Takeshi-ketsu turned to Warcry, ready to trap him forever, too.
“As for Burning Hatred cultivator, is time to begin training for next Intergalactic Fighting Championship, yes?”
“About that.” Warcry shifted his weight to take some of the pressure off his prosthetic. “I changed me mind.”
Takeshi’s scaly brow jumped. I’d been pretty shocked, too, when Warcry had told me on the shuttle what he was planning.
“You have different request?” the Emperor asked.
“Well, I can fight me way up to the title any time, can’t I? But there’s one thing I can’t get for meself. I reckon since you’re all-powerful and the Jianjiao Emperor’s your lad, you’re the only one with the pull to do it.” Warcry cocked his head to stare up at Takeshi. “I want a fighter’s affiliation contract bought out—or if she ain’t affiliated, I want whatever they’re blackmailing her with along with the promise that I’m the only one who can use it against her from now on. Hyla Nameless—they call her the Hangman. You can buy her out, can’t you, Almighty Emperor?”
“Takeshi can do this.” He cupped his chin with a clawed hand. “But you cannot change mind again, Warcry Thompson. You are certain this is what you want?”
Warcry’s mouth twitched down at the corner, but he nodded. “Yes, Emperor.”
“Consider Nameless fighter bought.” Takeshi rubbed his hands together, grinning. “Is good. Takeshi is glad his Death cultivator will still have friends close at hand.”
Still smiling, he leveled his flat reptilian gaze at me. “Is much work left for you to do, Death cultivator. War descends upon us, and there are many more to bring to justice.”
He said justice like he wanted me to ask how he could talk about justice with everything he’d done, the low-level gangster he’d had me kill for a fake shark kid, Galston who probably wasn’t even a traitor, the six-armed dancer he’d targeted whose gang was allied with the Dragons.
But I kept my mouth shut and watched as Judgement Beyond the Veil paraded his sins across his eyes.
To Takeshi, Relentless Justice meant the eradication of the Technols no matter how he had to get there. He saw himself as the hand of vigilante justice in this universe, and their destruction would be the greatest blow he could strike. He had lied, cheated, manipulated, betrayed, ordered murders and torture, pitted people and races against each other, always in ruthless pursuit of his end goal of annihilating the Technols. He didn’t care how he had to get there, he wasn’t going to stop until the job was done.
The Emperor took my silence for reluctance. “Death cultivator has objections to carrying out the charge of justice?”
The dream Sanya-ketsu had trapped us in when we first came to Shinotochi-Ryu went through my head again. Waking up with Kest in a world where Gramps was fine and I was back home and normal and everything was right. I should’ve known immediately that it couldn’t be real. I couldn’t come back from the things I had done. Rali was right; I was a monster now. The only thing good I had left to hold onto was the covenant I’d made to only take out the guys who deserved it.
Takeshi wanted to use me like a nuke to turn his enemies into scorched earth, but I wasn’t planning to stop there. Evil didn’t just come in the Technol or Jianjiao or Contrail form. There were evil Dragons to slay, too.
I wasn’t strong enough to kill a Ketsu yet, but it wouldn’t take long before I was.
“No objections,” I said. “Just point me in the right direction and pull the trigger.”
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Looking for more awesome cultivation, and need it right this minute? Check out: Darkening Skies (Path of the Thunderbird Book 1). Or keep reading to take a sneak peek.
A BOY ABANDONED AT an ancient school of warrior arts. A princess bartered away as a treaty bride. A lurking evil with the power to topple the world.
Ji Yu Raijin is happy to live out his life serving his school, cultivating his life force, and learning the Path of Darkening Skies, an ancient and noble warrior art—until the day comes when he has to choose: remain true to the teachings of his path and allow his art to die out or commit an unforgivable sin and save the world.
Second princess Shyong San Koida was born the only cripple in a dynasty of powerful warriors. With a broken life force, the only way Koida can contribute to her family’s empire is by sealing a strategic alliance to a barbarian leader with her hand in marriage. But hidden forces within the court conspire to stop the union and obliterate the Shyong San dynasty at all costs.
At the intersection of the servant boy and the princess’s stories lies a secret, malignant art bent on destroying not only them, but the entire world.
Darkening Skies is the first novel in the Path of the Thunderbird series, for fans
