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The last interaction she’d had with Max was hours ago now and she wasn’t able to detect his Flame since. They’d been interrupted by the sudden appearance of I’xol’ukz as well some pesky demons in the ‘real world’ on her side.

She still wasn’t sure what it meant for Max to completely disappear like this.

Had he gone back within the barrier on his world?

Or maybe she’d only caught him at the tail end of the night.

There was no way to be sure until they shared letters weeks from now.

It dawned on her then that for all their superiority when it came to strength and even technology like space travel, the Yee cultivation empire was still in the stone ages when it came to communications.

She wondered for a moment if that was by design.

Jim had always said whoever controlled the flow of information in a conflict held an advantage. And speed of communication had to be a factor. In the old world they’d been able to communicate instantaneously across the globe.

Granted it didn’t do much for the Earth when the cultivators came.

Still, it made her wonder.

“What am I even thinking about?” Kelsey said.

All this stuff was Max’s Dao, not her own.

She only cared about killing demons.

But it intrigued her to ponder just how Yee society worked outside of their planet. She envied Max again for his opportunity to experience the true outside world. A world she too hoped to venture to and explore one day.

She was just about to call it quits for another half hour when she sensed Max’s Flame reappear. Excitement filled her as she rushed towards it, but when she finally touched her disembodied flame to make contact with his, an equal amount of concern filled her soul.

Max was in trouble.

I’xol’ukz.

And he was fearing for someone else’s life that she didn’t know.

But most of all, she sensed something she rarely did within Max.

Uncertainty.

* * *

Blue Rose was growing worse by the second.

I held her in my arms and the laughing fits started again.

As her sanity ping-ponged back and forth between madness and clarity, she looked to me with tear-soaked eyes and struggled to get words out in between.

“I’m sorry… Max,” she blurted in between laughs. “For what… I did. You’ve been… the best… friend… to me.”

“Blue, just hang on!” I shouted at her.

But I could sense her soul dying inside.

Twisting with the Dark Frenzy and becoming something else.

No, no, no!

The same would happen to my men if they stayed here as well.

The Dark Frenzy was just too strong.

Even I was starting to suffer.

As I took another peek into the spiritual realm, I could see dark tentacles flowing from the spectral form of the gate now hanging in the air. There was too much happening. She wouldn’t survive this, I realized grimly.

Blue Rose was simply too far gone.

My heart broke as I came to the realization.

I couldn’t save her.

But I could still try to save everyone else.

“Full retreat!” I shouted. “Take to the air! You won’t survive what’s about to happen here!”

It would seem a cowardly call, especially considering everything we had faced up until now, but these guys were not ready for this. I looked back at the Pythor corpse, its body still popping and convulsing. I didn’t know how long it would take to fully transform and become I’xol’ukz’s new husk, but once it did, everyone here would be driven mad.

“Head for the barrier!” I shouted. “You all need to be cleansed!”

My platoon hesitated at my command, some of them still mesmerized by the pulsing corpse of the Pythor while others were questioning the order itself. It didn’t matter. They all needed to clear the area so I could face this beast alone.

“Commander?” Ten Chui said as he landed next to me.

A new thought sparked.

Ten Chui was fast.

“Take her,” I said, pushing Blue Rose towards him. “Get her back to the barrier as fast as you can. Don’t stop for anything.”

It was a slim chance. It would take hours to get back to the barrier.

She might not even make it.

But I had to try to save her at least.

Ten Chui stared back at me perplexed as Blue Rose began to struggle in his arms. “I can’t move as fast carrying her. Especially with her fighting like this.”

“No!” Blue Rose suddenly shouted, pushing Ten Chui away. “I stay with, Max!”

She was in a moment of clarity again.

“Rose, you can’t,” I said. “You’ll die. You’ll lose your mind.”

“Don’t care!” She gritted her teeth, struggling to maintain control between the laughing fits. “Won’t make. It. Anyway. Rather stay! Die here with you!”

My soul broke a second time.

She’d come to the same realization herself.

Blue Rose then burst into a maniacal laugh, rolling on the ground.

“Blue!” I shouted. “Blue!”

But she didn’t respond and just kept on laughing and crying.

I knew all hope was lost then.

“Get going, Ten Chui,” I said with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “Get everyone out of here.”

He paused a second, before nodding to me.

He then turned about and began barking orders.

“The Iron Bull has granted me command as Platoon leader!” he shouted. “The order is retreat! Move quickly! Back to the barrier! Now, now!”

People paused unsure.

“You heard him!” I shouted. “He has command now! Go!”

The platoon reacted with soldierly efficiency, taking to the air and heading back toward the Academy.

I looked to Dim Wei and her team, who looked to have won the battle against Jei Su Long. Or perhaps more likely, Jei and his boys had turned tail and run as soon as they saw the corpse begin to mutate.

“Leave the bag!” I shouted to her, as she struggled to carry the crystals while trying to fly. “Save yourself! Go! That’s an order!”

Reluctantly she dropped the bag and took to the air with a burst of Qi.

I watched them all depart as Blue Rose’s laughter and tears grew worse.

The Dark Frenzy was permeating the air rapidly now.

As the edges of my vision began to tunnel, I looked back into the spiritual realm. The tentacles were growing longer. I had no idea if I could even fight this thing. My Dantian was down to under a quarter now. I probably didn’t have enough Frenzy to make it back to the Academy myself without becoming a damn demon.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Shit... I thought. Could this be game over for me too?

I’d burned too much Frenzy fighting.

I was in as bad a position as Blue Rose now.

A sudden resonance filled me as a familiar presence made contact with my soul.

Kelsey?!

I edged further into the spiritual realm, splitting my consciousness in two. I inhabited the blue form of the Struggler and made connection with Kelsey’s Flame again.

“Hey,” I said to her. “I’m dealing with all kinds of crap right now, Little Sis. Things aren’t looking good.”

Her ‘words’ came to me fast and furious.

She understood.

She encouraged me.

Fight back, was the sense I got in my mind.

“Not so simple,” I said. “I can’t summon demon fury like you can. Fighting demons isn’t really my thing.”

It was true. My anger was fueled by the injustice of the empire. Not the threat of I’xol’ukz directly. It made me pause and wonder if I was making the right decision here. I looked again to Blue Rose, quickly losing her sanity and going out of her mind.

She might even be too far gone already.

Already lost perhaps.

But I stood to lose everything now.

If I died here, Fia would have to raise that baby alone, in a world where the Warden would have won. What kind of future was that? I would have failed my clan, failed Fia and her father and lost all hope of restoring the Earth with the seed of humanity hidden in the bunker out in the wild.

I could perhaps still achieve it all if I left now, I thought.

I looked back towards the Academy as I considered it.

Fighting I’xol’ukz wasn’t my true battle.

Not right now.

This was all still just a means to an end for me.

This was perhaps Kelsey’s Path. One that I could help her along.

But it wasn’t mine. I needed to complete my own path first.

My heart broke as I looked again to Blue Rose.

I’d have to leave her too.

But she was dead already, wasn’t she?

I took one step towards the academy and froze.

What the hell am I doing?

If I left this gate open, I’xol’ukz could discover the Academy.

Who cares? I thought. I need to save Fia.

My mind teetered on indecision again.

My path was guiding me one way, but my heart was swaying to another.

I felt Kelsey touch my soul again, lending me her strength as more ‘words’ of encouragement came.

She acknowledged my anguish and indecision.

The turmoil in my soul.

Fight it!

That was her message to me.

If you see no path, just make your own. Just like you always do.

I wasn’t sure if those were Kelsey’s thoughts or my own. Or even if it mattered. Perhaps they were coming directly from my Flame. I focused on it as the Dark Frenzy grew stronger and the skin-crawling, nail-on-chalkboard screeches of I’xol’ukz filled the air.

My own path?

I looked across from me to the Demon within my soul.

He was staring at me imploringly. Like he wanted to say something.

But he was me.

What the hell did I need to say to myself?

To do?

Should I run away and complete my path or stay with Blue Rose and try to fight the demon to save the Academy and maybe even the empire? The same Empire I was trying to destroy. It didn’t make sense.

And then it hit me.

The source of the rift in my soul.

The Struggler had his own mission, that same that mirrored my own.

To defeat the empire, free the Earth and restore my people.

But the Demon had his own path as well.

And this was it.

The same as what that spirit within the Aetherite crystal had begged me for.

To seek revenge against the demons of the Cursed Stars

I finally understood now.

The two paths were diverging, or perhaps they’d always been separate.

That was why my soul was split.

It wasn’t the Demon and the Struggler that needed to amalgamate.

It was my paths.

As the thought came to me the demon outstretched his hand.

I knew what it meant. He was inviting me to join his path. Perhaps this was the Will of the Frenzied Flame all along. The reason why It had lent me its strength, the power to achieve my own Path of the Struggler, but in return, it wanted my strength to fulfil Its own.

If I chose though, would I be giving up my own path?

No, I thought with conviction.

I would combine them.

But what did that mean?

Could I still save Fia?

Save Blue even?

Trust. Kelsey’s message came to me. Fight!

Easy for you to say, I thought with a laugh. This is your path already.

But she wasn’t wrong either.

At every step of the way, I had trusted the Flame and it hadn’t steered me wrong yet.

Even if what it was asking me to do seemed contrary to what needed to be done.

I made my decision.

I would follow both paths.

I would defeat the empire as well as destroy the demons of the Cursed Stars. I would destroy this gate and prevent I’xol’ukz from learning the location of the Academy and fight across the Hell Worlds and beyond.

Not to just save my people, but to protect the mortal realm itself.

“Alright you son of a bitch,” I said to the demon. “You got yourself a deal. But now you need to come through for me. Give me the power to make all this shit happen! Right now!”

Within the Blue [Spectral Body] of the Struggler, I shook the demon’s hand and the world exploded in a brilliant flash of light. I was ejected from my [Spectral Body] to see both the Demon and the Struggler, hands joined, and dissolving before my eyes.

My Flame pulsed, flaring like an explosion going off and shifting from bright blue to all white.

New power filled me like never before.

My soul was replenished.

In the darkness of my mind’s eye, my [Spectral Body] began to reform.

It grew from the bottom up, strong legs with red skin, covered in scars. My new height was easily that of the demon or more. My face resembled my own, the true form of my [Struggler’s Resolve] but on my temples were a set of bull’s horns that looked far more elegant and refined than before. Across my scar ridden body, slow pulses of electricity formed my [Spectral Armor], now a permanent fixture within my new [Spectral] form.

Holy shit… I thought. This was it.

I had finally germinated my Second Soul.

I had broken through the 9th Tier of the Core Realm and pushed beyond.

I had ascended to the next realm.

I was a Sacred Soul Realm Cultivator now.

* * *

Kelsey blinked in shock at what she was witnessing.

Max’s Flame pulsed and transformed before her spiritual eyes. He seemed ten times as powerful as before, like he’d just had a breakthrough or something.

His thoughts too had evolved. Coalesced and refined.

She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she hoped she had played some small part in it.

“Good job, Max!” she shouted. “I’m proud of you, Big Bro!”

She wasn’t sure if he could hear her.

Or even understand her fully.

But she prayed he could.

She sensed his thoughts responding to her.

Gratitude.

Elation.

Power.

But beneath it all she sensed what he desired the most.

The desire to protect.

To save.

He’d just made a choice, but wasn’t sure if he could accomplish it all.

“Do it, Max!” she urged him. “You’ve got this, bro. I believe in you. Save everyone!”

* * *

I opened my eyes in the real world and a new sense of conviction filled me.

My Flame burned white hot like a furnace.

No, not a furnace…like a forge now.

A forge that had formed my new soul.

A soul of the Struggler and Demon combined.

My Dantian seemed smaller, but denser, my Frenzy increased by a hundred fold.

“M-max?”

I looked over my shoulder to see Blue Rose kneeling on the ground. Her eyes seemed steadier than before, her soul more stable.

“Blue?”

Her eyes widened. “Is that you?”

I wondered what she was talking about, until I realized I was covered by the red-hued form of my new [Spectral Body]. I must have projected it reflexively when the transformation took place. I realized then I was seeing in double, able to see both the spiritual world and the real world at the same time.

“You’ve… ascended,” Blue Rose said. “Was that what I felt?”

Felt? “What do you mean?”

“I can sense something in you,” she said. “Like it’s… shielding me. From the Demonic Qi of the moon.”

I checked my [Soul Shield] technique and it seemed to have evolved.

Not only was it protecting my flame but some distance around me as well it seemed.

“The true you,” she said, marveling at my [Spectral Projection]. “Guess you really took that ‘bull’ thing to heart.”

I nearly laughed.

I supposed I was lucky. With my moniker, it was far more easy for people to see a red-skinned Bull Man instead of an awakened demon lord.

And that was just fine with me.

Blue Rose broke into a sudden laugh again.

Shit!

I was able to protect her now, but she was still damaged on the inside.

I looked back and saw the creature still forming itself.

I had mere minutes maybe.

Once it emerged there was no telling what would happen.

But I was looking at the situation differently now.

Before running or staying meant turning my back on either one path or the other.

But they were combined now.

And I felt the power to achieve both.

“Let’s go,” I said to Blue Rose. “We’re getting you back to the academy.”

“What?” she said. “How?”

“Drink this,” I said and fed her the second elixir. “It’ll help keep you together until we get there.”

She wiped her mouth as she finished off the bottle. “That’ll take hours.”

I grimaced as I cycled my Frenzy. “Not if I can help it.”

I scooped Blue Rose up within my arms as I dropped my sword and axe.

“I’ll be back for those later,” I said to the monster. “And for you too, bitch.”

“Who are you talking t—”

Blue Rose let out a gasp as I leapt into the air with [Lightning Walk].

I pushed forward with a burst of speed as my steps quickened.

I had no idea what level my abilities were at now.

If I was still keeping score, my Internal Strengthening had to be at stage 20 or more.

That meant the potency of my techniques had more than doubled and that went the same for my [Lightning Walk]. I could push off the air with much more force and speed now, literally sprinting through the air.

I was moving fast, but I needed to go faster.

Blue Rose was still in between sanity and madness.

She needed to get to that crystal.

I dared to pull out the stops and try the next phase.

I hadn’t even attempted the technique yet much less perfected it, but it was all down to necessity now. I went through the meridian sequences in my head and began cycling my Frenzy. A spark of intuition said to forget using my feet and just use my whole body.

I sent a burst of solid Frenzy to my jing in the form of [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls] and then redirected the force as I annunciated my newly modified technique.

“[Ride the Lightning]!”

The world exploded in a burst of lightning as I went corkscrewing through the air like I’d just been shot out of a cannon. Blue Rose screamed, holding onto me for dear life as the world spun. The ground sped by like we were in an airplane, thousands of feet eaten up in seconds.

I had no idea how fast we were traveling but I didn’t let up.

I poured on the Frenzy to keep the maneuver going.

At some point I saw the remnants of my platoon flash by and a moment after that Jei Su Long and his team. I had no idea what I looked like to them, but I was moving too fast to even see a reaction.

The glow of the beacons soon appeared on the horizon, and I had to reverse the direction of the technique to quickly slow down. As I zoomed towards the flaming braziers, I saw a horde of demons assaulting the barrier’s edge.

“Hold on!” I shouted to Blue Rose.

I aimed for a point closest to the edge and landed with another full burst of [Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls]. The explosion of lightning went through the horde, clearing a space over a football field wide, killing them all.

As I arose from the charred embers and burnt demon flesh, a voice rang out from above me.

“Iron Bull?”

I looked up to see Chief Yora hovering in the air.

“No time to explain,” I said as I pushed Blue Rose past the threshold and into the barrier. “Can you please get her to master Eiji and the Aetherite crystal? She’s been badly poisoned by Demonic Qi.”

Chief Yora looked to a couple of Black Robes who were assisting. “Take her right away.”

Blue Rose reached out to me as they carried her away. “Max! Come with me!”

I shook my head. “I got work to finish yet.”

“What in in the nine hells is going on?” Yora said as she touched down next to me, glancing about at the destruction I just caused. She then looked up at the translucent form of my [Spectral Body] superimposed over my physical self. “Did you just ascent to the Sacred Soul Realm?”

“Something like that,” I said quickly. “My platoon is on its way back here. The same for Jei Su Long’s.”

“What happened?”

I thought quickly. “Let’s just say some stragglers from before were still out there. The Cursed Star born kind. Everyone may need some Aetherite treatment.”

“I’ll alert the President,” she said, but I stopped her.

“No need,” I said. “I’ll deal with it. And besides, I need to go back for my crystals.”

I took back off before she could ask or say anything else, launching into the sky with [Ride the Lightning]. As I flew away, I couldn’t help but reflect on my newfound power. I was getting closer and closer to god-mode and was only a realm away from being a Lesser Deity now myself.

But I couldn’t focus on that.

I gritted my teeth as I poured on the speed.

I had a dark god of the stars that I needed to go kill.