Chapter 26 – Carrier vs Carrier (2)

Yu Yin watched as Vakhtang’s crimson crosses crumbled upon impact with the Silver Qilin Horns. The outcome was unexpected, and it disrupted the entire flow of the battle completely. Both parties stopped fighting for a moment to look on in sheer shock as the last traces of the [Cross of Crimson] attack disappeared. Yu Yin was ecstatic and almost started to cry tears of joy. He had thought that his precious Silver Qilin horns were about to be crippled forever. Instead, it was the attack that was crippled! Yu Yin didn’t wait for Vakhtang to recover from his shock. He quickly mobilised his bloodforce and unleashed it.

“[Aspect Acceleration: Potential]!”

Yu Yin’s body began glowing with white light as he lurched towards Vakhtang and tried to pierce him with one of the Silver Qilin Horns.

If accelerating the efficiency aspect of an object allowed it to produce double the results with half the effort, accelerating the potential aspect of an object increased the maximum amount of effort that could be exerted. The practical effects of accelerating both aspects seemed similar and perhaps almost identical, but there were a few subtle differences. One of which was that while accelerating the efficiency aspect was better for short bursts of speed, accelerating the potential aspect was better for a continued assault.

Vakhtang parried the Silver Qilin horn with his katana, although he was still pushed back 2 meters. Yu Yin didn't wait for him to regain his balance and immediately followed up by striking with the other horn.

The fight continued on like this for a while with Yu Yin assaulting Vakhtang with attacks unceasingly and putting him on the defensive. Every now and again, Vakhtang would retaliate with a [Bloody Crescent Moon] in an attempt to retake the initiative. When that happened, Yu Yin would block the brunt of the attack with his Silver Qilin Horns and tank the rest of the damage. The [Aspect Acceleration: Strength] from before was still in effect and would be for another 3 minutes, so he could allow himself to take a bit of damage. Although blocking Vakhtang's attacks like this did cause Yu Yin injuries, none of them were severe enough to seriously worry about. After blocking an attack like this, Yu Yin would then immediately counterattack like before and barrage Vakhtang with strikes using his Silver Qilin Horns.

The battle went on like this for about two minutes before Vakhtang leaped back and retreated to a distance of about 10 meters. He lowered his Katana and looked Yu Yin in the eye.

“… You’re a lot stronger than I thought Yu Yin. If I had known, I would have just let you take those measly spirit stones and leave. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out that way, and I Vakhtang, am not a person who retreats from a fight. Out of respect, I’ll give you one last chance to walk out of this. What is your decision Yu Yin?”

"You sound like you think you’d win this fight if we continued." Yu Yin smirked as he spoke. "Looking at your current condition, it’s you who should be walking away."

Although it might have looked like Yu Yin was making a desperate attempt to come out on top before, his real objective was actually something else. He was stalling. Vakhtang had already been seriously wounded by Yu Yin's surprise attack, so all Yu Yin had to do to win was wait until Vakhtang bled out. All his previous attacks had been made with the intention to wear Vakhtang out until either a window of opportunity appeared to put the man out of action, or until Seeker reappeared with the Spirit Stones. If that window of opportunity never came, or if Seeker arrived, Yu Yin would make a quick escape.

'Speaking of Seeker, shouldn't that little bastard have arrived by now?'

The thought ticked Yu Yin off. Things had already gone terribly wrong when Vakhtang had revealed that he was a carrier. Seeker had probably seen an opportunity and escaped. Yu Yin would deal with him later if he ever came across him, but right now he had no attention to spare.

"You'd be right in saying I'm not in top form but let me fill you in on a little secret."

Yu Yin could have sworn that Vakhtang was smiling wickedly under his mask.

"I still have one forbidden technique that I haven't used yet." Vakhtang explained. "I'd rather you didn't force me to use it as it won't end too well for me, but if you don't walk away now, I won't back down."

Yu Yin frowned. He had no idea why Vakhtang was so instant in fighting Yu Yin to the bitter end. Perhaps it had something to do with his cultivator’s pride. Nevertheless, if Yu Yin had learned anything from THAT incident, the one that made him decide to leave the Yu Family behind, it was that it was a bad idea to push cultivators too far. Yu Yin was just considering following Vakhtang’s advice and walking away when a third voice reverberated across the Windwing Village.

"Vile fiend of the Crimson Cross, say your prayers!!!"

A man suddenly appeared in the sky riding a winged horse. Yu Yin noticed that the man's clothes were very similar to those worn by the mortal clergy in the Frigid Enigma Continent.

'The hell?!!' Yu Yin exclaimed internally. Where the heck had this guy come from?

The man was very obviously a cultivator judging from the soul power fluctuations he was emitting, and that surprised Yu Yin. He had thought that religion wasn’t a thing that would interest cultivators much, with them constantly trying to defy the heavens. Yet, here was a cultivator who very much seemed like some sort of priest.

Brickface turned as white as a sheet when he saw the new arrival. The mortal man had wisely stood to the side all this time, avoiding Yu Yin and Vakhtang's battle whilst guarding the caged Wingwing wyrm. The ugly brute has somewhat remained calm when watching the battle, but he completely lost his cool when the priest-like man appeared.

"It's the Purified Church of Extreme Order!" Brickface shouted in fear. "But that's impossible!! How can they be here?!!"

"It seems that the details of this mission have been compromised." Vakhtang replied, his voice grave. "Get out of here, now!"

Brickface turned and fled immediately upon receiving the command, carrying the Windwing Wyrm on his back. The priest-like man noticed Brickface's movement and moved to pursue him without hesitation, but he was stopped by Vakhtang.

"[BLOODY CRIMSON MOON]!!!!"

Vakhtang's strike wasn’t calm and calculated like it was when he used it against Yu Yin. Instead, it was filled with rage and brutality. The priest-like man reacted quickly and dodged the attack, but his mount wasn’t so lucky. The winged horse was cleanly sliced in two by the flying slash, spraying blood across the battlefield. Yu Yin grimaced at the sight. He really wasn’t used to seeing such a gory scene. The priest-like man noticed Yu Yin at this point. He promptly used the [Flight] ability landed next to him.

"Fellow Daoist, I applaud thee for thy efforts thus far. I beseech thee in the name of the Holy White Dragon of Purity, assist me to rid the world of this evil fiend once and for all!"

Yu Yin looked at the priest-like man blankly, wondering what kind of political ****storm he had just walked into. All he had wanted was to get his hands on that immortal currency, not all of this crap! First a carrier had got in his way and now some crazy immortal priest had randomly appeared from nowhere. Putting the strangeness of the situation aside, Yu Yin refocused on his goal.

'Thinking logically, helping this priest repel Vakhtang is the only way I'll get my hands on those spirit stones' Yu Yin thought. 'After the battle is over and Vakhtang decides to leave, I'll just slip away without anyone noticing.'

"I agree" Yu Yin said. "Give me 20 seconds and opening, and I can take him out of action."

The priest-like man didn’t need to be told twice. He advanced towards Vakhtang, releasing powerful soul power fluctuations as he went. Yu Yin could tell that the priest-like man was actually weaker than Vakhtang, but with Vakhtang as injured as he was, the priest-like man should be able to take the advantage.

"[The Spear's Trinity]!"

Three glowing golden spears appeared around the priest-like man in a triangle formation. They pointed towards Vakhtang and shot towards him, leaving glowing yellow streaks of light behind them. Vakhtang didn't just watch as the speakers arrived, but instead moved to retaliate.

"[Cross of Crimson]!"

Three giant crimson X-shaped cross materialised and flew towards the incoming spears. When they collided, the crosses wrapped around the spears and sealed them. The spears, having lost their power, stopped glowing and promptly dropped to the ground. The priest-like man seemed to have expected this result as no sooner than after he had launched his first attack, he had already started preparing a second one.

"[Holy Lighting of Purification]!"

The priest-like man fired a bolt of golden lightning that struck Vakhtang's head. His already damaged mask began to crumble from the sheer power of the strike, revealing half of his face. Vakhtang was a good-looking man. His hair colour was a mixture of brown and blond and his sharp eyes went well with his chiselled law-line. Vakhtang coughed up a mouthful of blood and was thrown back by the assault, landing 20 meters away from Yu Yin. He struggled to his feet with a frenzied look on his face and started laughing.

"HAHAHA! Of course you bastards of the church would show up! You want to kill me?! Watch as I finish you first!"

Vakhtang acted like a completely different person than before. All of his composure from before was nowhere to be seen, and the look in his eye showed that he was ready to risk it all. He readied his katana which began to glow in a bloody red light. His scattered blood that had been shed in battle rose and condensed around the sword. He glared at the priest-like man with a look that could kill.

"[Wolf Howls to the Bloody Moon]!!!!!"

Vakhtang thrust his katana in a piercing motion towards the priest-like man, creating a huge beam of bloody light that engulfed the immortal clergy. Yu Yin gulped when he saw the ferocious attack. Vakhtang wasn't lying when he said he had a last resort, and that wasn't an attack that Yu Yin could shrug off. Perhaps he could survive such an attack thanks to [Aspect Acceleration: Strength] but the injuries received would be grave.

After 3 seconds the bloody beam subsided, revealed the battered priest-like man. He had managed to use some defensive daoist magic before the attack had hit so he had survived, but he was now a bloody mess. The priest-like man's robes were tattered and he was covered in wounds and blood. Unable to stay standing after receiving so much damage, he fell to the ground. Vakhtang's wound had also got visibly worse and the bone could now be seen, but he wasn’t going down yet. He began preparing another attack to finish the priest-like like man off. Yu Yin wouldn't let him, because those 20 seconds were finally up.

"[Combined Aspect Acceleration: Berserker]!"

Yu Yin used up the remainder of his bloodforce until he only had 10% left. If he used up anymore than that, he would fall unconscious later. The bloodforce was equally divided into three aspects: Efficiency, Potential, and Velocity. The Velocity aspect affected the strength of the vectors acting on an object. Using this aspect would never be the first choice but combining it with both Efficiency and Potential stacked together made Yu Yin physical abilities increase… exponentially. The downside of Accelerating the ideal set of Aspects was that the casting took a long time to prepare, but now that the bloodline magic had been cast, Yu Yin was unstoppable for as long as the buff lasted!

Yu Yin dashed forward and appeared before Vakhtang in the blink of an eye. The man was startled by Yu Yin's abrupt movement, but Vakhtang was too skilled a warrior to do nothing in response. His katana began glowing crimson and his blood began to converge as he prepared to use his ultimate ability a second time in a row.

"[Wolf Howls to the Bloody…

"[Blade Conjuration]!"

Yu Yin conjured his white crescent blade and slashed it towards Vakhtang, cutting off the arm holding his katana and interrupting his dangerous soul art. When Vakhtang had unleashed his [Cross of Crimson] before, the mysterious cross that sealed his [Blade Conjuration] ability had vanished, allowing him to finally release the blade from before. Yu Yin guessed that the reason was that Vakhtang could only have 3 active crosses at once. Bloodline magic often had strange restrictions like that, but these restrictions usually disappeared as the carrier's bloodline magic level increased.

Having had his soul art disrupted, Vakhtang fell to the ground. The wound at his side and his now severed arm made the sight of him horrific. Yu Yin quickly grabbed Vakhtang’s silver katana and put it away in his storage ring. This way there was no way for Vakhtang to retaliate if he got up again, and besides, Yu Yin needed something as payment for all the crap that had just gone down. It turned out that Yu Yin didn't need to worry too much as Vakhtang stayed down and didn't make any moves. His eyes were wide open and he was looking vacantly at the sky.

"Is this where it all ends?" Vakhtang asked himself, his voice melancholic.

The priest-like man struggled to his feet and grinned triumphantly at the fallen Vakhtang.

"This serves right you fiend! Now you can die and suffer for your atrocities in the 9 hells!"

He turned to Yu Yin and pointed at Vakhtang.

"Fellow Daoist, in the name of the Holy White Dragon of Purity, I command thee! Finish him! Kill this heretic!"

Yu Yin looked at the fallen Vakhtang. There was no rage in the man's eyes anymore, only resignation and acceptance. He reminded Yu Yin of himself just before he was swallowed by that black coffin a week ago.

"No."

"What?!

"I said no."

Yu Yin turned to face the priest-like man.

"This man is already subdued and is unable to fight. There's no need to kill him."

The priest-like man stared at Yu Yin, stupefied. His eyes were almost popping out of his head from sheer shock. Vakhtang's eyes also widened with shock, although not to the same extreme as those of the priest-like man.

"Y-You!!!! You can go against the Bounded Laws?! How can that be?! Could it be you are also of the Crimson Cross?! No! After this battle that's impossible. This is inconceivable! UNTHINKABLE! That would mean that you're an Unbounded!"

Yu Yin ignored the now raving priest-like man and turned away. He highly suspected that the guy had more than a few screws loose and Yu Yin didn't really want to speak to him anymore if he could avoid it. Instead, he looked down at Vakhtang. The man was apprehensively looking up at him, his eyes full of confusion. Before the priest-like man had arrived, Vakhtang had warned him about his ultimate attack and had given him a chance to walk away. In retrospect, that was an act of mercy, so in return Yu Yin would show Vakhtang mercy.

"Look here peasant!" Yu Yin said to him. "I, Yu Yin, shall be merciful to you just this once. You seem like one to remember favours, so remember my kindness for the rest of your life. Now scram! I've got money to collect!"

Yu Yin turned around to leave. He needed to find wherever that brat Seeker was, give him a few slaps, and then count his new spirit stones. However, when he was about to go, the priest-like man blocked his way.

"First the Crimson Cross, and now an Unbounded" the priest-like man said. "This evil cannot be allowed to exist! This is heresy! HERESY!"

The priest-like man was now bordering on absolute lunacy in contrast to his upright demeanour from only 2 minutes before. How a man could change so quickly was unknown to Yu Yin. The priest-like man raised his hand and pointed at Yu Yin.

"[Holy Lighting of Purification]!"

The priest-like man invoked another golden bolt of lightning at Yu Yin. Shocked at the sudden attack, Yu Yin raised his arm to block the lighting with his blade. Luckily all his buffs were still active so the attack wasn't fatal, but the lighting still spread up his arm and burned his flesh.

"[The Spear's Trinity]"

Three spears were conjured by the priest-like man as he charged towards Yu Yin in a follow-up assault. Yu Yin reacted on reflex, too shocked to do anything else. He raised his arm and thrust his blade at the incoming attacker. Yu Yin was currently under the effect of [Combined Aspect Acceleration: Berserker] with an extra stack of [Aspect Acceleration: Potential], so this blade thrust wasn’t to be taken lightly.

Yu Yin’s blade thrust created wind currents as it ripped through the air towards the priest-like man. The blade struck his flesh and impaled him through the heart. The conjured spears disappeared, the light left the priest-like man's eyes, the battlefield went silent. Yu Yin watched as the corpse of the priest-like man slumped to the ground.