There is no time for thought or deliberation as I roll and dive about the sands, avoiding a flurry of kicks and stomps that might well squash me flat.

Say what you will about Zhen Shi, but from what I’ve seen thus far, I’m not too too impressed by his Warrior prowess. Though he’s fast as lightning and hits like a truck, his Movements are exceedingly simple and straightforward, just regular, unsophisticated strikes which prioritize efficiency and effectiveness above all else. Now, this isn’t exactly a terrible thing, because if this were a test of the Forms and his familiarity with them, he would score full marks, able to always pinpoint the most direct and practical method to render me unable to fight back. Without Pong Pong radiating his Aura of Deflection to subtly sap away the lion’s share of the force and momentum behind each of Zhen Shi’s attacks, I would’ve died a dozen times over, but if my foe were even half as competent as Gerel is in combat, then this fight would’ve long been over and done with.

Zhen Shi’s decision making reminds me of how Zian used to fight, always picking the most optimal response in any given situation. It doesn’t matter how fast his attacks come or what tricky angle he approaches from if I can read his target in advance, which is a simple enough matter once I start leaving openings for him to strike at. A foot left just a bit too far out, an arm raised too high, a wild swing that I almost overcommit to, I repeatedly offer these obvious weaknesses only to avoid the all too predictable attack which follows. It feels like Zhen Shi has a pre-determined flowchart of actions that he put together a few centuries ago and has never deviated from the plan since, like a robot that takes the optimal route each and every time, and thus is easily avoided. All I need to do is stay on my toes and always be moving, dancing back and forth while threatening him with Sword Force which I am slowly growing more and more familiar with each exchange.

A minute ago, I needed a meme or a chant to help me Visualize my Intent, but now, the Sword Force is flowing freely, with Peace and Tranquility emanating an air of menace which clearly has Zhen Shi’s guard up. I can hurt him if I connect, but he’s a man who prioritizes caution over all else, not because he’s afraid of death, but because he’s overly confident in his prowess. He doesn’t just want to defeat me, he wants to capture me alive, which is just arrogance at its finest. I’m not complaining though, because I’m pretty sure I’d already be dead if he wasn’t being so careful.

A fist clips my shoulder, a foot slams home into my knee, a heel comes down upon my foot. Despite all my bluster about easily reading him, it’s still no simple task avoiding all his blows. The strikes come fast and hard as Zhen Shi aims to immobilize or incapacitate me with his pin-point attacks, but between Pong Pong’s defenses, my Materialized Domain Defenses, ability to Heal on the fly, and clever feints and positioning on my part, I’m able to slip away with only bruises and fractures rather than the crippling injuries I might otherwise have suffered. It’s not exactly glowing praise, but it’s better than losing outright as I scramble and skirt across the desert sands to delay near certain defeat. I spend more time on the back foot than I would like, and at times am even forced to Cloud Step away to keep ahead of my foe, but a second passes, then another, then a third as I evade capture and draw out this battle between us.

Seconds paid for in blood, sweat, and pain. Despite Healing faster than I’ve ever Healed before, the injuries are stacking up as Zhen Shi targets my ankles time and time again. When my full focus is on avoiding a broken foot, he switches it up and goes for a palm strike to the chest, one which breaks my ribs anew even after Pong Pong’s Domain Deflects a good ninety-five percent of Zhen Shi’s strength away. The difference is all in the timing, because while the Deflection diffuses the speed and momentum of his previous attacks, my foe has caught onto the precise limits of Pong Pong’s Domain Deflection and gauged the best time to Amplify his attacks for maximum force upon impact. All he has to do is wait patiently until his strike is about to physically connect, which sounds simple in theory, but considering he’s only in control of the variables on one half of the equation and has a margin of error measured in milliseconds at most, it’s fairly impressive to say the least.

A minor change in timing, yet a significant one that gives Zhen Shi strength enough to pummel me into oblivion, and the next dozen blows follow suit as he aims for my chin and throat in a renewed effort to knock me the fuck out.

All the while, Buddy sits in the sand and whimpers in a general sense of worry, and an inability to understand why I’m still fighting if I don’t have strength enough to win. According to his doggy logic, now that I’ve realized I’m no match, I should either run or submit and hope for the best, neither of which is really possible. Zhen Shi is much faster than I am, and is very carefully herding me ever westward as we fight, so even if I could get away, I’d only be running into danger and the unknown, meaning my best to ensure someone comes to my rescue would be to stand and fight. Pong Pong shares Buddy’s concerns, but that’s because animals prioritize immediate survival above all else, and neither my turtle nor my dog understand that I’m being led around by the nose.

The stakes are high and all the chips are on the line, so I cannot just turn tail and run. That would only lead to inevitable defeat once I am exhausted and isolated from my allies. I need to escape from Zhen Shi’s clutches and head back to Shi Bei to seek support from my family and allies, but I don’t see any way forward from here. All I can do is slowly give ground before my foe until he inevitably lands one good hit to subdue me, a future which is set in stone unless I can come up with a way to change things. Frustrating doesn’t even begin to describe it, as there’s nothing I can do except fight the good fight and scour my brain for a meme to help me. That being said, I don’t think I even have time to meme against Zhen Shi, because that requires a moment to breathe and focus, but the aggression continues to pile on as he slowly but surely drives me into a corner and brings our match close towards its inevitable conclusion.

With me beaten and broken and him free to flee from the Empire and spend a lifetime torturing me for all my secrets.

Ha. Can’t wait to see the look on his face when he discovers I have no idea what I’m doing.

Zhen Shi’s foot hooks around my ankle mid-air just as I’m about to Cloud-Step away, resulting in a face first plant in the sand for yours truly. Rolling with the impact, I keep enough momentum to leap out of the way of his follow up stomp, one which slams into the sand a hair’s breadth behind me and possesses strength enough to launch me aside on a wave of sand. That’s what I get for allowing myself to be distracted mid-fight, for not giving it my all and preparing for my loss. It’s self-defeating, thinking like that, and the odds are stacked enough against me that I really shouldn’t be getting in my own way.

“Think positive,” I tell myself, as I block a punch with the side of my face, one I should’ve been able to avoid if I wasn’t so distracted by my own thoughts. “Be optimistic. Things could be worse.” The follow up knee to the chest does little to brighten my mood, but as I sail through the air like a sack of rice, I cling fast to hope even as the world dims around me.

Of course, I’d be more optimistic if not for the fact that my brain urging me to be optimistic is a big part of the problem. I’m always overthinking, overanalyzing, and over-internalizing everything happening all at once, because that’s just who I am. An inquisitive and curious mind who spends too much time inside his own thoughts, which isn’t always a bad thing, but it does have its downsides. The thinker in me would be happy with my memetic combat abilities and move on from there, because the problem has been solved and no longer worth consideration, but in practical terms, memes leave much to be desired. Coming up with the right meme is more a matter of luck and happenstance, because while I have a massive library of memes hidden away in my memories, they’re not all applicable to combat. Nor are they organized in any way, shape, or form, which adds even more time to the already lengthy process of Visualizing and/or Verbalizing the memes themselves. Against Zhen Shi, I barely even have time to react, much less think of and utilize any meme against him. By the time I’m done calculating the best course of action, it’s already too late to act, which is why I’m getting the shit kicked out of me at this very moment. I need to cut out the thinking part and just act, which I know is possible because I’ve trained for this before, know how to fight and how to respond in any standard situation. I need to stop living in my head and just do it, but this is easier said than done. How do I change my whole personality to become more aggressive and domineering?

Well… by doing what I’ve always done when I find myself in over my head. Duh.

I am Falling Rain. I am Amigui. I am Rayne. Three names which all apply, and each one brings something different to the table, but while I have made my peace with who I am, there is still more to me than I care to admit. No matter what name I go by, I am a man driven by fear, so here and now, it is time to finally rise above them. Who I am is important, but now I must take that information and improve upon myself to become the Warrior once more, a man who will no longer be constrained by his fears and doubts. Forget victory, I just need to survive and make it back to my loved ones alive, so I Visualize the man I wish I could be, and proceed to act with courage and confidence which I do not truly possess.

Fake it til you make it, baby!

My eyes snap open to find Zhen Shi’s hand clamped around my neck as the world whizzes by. I haven’t been unconscious for long, not even a full second, but the speeds we’re travelling at is alarming to say the least. The tension in his fingers tells me my foe is aware that I’m awake, and our sharp and sudden descent tells me he’s about to slam me into the sand once again. Moving without thinking, I bring Tranquility up and around with a flick of my wrist, and the blade passes mere millimetres away from my nose before biting deep into the meat and bone of Zhen Shi’s forearm. The weapon was only Honed and fails to sever the hand entirely, but it’s still enough to force him to release me, and this time, instead of preparing for the rough landing ahead, I seize upon this opportunity to retaliate instead. Need and Purpose gives birth to Will and Intent as Peace surges with Sword Force and exits my hand to be Guided at my opponent’s unguarded mid-section. The weapon pierces through the Runic Robes and Domain Plated defenses both with laughable ease before plunging deep into Zhen Shi’s belly with a spray of blood, and I savour this minor victory with pride.

Give flesh, break bone, the mantra flashes through my head as I crash into the sands below, but the impact merely drives the air out of my lungs, which is all too easily ignored. Bouncing back to my feet, I take a moment to check on Mama Bun who’s still floating safely along behind me, her paws planted and head held high as she enjoys every second of the ride. Turns out, Blackjack’s not the only one with a need for speed, and I fear Mama Bun will soon be hounding me to take her out on thrill rides through the air, but that is a burden I will gladly bear. Seeing her joy brings a smile to my face even as I trade Tranquility for Unity in hand, because now that I am the Warrior once more, I feel confident enough to wield my glaive again.

Who cares if I’m better with the sword? A glaive is just a sword with a longer handle and more reach, so quit thinking about how to fight and just fight.

The Movement comes naturally to me as I Cloud-Step towards my foe, charging shoulder first with glaive lagging behind. There is no need to eyeball the distance and account for the timing beforehand, because I’ve practiced this Movement countless times before as part of my daily practice. I don’t have exact numbers for how fast I’m moving or how long it takes to swing my weapon, nor do I need them, for the rhythm and timing have long since been baked into my muscles through practice and repetition. Everything comes together as I unleash a wide, scything swing, one which I have no name for and is delivered using every last centimetre of range afforded to me by the length of my glaive. An attack which touches upon the acme of perfection, it would score high marks in any technical analysis, whether it be for speed, power, timing, targeting, or anything else, but my opponent evades harm by falling a single step back, an outcome which would have made Falling Rain sigh with regret.

But the Warrior? He’s thrilled with his success, because he knows that his foe has given up the initiative and opened themselves up to an all-out offensive.

Hack, slash, chop, and thrust, the attacks I perform are reminiscent of the Movements, but all tailored to the situation as needed, my body and mind making all the necessary adjustments on the fly. This is part of what it means to be a Peak Expert, because prior to this level, a Warrior is no different from a musician following notes on a page. It doesn’t matter how well they play the notes, how perfect their rhythm and timing can be, because so long as you’re still playing off the page, then it’s all been seen before. To become a Peak Expert, you need to learn how to make music yourself, to take the Movements of the Forms and make them your own in a way that no one else can replicate.

And the results speak for themselves as I drive Zhen Shi back a second step, then a third and forth as he retreats before my frenzied assault with Peace still embedded in his gut, for the Warrior holds no fear in his heart. Should my foe choose to make this trade, then I might well come out worse for it, but Zhen Shi’s arrogance drives him to overestimate his value and underestimate my own. I can take these risks because I know he’s unwilling to risk further injury, not even to remove my sword from his body, so as long as I remain on the offensive, then I dictate the pace of our fight. One I keep dynamic and uncertain for as long as I can, because only then can I keep him on the back foot. There’s no time for thought or consideration as I bring the fight to my foe, my glaive singing as it whirls through the air in a series of loops, spins, slashes, and thrusts. Part sword, part spear, part staff, and part axe, Unity is all of these things and more in its glaive form alone, a versatile polearm that suits me well.

Which I have Mila to thank for, because even after accounting for all my weird ideas about Spiritual Spring-loaded Rifles and transforming states, she still somehow managed to design a functional, perfectly balanced weapon that suits my style to a T.

It’s not all sunshine and roses however as Zhen Shi adapts with alarming alacrity and starts making moves to blunt my offensive, but his thinking is too rigid and simple for a Warrior of my experience. I am no mere young Talent valued for my promising potential, but a veteran of a thousand battles who’s been punching above his weight class for as long as I can remember, whereas Zhen Shi has spent his life pulling strings from behind the scenes. Sure, he understands how to fight from a technical standpoint, but there are some things you can’t learn from a book, and his lacking practical experience is starting to show.

Take my sword for example, which he’s left stuck in his flesh. Not a terrible decision, because it means I can’t Materialize my Domain and use it to attack him from blind angles, or even Hone the blade and cut him up from within due to the inviolability of the soul which extends throughout his physical self. In truth though, he should really remove it as soon as possible, because I only need to grab hold of it to complete the circuit as it were. Thing is, he’s confident enough to believe that he can prevent that from happening, and I can use that against him. No matter how I proceed, I make sure to leave myself plenty of opportunities to reach for my sword, opportunities he must defend against, which in turn buys me plenty of chances to commit to a different avenue of attack instead. There’s also the fact that he wants to keep me from escaping East, so he has no choice but to stand and fight every time I charge in head first. Every time he tries to circle around, I feint as if I’m about to make a break for it and he has to react, because even if he knows it’s a feint, he can’t take the chance that I’ll actually run. I’ve also noticed that if I attack using the same move twice, he defends the same way both times, which makes it even easier to anticipate his actions the second time around. All this information and more filters through my mind as I fight with everything I have, happily trading blows wherever I can to try and inflict more damage upon him. Poor trades in the end, for the cut to his forearm has long since Healed, and aside from Peace still embedded in his belly, he has yet to take any significant injury, but the chance was there and I could not pass it up. The bruises are nothing, and few broken bones of only minor consequence so long as he's unable to grab and hold me, meaning that even though I look like I’m losing the overall fight, the pressure on Zhen Shi continues to grow.

Because we both know I only need to land one good hit to kill him, whereas he’s still handicapping himself by trying to take me alive. I may be bloodied, but I am unbroken, and I will not give up the good fight so long as I still draw breath.

Unfortunately, even the Warrior within me knows that this cannot last forever, that there will come a time when I begin to tire. Already, I can feel the strain on not just my body, with my lungs heaving, body aching, and sweat pouring from exertion, but also my mind and soul both. My head tingles with an oncoming headache, and outside of what is needed for battle, my thoughts grow foggy and indistinct. Buddy’s concern continues to rise because he sees the signs too, but all he can offer is a bit of emotional support as he circles about the sidelines and whimpers in heartfelt worry. As for Mama Bun and Pong Pong, they are both unflappable as always, even as I slip up and underestimate the strength of Zhen Shi’s resolve as he closes in for an unforeseen trade.

My glaive scythes through flesh and bone to take Zhen Shi’s foot off at the ankle, but he accepts the injury without blinking and launches a basic straight punch aimed at my chest. Only the speed of my reaction keeps my ribs intact as I angle away from the blow to mess up my opponent’s timing amidst Pong Pong’s Domain Deflection, but even then, the strike hits hard enough to fracture my recently mended ribs. The pain is nothing, a minor distraction easily ignored, but as the follow-up elbow slams home into the side of my head, the world goes dark once more. Consciousness returns just in time for me to crash into the sand, and it’s all I can do to keep my eyes open as my body digs a furrow across the desert.

A single counter. That’s all it takes for our roles to reverse, and I’m back to fighting on the defensive once more, rolling aside to avoid the all-too-predictable stomp that comes every time he throws me into the sand. It’s like a wrestling move, the slam and stomp, one he just can’t resist trying every single time even though it has yet to work even once, and it’s grown so familiar that I even manage to sneak Tranquility in between us to block the follow up kick that was the next logical step. Too predictable, but also too strong as the kick launches me back through the air, eating away all the precious metres I’ve gained since beginning my offensive. Now we’re back where we started more or less, but rather than take advantage of his momentum to finish me off, he’s finally seen fit to remove my sword from his flesh in a spray of arterial blood.

“Foolish little worm,” he utters with a sneer, his belly wound mending before my eyes with little to no effort at all, though his foot remains severed and missing. It doesn’t seem to affect him however, standing firmly on his remaining foot whilst hovering high overhead, never once wavering as he looms over me in his standard power games. “You struggle and persevere without knowing your fate is already sealed, for you still draw breath by virtue of this Sovereign’s mercy alone.”

A surge of doubt and despair passes through me, but I recognize his effort to bring me down and let the emotions roll off me like water off a duck. “Mercy has nothing to do with it,” I retort, calling Peace back to my side before sending it high into the air alongside Tranquility. With Unity in hand, I take my stance and smile to show my steely resolve, which infuriates him to no end, because he knows the truth just as well as I do, except he refuses to accept it. “Your greed and stupidity are why I still draw breath, because I hold the answers to questions you didn’t even know enough to ask. All your best-laid plans have gone to shit, and now you’re desperate to put this disaster behind you, but your pride will not allow you to slink away in defeat. You need a victory, no matter how small and inconsequential, so once you are safely hidden away from your failures, you can tell yourself your efforts were not all in vain. How does it feel, to have failed so thoroughly that you’re now desperate enough to claim that capturing me makes all your efforts worthwhile? Does that not sting? The oh so wise and venerable Zhen Shi reduced to begging for answers from a child. Ha. Pathetic.”

The meme slips out without even meaning to, and it slaps harder than I ever would’ve expected. Gone is the calm and collected puppet master as he charges forward in a rage, eyes wide and jaws clenched with fury and denial. The blows hammer home before I even have a chance to respond, highlighting just how much my foe has been holding back all this time. Even with Pong Pong to help me defend, I’m helpless to act against the dizzying combination of punches and kicks. How many strikes I endure, I cannot say, but by the time I can make sense of my surroundings once more, I find myself face first in the sand with a mouthful of blood and broken teeth. My arms are broken, my left ankle shattered, my ribs floating about my chest cavity and my lungs punctured and deflated, but in spite of all the pain and suffering, I lift my head and laugh. “Touched a nerve, didn’t I?” I wheeze, barely able to even speak for lack of teeth and air, but he understands me well enough. “Be angry all you want, but you cannot deny the truth.”

The subsequent beating is worse than the first, or at least I assume it is since I black out immediately, only to come to with a gasp soon after as Zhen Shi lifts me by the back of the head so he can glare into my eyes. “You are nothing and no one,” he screams, frothing at the mouth as his body quivers with rage. “Who are you to criticize me?” My smile catches him off-guard, and I can see the gears turning in his head as he realizes why, because now I know that he no longer sees himself as ‘This Sovereign’. My Orated attack dealt a deep blow to his confidence, else a few words would not have enraged him so, and now I realize that he hasn’t been holding back just because he wants me alive, but because he also doesn’t trust himself to go all out.

Except now I’ve pushed him just a little too far, and he might well have snapped, so all I can do is accept the pain as he brings my face down to meet his knee in a smashing introduction. The blackness returns and I sense Buddy and Pong Pong’s concern, but Zhen Shi’s rage is blinding as he no longer holds it all back, a blazing furnace amidst a sea of flames which he unleashes without hesitation. The incoherent screams are frightening to say the least, but amidst all the pain and agony of the flurry of blows is an unyielding sense of control and purpose. Even after losing it, he’s still able to hold himself back, never hitting the same spot twice as he pummels me within an inch of my life and not one single millimetre more.

Helpless though I might be to defend myself, I keep my smile throughout it all, and not just because I’ve mastered how to disassociate from the pain. I smile because I know that even if he kills me here today, I’ve broken him in ways he cannot simply Heal away. I’ve wounded his pride and shaken his confidence, dealt a blow to his foundations and forced him to admit inferiority to a child he thought beneath him, a truth he will forever be unable to deny. That is the crux upon which his rage is built, a single seed of doubt that bloomed into an unrestrained hatred which has now taken root inside his heart. Until he answers all the questions plaguing him with doubt, he will never be able to move forward from here, which means it is not hubris or arrogance which drives him to capture me alive, but desperation.

All of which is revealed to me through not words or actions alone, but emotions unrestrained. A minor drawback of refining one’s body, mind, and soul, the increased difficulty of containing one’s emotions. I was never good at hiding my feelings, which is why I struggled to do so in the wake of JiangHu. Not just because my soul had grown too powerful for my body to contain, but also because my emotions were closer to the surface than they were before. As for Zhen Shi, he’s much better at controlling his emotions, a creature of logic and reasoning so long as it serves him, but one who has given into rage and is struggling to keep it all together.

Zhen Shi and I are similar in many ways, most of them unflattering, but I notice that even a man as brilliant as he doesn’t always have the right answers. Sometimes, he has to operate on faith, just believe that he has it right and move forward from there, which is something I’ve struggled with all my life. It doesn’t matter what answer I arrive at, because I am always left with even more questions than I started with, but I think Gerel had it right. I lack faith, faith in myself and faith in my purpose, for I have always believed that this world was not my own and I have no place within it.

Except I do. I am Amigui, the stillborn, the boy who survived in spite of the odds. My brother died so that I could live, and so I must continue to live in honour of his memory, meaning I cannot die here. I must endure. I must survive. I must fight until my dying breath, which means I can never stop fighting.

In this battle, I am not Rayne, Amigui, Falling Rain, or even Baledagh. Here and now, I am, first and foremost, the Undying Savage.

The world comes into focus as I peer out from half-lidded eyes. My laboured breaths send sharp pains shooting all throughout my body, and it would be easier to list off what doesn’t hurt than what does, but I cling to life and hope itself as I set my wounds to mending with the Usable Heavenly Energy delivered unto me by my close brush with Demonification. Holding me by the ruined collar of my tattered robes, Zhen Shi heaves with rage and fury still left unspent, but he sees my injuries and knows I will not survive if he does not rein his anger in. A truth which feeds the fires of his fury, and I can sense the struggle within as he contemplates ending my life on a whim. The Spectres encourage the impulse, spur him to indulge in vengeance and bloodshed, but the logical, rational portion of Zhen Shi’s mind remains firmly in control. If I die, his best chance of finding answers goes with me, though I doubt he’d be so restrained if he knew how little I actually understand. The thought makes my smile stretch even further, and Zhen Shi all but recoils at the sight of my bloodied, bared teeth, because he cannot fathom how I can continue to smile in light of all my horrific injuries.

It's simple really. I am suffering, but so is he, and we all know misery loves company.

There is no meme that springs to mind as I harness my emotions, no picture to tell a thousand words. I realize now why my earlier attack failed to do away with my foe, because my memes are a coping mechanism that allow me to view my emotions through the lens of humour and levity. My choice of song was apt and emotions weighty and effective, but I dulled the edge of my own attack by treating it all as a joke, because that is the only way I know how to approach my hidden pain. I’m done joking now as I reach deep down and tap into the raw, unfiltered emotions of my past, but I reach not for the despair I know so well. Zhen Shi will be guarded against it, ready to shake it off and reject it, so I must look elsewhere for a different avenue of attack, one my foe presents to me on a silver platter. The anger of injustice, the rage of a beaten slave, the fury of a vengeful man returned for blood debts owed. These are the weapons I craft within the landscape of emotion, all my repressed ire and outrage which I have always left untouched, because I know how useless anger can be. Beating Gortan to death didn’t make my nightmares any better, nor would it bring my brother back from the dead, so I never had much use for anger.

Until now.

Rather than a wave of hatred or torrent of rage directed towards my foe, I set my anger to simmering and let it slowly build up instead, feeding into Zhen Shi’s resentment and indignation and letting him stew in it for long seconds. The last of my usable Heavenly Energy sets my flesh to mending and bones to knitting as we lock eyes upon our battlefield, one which takes place not upon these desert sands, but deep within the landscapes of our minds and souls. This is not a direct confrontation like the one we had in Meng Sha, nor is it a clash of Auras, but rather a collaborative effort in which I see him not as my foe to oppress and overcome, but as an ally to support and bolster instead.

I always found it strange how Aura was able to differentiate between friend and foe without effort, but now I see that it all has to do with intent. I am not attacking Zhen Shi with my anger and resentment, but rather using it to ‘help’ him come to terms with the anger inside him, the same way the Spectres ‘help’ their host connect with the darkness hidden deep within. This wouldn’t work if Zhen Shi wasn’t already half-way consumed with rage, but he’s too far gone to see the threat. Let your anger out, don’t hold it all in, give in to your hatred and indignation, because that is the only way you can ever be free of it. This I know now, a truth which should have been obvious all along, but one I ignored because I thought it easier to ignore my sorrow and pretend like it didn’t bother me. It did, in more ways that I ever knew, and if I’d come to terms with my emotions before my crusade to the West, mastered my emotions and mastered myself, then I might well have killed Zhen Shi in our first exchange.

The Spectres surge within him and I sense the struggle for control playing out, with his emotions pulling him in all directions while he fights for calm and control. I see fear flicker across his eyes as he comes to terms with what’s happening, realizes my part in spurring the Spectres to action which gives rise to further doubt and despair. A moment is all there is, a single moment of pure rage in which he almost gives in to emotion, but a moment is all I need. Earlier me would’ve stopped to think this through, hesitated for fear of the unknown, but the Warrior and Undying Savage both know that this is the only way. Focusing on his eyes and nothing else, I throw myself at him not physically, but mentally and spiritually, surging into the Void and his Natal Palace both, entering into his Domain using the same openings he left in his defenses to facilitate the movement of Spectres.

And there he sits in all his glory, radiant golden robes and all, though where before the Spectres were contained to his embroidery, now they are set loose within his soul.

Even as I watch, Zhen Shi reaches out with his Will and drags a torrent of Spectres back into his golden robes, only for another group to break free from within, and I sense his growing fear and frustration as he struggles to appear as calm and collected as can be. “Foolish worm,” he intones, radiating a sense of poise and composure as fake as my air of confidence and competence, making us both liars in a battle of self-delusion, but he doesn’t stand a chance against the king. “To think, you even dare set foot within this Sovereign’s Domain, where you are powerless to resist.” Utilizing his Will to lock me in place, Zhen Shi uses his Authority to hammer home the point and show just how much power he wields, but I know better than to give in. “A most timely gift you’ve delivered, and this Sovereign will accept your surrender, though you deserve far worse than death.”

“Ha.” A single laugh is all it takes to command his undivided attention, with whole hosts of Spectres breaking free from his robes in this brief moment of distraction. “So what if I’ve stepped foot within your Domain?” Spoken with the confidence of an idiot who doesn’t know any better, I flash Zhen Shi my best smile and pray that I’m right. “Your Authority was granted to you by the Heavens above, but I make my own Authority, seized for myself in defiance of natural law.” The seed of doubt within Zhen Shi bears fruit once more as he succumbs to doubt and dismay, allowing me the opening I need to strike. An effort of Will is all it takes for my Runic Armour to materialize around me, not merely a Domain Plated Defense like in reality, but cold steel and empowered Runes as real as I am here in the Void. Peace, Tranquility, and Unity appear alongside me, and I take my sword in hand once more and ignite the light of hope within. “I do not respect your Authority, nor do I recognize this area as your Domain, for my Domain exists wherever my Sword can reach.”

Raising my sword to my lips, I kiss the hilt and smile, before adding, “And you are standing well within range.”

Again, there is no meme or chant, only a single moment of directed focus and unyielding Will as I Visualize my attack and Materialize it into existence. A wave of my hand sends out a blinding blade of light, one which slices through Zhen Shi’s soul from top to bottom and inflicts a wound which I know cannot kill him. Here in the Void, we are creatures of pure spirit and mere blades not enough to mortally wound us, but I don’t need to kill him myself, not when there are so many Spectres ready and waiting to tear him apart.

For my blow was not aimed at Zhen Shi himself, but at the spiritual restraints he crafted within his Runic Robes to keep the Spectres in check. His expression flashes through a dozen emotions, doubt, denial, rage, rejection, terror, and finally resignation as he gazes upon the billowing mass of Spectres surging around him. It matters not the strength of his Will, for without the constraints of his Runic Robes, the sheer weight of emotion contained within is too much for Zhen Shi to handle in his current state of mind. Even I’ve never faced so many Spectres at once, not even with Blobby there to back me up, as Zhen Shi has been at this for a long, long time and picked up quite the collection. Waving goodbye with a shit eating grin, I retreat from the Void and return to my still mending body, where I have nothing left to do but to sit back and watch the show as Zhen Shi goes toe to toe with millions upon millions of Spectres who all hunger for vengeance.

I didn’t win, but I didn’t lose either, and more importantly, I’m pretty sure I’ve spoiled Zhen Shi’s chances for victory too. I doubt fate would be so kind as to have Zhen Shi Demonize and become easy pickings for Blobby, but a man can dream, right?

Chapter Meme 1

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3