Depthless Hunger

Enemies were falling on all sides, blood was spraying through the air, and allies roared in victory. Kai moved in the fray, dropping enemies on all sides... dissatisfied.

He just didn't share the bloodlust of the Manticore tribe cultivators, despite having endless monstrous hunger inside him, despite having literally eaten people. What he wanted was a challenge, and now that the Earth Souls had fallen, the enemy couldn't offer it. Cultivators focused on the offensive, which gave them explosive power compared to many on Rosemount, but when they were outclassed, they practically exploded in gory messes.

So he ended up fighting himself again, trying not just to win, but to win as the Manticore Patriarch. He drew on the Savage Heart, despite not needing it, to shift his appearance subtly. Those who saw him fight would have sworn that his face had transformed into that of a manticore.

Instead of tearing through the enemy army on his own, Kai moved at the head of his own factions to drive the enemy lines back. He shielded them just by virtue of drawing qi techniques, letting his side hurl their own at the enemy. They were steadily wiping out the parts of the Quill faction that wouldn't surrender or retreat, which only drove his followers to fight even harder.

Fighting at the vanguard like he was, Kai was the center of the attention for most of the battlefield, at least until someone new arrived. He felt the attention shifting and techniques around him began to slow as the whispering started up.

"It's the Manticore Mane!"

"The Mane is coming, I can hear their beasts!"

"Where's the patriarch?"

Shouts from across the battlefield alerted Kai to exactly where things were happening. Their spies had placed the Manticore Mane's special unit on the northern side of the territory, but it seemed that they had mobilized fast enough to join the battle. Not in time to save the others, unless perhaps they thought they could sweep in and save the day.

Kai could see over the heads of most combatants, so he just needed to turn in the right direction to see them. The Manticore Mane tribesmen wore special robes with animal furs, not too different from his own, and they lashed qi whips in the air. Their lashing drove an army of beasts in front of them, from savage wolves to toothy lizards.

It had a surprising impact on the Manticore tribe as many of them fell back from the snarling beasts. Some attempted to hurl qi techniques, but most were lashed out of the air by the whips of the handlers. When the beasts took injuries, they barely even slowed, driven on with berserk fury.

This new front was all the way across the battlefield, which left Kai with few options. He could cross the distance with Thunderbird's Wings, but the shockwaves would injure large numbers of cultivators on his own side. That was a limitation, now that he thought about it. He considered his new monstrous ability kept in reserve, but wasn't sure using it here was the right choice.

Then he saw a small figure vault off the back of one of the Manticore tribesmen and he realized he didn't need to do anything.

Zae Zin Nim looked small as her cloak fell away, just a slender woman suspended over the battlefield. Some didn't even notice her, but Kai watched raptly. She placed her palms together in front of her at the apex of her jump, fusing qi and mana, then she thrust a palm toward the ground

A wall of blue flame ignited as a Coldfire Palm the size of a mansion appeared beneath her, then descended on the battlefield. Beasts roared in terror and their handlers desperately whipped at the enormous palm, but their qi whips had no visible impact on the flames.

As it descended, the earth shook, there was a great rush of wind, and when the flames disappeared the Manticore Mane's beasts had become nothing more than ash.

Some of the handlers had been incinerated along with them, but those who remained threw themselves to the ground to surrender. All the nearby tribesmen stared in awe, both sides shocked beyond the ability to speak, and Zae Zin Nim quietly landed on the ground again. Her feet didn't even make an audible sound over the battlefield.

Many of the tribesmen around her began to cheer, though they didn't dare touch her. Zae Zin Nim seemed to ignore them entirely, instead looking in his direction. Kai smiled and nodded to her, and she nodded back.

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That was all the signal they needed to move forward. It was time to end things.

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..

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Exterminating weaker cultivators didn't particularly interest Zae Zin Nim, but she had been given one glorious opportunity to show her new ability. All her training with the Coldfire Palm had paid off when it allowed her to channel the new strength of an Advanced Class through the technique. Still too slow, and a bit draining, but it had been effective.

Manticore tribe cultivators had surrendered or celebrated, but she had only been interested in her husband's reaction. Now she leapt above the battlefield, hoping to do the same with her wife.

At last she caught sight of them, dueling fiercely amid a circle of bodies. The Jackal tribe mercenary was more powerful than she had expected, and he seemed able to command multiple bodies at once, increasing his effective strength just like the demon they had once fought on Rosemount. His razor threads, however, were always met by Omilaena's knife, which severed them with pure ice qi. As Zae Zin Nim leapt closer, she saw them clash once again and fly back in opposite directions.

Her wife was glorious, spinning among all her opponents while hurling needles and spitting poison in elaborate formations, weaving a maze to restrict their movements and keep them from using their numbers against her. But the puppets appeared immune to her poison, so she was being pushed steadily back.

Not for long. Zae Zin Nim took a deep breath and drew her mana up within her, preparing for her opening assault.

Before she could arrive, the Jackal mercenary glanced in her direction. His gaze held there a moment, then flickered to the battle collapsing all around them. Then, without a word, he dropped to the ground and broke a jade slip in half.

Instantly qi swirled around him, which she recognized as a teleportation technique. The puppets followed after him, all vanishing into the swirling qi before Zae Zin Nim could act. Omilaena hurled a needle after him that disappeared into the technique, but her second needle flitted through empty air and rang out against the opposite wall.

So Zae Zin Nim arrived too late, landing beside her wife and sighing. "I am sorry I could not help."

"That's fine." Omilaena rubbed at a burn on her arm and winced. "I'm pretty sure he always planned to leave as soon as the battle got too dangerous."

"It seems that the honor of the Jackal tribe is not as steadfast as reported."

"He was stronger than reported, though. If that fight had continued, I don't think I could have won."

"But you knew that I would come for y-" Zae Zin Nim was interrupted by an enemy cultivator charging toward her with a roar. She struck his chest with her palm, sending him backward in a stream of blood, then turned back to her wife. "You knew I would come to help you."

"That was the plan, wasn't it?" Omilaena smiled over at her. "I did get the target, by the way, and it sounds like you were successful taking out the others. Does that mean the battle is over?"

"Yes, the others just need to figure that out."

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..

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During the battle, the Manticore tribe factions had slaughtered one another ruthlessly, but as the fighting ended, Kai was surprised that they didn't pursue vendettas. Those who threw down their arms were spared, and many who turned on their allies were welcomed. It struck him as an insane way to run a tribe, but he didn't have to deal with them for much longer.

Kai strode out toward the final knot of resistance. They weren't holding out due to their great strength so much as the fact that most of the army was beginning to move in other directions. But there was still a faction leader surrounded by his guards, so best to take care of it before more people on his side got themselves killed.

"Don't surrender!" the man was shouting. "These aren't real Manticore tribesmen, they're mongrel dogs! Did you forget what they did to the patriarch?"

"They had nothing to do with the old patriarch's death," Kai said as he approached and all eyes immediately turned toward him. "There's no point fighting any longer. Throw down your arms and rejoin the tribe."

"Here's the proof!" The leader thrust out an accusing finger. "This beast of a man isn't from our tribe, he's some foreign cultivator who seized power!"

There was no question that Kai stood out on the battlefield, but he also wore a manticore cloak and had a tribal tattoo across his chest. Kai didn't even need to refute the accusation, he just let everyone decide for themselves. Some of the resisting group began to edge away from their leader, as if they saw what was coming.

"Not a step further! I'll kill you myself if you betray me now!"

Walking any closer might trigger the guards to attack him, and Kai saw no reason to kill them. These were likely members of the original tribe, loyal to their family to a fault. As he saw it, the problem was the leader ranting and berating them, so...

Before the battle, he had prepared the manticore's essence into a new ability called Manticore's Quill. It had been sitting in his soul, ready for the ideal moment. He'd planned to save it as a surprise against a real opponent, but since the Jackal mercenary had retreated, maybe this was the time.

"These mongrels are madmen! They will bring the Manticore tribe to ruin, betray our traditions, leave us-" The man cut off as the quill went through his neck.

The others still hadn't realized, the technique had been so quick. Kai was surprised himself - he'd raised his hand, intending to slowly grow a stinger, but a quill-like spike had leapt from him almost instantly. As the others caught up with what had happened, they saw the leader had been killed with a manticore's quill. None of them had fought one, but they had seen the symbol time and time again.

Soon they turned back to him, and the surrendering cultivators all dropped to the ground to bow. Kai stood with his shoulders back, realizing that this would be the last time, and that that was a relief.

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