[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 258 – Catharsis

K’thran, the lamia typhoon dancer, watched the lone human drop from the prow of the ship. How easy this would be! The stupid and the brave always were so kind to send out their heroes to be charmed and pulled into the embrace of the lamia.

Turning a brave champion against his own was the greatest pleasure a lamia knew.

The songstresses began to sing a discordant harmony, their serpentine hips swaying in time. For a moment, K’thran watched as the man stumbled forward.

Then another melody started to play. One that drowned the songstresses’ tones like a vile rip current.

Before the lamia could muster a proper defense, the man came at them. Never before in the history of the lamia had any creature resisted their temptation so fully. Especially a male!

It was unnerving, but not unsalvageable. The lamia were great archers and thieves. They were deadly with any weapon they chose, imbuing them with crippling toxins from their own accursed bodies.

The lamia’s greatest treasure had to be protected at all costs. K’thran watched as Inth’ar surged ahead, her serpentine tail speeding her along as she raised her curved swords to deal a devastating blow.

Slithering around a sister already engaging the man, K’thran was confident Inth’ar could find a gap in this male’s armor and exploit it before he ever knew she was there.

A blood-red blade swiped faster than even K’thran could track and lopped her sister’s blue-scaled arm off at the elbow. Before she had a chance to scream, a gauntleted fist slammed into her face, and she collapsed to the ground.

Sister after sister was cut down by this relentless champion.

K’thran did the only thing that made any sense. She fled for her life. The Lumanot had to be protected at all costs. Her sibilant screeches called her sisters from beneath the black waters to her side. The people on the ship were beneath their notice. The Lumanot was all that mattered.

The male was unstoppable. This avatar of rage cut through their ranks as if they were seaweed to be harvested!

By the time K’thran made it to the enclave where the Lumanot was housed, her forces had been cut in half.

Her sisters, the four storm wardens of her clan, turned to hiss their complaint at being disturbed when they finally saw and heard their doom.

The harmonious melody played from the rage-filled male’s familiar disrupted the concentration of the storm wardens. The Lumanot fell silent and the squall that darkened the skies broke to reveal an azure dome overhead.

Fog burned away beneath the sun’s warming rays, revealed the wounded and the stragglers of the lamia’s forces. Once revealed, the ship’s crew turned the tables on the lamia, slaughtering every last one of them.

The last thing K’thran saw was her sisters’ bodies falling to the ground as she slithered away through a small passage designed just for such an occasion.

Of course, they had assumed it would be a full detachment of Immortals from the Empire that would force their hand, but K’thran had no heart to face this demon in battle.

She slithered deeper into the dark holes carved into the rock until the sound of slaughter was far behind her.

There was no thought of revenge. Not a single hope of conquering this creature of utter destruction. She had seen the silver-and-black fire from his hands demolish their most powerful spells as if it were child’s play.

K’thran’s only desire was to find a deep, dark hole she could hide within until the end of her days.

***

Zahif watched as Sam let out a roar of rage. He sounded like a wounded animal to the young boy. As much as he had entertained hopes and dreams of Sam being a surrogate father, he found himself afraid of the man at that moment.

He pulled out that blood red sword of his and cut down one lamia before Zahif could scream out. How had he seen her when he was so focused on the creatures in front?

Everybody in the Empire knew of the lamias. They were the best charmers in the Shard. Stalwart champions had been turned against their own crew and their own cities, raining destruction upon them as if they had lost their very souls.

While Zahif was proud that Sam resisted their dreadful song, he was also in awe of the man’s fighting prowess. Komachi’s song rang out, disrupting the lamia’s enchanting melody, and spurring Sam on to greater heights.

He had clearly taken everything he learned from Salii to heart.

Zahif watched as the rigidity he once saw in Sam’s frame vanish in the blink of an eye. He nearly swayed like a lamia. He lashed out with fist, knee, elbow, or sword whenever one came too close.

And when they began to back away, Sam took the fight to them.

Once or twice during their training, Zahif had actually beaten Sam. The little boy understood then that the older man had let him win. There was no way that Zahif could ever stand up to this titan! He would have ripped him in half as easily as Zahif could a loaf of bread.

The boy’s fear abated and what he saw instead was a man who had something to protect. That image of Sam wading into the den of the lamia single-handedly demolishing their ranks to save the Wavedancer and its crew was seared into his mind.

I want to be like that someday, Zahif thought to himself. He wanted to be strong in order to protect those he loved and those who could not protect themselves.

“I will make you proud,” Zahif promised Sam’s retreating back.

The cove filled with the dying shrieks of lamia. To the sailors who had seen entire crews cut down by just a handful of the creatures, the sound was music to their ears.

Tentatively, the Talmoori dropped rope ladders to the stone and descended carefully. Once they dispatched the lamia still clinging to life, the others were commanded to come down.

With Zahif at their center, the crew of the Wavedancer kept the boy safe from the rare lamia who slipped out from the water to attack them.

No soul was claimed by a lamia that day despite the numerous attempts. With the sounds of their dying kin ringing clearly in the foggy cove, the lamia held no power over the Wavedancer’s crew. More than a few crewmembers gained the Title of Lamiabane that day. A title that even the young Zahif gained after he threw a fist-sized rock at a skulking lamia, stunning her long enough for Salii to cut her down.

I’ll see everything this Shard has to offer and more, Zahif promised Sam. I’ll be just like you, Sam!

***

“A Ninja, eh? Not sure what franchise that’d go under. Maybe Momo or Cobble? Regardless, the Food Court would love to have you,” the Burger Queen said.

Of all the things for an Earthling to be a monarch of, it would be food. It was charming for sure, in that unique way humans from Earth could be. Something Raiko was growing increasingly fond of.

Raiko didn’t know what to think of the Burger Queen yet. She seemed friendly, almost overly so. And Raiko had a soft spot for that. Her sister had been much the same.

That friendliness was good to have in an ally, so long as they weren’t too duplicitous. Though some scheming was to be expected, even among friends.

Raiko was more concerned with the nature of Molly’s powers. On the surface, it suggested a variant of madness. Especially with those yellow glowing eyes in her mask.

The flames of madness always announced their presence. It was the same across many Shards. Yellow flames presaging unspeakable horrors. And yet this woman seemed to have tamed them somehow.

She should have been a frothing madwoman, her powers running rampant as they burned her soul up from the inside.

Whatever it truly was, it was likely born out of survival. Power could be awakened in the unlikeliest of ways. And there was little reason to shun that.

Even if it was madness.

There was a phrase Matt was fond of saying that she never understood until this moment. “Better to have them inside pissing out than outside pissing in.”

Raiko had put him in The Hole for that. Haman had rang his bell admonishingly at the time.

She almost felt bad about it now that it made sense, but she was sure he had done or said something else to warrant the punishment.

“While I appreciate your welcoming invitation,” Raiko began, unable to keep the wry tone of amusement out of her voice. Even if Raiko wasn’t a monarch, she refused to be anyone’s minion. “I have an offer that would mutually benefit us both far more.”

Some of the Burger Queen’s knights marched into formation nearby. They moved with unusual discipline. A level of coordination that should have taken years to master.

Death lingered on their armor and weapons. They had taken human lives to make it this far in the First Layer.

[Death Sense] wove a story that only Raiko could read. These people had suffered. That suffering strengthened them. It gave them the power to fight back. The presence of death lingered in different ways. Monsters left a much lighter signature.

Beings with the spark of intelligence left a far longer lasting mark.

It was something to watch out for. The victors lived to tell the tale after all. Her [Death Sense] could only reveal so much.

In general, it wasn’t too unusual. Being scattered into the multiverse left Earthlings confused and hostile. Even though they should be banding together to defend themselves against monsters.

Fortunately, the knights weren’t aggressive towards Raiko and the Sil’marans that were climbing onto their Skyshard. Saving their leader put the two groups on good terms with one another.

That would make things easier going forward.

The Burger Queen listened to Raiko’s offer with rapt attention. As far as Raiko could tell with that mask of hers. How the woman could see, she didn’t know. There were no eye holes that Raiko saw. Just those unsettling googly eyes perched on top of her burger head. Eyes that Raiko suspected the woman could see out of.

“It has been weathering away,” Molly said softly, her mask turned towards the edge of the Skyshard.

Huge chunks of a large building–a mall she believed–were missing. The Maelstrom had done significant damage. Eventually, their entire Skyshard would be eaten away.

Molly fingered her spatula and turned back to Raiko. “As Queen, the welfare of my people comes first. I demand much of them, and in turn I protect them with all of my being…however it is clear that the Food Court needs further aid.”

“Then you accept my offer?” Raiko asked, sensing a “but” somewhere in there.

“We will ally with you and accept your aid, but the Food Court bows to no man or woman,” the Burger Queen said. “However, we will, in turn, aid you whenever you need. The Food Court does not forget its friends!”

At that, Raiko smiled. She had no desire to rule over more people if she could help it. Raiko extended her hand, blazing with a gilded sigil.

One that the Burger Queen took and shook with a surprisingly firm grip.

The Kingdom of Sil’mara and the Food Court create an alliance.

Sil’mara’s newest Skyshard ability activated. The barrier extended across the Food Court’s Skyshard. However, this time, the Sacred Tree and the Sourcestone weren’t the only ones doing the heavy lifting.

Sil’mara no longer had the mana to keep so many Skyshards protected while keeping itself aloft at such speeds under such turbulent conditions.

With the advent of its newest ability [Bulwark of Civilization], Sil’mara could tap the inherent mana stores of each allied Skyshard. The drain on both the Sourcestone and Sacred Tree was diminished greatly, allowing the barrier to become larger and more robust.

All it took was an official act of alliance from the various Skyshard owners.

“Welcome to Sil’mara,” Raiko said with a genuine smile. Haman poked his head out from under her wide hat and chirped a friendly greeting.

It was a joy to see so many faces light up at the adorable creature.