I'm Back (5)

Aria observed her whip, smothering the plaza in silence.

A fiery Chrysanthemum sat on the end of its handle, in place of a wrist loop. The flower's petals also decorated the ring, hiding it and the vibrant woven thong's connection with their collective fur-like resemblance. A sputtering flame squirmed at the end of the whip, while a delicate orange glow wrapped it in its entirety, completing its look.

The whip's temperature betrayed Levi's expectations as he swept a finger through the light aura. "Huh?"

'... A normal whip?' He glanced at Aria before chuckling and retreating. 'Well, it's up to her.'

Aria scrutinized the whip. With a constricting grip, she stared at it in silence.

"Take care of the woman, all of you!!!" Wolfgang dashed between the men. With the fanglike coating of Qi on his arms, he advanced with purpose.

'This one is the actual problem!'

"... Why don't you just follow the rules?" Levi muttered. Following the loosening of his grip, a hollow thump echoed as the now dried out head rolled on the ground.

...

"Ahhhh!!!"

The air rang as a reflective blade slid through it. Aria instinctively leaned back, but a cutting sensation tugged on her skin, shooting pain to the surrounding area. Blood squirted from the light mark on her neck. The force behind the attack caused a sensation akin to choking on water.

"Cough!"

Aria reached for her neck. Confirming the amount of blood flowing from the wound, she sighed.

"Don't run!!"

Hearing the same whistling again, her hair stood on end. That very blade slammed into the brick road seconds after she sidestepped, stone powder sticking to its bloodstained tip.

"Why aren't you attacking?!?" The guard palmed his pommel, preparing to thrust. The sword stabbed through the air, dragging the solitary guard along behind it.

"I-"

"Attack her!!!"

The immobile guards flinched. Light returned to their eyes as their slack postures tightened.

'... Oh.' Red pulsed across Aria's cheeks.

"Ouu!!" The men charged with clicking footsteps. Metallic ringing accompanied their attacks.

"..." Aria ducked a sword cutting for her neck. Crouching, she hopped to the side, avoiding a downward slash. This focused state allowed her to dodge strike after strike. Her reactions became so natural that she once again lost herself in thought.

"Tsk! Strong cultivations allow even amateurs like her to...!"

"Remember, all of you!! The higher the level, the harder the skin! For us Mind Opening Realm cultivators to injure her, coat your swords! Reference our QI control exercises! She's only one person. We can do this much at least!!"

"Even Mr. Wolfgang is only at the 6th level. But he suppressed her! Don't lose yourselves!!"

These few men's words filled the entourage with energy. Their attacks became more synchronized, giving Aria a few close calls. Despite this, it wasn't enough to pull her from her thoughts.

"Tsk! Stop moving around so... much!!" A man thrust at her chest.

Aria's brow twitched before both knitted. Her shoulder throbbed as a warm liquid ran down her arm. The cool air flowing through the hole in her sleeve made the deep gash more uncomfortable.

The assault continued, with Aria sustaining multiple inconsequential wounds, either slightly more or less severe than her shoulder.

...

Standing before a blue rivaling that of the sky, a figure watched casually the scene before him. The immediate surroundings of this youth, eerily dark, continued to darken unnaturally. An elongated black flame burned before him, adding to the gloomy atmosphere.

"Aghhh!!"

A man lay on his back. The ribbon that once hung gloriously from his locks lay strewn beside him. He gripped his unkempt gray hair, following which echoed the sound of tearing. Blood beads soon rushed out of each strand's previous base. The man continued to thrash, staining what remained of his hair. Tears streamed from his eyes and saliva from his mouth, wide as he roared.

"... 'Staring Abyss'." Levi tilted his head back, allowing the clear sky into his view.

On the ground, Wolfgang curled up. His heart-wrenching cries became soft sobs. With shattered fangs, he lay trembling.

"... Sigh." Gazing down without lowering his head, Levi's mental energy flame drew the darkness in before dissipating. As his surroundings quieted, shouts and gasps entered his ears, drawing his attention.

"... Why isn't she using her whip?" He grumbled. "It's not like she needs techniques right away to use it. Just control the QI and the whip will go where it's supposed to."

Levi turned to watch Aria's fight. As he lifted his foot to complete the turn, a blade pierced Aria's stomach and out through her lower back.

Levi's foot paused.

Aria's eyelids flicked open, displaying her eyes' whites. She drew the whip's handle over her shoulder, then swung. Following a sharp crack, a roaring explosion of flames ravaged the group of palace guards. Those in one piece screeched as they flew.

The man who impaled her had vanished, but his sword remained in the side of her stomach as a gust, born of the earlier explosion, dragged a mass of ash along with it.

Levi's foot met the ground as he observed the remains of the explosion, a giant flaming crescent burning on the now upturned brick road. The upper half of a corner building, partly destroyed, began burning as a small percentage of the attack had reached it.

"Huff! Hu-Cough! Cough, cough..." Aria's pupils finally rolled down. She wobbled as weakness, followed by a delayed burst of pain, overcame her. As she looked around, her brows tightened. Added to the partly destroyed street, buildings within a certain range suffered damage from the explosion's shock-wave. Scorched lumps and raw chunks of flesh also littered the ground.

She looked at the sword still buried in her stomach and, noticing the ash-dusted handle, began retching. She grabbed the blade to avoid touching the ash, and clumsily pulled it out, carving herself up more.

Levi watched as Aria covered her mouth, but unable to settle her stomach, soiled her hand instead.

'So that was the case... The only other time she should have ever killed someone was back at that colosseum, but... I'm sorry. You keep expressing an intent to shield me, but if a person comes intending to kill and you haven't found your resolve to do the same, you will be on the losing end. I didn't do this because I wanted you to hate me... But even if you do, I'll accept it...'

"Knowing that this moment of hatred will save your life someday," Levi muttered. "Or maybe I'm just doing something unnecessary..."

...

"Huff... Huff..." A man, drenched in sweat and blood, looked around with watery eyes. Hearing a crunch after he stepped forward, he looked down at a charred lump. Its hollow inside became viewable after he removed his foot. The man hobbled a few steps, clutching his broken arm at his side.

"Ron...? Hughs? How... How many of you..."

The lump in his throat remained immovable, no matter how he swallowed.

Kneeling before the crackling flames in the distance, a sickly figure heaved. Following the knitting of his brows, tears streamed from the man's eyes.

"Sniffle! You... don't have the right... to be crying..." He wiped his nose. He scanned the ground before picking up an abandoned sword. Its tip scraped the ground as he limped forward.

A pale-faced, red-eyed Aria looked over her shoulder.

"... Stay away from me".

"Isn't it too late for that...? Haha... These black chunks scattered around...? We both know what they are." The man's choked voice became grim. "Don't delude yourself into thinking both of us will walk away from this... Either all of my brothers and I sacrifice ourselves to kill you and fail, or we succeed. But as long as even one of us still draws breath, we will never stop."

Aria's grip tightened so much that the whip in her hand began trembling.

Dragging steps and muffled groans became commonplace as others picked themselves up from the ground and began converging. Whether they bled from bloodied eye sockets, stumbled with twisted legs, or lacked balance because of a newly missing arm, the men didn't stop.

Biting her lower lip, Aria said, "Just stop! You're all wasting your lives!!", spraying tiny droplets of blood.

"I beg to differ. We are serving our kingdom and its leaders. This is the highest honor we could ever have!"

"You should worry about yourself." The man continued. "Your hand is shaking so badly... do you have a condition?"

Aria's lips trembled.

"Brothers!!!!"

"OUUUU!!" The men responded by charging. To reach their goal, some had no problem with crawling.

Aria froze.

Leading the charge, the man lifted the ownerless sword as he arrived before Aria.

In her confused state, she was in no position to react.

'Compress the Qi in your body and release it.'

She followed the directions of the foreign voice in her mind. Lacking Qi, she re-absorbed the whip.

The man ignored this development. His thoughts were simple: One of them would die. But he had long stopped caring about who it would be.

Aria shone brilliantly as he lowered his sword.

Blazing Qi streamed from her body, flowing outward in every direction with force, scorching whatever it came into contact with.

A water bubble formed around Levi as the black flame before him scattered.

...

In the quiet space, the only sound was that of crackling smolders.

The heat acted like a vengeful spirit; it refused to dissipate.

The scorch marks on the ground led back to their still origin.

Aria stood in place, looking at the ground. Even as the brittle wall of a building collapsed in the distance, she remained immobile and unresponsive.

"Sigh." Levi walked to her.

"Hey."

Aria twitched. He called out to her a few more times but didn't get a response.

"... I can make you forget."

Aria turned her head, but not enough to see over her shoulder.

"This only happened because of me... You don't have to suffer because of it."

"I can block out those memories... Destroy them if you-"

"No."

Levi closed his mouth a few seconds later. The two stood in silence.

"This choice was one that I made, so I will live with it. I will..."

"Yeah...? Sigh." Levi pet her head. "Then hurry and fix your face."

"... Ok."

...

Crunching steps sounded behind him, causing Levi to turn away from the Qi shield.

"Feeling better?"

"... How are you going to deal with this array?"

Whereas the ground had scorch marks staining it, the shield still shone a brilliant blue. Meaning the heat that was strong enough to scorch people to ash did not affect it.

"Well... This is just a feature of the array. The actual thing should be somewhere close. I would say... At the base of this shield. Somewhere underground."

Levi peeked at Aria.

"But where it is isn't important."

"..."

"..."

"Heh heh..." He laughed dryly.

'How awkward!'

Facing the shield, he reached out both hands while thinking, 'To locate the array is easy... Just send some Qi through, opposite to the shield's Qi flow, until you find the source...'.

Qi spilled from between his palms and the shield, followed by a constant screeching. Because of the resistance given by the shield's Qi, Levi had gained a weird sight as his QI passed through it. He "followed" his Qi as it moved toward the source, i.e. the array.

'And when you find it...'

Beads of sweat formed on Levi's face.

'Gradually replace the creator's Qi with your own... using your body as a filter to release the original Qi...'

"What is…" A popping sound caught Aria's attention.

"?!"

Similar to her earlier attack, Qi poured from Levi's every pore, pushing her back. But unlike her destructive, blazing Qi, this one was more like a very, very forceful wind.

The sound became more distinct.

As Aria searched for its source, her eyes rounded.

"Stop!!"

Boiling blood spilled from rapidly forming boils on Levi's arms. Although unsure, Aria felt that the percentage of his body hidden by clothes might be worse.

Levi didn't respond. The Qi spilling from the cracks between his hands and the shield increased. Steaming blood splashed onto the ground.

"..." Aria clenched her fists. She reached out to rip Levi away from the shield, but the Qi output from his body increased, forcing her further away.

She watched as blood poured out the bottom of the dragon mask.

'His body can't take this... '

An indescribable feeling caused her stomach to ache.

"I have to stop him..." She tried to gather her Qi, having forgotten her earlier expenditure.

"Cough!" Levi's body shook as he hacked up more blood.

Aria forced Qi out in a panic.

"Agh!!"

Shocking pain forced her to her knees as cracks grew across her Dantian.

"Ugh... Don't... Why now...?"

Cold sweat slid down her face as she struggled to get up.

The Qi spilling from Levi's body increased exponentially, as did the blood.

'No...'

Aria's vision became cloudy as a tear slipped from her eye.

Suddenly, Levi's grip tightened, tearing through the shield's surface. Parallel cracks spread out as if to represent his ten fingers.

Following the initial shattering sound, tremendous force spewed from the cracks.