Jai Long spun his spear, driving the white-edged point of his spear through a blood-creature, reducing it to a rush of liquid. After every one he defeated, he glanced back to his sister.
His instincts urged him to carry her, but he fought back the thought. She could move on her own now.
Although not by much.
The rush of unstable madra from Jai Daishou had swollen her core with powers he didn't understand. If not for the Arelius Underlord's assurance that she would be fine, Jai Long would have tried his own hand at first aid. Though he knew so little about healing the spirit that he might well cripple her again.
She was following behind him, and to the physical eye she looked healthier than ever. Her wide eyes were focused, and she wore lavender sacred artist's robes that had been stained with red liquid madra. She had her hands out as though trying to use a technique.
And that was where the problem came in.
Her breath was ragged and heavy, and she was extremely focused on the area between her hands, but she couldn't control her madra.
A nearby monster exploded into a cloud of red spores, and Jai Long was almost caught off-guard. He spun his spear in a circle, trailing serpents of white madra.
The spores met the snakes and sizzled like water droplets hitting a hot grill, and the serpents moved of their own volition to devour more of the blood madra.
They'd run into fourteen of these since they sensed Underlords fighting above them and decided to run. Remnants, perhaps? If so, where had so many of them come from?
There were a series of tunnels leading down from the chambers inside the mountain to ground level, and they'd hoped to escape the Arelius family while Eithan fought off...whoever it was.
Eithan Arelius may have promised them safety, but they were still enemies and rivals of the Jai clan. It was best to be on their own.
Except Jai Chen had been stumbling after her brother, attempting to control her madra, for far too long now.
“Don't force it,” he reminded her. She could strain her madra channels and cause greater spiritual damage than she'd struggled with in the first place. “I can get us out of here.”
But he was less and less sure of that.
The red light that flooded the world made him shiver. This wasn't the work of a mere Underlord; perhaps a foreign Overlord, or a Sage, or some ancient weapon. No matter what it was, he had to escape it.
They rounded a corner, and six more creatures raised their featureless heads to fix on the living humans.
Jai Long evened out his breath, focusing on his cycling technique as he spun his spear. His core was dimming, running dry, but he'd seen early on that he couldn't spare his effort. These monsters favored suicide attacks, exploding into a mass of whatever power had been used to create them. They were easy to destroy individually, but if he were to miss even one of them, more could swarm him in seconds.
And, as they'd learned, more could be born from even a single drop of spilled blood. He was fighting against a tide, and running out of power.
But he would use what he had.
He stepped forward, gathering up his madra for a technique.
Then the red light receded before a bright tide. He spun his spear around, looking for the creature that had gotten behind him, only to see his sister holding a dragon by its tail.
A serpentine dragon roared, surging from the space between her hands. It was like one of his snakes, only far more detailed: he could see a pair of whiskers on its face and scales on its body. It was tinged pink, like the light of dawn, and it raged into the bloody creatures with a majestic cry.
They were splattered across the floor with the sheer momentum of its charge.
Awed, Jai Long extended his spiritual perception. The substance of this creature felt like nothing he'd ever seen before. It was something like his own madra, corrupted by that Remnant long ago, which explained life in a creature that wasn't a Remnant. But at the same time, it was also...refined, in a way he couldn't describe. Like Jai Long's power had been boiled down, purified, perfected, and then strengthened. And there were elements that reminded him of a storm.
It was a confusing, overwhelming mass of impressions, and he couldn't make sense of them before the dragon burst in a massive flash of essence, dissolving almost instantly.
“I did it,” Jai Chen said, her smile broad.
Then she collapsed.
Jai Long hurried over to her, checking her spirit. Her madra channels were strained and dim, and her core was almost exhausted, but there was no further damage. He let out a breath of relief and threw her over his shoulder.
There was still a long way to go before he escaped.
When he sensed someone behind him, he whirled, readying his spear in one hand.
It was Wei Shi Lindon.
He didn't have the black-and-red eyes he'd used for most of their fight, but his gaze still smoldered with anger. Although that could be Jai Long's imagination; he didn't know Lindon well, but the young man apologized too much to be the angry type. He just looked like he was spoiling for a fight, with his rough face, tall build, and broad shoulders.
Now, he wore his large canvas pack on his shoulders, and he was holding out another, smaller pack in one hand.
The only hand he had left.
“Forgiveness, but we don't have much time,” he said, holding out the small pack. “The Skysworn have arrived. They've offered to take us from here, and it's not safe to stay. I think you may have noticed.”
Jai Long ignored the offering. “We will make it on our own.”
Lindon didn't withdraw the pack. “I assumed so, but there are hundreds of bloodspawn at ground level. There's another way.”
Slowly, Jai Long reached out with the tip of his spear and hooked the strap of the pack. He was still wary of some sort of trick. “Where?”
Now that his hand was free, Lindon pointed down a stone hallway that ramped gently back up. “That tunnel is connected to a bridge that leads to another mountain. That one isn't surrounded by bloodspawn.”
“Have you told the Skysworn about us?” Jai Long asked, still searching for a trap. Wei Shi Lindon was full of tricks, and not to be trusted. The Skysworn would be hunting down anyone connected to Jai Daishou, and this could all be a plot to lead Jai Long and Jai Chen into capture.
“They're not looking for you,” Lindon said. “They have bigger problems. But no, of course I have not told them.”
After a moment of silence, he added, “Please, accept my gratitude. For your...mercy.” He shrugged his right shoulder.
Jai Long stared at him, but despite his generally surly appearance, he seemed sincere.
“You could have killed me, so I appreciate your restraint.” He rubbed at the remainder of his right arm. “Forgive me, but I hope you'll make it far away from here.”
Jai Long returned the sentiment. He shrugged the pack over the shoulder that didn't have his sister on it and began to walk away.
Jai Chen spoke from his back. “We're going to the very outskirts of imperial territory,” she said. Jai Long hadn't realized she'd regained consciousness. “People there have forgotten about the Empire.”
Awkwardly, Jai Long turned her so that she could see Lindon without straining her neck. The young man gave her a smile. “That sounds like it's for the best.”
She shifted on Jai Long's shoulder, and he realized she was trying to give him a polite bow. “I hope the heavens will allow us to meet again.”
“Maybe they will,” Lindon said, lifting his hand. “In the meantime, travel safely.”
A tiny blue Remnant climbed up onto his shoulder. It looked like a sapphire woman only a few inches high, and she lifted a hand in imitation of him, waving to Jai Chen.