Chapter 52: From the Sins of Madmen

Kumtag Desert, Dunhuang Oasis

"Ten."

Miria swung Zulfiqar faster than the speed of light, cleaving through yet another beetle-like monstrosity that towered over a wounded Jean. The four commanding Awakened Beings initially surrounded the mistress of the Drill Sword and attempted a simultaneous attack. They were far more intelligent than the brutes from the day before, and their strategy was to separate the Shu-Wu allies as a coordinated unit, scattering their formation and forcing them to fight individually. But Miria clung to the team's collective discipline grimly, her soul fused with Zulfiqar's spirit to the point where they had united as one powerful entity, turning to quicksilver before their adversaries and hardening into indestructible steel only after they had plunged themselves into enemy flesh.

"Thirteen." Jiang Wei spun Blink, deflecting a twisting, writing tentacle from one of Yuma's attackers and somersaulted, cooperating with Clare's angry swing against another appendage. He seized the moment as it fell apart, thrusting his spear into its owner's skull whilst in mid-air. With his polearm lodged in the creature's eye socket, he spun three hundred and sixty degrees, swinging up into the sky before descending, grabbing Blink's end as he hurtled downwards towards the ground. His prey collapsed into two halves from his velocity, beginning from its visual hollow, and slumped silently into the sand. His boots thumped against the bed of sand. He glanced at Miria, and she nodded back. She was impressive – beyond impressive. He had never expected her to be so brutally efficient in sweeping aside these formidable monsters.

Helen, Deneve, and Tabitha closed the gap between them, their backs brushing against each other as they stared up at the few demons that remained. "Not too shabby," crowed Helen. Their progress was already remarkable, considering the numbers stacked against them. "We're actually doing pretty damn well!"

They had slain more than thirty Awakened Beings since sunrise. They rampaged through the desert, rooting out every monster that lurked within the sand dunes and underneath the earth. After several hours of exhausting skirmishes, they had reached the rock face of the Mogao Caves at the edge of the Dunhuang Oasis. Painstakingly hollowed out and built by devout holy men and pious laypeople, the grottoes were an ancient network of one thousand Buddhist temples. According to the chronicles of missionaries from the west, the temples built within the grottoes were interlinked and led to even deeper caverns, providing a sanctuary for meditators, Chinese converts to the Enlightened One's creed… and perhaps other entities.

Exactly what those entities were, Miria did not know. The paramount question was if the portal was truly here. "Twelve. Thirteen." She continued to murmur her successive kills as she punctured through piece after piece of demonic armour. But Jiang Wei did not fall behind. He vaulted over a charging fiend, slamming his booted feet against its massive chest, knocking it back ever so slightly. It staggered in the direction of the sandstone hills, into which the subterranean entrances had been excavated. He raised Blink for his fourteenth kill –

Miria's Mirage flashed before him, and Zulfiqar cleaved into the lumbering Awakened Being's neck, severing its skull from its shoulders. Jiang Wei stared in awe. How could such a small Arab scimitar inflict such gaping wounds on such massive, armoured creatures? Was its magic that potent?

But more importantly, she had managed to defeat it before he could deal the final blow. "Kill stealer," he muttered.

"You didn't think catching a panorama of my backside yesterday was free, did you?" smirked Miria. The embroidered silver dragon on her chest glimmered in the desert sun, and she hurtled towards the ground in a zigzag pattern, smashing into the sand and hurling up a massive cloud of grit that obscured a beetle fiend's view. A blushing Jiang Wei exploited the momentary confusion and leaped up, plunging Blink into the beating heart of the clicking aberration. It collapsed with a heavy thud, hurling an even larger sandstorm into the air.

The warriors quickly wrapped their turbans around their heads tighter as they waited for the falling cloud to settle. "Not fair," called Helen. "Both of you are kill stealers!" But she could not truly complain. The environs were purged of enemies. The warriors briefly lowered their arms, glancing around. The Mogao Caves, with their yawning, cavernous entrances, lay open before them. The desert had been cleansed of the demons' foul presence at last, and the second stage of the campaign was about to begin.

"That's fourteen to us both," said Jiang Wei through his silken cloth. "Perhaps we should acknowledge that neither of us could surpass the other."

Miria met his eyes, watching him closely. "You're pretty good… for such a young man," she acknowledged. "What rank are you again?"

"That of Panther General," he said, "although I suppose I'm more well-known as the prodigy of Tianshui, the soldier Zhuge Liang convinced to join Shu." As the sand evened out amidst the dozens of overgrown beetle bodies, he loosened his turban once again. "I am his disciple, and the heir to his military strategies."

Miria was about to compliment him further on his martial skill when a clawed, bleeding hand shot up from the dune behind her. Six eyes glowed hatefully as the dying Awakened Being clicked its vengeance. Its fading Yoki was essentially undetectable, but the physical power had not diminished as it gathered its strength for one last suicidal assault. Clare shouted in warning, and Tabitha screamed for someone, anyone, to come to Miria's aid. She lifted her sword and charged desperately. Time froze, and within that split second, Helen made a peculiar gurgling noise in the back of her throat. She stretched out her hand –

"Watch out!" roared Jiang Wei, pivoting and throwing Blink directly between Miria's shoulder and the side of her head. The flying spear suddenly teleported in mid-flight: into the Awakened Being's body. His javelin manoeuvre, faster than a normal attack by one millisecond, made all the difference. Miria froze as the anonymous attacker behind her collapsed in half and slumped once more, never to rise in resistance again.

A deathly silence fell upon the heroes as they panted quietly, scrutinizing the area for any potential last gasps from the enemy. But there were none.

"This is Blink's ability. To be able to wink out of the blind aether and strike true its target. And that… was Awakened Being number fifteen," proclaimed Jiang Wei proudly. He looked at a gobsmacked Miria. "I believe I managed to defeat one more than you."

"Damn you," growled Miria. "I could have taken it on if you didn't squeal so loudly."

He moved to retrieve his weapon, passing her. "Now, uphold your end of our contest, Duchess. You must return to Shu with me. We need all the forces we can muster to stand against Wei." Miria turned to look at him, nodding reluctantly. She did not seem to want to concede, but there was no other alternative. He looked up at the looming Mogao Caves. "Even if the portal is within these caverns somewhere, we cannot destroy it without risking our lives foolishly. I shudder to imagine who might be in there, standing ready to defend it."

But as he spoke, the sky rapidly and ominously darkened. Yuma and Clare looked up in bewilderment. "A storm?"

"In the desert?" barked Helen incredulously.

"No…" whispered Deneve. She pointed diagonally, towards the distant sun. "Look." The Claymores gasped, and Jiang Wei hurried to their side, clutching Blink. "What are they?" murmured Deneve. "Awakened Beings?"

"Mon… monsters…" whispered Clare in foreboding. "I've… never seen this kind of Awakened Being before."

The shadows were gargantuan, colossal – at least forty feet tall. Like oversized wraiths from the netherworld, they spread their rotting wings, putrid slag dripping from the tips of their aerial appendages. Each creature – and there were four of them – possessed six pairs of burning, yellow eyes, and one at the centre of the black forehead. Four clawed arms jutted from their armoured torsos, and their legs were unusually stout. Their ebony, sanguine faces resembled nothing like a beast, fowl or insect of the natural world. Their mouths were stuffed with double rows of jagged fangs that pierced their own lips and gums, giving the Claymores the impression that they salivated blood.

Miria gritted her teeth as the rancid, flying demons approached. A loud boom, and clawed feet slammed into Kumtag, and the very ground seemed to scream. Before the women could react, they were surrounded. The four giants had landed in the perimeter of the Mogao Caves, their speed astonishingly quick, even faster than that of the typical airborne Yoma that were usually so easily disposed of. They blocked the entrance to Mogao, slobbering rancorously.

"What… what the fuck are these freaks?!" screamed Helen, her voice betraying true fear – something she had not felt in months.

"An entirely different genus of Awakened Being," muttered Miria, gritting her teeth. She looked at a shocked Jiang Wei. "I think you'll have to wait a touch before taking me home," she noted.

The seven-eyed titans screamed in bloodthirsty fury, spreading their tree-thick arms in primal wrath. The earth shook, and sand was hurled upwards from the sheer supersonic volume of their bellowing. Clare and Helen held their hands up, groaning in exertion as they struggled against the unnatural whirlwind that enveloped them.

Well done. Now, I have you all.

The Awakened Beings roared in triumph again as a new presence suffused the Mogao Caves and the oasis. The measureless aura consumed the desert and beyond, so vast that Clare staggered on her feet. "What… what is this immense Yoki?!" she gasped, almost collapsing from the pressure of the shockwave.

Miria glanced up, her neck aching. "This… aura… it's nothing I've fever felt before." She glanced at Tabitha, whose eyes were wide in terror. "Tabitha! Whom does this Yoki belong to?! Talk to me!"

Raising a trembling finger, Tabitha could only point into the distance, at a faint figure that stood just beyond the first few entrances of the Mogao Caves. Cloaked in blue and grey, his shoulders were adorned the feathers of noble birds of prey, and his cold eyes shone with a predatory stillness as he observed the women and Jiang Wei. But he was instantly recognizable through his long hair, the long blond hair that would have lent him a feminine air were it not for his broad shoulders and his inexplicably masculine jawline.

"These are Strossi, the most powerful Awakened Beings aside from the highest-ranked former silver-eyed warriors," proclaimed the smiling figure. "They are quite impressive, are they not? They are strong, burly and powerful – with the capability of flight, as well. It is something that the Organization would never have conceived of, even in their wildest dreams."

Jiang Wei's eyes widened further. "Is he… the guardian of the portal you speak of?"

Helen's jaw dropped. "That's…"

Jean's voice lowered to a whisper. "The Abyssal One of the North, the foremost Dweller of the Deep."

Miria's eyes narrowed into hateful slits. "Isley."

Yuma began to quiver. "He really is here. Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying were right all along."

Something in Tabitha's eyes shattered. Was it hope? Poise? The lust for victory? It did not matter either way. Clare and Deneve raised their swords in defensive stances as their battalion came under attack. But it happened so swiftly that not even Miria could ascertain the source. In one stroke, despite being physically surrounded and protected by her comrades, Tabitha collapsed, clutching at a massive hole in her torso. "Tabitha! Shit… what the hell happened?!" gritted Helen. "We couldn't even see that coming!"

"Duchess… beware," was all Tabitha whimpered, as her eyes rolled over.

Helen's legs shook as a powerful weight bore upon her. She felt her stomach spilling open, and she vomited a wave of blood before falling limply into the desert, too. A sudden, final scream from a despairing Yuma, and the junior warrior fell beside Tabitha, her body split in half at the waist. Tissue and gore seeped into the desert sand, and Jean shrieked in rage, raising her sword. But a tendril instantly smashed it away from her, and bashed her head into the ground as well, pinning her down and suffocating her. Her eyes rolled back, and her mouth and throat filled with sand, suffocating her from within. Her body twitched as a black claw slowly lifted itself away. Deneve shrieked Yuma and Jean's names and turned desperately in an attempt to locate the source of the attacks. She promptly folded, her legs and arms severed from their joints. Wide-eyed, she rolled across the ground, disbelief and agony etched on her face. "There!" roared Miria in fury, Zulfiqar humming. She somersaulted towards the winged devil behind her and slashed upwards, but it simply swatted her aside – and its speed outmatched even that of Zulfiqar's. Miria slammed painfully into the sand, along with Clare, who had moved to assist her.

Jiang Wei stared in dread at the bloodshed that unfolded before him. It hadn't been more than a few seconds, but for him, it felt as if he had stood still, passively and mutely watching his comrades fall, one by one. Within a heartbeat, the entire force of the Duchess had been incapacitated and decimated. "What… what is this?" he murmured, raising Blink, but somehow unable to move. His hands tried their best not to tremble. The Strossus behind them shrieked in triumph, and he desperately turned to face them. Nothing remained except for panicked questions.

"Why have they revealed themselves… only now?"

Isley smiled, and he opened his cloak slightly. From his arm stumbled a hooded figure, distinctly demure and feminine. She was a petite brunette – a young, pretty, absent-looking girl with deep brown eyes. Innocent and childlike, she looked around uncomfortably. He spoke down fondly to her. "What have I said? Sometimes, a little sunlight will do you good… Priscilla."

Amongst the last three warriors that had not been felled, Clare's eyes stretched open in utter shock. "You… bastard," she slowly mouthed, her grip tightening to the point her own nails dug into her palms. Blood from her torn skin slowly dripped down her sword's handle. "So Galatea was telling the truth. You have been sheltering her all this time."

Isley smiled. "Someone you recognize, child?" he asked, looking down at the small figure nestled beside him.

"Priscilla!!" bellowed Clare, hurtling towards the couple with all the strength every fibre in her body would lend her. She raised her sword, and her muscles bulged with all their inhuman strength, in anticipation of tasting the blood of Teresa's murderer. "Priscillaaaa!!!"

A massive, eight-foot wide hand smashed her flying body into the hot desert sand, sending her colliding against a thick dune. She was knocked out instantly, two hundred out of the two hundred and six bones in her limp body neatly broken. Isley raised an eyebrow as the raving woman fell into a helpless silence. "If you cannot defeat the Strossi, how do you expect to defeat Priscilla?" he questioned calmly. "A remarkable lack of foresight, wouldn't you say?"

A spear suddenly appeared before his right eye and thrust into his socket. Priscilla cried out in concern, and Jiang Wei shouted in triumph. But they were both too early. Isley's left eye blinked curiously, and he grasped Blink, snapping it in two and casually tossing the furthest end away before pulling the closer half out of his head. He frowned at the young Chinese man, and his right hand suddenly burst forth from his blue mantle, splitting open the cloak. A dark, wraithlike axe swiped with uncanny speed at Jiang Wei, who could do nothing except hold up his fists in a desperate block. Blood spurted from his forearms and his torso, and his gentle eyes glazed over as he rammed into the desert grit and quivered briefly, before ceasing to move.

"Jiang Wei!" Miria looked up at Isley, her eyes shining in desperate fury. She managed to force herself up, although her body screamed in protest. "You'll pay for that with your life!" Despite her snapped arm, she swung Zulfiqar, and it hummed with a rage that matched her own. Despite her fractured legs, she sprinted towards the blond man, who smiled pityingly.

"Poor, deluded child."

Four Strossi fists flew towards here and crushed her body against sixteen giant knuckles. Her bones pulverized, Miria felt her world go black as Zulfiqar fell from her hand. She crashed and sprawled along the smooth sand, her eyes closing in stupor as she fell into a coma. Her last words were not peaceful words. In fact, she forced them out, gritting them though her clenched teeth. Blood sprayed from her lips.

"Damn you… Isley."

Priscilla still trembled in fear, but Isley kept her close, patting her shoulder lightly as his organic axe slowly morphed back into his right hand, black plasma writhing sickeningly around his wrist and forearm. The deadly blade smoothly reverted to the shape of four fingers and one thumb. His black, hard carapace turned pale and once again resembled human skin. He smiled in satisfaction. "The Number Six of the Organization, and the heroine of Shu – Phantom Miria – is defeated."

The winged Strossi loomed over the unconscious bodies of the eight warriors, splashing their toxic saliva across the desert sands. Isley glanced nonchalantly at his elite servants. The Chinese man had impressed him with that little toy of his. But he was Chinese, and no filthy Han was going to best an Abyssal One of the Continent. Still… no matter how many natives died, it was simply boring and gauche. "Incompetent women," he sniffed, raising his head to look at the sky. "It ended all too quickly. You didn't even enjoy the chance to attack these accursed grottoes. But no matter. It is almost time that we depart from the portal, and claim our prize as we sweep across China… and take everything with us in an inferno of ruin."

Surely this nation was capable of more! Surely its people, assisted by the silver-eyed women, were capable of standing before him? Before Priscilla? Before…

He glanced at the cave entrance behind him. "I will return for you," he smiled. "Your time has not come yet. But your part will be a monumental one. This I swear."

He raised his voice slightly. "Prepare to launch our invasion!" The waiting Strossi bellowed in obedience and began to flap their decomposing wings. It was a wonder that they could even hover in the air with such putrid appendages. Slowly but surely, they began to rise into the heavens, their eyes glowing a deeper, more ominous purple. Their four arms hanging limply at their front, they began to soar north, roaring their imminent triumph. Their might would now be unleashed upon the Central Plains. China had not glimpsed the extent of Isley's power just yet.

Devastation par excellence was yet to come.

"You disposed of those women rather effectively, did you not?" came a familiar, youthful voice behind him. "We need not concern ourselves with their ultimate fate. Unfortunately, the one I seek is not amongst them. Aside from the Number Six with her new sword, the rest are worthless riffraff, unworthy of any serious attention."

Isley turned and smiled. "Rigardo. I would suggest that you keep that turban wrapped around your face. We do not want the Chinese forces to discover that you are still alive… at least, not until we attack them with our full strength."

"I loathe this desert," replied the black-haired Lion King. "We Continentals are not suited for such a dry, hot climate. I wish to depart for Wu, my Lord, and wreak revenge against the half-Yoma warrior that cleaved me in half."

"It was not easy to retrieve the two pieces of your body. Be grateful for our agents' studiousness, and that your Yoma flesh was enough to suffice for your resurrection. Besides, our first objective is not Jiangdong, but Wu Zhang. Once we annihilate the Shu and Wei forces there, we can move on to crush Sun Quan's followers at our leisure."

"I look forward to that," affirmed Rigardo. "I desire revenge against Zhou Tai."

The three dark figures gazed outwards to the light-dappled horizon. "Although this realm shall soon possess no ember of life, I must admit I will miss it somewhat," mused Isley, stroking Priscilla's hair. "I have come to appreciate the beauty of the desert during my time here. I am pleased I will be returning."

"But for now, we shall depart for Wu Zhang Plains. We will topple Shu first. Then, we will set alight the Wu Kingdom with their own torches. And finally, once this wretched country collapses into an irreversible chaos, we will assassinate Cao Cao himself.

"Rigardo. Priscilla. This entire nation has been reduced to a banquet for your partaking. I trust you will enjoy the feast."