Brave Guardian

Soul Cuirass formed around me with a flash and expanded, keeping the Wyrm's pointy teeth from crushing me. There were so many of them, and its powerful tongue tried to push me over and impale me on those arm-length spikes.I resisted for a moment, and then placed my hand against the cheek of the beast and called forth my power.[Arcane Blast!]The flesh of the beast bubbled for a second as it expanded, and then exploded outward, forming a hole for me to escape. I casually flew out and then turned to taunt the beast.[Damn, big guy, you sure are large, but your toughness leaves something to be desired.]In response, I got a roar and a blast of energy I barely avoided by shifting the direction mid-flight. I chuckled as I avoided another one and then dodged a second attempted chomp.The Wyrm snaked after me through the sky, absolutely decimating the ground beneath as various blasts of energy missed their mark.I split my attention as I flew in an erratic pattern and examined the contents of my rings to see if I had anything good to use against the beast. It posed no threat to me, so I decided I might as well play with it for a while.I noticed the crystalline spheres, the Beast Summoning Crystals I got from Elder De Danw, and decided to test one of them. They were supposed to summon an Avatar of a Spirit Beast that would fight for you. Well, they apparently attacked indiscriminately, but I wanted to see it for myself.I gave them a once over and picked one I thought would be good against snake-like creatures. A small baseball-sized sphere appeared in my hand, and with a thought, I triggered its activation sequence.The ball pulsed with light, slowly at first and then increasingly faster, and I threw it at the beast just before the thing exploded into a giant mass of Spirit Qi that quickly took the shape of a massive rat.Yup, I summoned an enhanced version of a Giant Rat. Or something like that. Rodents were good against snakes, right? I thought I heard that somewhere. Or was it just the opposite?[Meh…] I shrugged my shoulders and quickly dropped from the sky as the two giants clashed.The giant rodent had long, sharp fangs and pointy teeth, and a whole bunch of spikes growing out of its head and body. It also had eight eyes, if I counted correctly, two main ones and six that were spread out around its head.The Wyrm immediately became even more pissed off and attacked, resulting in the summoned Spirit Beast biting and scratching back. Its claws and teeth were actually pretty strong, and considering it was nearly twenty meters tall, the Wyrm soon had blood flowing out of its myriad of fresh wounds.I landed on a nearby pillar, created a chair from stone, and laid down, hands behind my head and legs crossed in a relaxing pose. I casually summoned Tiny as well as my doppelganger and sent the latter to help the rat.[Not bad, huh, Tiny? Not every day you get to see a fight like that.]The Wyrm coiled around the rat, squeezing it, but then my clone attacked its eyes, shooting beams and whatnot, so it had to let it go to protect itself. It must have been quite pissed, because soon after an Avatar of the slimy worm formed as well, fighting against my summon while its real body tried to destroy the clone that attacked it.To be fair, the clone had the exact look and energy I had, so it probably thought that was the real me. It used a significant percentage of its power to clash with it, and though the copy was strong, it was nowhere near my power. While it had my shape and energy, it lacked the strength of my body, and the energy designated to it was quickly being used up.[Go, go, go! You can do it!] I shouted at Gerald II. The poor guy did his best, punching, clawing, and shooting at the giant wannabe-Dragon snake, but it didn't do much. The rat, on the other hand, was too preoccupied with the Avatar to be of any help.I moved my palm to the side, and a small sphere of Qi formed in the air above it. It slowly grew as the fight unfolded, the four of them fighting at supersonic speeds. I just quietly watched as the energy sphere beside me grew, gradually changing its shape into a javelin.[Gerald Junior, noooo!] I suddenly shouted as I watched my doppelganger get torn to shreds by a blast of energy it failed to avoid. The Wyrm was a tricky one, it used its tail to attack but then blasted my creation with a beam of energy immediately after as it tried to dodge the blow.[My… greatest creation…] Tears formed in my eyes. [You will not be forgotten.] I solemnly swore while holding a fist to my chest though still feeding the lance on the opposite side. I looked at Tiny with a devastated expression and the stone giant turned to look at me.[Too much?] I queried the golem, though he remained predictably silent and unresponsive. Such a great conversation partner.[Yeah, you are right. Gerald II was useless. How could he fall for such an obvious trick? I simply can't understand how we can have the same mind. Oh, well… Onto the next one.] I grinned.My energy shifted and another copy formed from it, standing beside me. Gerald III. then jumped into the sky and flew into battle while I sat back down and sighed, enjoying the show.The two Avatars were exhausting each other at about equal pace, sometimes clashing in the sky, but often battling on the ground where their attacks did a lot more collateral damage. The real beast itself, however, was quite quickly overpowering my clone and it appeared I would have to make another one real soon.Maybe I was a bit too wasteful with my energy…[Tiny…] I turned to my bodyguard. [Why don't you help our brave warrior a bit? Toss a stone or something.]Tiny looked at me and then turned, picking up a watermelon-sized rock with his dexterous hand and threw it at the big scaly snake. His throw was accurate and traveled at great speed, but when it hit the scales, the rock harmlessly bounced off, and the damn beast didn't even notice.[Hmm, not quite a candidate for baseball, huh? That's alright…] I patted Tiny on his back. He was not the most agile or fast. He was strong and durable, with plenty of energy. I should make use of that.[Oh! I got an idea!] I suddenly got an inspiration and took his main core. The artificial Soul inside was the one responsible for everything, so maybe if I could modify it…I closed my eyes and connected with the Soul inside. It was so weird feeling something that felt so cold, so alien. It had no emotions, no thoughts of its own, and just worked according to predetermined parameters. I made a small copy of some of my techniques I thought would fit the golem, and inserted them into Tiny's mind.I then placed the core back in place, and the stone giant awoke.[Alright, Tiny, show me what you learned. Shoot the snake!] I shouted and pointed at the sky with a big grin plastered on my face.Tiny's head turned and I could feel energy shifting inside him. His cores released a lot of Qi and it traveled up to his head and then to his expressionless face. His eyes glowed and then…[Hahaha, yes! Yes!] I shouted and slapped my knee as a beam of energy, an exact copy of my Arcane Blaze, shot at the Wyrm. The beast flinched and twisted as a few of its scales nearly instantly burned through, the beams digging a deep wound into its flesh.[Not bad, my guy, not bad! You are growing stronger by the day.]I watched with delight that my golem could wound a Spirit Beast just like that. It was not much, considering its massive size, but that was a creature well over the middle of Spirit Realm. Against humans, it would be even more effective. Probably.But then, though the Arcane Blaze was great as the ultimate attack, I realized it took too much energy from Tiny. He could only use it a few times without endangering his energy reserves. And there was another problem. The beam used up so much energy, that only one quick shot could be fired at a time. Anything more and his eyes and head would melt. I already noticed he was overheating after that one beam. He needed some time to cool down, especially since he didn't have proper Meridians like a live Cultivator. His energy use was really inefficient.[Oh, well… It's still a great ultimate weapon. One blast should be enough as a warning shot anyway. Others don't need to know about your weaknesses.]While I chatted with my golem, the Wyrm destroyed my second doppelganger and then took out the big rat as well. It coiled around it and then squeezed it until it shattered.[Welp, looks like it's time to finish this.]I stood up and gripped my energy lance tighter. The Wyrm noticed me and roared, before rushing at us. I jumped just as the beast crashed into the stone pillar below, swallowing the top part of it. It also ate Tiny.[Yo, what the fuck!]I turned with an angry scowl just as the beast shifted to face me. We flew at each other, and I imbued my weapon with a touch of Disruption just before the clash. I threw the lance and then moved to the side, letting it strike the beast while I dodged.The foolish Wyrm thought it could resist my attack, but even as a barrier formed around its head, my magic easily pierced a thin hole through it and then disappeared into its forehead. The damage was tiny, like a needle thrown at a human. However, a moment later the lance exploded, unraveling into a thousand destructive blades of Qi.The Wyrm shrieked and blew energy beams in every direction in a panic as part of its skull exploded. I knew it wasn't dead, but the damage was severe. And as if that wasn't enough, I suddenly saw a beam of supercharged plasma burst out of its stomach, cutting a hole right through its armored underbelly.[Hell yeah, Tiny! You show him!] I cheered.My golem then appeared as it poked its head through the hole, and then pushed the rest of its body through. The Wyrm flailed around like mad, crashing against stone pillars and attacking the air like it was its greatest enemy, so Tiny had a bit of a problem holding on until a sudden twitch threw him out and he flew somewhere in the distance.[Ah, shit…] I cursed under my breath and took out my two Spirit Axes to finish the job. I transformed, growing in size, and imbued my body with Qi. It was time to put the big worm out of its misery.***[Another one down.]I stored away my weapons and wiped the blood off my face. I stood still in the guts of the colossus for a moment, taking in its massive Soul before going to search for my stone guard. The larger Souls took much longer to integrate since the amount of Soul Essence they contained got exponentially greater. Also, they had a lot of memories I had to sift through, even though they were wild beasts.Centuries of life experiences were invaluable even if they weren't human. Every creature had something to teach, and I didn't want to miss anything.[Tiny! Where you at?] I called as I flew above the jungle. Luckily I soon found him in a crater on the ground and he looked terrible. He was covered, from head to toe, in blood and soil. Where was the magnificence of stone? Of carved golden arrays? He looked like a giant that had just been skinned alive.I shook my head and quickly summoned some water to wash him off. After doing that, I took him and flew back to the place of battle where the Wyrm fell, butchered, and waiting to be eaten.I landed on the ground beside it and whistled in awe. Just what remained of its head was bigger than a house, yet there was still the entire body behind it. How could I ever eat that?[Oh, man… I really hope I can finish this before the end of the year…] I murmured and licked my lips. The Soul could wait for later when I was busy digesting the meat through the night. [Well then, better get to work.]