Heretical Fishing

Book 2: Chapter 91: Shooting Star

Of all the secrets Ellis expected to uncover during Operation Sticky Fingers, the king of Gormona taking steps on the path of ascension wasn’t one of them. Ellis’s mind worked to unravel the implications as he stared down Augustus Reginald Gormona, his former monarch and apparent cultivator.

How many of the royals are cultivators...?

Trent wasn’t one. Despite being first in line to the throne, the prince had been unaware his father was a cultivator. Had he perhaps known and successfully fooled them?

Not possible, Ellis immediately deduced.

Theo had been present for many of the conversations. He would have detected any lies or half truths. When, then, would they have informed Trent? How would they have caused him to awaken? If it were only to occur after the king passed, that would imply a secret faction in the capital. Ellis’s eyes went wide. There had to be a secret faction. If the king was the only one to know, the knowledge would disappear if he died unexpectedly.

Just how deep did the conspiracy go? How many of the capital’s lords had been cultivators all along? His thoughts immediately went to Lord Tom Osnan, the king’s closest confidant. His house held the passiona and lemon monopoly within a white-knuckled grip, making it the most powerful family other than the king’s own.

Suddenly, a wave of chi burst from the king. It coalesced as flames that shot from his back.

“Lizard wizard!” he yelled, rocketing forward with eyes locked on Ellis. “Fight me!”

Ellis paused for only a fraction of a second. “Trial of scales!” he yelled back, but it wasn’t for the king’s ears.

It was a battle variation, one of the many they had prepared in advance. As one, Fischer’s animal companions took a step back, yielding the floor to Ellis. Their only goal in remaining after Operation Sticky Fingers succeeded was to be witnessed. To be seen by as many of the capital’s denizens as possible. Finding a powerful cultivator, however, presented a unique opportunity that Ellis could not pass up.

With the prospect of invaluable data fueling his stride, Ellis dashed forward, heading right for the king and his madness-filled smile. Seeing that his challenge had been accepted, Augustus drew a fist back. Flames sprouted from it in a chaotic release of chi. The inferno burned bright enough to drown out the surrounding torches, and it only grew stronger with each passing moment.

Hmmm, Ellis thought, weighing the strength of the king’s attack. I shall try one-hundred percent first. Just to be safe.

Ellis braced his legs and lowered his body as he channeled chi into his System-made armor. The scaled suit readily accepted, drinking deep of Ellis’s offering.

***

After I unleashed the skyward blast, I stumbled on the spot, having released more chi than I intended.

My damned core, I thought, furrowing my eyebrows as I held a wall for support.

“Hey.” I glanced down at my stomach. “I’m the boss here, got it? I don’t care how good it felt to release power. We only let out as much as I want.”

It was a troubling development, but I had more important things to worry about.

The column of light I had created released a wave of pressure as it imploded. It had struck the surrounding cultivators, and given how close I was to lord Osnan, he’d been hit by the brunt of it. I knelt and held a finger to his neck. He still had a strong pulse, and I let out a relieved breath. He was a monumental prick, especially considering he was a cultivator who enslaved other cultivators, but that didn’t mean I wanted his blood on my hands.

“Where did that bag get to?” I mused, scanning the grove.

As I caught sight of the state of the vegetation, I grimaced. Between the two blasts I’d unleashed in the grove, most of the passiona bushes had been decimated. Those hit directly looked like they’d gone through a wood chipper; the only proof they’d ever existed was the leaves and splinters littering the base of the surrounding walls. The lemon trees had thankfully survived... well, their trunks and thicker branches had. Not a single leaf or twig remained of their previously lush canopies, also having been torn and shredded by my chi.

Right before the stack of unconscious cultivators, in the spot where I’d weakened the initial bubble’s power, three passiona bushes remained. They looked like a toddler had gotten his hands on a hedge trimmer and gone buckwild with it. But enough of their stems and leaves were undamaged, or so I hoped.

I guess I could always try to grow some from a seed if they don’t survive...

I bent to dig my hands in the soil, but paused. I glanced to the side, staring at the unconscious forms of the cultivators. Chewing my lip, I let out a soft curse and stood upright.

I couldn’t just leave them here.

Barry had said we only had so much room back at the church, but leaving them here with these monsters didn’t sit right with me.

“Sorry, Barry...” I stretched, relieving some of the fatigue in my muscles. “We’ll just have to make it work.”

I left the grove and wandered into the streets of Gormona in search of something.

***

Flowing forward on streams of flame, Augustus lashed out with a straight jab toward Lizard Wizard’s abdomen. The fire surrounding his fist roared as it tore through the air, and he drew the flames in, concentrating their power.

The foolish spirit beast didn’t even bother to defend itself; it lowered its arms and left its vitals open. Augustus’s strike flew with unerring accuracy at the lizard’s core. He aimed the jab through Lizard Wizard, knowing it would tear the cold-blooded reptile asunder.

Augustus released the concentrated fire chi before his fist connected. He expected it to scorch Lizard Wizard’s body, to soften the flesh before his fist followed through. But with his enhanced cognition, he watched the inferno blast into the black scales and... flow around them like water.

Lizard Wizard repelled the flames.

Some sort of ability, the king decided.

He withdrew the remaining flames and channeled their power into his fist. His body vibrated with sheer force as the death blow landed.

Except it didn’t.

His shoulder shuddered with the impact, his fist brought to a complete stop on the black scales. The next thing Augustus knew, he was flying backward, his momentum turned against him. He slammed into the far wall, the stone cracking and buckling beneath his weight. Sliding down the wall, he landed on his feet and checked his body with wide-eyed disbelief.

Where his outer robe hadn’t been burned away by the flames, it had been shredded by the force Lizard Wizard’s alien scales had reflected. His body, at least, wasn’t damaged. Augustus grabbed his robe, tearing the remains of his royal garb away with one hand.

He stood to his full height, taking a steadying breath.

Rather than discouraged, the king felt victorious. Lizard Wizard had powerful abilities. One that could repel magic, and one that could repel physical force. But powerful abilities meant the use of excessive chi. Across from him, Lizard Wizard rested his hands on his knees. The reptile took heaving breaths, no doubt exhausted by such ridiculous expenditure.

A laugh tore free of the king, bouncing off the hall’s high ceiling.

They had entered a war of attrition. And he would win.

***

Ellis could barely contain his excitement as he watched the king slam into the far wall with so much force that the stones cracked. He had channeled one-hundred percent of the armor’s ability, just to be safe.

It had not been necessary.

Ellis focused on the armor, letting it draw his eyes it.

Galaxy Komodo’s Armor of Resistance

Made of the scales of a Galaxy Komodo, this armor grants its user resistance to all attacks. Level of resistance is dependent on how much chi the user channels into the armor.

Bonus effect: twenty percent of all physical force resisted is reflected at the attacker.

Coming back to the present, Ellis realized he was hyperventilating. The armor’s effectiveness had overstimulated his mind, and he’d braced his arms on his knees.

The king let out a manic laugh from across the room, and when Ellis looked up, Augustus was striding forward.

“Not bad, Lizard Wizard.”

The king had ripped his torn robes away and revealed an odd set of clothing. The one-piece suit was made of a dark material and hugged tight to the king’s body. Unlike the royal garb he’d discarded, the clothes hadn’t been torn or scorched in the least.

A System-made bit of clothing? Ellis wondered as he straightened and forced his breathing to calm.

He shot a look at Sergeant Snips, whose eye glinted back; she had noticed the clothing and reached the same decision.

They nodded at each other.

“What do you communicate?” Augustus asked, sauntering forward. “Are you finally going to join in, Hurtle the Turtle?”

Snips shrugged at him.

“You would do well to attack together.” The king’s smile turned even more unhinged. “Give me a challenge.”

Perhaps it would be good to put on a proper show, Ellis thought. It would give him something to think about…

“Peacock strut,” Ellis said.

“Are you mad, Lizard Wizard?” the king asked, ever closing the distance. “What gibberish do you speak?”

Again, though, the words weren’t for the king. It was another formation. Understanding the order, the spirit beasts attacked.

Borks stepped through space, appearing behind the king. Showing remarkable reaction speed, Augustus whirled, fire fueling his passage. He slammed a fist into the side of Borks’s head—but it went right through, the hellhound having turned incorporeal. The distraction worked, and Pistachio slammed his clacker closed.

Crack.

The bullet of force slammed into the king’s back with what Ellis estimated was twenty percent of the lobster’s power. Augustus shot forward through Borks’s still-incorporeal body like a bug hit by hurricane winds, and he flew face-first into the far wall. The king pushed himself from the wall and spun, his face twisting with rage—just in time for the first of the tables to collide with his head.

The term ‘self control’ meant nothing to Rocky, so the crustacean was under strict orders to only use environmental objects when attacking. Given they were in what appeared to be a banquet hall, the weapon of choice was hardwood tables. The first table exploded in a storm of splinters, and before they could clear the air, he slammed the next one down on the king’s head.

***

Enough was enough.

Being attacked within Augustus’ castle was one thing, but being smacked over the head with his own furniture was another. Perhaps his rage was because he couldn’t land a blow. Or perhaps it was because the boat-faring goat that did it had to have known it wouldn’t do any damage. Regardless of the reason, Augustus’s blood boiled.

Flames erupted from his body, licking out toward the surrounding cloud of splinters.

Whoosh.

A bonfire roared to life as his chi continued pouring out and devouring every source of fuel it touched. A regular human would have been burned to nothing in a moment, but to a fire cultivator like the king, it felt like home. The flames were a part of him, and he exalted with each bit of wood that burned away. As the fireball grew, it consumed every chair and table it touched. The heat was so intense that a rug on the other side of the room burst into flames.

All at once, Augustus drew the flames in.

He crouched down, channeling the latent energy into his legs. Then, he kicked off. With his eyes wide and his snarl even wider, he flew at Boat Goat, his fist cocked back and ready to deliver death. The speed was too much for Boat Goat, and before the spirit beast could move an inch, Augustus punched out.

His fist flew right through Boat Goat’s head like it was a paper lantern, incinerating skin, bone, and that stupid, stupid hat.

As Augustus skidded to a stop beyond the headless goat’s corpse, he roared with laughter and spun toward his fallen adversary.

“One down!” he taunted. “Four more to—what?”

Boat Goat’s headless body ran away, gliding along the floor on its alien appendages. The king had never killed a spirit beast before, so he watched with curiosity, assuming it to be the death throes of an ascendant being.

But then Boat Goat, still lacking a head, picked up another table and threw it at him.

“What manner of demon are you?” Augustus yelled, his fury reigniting.

Chi flew from his core of its own accord and he kicked through the table. It burned to ash before his foot could land, and with flames spinning him around, he aimed a low kick at Boat Goat’s body. Augustus drew on every ounce of power he could without damaging his core. His foot screamed through the air, the fire burning so hot that it turned white. Just before it collided, a purple wall cracked into existence.

Lizard Wizard and Hurtle the Turtle appeared, leaping through the portal and into the path of his attack.

Augustus’s smile only grew. The fools thought to save their fellow beast, but had doomed themselves. Lizard Wizard’s ability may have absorbed and reflected his earlier attack, but even that weak punch had left the humanoid reptile breathless. This kick held at least ten-times the power. It would shatter through Lizard Wizard’s defenses, rip its body in two, then continue on and obliterate Hurtle the Turtle.

The king let even more chi out. It was foolish, and he’d never have done it if not drunk with the power of his chi, but he dismissed that thought, not caring if he threatened part of his cultivation. The flames around his leg grew hotter, turning translucent as the foot descended. A figure shot from around the portal, coming to stand beside Hurtle the Turtle.

If Augustus had the time, he’d have roared with laughter. Two spirit beasts had given their life to save Boat Goat, yet the headless idiot had placed itself back in the line of death. And just in time, too.

The king unleashed the flames.

As before, they washed over Lizard Wizard’s scales, not leaving a single mark. This time, however, there were others behind the lizard. The flames washed over Hurtle the Turtle and Boat Goat both, igniting their flesh. His advanced cognition and the awareness of his fires let Augustus see and feel as each hair burned away. Their leather skin was consumed in an instant, revealing flesh that was raw, orange, and... hard?

The flames still wreathed both mammals, yet they had nothing to burn. Within the inferno, two crabs stared at him, one with an eyepatch, the other with both its claws spread wide. Before his brain could fully comprehend what was happening, his foot collided with Lizard Wizard.

When the king had punched Lizard Wizard, it had been like a regular human striking a block of steel. This time, the scales bent inward, giving way beneath the power of his attack. Just as he’d expected, his foot would tear through the first beast and continue on through the others. All three would perish.

But then his foot slowed.

His momentum came to a screeching halt against Lizard Wizard’s side, the scales there glowing a furious red. Faster than even Agustus could register, the one-eyed crab formerly known as Hurtle the Turtle appeared at his side. It pinched down on the ancient artifact he was wearing with both claws, blowing bubbles that he somehow understood.

Bye...?

Lizard Wizard’s protecting scales flashed white, and power swelled within the still-open claws of Boat Goat the crab.

What—

Clack!

Twin explosions came from the claws. At the same time, Lizard Wizard’s scale reflected his kick. Augustus didn’t even register the wall shatter as he shot through it. One moment his kick was landing, the next he was sailing through open air beneath a star-filled sky. The castle, now with a gaping hole in its side, grew smaller as he flew from it at impossible speed.

Within the breach, all five of the spirit beasts stepped up to the ledge.

The two-eyed crab had both claws held high in victory. The eyepatch-wearing crab was scolding the former with bubbles flying from its mouth. Bog Dog sat on its haunches, its tail wagging. Glare Bear stood silently, its eerie gaze watching him as he rocketed away. Last, Lizard Wizard was writing in a notepad, not even bothered to witness his departure. A familiar garment was slung over the reptile's shoulder.

Augustus Reginal Gormona, the king of the lands he currently flew over, looked down. He was as naked as the day he was born, his royal member exposed for all to see.

Before he had a chance to cover himself from the judgemental eyes of Glare Bear, he struck something.

A moment later, he struck another something, and everything went black.