“To your right, Master!” Choshi shouted.
A demon’s serrated sword flashed toward my throat, and I parried the blow with the Sundered Heart. The monster bared a mouthful of shark-like teeth at me, snapped its jaws shut, and redoubled its attack. I turned aside another blow, but I moved a fraction too late. The demon’s sword ripped a cut into my upper arm. I sprang back to create some distance and so I could study my opponent. Mottled black fur bristled over the demon’s body as it stabbed its sword straight at my heart. I blocked and countered with a sturdy thrust to the creature’s heart. Its fur acted like armor, and much like the monk before it, I couldn’t puncture past its skin.
“What is it?” Choshi cried. “Haven’t you fought these before?”
“These are Greater Soldiers,” Nydarth replied as I parried another wild strike. “They’re stronger, faster, and more resistant to Augmentation than their brethren from Hyng’ohr Valley.”
“Then it’s good I’ve had an upgrade,” I said with a fierce grin.
I changed up my tactics with a stomping kick to the demon’s knee. My physical Augmentation crushed the creature’s joint with a snap, and the demon howled in pain. I charged the Sundered Heart with flame, cut the sword from its grasp, and impaled its throat with the Depthless Dream. I poured Vigor through the trident, created a spiked ball of ice around the prongs, and ripped the creature’s head off in a shower of gore.
I didn’t take the time to congratulate myself. My friends needed help.
I chased down the next demon just before it could swing at Faryn. I hooked the demon’s blade with the trident and turned the monster to face me. The demon snarled as I summoned a Magma Burst from my sword’s tip. Boiling rock pulsed from the Sundered Heart and caught the demon in the chest, reducing it to a screaming pile of viscera. A strand of magically fortified water splashed across my skin, healed my minor injuries, and chased away the fatigue of combat.
“Thanks!” I yelled to Kumi, but she was busy singing her Song of the Sea. Her technique was ensnaring a demon in liquid ribbons while Faryn used a thick net of Strangling Roots on the same demon.
“Keep holding them back!” I said to them both. “And where the hell is Tolin?”
“Here,” replied Tolin from within a tree at the edge of the clearing.
“Are you going to help us or stay behind cover and scratch your saggy balls?” I said.
Tolin chuckled but didn’t leave his perch in the tree.
A stream of Kumi’s water sliced past a demon’s fur. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as it screeched in pain. I summoned a spiked Plank Pillar underneath it, but my makeshift spear didn’t puncture the creature’s armor. The monster sailed into the air with a howl, and I activated Flight to jump after it. Untamed Torch burst into life around the Sundered Heart, but I changed its direction and slashed downward. A razor-sharp arc of white-hot flame shot away from the sword and caught the demon as it fell through the air. I created two small stepping-stones with Flight, exactly how I’d done it back in the monastery, and jumped down toward the stunned monster. It raised its blade to intercept the Sundered Heart, but it couldn’t keep the Depthless Dream at bay. Yono hummed a pleasant tune as I formed a spear-like construct of ice around her central prong and pierced the demon’s skull with a rapid jerk.
“Swordslinger!!”
I turned to see the monk climb out of the stream. My elemental attack had reduced his robes to tatters. Steam hissed off his skin, and silver flame danced at the edges of his eyes as he stalked toward me. I rapidly took stock of the situation. I hadn’t expected the fight to be easy, but if the monk turned his attention to Kumi and Faryn, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Tolin!” I called again. “I’ll handle Mr. Teapot over here. Help the others.”
“Fine,” Tolin grumbled. “Don’t say I never do anything for you youngsters.”
“The ancient one’s arts are useless against the power of the gods,” the fallen monk snarled. “As are yours, Swordslinger. You cannot kill a conduit of the divine.”
Tolin limped across the clearing and sat beside me in a meditative position. The monk froze and stared at him with raw hatred. Tolin closed his eyes, placed his hands on his knees, and exhaled sharply. A cold, lifeless sphere of clear air circled the old hermit, coiled for a moment, and then, Tolin flicked a single finger.
“Saggy balls, indeed,” the old man muttered to himself.
My Vigor froze in my veins as Tolin’s technique rippled through the air and found the surviving demons. Their rusted, serrated blades changed shape in the span of half a second. The demons snarled and looked down at their weapons of choice. Fish, sea snakes, and in one case, an actual live crab sat in their hands. The sound of demonic screams filled the air as Faryn and Kumi banded together to capitalize on the monster’s lack of weaponry.
I stared at the flopping creatures in the demon’s hands.
“What is this corrupt sorcery?” the monk said with a soft hiss.
“The sorcery of a man with saggy balls, apparently,” I said with a grin.
“Speak not of your false gods,” the monk spat, “in this holy place.”
Tolin caught my eye, and we both grinned.
“Swordslinger, I have a suggestion,” he said.
“Well, it’s about time,” I said as I placed the Depthless Dream back into my harness. “I’ve been waiting for you to get off your ass all day.”
“Show our little zealot here just which gods he should have placed his faith in.”
The monk screamed in a high, tearing voice and sprinted at us with huge steps. I reversed my grip on the Sundered Heart, called upon the power of fire and earth, and
