Table of Contents
Summary
Shadow Alley Press Mailing List
The Inquisition
The Wink
The Initiates
The Aptitudes
The Separation
The Decision
The Gauntlet
The Debate
The Hollows
The Team
The Graft
The Competition
The Preparation
The First
The Challenge
The Award
The Stitch
The Lesson
The War
The Second
The Darkness
The Inferno
The Recovery
The Wheel
The Path
The Spies
The Plan
The Threat
The Meet
The Prize
The Bonds
The Third
The Ring
The Pit
The Coopetition
The Attack
The Stitch
The Favor
The Betrayal
The Rescue
The Assault
The Assessment
The Chaos
The Farewell
The Inquisitor
Books, Mailing List, and Reviews
Books by Shadow Alley Press
Books by Black Forge
LitRPG on Facebook
GameLit and Cultivation on Facebook
Even more Cultivation on Facebook
Copyright
About the Author
About the Publisher
Summary
The dragons have returned from Shambala, and Empyreal society will never be the same.
AS JACE STRUGGLES TO control his unraveling core, the immortal dragons challenge the Empyreals for control of the world's destiny. Thrust into a competition against the deadliest students from around the world, Jace must lead his team of friends to victory. If he fails, all of humanity will be bound to the will of the Scaled Council.
And if the dragons don't defeat the Empyreals, dark forces within human society just might.
The heretics have stepped up their attacks, pushing the Shadow Phoenix clan to the brink of annihilation. A conspiracy of the wealthy and powerful threatens to enslave a very special group of students. And the Inquisition has dark plans for the Eclipse Core.
And, like his core, Jace is splitting at the seams. Torn between the need to stop the Grand Design from falling into clawed talons and his quest to find his mother and the answers she carries, the young warrior must dig deep within to overcome the forces aligned against him.
Chaos Core is the third installment of the best-selling School of Swords and Serpents series.
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The Inquisition
MY HEAD THROBBED AND my thoughts scattered around the inside of my skull like a swarm of bats. It took me a moment to get my bearings, and I was sorry when I did.
I was back in the Far Horizon, surrounded by the Locust Court.
With no idea how I’d gotten there.
Sacred energy flowed out of my core and into my body. My skin hardened into armor that could turn aside most normal blows. My pulse shifted into overdrive and blood flowed along arteries beneath the jinsei channels that carried sacred energy to my arms and legs. Panic’s greasy claws scrabbled at the edges of my thoughts, searching for a foothold. It was hard to hold the fear at bay, because I was so confused about how I’d been spirited away to this battle in the Far Horizon.
One moment, I’d been on the beach outside the School with my friends. Now, I was far from home with a horde of hungry spirits closing in from every direction. When I tried to bridge the gap between those two points, I found holes in my thoughts where memories were supposed to live. Something had happened, clearly, but I couldn’t remember what. I felt like I was drowning in uncertainty. It was hard to catch my breath, even harder to focus on the enemies all around me.
The Locust Court clearly didn’t have the same problem.
A hungry spirit burst away from the circle of its siblings with its mandibles spread wide to snip my head off my shoulders. Its scythe-like claws swept down on either side of my body to hem me in and keep me from running. There was nowhere for me to go but backwards, and that would put me firmly in the clutches of even more of the Locusts. For most people, that was a death sentence.
But I wasn’t most people.
Not even fear and uncertainty could dampen my martial instincts. My fusion blade sprang to life in my hands. The weapon was light as a feather and sharp as a scalpel, and my disciple core empowered me to wield it at the speed of thought. The crystalline weapon swung up into the charging Locust’s throat, and the tip punched through the chitinous armor there and burst out the back of the monstrosity’s head. Milky blood splashed into my face from the thing’s open mouth and ran down my cheeks in sticky rivulets. The fluid’s rotting stink made my eyes water and my stomach roil. My body wanted to heave up my breakfast, and its rebellion almost got past my self-control.
Almost.
I held onto my concentration and kept my blade in a defensive position, ignoring the stink, disregarding everything but the threats that surrounded me.
The other spirits joined the fight before I could wipe the disgusting goo off my face. They threw themselves at me in a chaotic jumble of slashing limbs and clicking jaws. The ground twisted and boiled beneath their feet as the Far Horizon was bent to their inhuman will. The spirits raised mounds beneath their feet and launched themselves down at me like falling arrows. They burrowed into the amorphous terrain only to burst out of the ground to slash at my legs with their wicked chitin blades. The weakest among them didn’t even bother with tactics; they hurled themselves straight ahead at full speed, arms windmilling in a desperate bid to slide past my defenses.
Not that there was any way for me to mount a perfect defense against the storm of deadly creatures. Dozens of them attacked me at the same time. Though they were far slower than me, my enhanced speed and strength couldn’t maneuver my blade everywhere at once. I wasn’t getting out of this in one piece, but I wasn’t about to lie down and die. I’d defeated these monstrosities once before. I’d do it again.
My martial instincts guided my weapon to the deadliest of threats, and I turned aside a disemboweling stroke followed by a swipe that would have decapitated me. A backhanded parry tore an insectoid arm out of its socket, and a short jab from the fusion blade’s butt punctured an enormous faceted eye before plunging into the thick goo of the brain
