Chapter 29: Albain Flames
I gave chase without a second's hesitation.
The black mist trail left by the two Shadow Lurkers glowed faintly in my aura sight, twisting deeper into the ravine like veins of living darkness. Emily's limp body was slung over one of them, I could sense her silver aura flickering weakly against the poison.
My legs pumped, boots cracking stone, Anki gripped tight in my left hand. The Soul Anchor mark in my chest burned hotter than ever, a constant reminder of how far we'd come.
Since the day I reclaimed you from Madam helga, I told Anki silently as I ran, I've been able to switch talents with no backlash. No meridian strain, no cooldown.
Devil Blade's training halls let me experiment, mixing, twisting, creating. These aren't academy techniques anymore. They're mine.
Anki's voice came back steady, but laced with awe. Then show them, Liam. Show them what a bonded ego spirit and a free-willed blind boy can do.
I smiled in the dark.
"Albain Fire."
Purple flames erupted across my palms and raced down Anki's blade. The fire wasn't hot, it was cold, abyssal, hungry. It licked along the steel like living shadows given color, pulsing with the same violent energy I'd learned to command in the outer domes.
My entire body lit up with violet light, casting eerie glows on the ravine walls.
Five more Shadow Lurkers peeled away from the shadows ahead, drawn by the noise of our earlier clash. They dropped from the cliffs in perfect formation, claws extended, red eyes blazing. They came at me like a pack of midnight wolves.
I activated the next layer without slowing.
"Albain Palm."
I moved like liquid night. The first lurker slashed; I slipped inside its guard and slammed an open palm against its chest. No visible damage, just a faint purple imprint blooming under its oily skin.
I spun past the second, palm striking its side. Third, fourth, fifth, I touched every single one in a heartbeat of fluid motion, dodging their blade-claws by inches each time. The creatures hissed in confusion, their metallic skin shrugging off the contact like before.
I passed them all.
Then I snapped my fingers.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Five simultaneous explosions ripped through the ravine. Each lurker's chest detonated from the inside, purple fire erupting outward in geysers of black ichor and shattered shadow essence. Their tough outer hides had done nothing to stop the energy I'd forced straight into their soft internal organs.
"This flame is very useful," I said aloud, voice calm and cold. A devilish smile crept across my face. "Especially with their explosion properties. From these creatures I've learned that blades can't do anything to them… but what about energy forcibly sent into their bodies?"
I laughed once, low and sharp. "At the end, their organs are soft."
Explosions still blooming behind me, I surged forward with blinding speed and velocity. Every new Shadow Lurker that forced its way out of the rocks was met with the same treatment, Echo touch, purple imprint, finger snap.
They died before they could even scream properly. The path ahead cleared like wheat before a scythe.
Anki watched it all from within our bond, his spirit form trembling with shock. Everything this child exhibits… it's by his own will. Not copied. Not inherited. He created these arts himself in the short time we've been here. Pride and disbelief mixed in his tone. Liam… you're terrifying.
I didn't stop. Energy surged into my feet. I leaped.
For one long, graceful moment I hung in the sky, descending in a slow angelic spiral, purple flames trailing behind me like wings of violet fire. Below, Emily, barely conscious from the poison, watched through half-lidded eyes.
Her silver hair spilled across the ground where the lurker had dropped her for a second. She couldn't believe what she was seeing: the blind slave boy from the outer sect moving with impossible grace, techniques flowing like he had invented them on the spot, accuracy so perfect it didn't need sight. Her arrogant disdain cracked wide open into pure shock.
I fell backward, palm first.
"Albain Burst!"
My hand slammed into the ground. Purple flames injected straight into the earth and swept outward like a tidal wave of violet death. The ravine floor heaved. A massive explosion ripped upward in a perfect dome of fire and shattered stone, blasting the two main Shadow Lurkers away from Emily.
The one holding her turned sharply, pointing one clawed finger straight at me. The first lurker, the bigger one, roared and moved to intercept. Its body swelled, growing huge and terrifying, muscles bulging under the oily skin, claws lengthening into scythes, mouth splitting wider than a man's height.
It charged like a nightmare given form.
Useless.
To me, it was just flowing energy and threads of life. I didn't need eyes. I saw exactly where its meridians pulsed, where its weak points burned red.
I landed on both feet, performing a rapid foot technique that left after-images of purple fire on the stone.
The creature's red eyes widened in shock at the sight of those flaming footsteps racing toward it.
"Echo Touch!!" I roared.
My palm slammed against its chest. Tremors and vibrations rolled outward, but the thick skin refused to let them penetrate. I wasn't bothered.
"Cloning Talent."
I struck again and again with my fists in a frenzied rhythm. From my own flesh, a clone ripped free from my back with a wet tearing sound, then two more from my chest. They stepped out fully formed, identical to me, eyes glowing with a violet fire.
Immediately the clones joined the attack. Palms struck with crazed speed, left, right, center, over and over. The giant Shadow Lurker let out a heavy slash of dark energy. The first clone flipped backward in a perfect handspring. The second spun through a full aerial flip. I and the third clone stood firm.
I angled Anki to block the slash; the clone beside me thrust out a palm wrapped in deep abyss energy. We blocked almost simultaneously, then shoved the creature's arms wide, breaking its guard completely.
In all our shared vision, mine and every clone's, we saw it clearly: the bright red weak point on its shoulder, the exact spot it had once tried to protect.
"Synchronized Echo!"
Every single one of us closed in at once. Palms slammed onto its chest and shoulder in perfect unison. Heavy waves of echoes rolled inward, boom after boom after boom, shaking the creature from the inside out.
I made up my mind right then.
I stared straight at the remaining Shadow Lurkers, voice low and filled with dark promise.
"I will devour all of you," I said to them. "Your shadow properties… your tough hides… your poison… everything about you complements me perfectly. Your darkness will become my strength."
An evil laugh tore from my throat, echoing through the ravine louder than any of their screams had ever been.
The purple flames on Anki flared brighter.
And the night itself seemed to tremble at what was coming next.