But the Skysworn had held her back from passing through the portal. He had stopped her.
Endless Sword madra flowed through her. Her white blade was in her hand.
Bai Rou’s fist tightened, and his madra broke into a rain of droplets that came at her sideways, like rain blown by a gust of wind. She’d faced his power before; it ate through the mind as it did flesh. The Path of the Amber Well, Renfei had called it.
It would be as useful for questioning as it would for restraining targets. One drop on her skin, and she couldn’t be sure she’d be able to keep her sword in her hand. He’d tried this technique on her only a moment ago, to stop her from going through the door.
If he hadn’t, maybe she’d have made it.
She could have dispersed the technique with sword aura using the Endless Sword technique, but she compressed silver madra in the edges of her blade instead.
Yerin chopped her sword down, unleashing the Rippling Sword Striker technique. The slash unleashed a surge of silver light, a crescent storm of sword madra and aura that rushed at Bai Rou, tearing through his technique and sending sand spraying to either side as it blasted toward him.
He was a stage more advanced than she was; his techniques should trample hers rather than the other way around. But how could a spray of rain stand up to a full sword-slash?
Bai Rou raised his forearm and the technique slammed into his armor, breaking like a wave on a rock. It took a chunk out of his hat, sending straw drifting on the wind.
He’d gathered his madra together for another technique, but Yerin had known she couldn’t break through that green armor so easily.
She rushed in, closing the gap.
The Path of the Endless Sword didn’t have much of a full-body Enforcer technique, but her Steelborn Iron body took care of that. It drew madra from her and she dashed forward with speed equal to Lindon in his Burning Cloak.
And she showed Bai Rou the Enforcer technique she did have.
Her blade shone silver with the power of the Flowing Sword. The technique gathered both aura and madra, growing more and more powerful as the battle continued. Eventually, she would hit hard enough to break this Truegold’s armor.
It would be a struggle to hold it for so long without losing control of the technique, but she was angry enough to try.
The shining blade descended on him like the judgment of the heavens, and he had to take it on his raised arm once again. His other was occupied with a struggling Mercy.
This time, the blow slammed him into the ground. Her next strike sent a chip of green metal spinning into the air. Her third cracked one of his vambraces.
She was screaming by the time he released Mercy to use both hands. She could let him off for dropping her off the city and leaving her for dead. In a way, that had been merciful; he could have killed her himself while she was helpless under the control of her Blood Shadow. She could let him off for his threats, for the way he treated them like enemies, for his never-ending reminders that he would kill them at the first sign of defiance.
But he had held her back from saving Lindon. That was too far.
Yellow madra gathered around his hands, and with an instant of freedom, he’d turn the tables on her with his superior strength.
She didn’t give him that instant. She reversed her last slash, slamming her sword up into his chest.
He flew back so fast that he tore into the surf, sending up a plume of water.
She stuck to him like a leech, sprinting after him, leaving Mercy behind. Her shining blade hit him again before he righted himself, knocking him into the water, and a Rippling Sword followed him into the ocean, slicing through the waves.
She began sinking herself, but she didn’t let up with the Striker techniques. She hit him with two, then three, before the water swallowed her.
With the strength of her Steelborn Iron body, she hauled herself through the water, but she saw only clouds of sand and murky water. Her spiritual perception caught his general direction: he felt like a liquefied nightmare. She swam toward him.
The water around her lifted, like someone had scooped her up in a giant, invisible bowl.
She felt herself, and the chunk of ocean around her, rising into the air. She lunged forward, but the water shifted so she went nowhere, tumbling in a chaotic storm of bubbles and dust.
She sent her perception out, trying to sense what was happening even as she strained her eyes to catch a glimpse through the rolling ball of water.
It was only when the dust settled that she got the full picture.
Bai Rou had used a Ruler technique to command the water. The aura lifted a globe of the sea with her trapped inside. He stood on the surface of the ocean beneath her, reaching down to pull his soaking hat from the surf.
His yellow glare cut through the water, and his spirit released its full power like a crashing tide. He had to use half his madra to hold this Ruler technique in place, but the rest of his spirit was focusing itself in his palm.
In only a breath of time, he’d either spear her like a fish or fill this water with his madra and dissolve her. Maybe both. But his rage couldn’t compare to hers.
Which made her drop her guard.
Yerin’s relationship to her unwelcome guest had changed in the last week. It was free now, but she’d shown it whose sword was sharper. It was quieter, but she couldn’t shake the thought that it was smarter now too. It had been a caged wolf before, and now it was a lurking killer, biding its time.
And now it slipped its collar.
The Shadow boiled out of her, a mass of blood madra that stretched out of her back and formed into a copy of her swimming by her side. The Blood Shadow wasn’t an exact reflection; it looked almost like a Remnant version of her, built of all sharp, jagged angles and covered in red paint. Two thin arms stretched from its shoulders and flattened into blades, matching her own silver Goldsigns. It carried no sword, but its fingertips sharpened into points.
She tried to restrain it, but it had already passed her control. At this second, they wanted the same thing.
The Shadow melted, oozing out of the water globe and falling toward Bai Rou. It didn’t care much for anything that would hold a regular body back. Madra would have stopped it, but normal water did about as much good as a screen umbrella.
Bai Rou pushed his technique toward the Shadow, and this was more than just a fistful of rain. It was a stream of Amberwell madra that coiled like a dragon, diving at the blood spirit. It cut right through the Blood Shadow’s left arm, which sent a spike of pain through the parasite. Yerin could feel it, but she wouldn’t say it hurt her. It was more like hearing about someone else losing an arm.
The Blood Shadow took the injury as the cost of doing business, turning its fall into a lunge without a care.
The blades on its shoulders struck like a pair of scorpion stings, carrying Striker techniques with them. Its Rippling Swords were stained red, carrying as much power from blood as from the sword.
She hadn’t known it could do that.
Any other time, she would have been disgusted and horrified to see her Path of the Endless Sword techniques used by this creature, but now...now she just wanted Bai Rou to hurt.
He slipped to the side, feet sliding across the waves as though he stood on slick stone, dodging the first at the same time as a burst of yellow madra dispersed the second.
Her Blood Shadow landed on him.
It clung to him like a monkey to a tree, driving its clawed hands and its Goldsigns into his body. He twisted his head, pushing blades aside so he took everything on his armor. But Skysworn armor was famous for a reason.
Green light flared within the plates, and a pulse of emerald wind madra blasted out from him, shoving everything away. The Shadow was thrown backwards, splashing into the ocean.