Chapter 89: Exiting like Entering

It was strange, walking along calmly while knowing that a battle was impending. Oh, there was a remote possibility that the two elite mercenaries were following them to deliver a message. Or maybe to give them gifts because the Corinin clan had turned over a new leaf and was just so generous.

Given their opponents' Krysali vehicle, outrunning them was impossible. Turning around to face them offered no real advantage, and neither side was trying to pretend they didn't see the other. Since one area of the wasteland was as good as another, they just kept walking.

"Do you think they'll attack together or one-on-one?" he eventually asked. Anything to break the growing silence.

"They didn't bring allies," Zae Zin Nim said without looking back. "That suggests they're confident and they'll likely fight individually. I'll take the Krysali, unless you aren't confident about the knight's armor."

"Yeah, Barroguk could be a problem, but..." Kai looked down at his hand. He still felt a bit silly bending his fingers like a claw, but he could feel the power within. "No, I want to fight him if they go one-on-one. But what if they work together?"

"If so, they would probably try to eliminate you first. That would be a mistake we could punish. If given the chance, we ruin the flying one's vehicle and armor first. Don't let them escape this time."

"Yeah, makes sense."

So they were back to walking. Kai scratched at his jaw and realized that he hadn't shaved since before leaving for the market. He considered stopping to do so, just to mock their pursuers. No, probably best not to give any indicators either way. When they met, it would be strength against strength.

As the time stretched on, Kai decided to pull out one of the drake fruit he'd just purchased. It was even spikier than he remembered and tore apart in little shards. They hurt going down his throat slightly, but then he could feel the new power flowing through his muscles. Maybe it would have been better to use later, but he had a feeling that this was going to test his Physique like never before.

Past the last farms, on a stretch of mostly empty scrub-land, the Krysali diamond finally flew overhead. It arced around to block their path and Barroguk Clanless jumped off to land in the center of the road.

"You know we can't let you go." He rolled his shoulders so his armor clanked and then drew his sword. "Come back to Rayakan and answer for your crimes."

"Which crimes are those?" Kai asked. It came out snarky, but he was honestly curious if someone was finally going to accuse him about the heist.

"Whatever Dommag says you're guilty of." Barroguk smiled humorlessly. "You're lucky that we weren't there when that bitch went crazy, or you wouldn't have gotten away with everything so easily."

"Why are you so loyal to the Corinin clan? If you're after money, shouldn't you be worried about how much they're losing?"

"This is personal for me," Iroaki said from her diamond platform. Kai was surprised at the venom in her eyes when she stared down at them. "We were commanding premium rates, then two children stop us from finishing a job and the Corinins start questioning us. I've been intending to kill you ever since the river."

"Alright." Zae Zin Nim fired qi toward her and the two of them began exchanging attacks almost instantly.

At first Kai was alert for a sucker punch, but they seemed focused on one another. That left him free to turn to Barroguk, who wasn't so quick to act. He hefted his sword slowly, brushed off the pommel, then began his assault.

There was no trick to it, just solid technique backed up by raw power. Even though someone with his strength could easily wield a sword like that with one hand, Barroguk used both for tightly controlled swordplay. Always cuts or thrusts at the center of the body, advancing a half step at a time, yet devastating if they ever connected.

Kai deflected the sword with nothing but his gauntlet. The first time they'd fought, the blows would have pushed through his guard. Now that he was fueled by Direboar's Strength, he could more than keep up. His opponent began to frown, not understanding how he was deflecting such heavy strikes, but he didn't open any weaknesses.

Fine, Kai would have to create one. When he managed to knock his opponent's sword wide, Kai turned the deflection into a vertical slash from Rockspider's Claw.

The spiritual claw screeched across his opponent's armor, tearing three rents through it. He saw blood and struck again. An armored boot caught him in the chest the next second and he fell back, then desperately tumbled to the side as the sword slammed down into the ground.

Once Kai came up, however, he saw that his opponent hadn't gotten out clean. Barroguk had managed to lower his head to avoid the worst, but the claws had torn three cuts through his breastplate and parts of it buckled backward. But underneath... blood had been drawn; fortunately his E-rank Physique was too durable for him to die so easily.

"It's ridiculous how far you've come, boy." Barroguk held his sword at extension toward him. "And I don't like this foreign claw skill you've mastered. But the gap is too large. It's laughable for you to think you can beat me."

"Trying to convince me to surrender already?" Kai made a playful scratching motion and laughed when his opponent flinched.

Barroguk lunged an instant later, turning the bravado position of his raised sword into a deadly thrust. But he'd underestimated how Kai's monster-fueled body had recovered during their short conversation. He was able to dodge just aside from the thrust, slap the side of the blade with his gauntlet, then deliver another claw strike to the chest.

This time Barroguk turned aside, managing to deflect most of it on his side armor. But his wounds had slowed him down slightly and Kai's next claw caught him in the legs.

The impact tore through straps and sent smaller plates flying. Barroguk endured it, but he staggered, and that was enough time for Kai to tackle him. Once he was on the ground, Kai pinned him and extended his hand in front of his helm, ready with a straight claw.

"Are you really willing to go this far for a bunch of merchants paying you? I could have killed you right then."

"You should have," Barroguk growled. "No more talk."

Kai tried to stab down, but he'd underestimated his opponent. Barroguk managed to jerk his head aside so that the spiritual claws bit into the ground instead, and his retaliation was devastating. One gauntlet struck Kai in the chin hard enough to knock him into the air, then he swept his greatsword upward, spinning it violently.

Somehow Kai managed to stagger back out of range, but he barely stayed on his feet. The punch had rattled him and the sword had opened a nasty wound on his side. However that spinning sword technique worked, it felt like it had cut through his muscle and smashed against bone. At least one of his ribs was broken, which wouldn't heal even if he earned some time.

Which he couldn't. Barroguk rushed him without the slightest hesitation, death in his eyes.

.

..

.

Iroaki of Philaster was good. Despite the scorn Zae Zin Nim had heaped upon the local derivation of cultivation, it could still be a threat. It wasn't simply armor: after Iroaki grew a crown around her head, she was able to manifest brand new crystals from midair.

But the battle was still turning against her. Zae Zin Nim's Coldfire Corona seared around her dantian, granting each one of her qi attacks new intensity. Bolts that might have given way to the crystal shards before now burned through and kept flying, forcing her opponent to dodge increasingly desperately.

The outcome was inevitable. She had improved substantially during the previous months, while her opponent had waited, confident and static in her skills. Several qi attacks had gotten through, chipping away at her armor. There was no need to take any additional risks when every passing moment tilted the scales more in her favor.

Zae Zin Nim saw crystals forming beneath her from the corner of her vision. Too late: the next crystal shards didn't manifest in the air, they tore up from the ground.

Even at her full speed, she could only partially dodge aside: the crystals tore through her hip and she tumbled to the ground with a cry of pain. She could sense the power growing underneath her, more crystals emerging to impale her.

Slapping the ground with both hands, she pushed herself up into the air just ahead of the crystal spikes. Again she saw movement from the corner of her eyes: Iroaki was flying directly toward her bearing a crystal lance, far too powerful for her to destroy with a qi attack.

Just before it struck, Zae Zin Nim twisted to the side, pushing the fatal tip aside with one hand and landing a palm strike with the other.

Her opponent tumbled in one direction and her diamond clattered to the ground in the other. It would have been a perfect moment to finish her off, but Zae Zin Nim needed to catch her breath.

Iroaki really was comparable in speed and strength to a Body Refinement stage cultivator, so she couldn't be taken lightly. The martial arts Zae Zin Nim used just flowed out of all her training naturally in a way they wouldn't have even several months ago. Training with Kai, and even adjusting to the rough style of Deadwaste, had sharpened her in ways she hadn't realized before that moment.

Her opponent was struggling to get up, building more crystal armor around herself. Ignoring her, Zae Zin Nim instead walked over to her fallen vehicle to see if it would obey commands. The diamond wasn't large, but she would finally be able to-

Spikes grew from it and she barely pulled her foot back in time. Apparently not.

Now that Iroaki was fully armored, she began to advance slowly and steadily. Her posture really was like a cultivator's, and the swords of crystal she was forming around herself were extremely familiar. Those would begin moving soon and they'd be immensely dangerous. That would be quite a final trick... if Zae Zin Nim hadn't saved one of her own.

She ran closer, directly into the swords. At the last moment, she let her flames flow out of her soul and cover her body. The blades shattered off her blue aura, Iroaki's eyes widened in surprise, then Zae Zin Nim struck her chest with a focused qi strike. Iroaki spat up blood as her internal organs failed and then she collapsed.

As Zae Zin Nim swayed slightly on her feet, she saw all the crystal swords crumbling around her. It was really over, then. She thought she had saved her defense for the correct moment, but it had still drained her more than expected. Maybe the corona was enough to protect her against something minor, but it wasn't enough for her to charge into a swarm of swords again.

Ignoring the fallen crystals, she turned to see how Kai was doing. He had taken a grievous wound to the side and now he was struggling. Normally she would want to let him finish his own battle, but with the greatsword flashing so close to him... he could be decapitated before she had time to interfere.

The most logical thing to do would be to cut down his opponent from behind. Zae Zin Nim decided that she would trust Kai and wait.