for their eradication."

"Yes!" Yul Wei Ren lifted his fists into the air. "That will show them!"

"And you." The patriarch turned on his son, and suddenly the young master didn't look so triumphant. "I trusted you to fix the Verdant River sect's problems. I hoped that you would grow up a little in the process. Instead you made an even bigger mess of everything."

"Father, I... I did my best, but they..."

"Silence, no excuses. As punishment, you will have to carry out one more eradication. Only after you have killed every last one of this traitor's clan and kin are you permitted to return from Deadwaste."

"That isn't fair! I shouldn't have to go to that miserable shithole! I-"

"Enough!"

When the patriarch hurled another teleportation talisman, Kai was already moving. It all happened so quickly, yet he felt as though he had too much time to think. The patriarch claimed that the talisman could take them across the ocean, presumably to the Southern Reaches. If the cultivators arrived there, they would easily slaughter their way through all the dryads in Nymidria's family, and no doubt slake the young master's anger on many more. No one would be able to stop them, and with a Sky Soul, even the Frontier elites might not be enough.

Any damage to the talisman would break it, so Void Gaze might just teleport them early. Kai had to prevent it from transporting the cultivators, so he streaked forward, trying to snatch the talisman out of the air. The cultivators noticed too late, Grandpa Wan Fei first and the others later. Kai's claws closed around the jade talisman, and for a moment he thought he had been successful.

Then the world vanished.

.

..

.

As if things weren't bad enough, Omilaena watched Kai disappear into the swirl of teleportation. She knew what he had intended to do, but he had been too late. Whatever that teleportation technique had been, it was far beyond her, and now all of them were beyond reach.

Which meant she was in a very grim position. Unless something happened to alter the balance, Kai's altruism could have gotten them all killed.

Bitterness welled up in Omilaena, but she tried to draw it into her poison. They didn't have very many viable paths left, so she needed to focus on them. With so many opponents dead or seriously injured - the matriarch could potentially survive her poisoning - they might be able to escape.

And the life of Nymidria... well, that didn't bind them anymore. The dryad slumped over the spear that impaled her body and trunk, the last of her life ebbing away. There was nothing left in her glassy eyes but hopelessness, which Omilaena knew was exactly what they wanted. The Masterful Crown clan was just like every other force that tried to dominate the world.

To her surprise, Omilaena actually felt a tug of something in her chest as she looked at Nymidria. This was what she got for feeling anything for anyone.

"My son!" Patriarch Yul looked outraged, as if it was impossible to believe that someone could have interrupted his wild actions. "Who was that brute? Could he threaten my son?"

"Do you have another talisman?" Zae Clen Ban asked.

"Of course not! Do you have any idea how much time it takes to formulate one?"

"Then there is no way to follow them. I suggest that we-"

"Didn't you hear?" Patriarch Yul turned on him furiously. "My son is at risk!"

"Meanwhile, my daughter is hiding somewhere on this battlefield, fighting against me." Zae Clen Ban turned away from the dryad matriarch with a disgusted look. "This one tried to shield her, but I don't think she escaped. Even as muddied as her soul has become, I know my daughter. We-"

Without warning the golden crown gleamed brighter and a concentrated beam shot out at the Brightwind patriarch. He deflected it with a shining sphere and turned, throwing out a line of wind. It sent rubble flying across the battlefield, but between the two patriarchs that was nothing more than a slap.

"This is why I refused to work together at first," Zae Clen Ban said. "Don't be childish about this."

It looked as though the two patriarchs might really come to blows - with almost everyone else removed from the battlefield, they clearly didn't feel that they had any rivals. Omilaena spotted Jackal Thirteen on one side of the battlefield, edging backward cautiously, and managed to find Xir Xan Khan on the other side, crawling out of a pile of rubble. He could potentially cause trouble too, if he used his connection to either leader.

What was the rational choice? Before she'd joined these two idiots, Omilaena would have simply run, but she wouldn't abandon Zin Nim. The problem was that she was still somewhat armored within the dead dryad's root dome, apparently hidden from her father and the others. Going directly to her would only reveal her location, and there was no guarantee Omilaena could get her and still retreat safely.

The patriarchs clashed once, then Zae Clen Ban dissolved into light and shot into the sky. Omilaena was puzzled for a moment, since it made no sense for him to run... and then the clouds began to move.

These were no storm clouds, instead bright white puffs that glowed even whiter as the power surged within them. They began to shift together, gaining new definition, forming a giant torso in the sky. Two great limbs emerged on either side, fingers extending with a crack of thunder. Finally Zae Clen Ban's face coalesced as the figure absorbed all the clouds in the sky, becoming a luminous white giant that seemed to loom over the earth.

Even Patriarch Yul, who should have been at a similar level, looked taken aback. His golden crown shone even brighter, as bright as the clouds, but they couldn't do more than resist. The cloud body was a presence technique in and of itself, and as the air closed around Omilaena, she realized that her last resistance had run out. She bit her tongue to draw a bit of blood and forced herself to move, summoning another syringe to escape.

"We can deal with your brat later," Zae Clen Ban said in the voice of the heavens. "First we deal with mine."

Then his hand swept down... not toward the rubble, toward Omilaena. She desperately tried to finish her syringe and it went haywire in the raw power, becoming a crumpled mess of metal that fell from her numb fingers.

The hand that closed around her was raw power, not cloud. Even the top two fingers were enough to crush her body, but they only applied painful force as she was drawn upward. She ascended skyward so quickly that she became light-headed, and the glowing form all around her nearly made her blind... but she could still see the face, large enough to swallow her whole.

"You," Zae Clen Ban rumbled. "Where is my daughter?"

"I'll... tell you... if you let up..." Omilaena managed to say.

The hand relaxed marginally and she managed to take a breath.

"While you were fighting... I managed to hide her... all the way... up my cunt."

Zae Clen Ban actually looked stunned for a moment, as if he didn't understand what she'd just said. Then his eyebrows knitted together in rage, like a perverse copy of his daughter, and the hand squeezed around her. Omilaena couldn't stop herself from crying out in pain.

"How long do you want to spend dying?" Zae Clen Ban asked. "I can make this very painful for you."

Before Omilaena could answer, a dark streak tore through her vision. It seemed to soak in the light, as if it absorbed the brilliant clouds with its mere presence. Omilaena's eyes widened as she suddenly realized that it was Zin Nim.

What had she done to herself?

(When I changed the schedule to four chapters, I wasn't thinking that we'd hit the weekend on this cliffhanger. Don't riot, everyone.)