Things literally could not have gone worse, I thought, scrambling back to my feet, making sure not to trip over Isabella as she got up into a crouch. We’re so absolutely fucked.
“Thanks for the blooming ray of optimism,” Isabella bit out, grip firming on her scythe as she scowled at the Inner Disciple on the far end of the room. “Any other words of encouragement, dickhead?”
Maybe in a moment. I focused on Gareth, who still stood at the entrance of the chamber, hands now hidden back in his robes. I knew better than to assume he was relaxed; his eyebrows were furrowed slightly, and I could tell that underneath his robes his body was primed to respond if I made any sudden movements. This was…actually pretty relieving.
“Relieving?” Isabella hissed, now grinding my knuckles together. “I need you to be confident, not delusional.”
No, look. I slowly stood up a bit straighter, and Gareth followed my motion, the blue-robed cultivator’s eyes narrowing. He’s too on edge. This isn’t someone who knows that backup is on the way, it’s someone who thinks he’s going to have to handle a wild animal on his own. That means he’s alone.
“Silver linings,” Isabella muttered, her own eyes now scanning over Gareth. “Still leaves the storm cloud of the same cultivator that has killed you twice now. Feeling better about the third round?”
Fuck no. I don’t want to fight this guy at all if I don’t have to. I slowly lifted my hand to my mouth, my killer’s eyes not leaving me for a moment. So we’re going to do it like this.
I coughed into my hand, taking a deep breath. And then I smiled, again slowly lifting my arm up to wave. “Hey! Gareth, right? It’s been a bit. How’s it going?”
My one and only secret weapon, the one that I had used to critical effect the last time I was in the Inner Compound: sheer audacity. And even with the Compound denying my very right to exist, the technique had lost none of its power. Gareth’s careful and close scrutiny was transformed into a stone-faced silence that could only be covering up a bone deep shock.
I continued my social assault. “You’re right, it is going to be a mess to explain. I do not envy you at all. Unfortunately, this is one of those circumstances where I genuinely have no other option. The Sect’s made it perfectly clear how unwelcome I am right now, which is frankly only a slight evolution from the sheer indifference it showed to my suffering over the past few years. The first time you almost killed me was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the second time was really just cruel to the poor camel.”
I could tell that my verbal lances were working; Gareth appeared to be incredibly uncomfortable, shifting in stance as he looked me up and down again and again, a slight grimace beginning to form on his face. There was some collateral damage, judging by the strange expression Isabella seemed to be making at my side, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away for a second, not when I was so close to victory.
With Gareth metaphorically disarmed, I went in for the coup de grace. I gestured out with my free hand. “As such, I’m afraid I need to call in that favour you owe me.”
“...The favour.” Gareth repeated with a slow blink.
“You’d made mention of owing me thirty thousand yuan the previous time we’d met,” I generously explained to the dumbfounded disciple. “Now, I’d previously turned it down, but I realise that you could help me a lot in a different way. In this case, I would strongly appreciate your silence.”
Gareth didn’t respond. The blue robed disciple didn’t even seem to be breathing, still staring at me in disbelief.
Just a bit more. “I understand the situation might be a bit heated right now, what with, you know,” I tilted my head towards the burning wreckage of the Wing, “but if the Sect isn’t so keen on me, and I’m not so keen on the Sect, then surely we could arrange for my departure? There’s that Core Disciple on the Lifts right now, but I’m sure someone in your position could arrange for a single crate to pass by without inspection-”
“Stop.” Gareth finally raised his hands once more, as if to stop my verbal onslaught. “Please. For one moment.”
I politely complied as the Inner Disciple began to massage his temples. With his eyes closed, I surreptitiously tried peeling Isabella’s fingers out of their death grip on my hand. Is there a reason you’re trying to reduce my knuckles to bone meal?
“You are unbelievable!” She scowled at me, shoving her scythe against my chest. “You- this, you’re just telling him to carry you out of here in a box and expecting this to work?”
I’m expecting it to put him off balance. I’m hoping it’ll buy us a bit of time while I try to figure out if we can climb back down the way we came and make our escape another way. I’m praying that he just might be willing to listen to a madman who has burnt the Sect’s fleet of fancy flying transports. I gave Isabella a small smile. Trust me?
“Brother Ryan,” Gareth finally spoke, his head lifting from his hands. Whatever sort of balance he’d had entering the room was well gone by now in the face of my words, replaced instead by a weariness and exasperation that he exuded with every small twitch. Still, he found it in himself to look me right in the eyes. “Please understand that you have made my life extraordinarily difficult in the last two days.”
“To be fair-”
“No.” Gareth interrupted, “I know what you’re going to say. That, actually, you were the one who was inconvenienced by virtue of your near-deaths. You might then go on to say that you never prompted such treatment, ignoring the fact that you had trespassed into the Inner Compound. Then, following that ridiculous assertion, you’ll make a request or pose a question that will leave me so utterly bedazzled that I’ll somehow manage to let you go.”
Gareth sighed, shrugging. “Truthfully, it doesn’t matter. I understand that you are not in full control of your actions, that this very conversation was never meant to be enlightening for me.” Gareth’s gaze sharpened. “At the very least, I can only hope that Brother Ryan, if he is still in there, can be granted some measure of peace.”
If he’s still in there? Now I felt like I was on the back foot. Did he think I’d lost my senses? Perhaps immediately after I’d been force-fed the Ruby Tears I’d had a slightly altered state of mind, but having my back broken had quickly resolved that issue. What else could he be referring to, if it weren’t-
“I can’t believe that your little show has already come back to haunt us,” Isabella said quietly, then chuckled. “Heh. Haunt.”
The image of Boluo jumped into my mind, flinching at my performance of being a ghost. It suddenly all made sense. Or it would, but the only question is- “How did you get here so fast?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“No, no, no.” Gareth refused, lifting his arms and clenching his fists. “I will not indulge in your trickery anymore.”
“Truly, honestly, to the heavens above,” I pleaded as best I could, shifting Isabella’s hand so I could clasp my own together as Gareth advanced towards me. “You came from the cliffside fountain courtyard with Boluo, right? Is there some secret, Inner-Sect-only path within the building, or was it a public entrance that you used? Not that it makes a difference, but I feel like I’d be very frustrated with myself if there was a better route that didn’t involve ascending a sheer cliff face.”
Gareth watched me over his fists. I did nothing but return his gaze, keeping my own hands up in supplication.
“...No.” Gareth admitted. “I did not come through any courtyard with a fountain, nor have I encountered…Boluo. Is this one of your other victims?”
“I hardly killed him,” I defended myself, then paused. “But if you didn’t meet him, then where did you get the idea that I was a ghost?”
“A ghost?” Gareth blinked. “You’re a demon.”
We stared at each other. Isabella sighed, palming her face.
“You think I’m a demon!?”
“ENOUGH!” Gareth roared, qi-powered flames rippling over his fists. “I am sick and tired of these damned distractions! Face your end, demon!”
“Hang on, I feel like a massive misunderstanding has happened-” I squeaked as I dove to the side as a fireball flew past me. I hit the ground with a painful thud, followed shortly after by Isabella landing on top of me, driving the air out of my lungs. I didn’t get a chance to recover before I was forced to roll again to avoid another lash of flame.
I stared down at Isabella, gasping for air as I felt the burst of heat wash over my back. I just realised that you’re usually on the sidelines for this. How’re you finding it?
“Awful!” Isabella bit out, pushing me off just in time to avoid another searing strike. “And stay focused! We need to get out of here. Can you rush past him?”
I rolled onto my feet, pulling Isabella with me as I dared to take a peek in Gareth’s direction, only to lunge back down to the ground again as a fan of flames rushed past. Not easily!
Isabella swore. “Then back the way we came?”
Climbing down with him raining fire on us? Another burst of flame and another close-call, this time enough to singe all the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Then skip the climbing!”
Even if I burn all my qi I’ll probably break an ankle, and I won’t be able to run at all!
“Then something!” Isabella yelled, even as she dragged me out of the way of the largest fireball yet, the sheer heat washing over us like a wave.
But any ideas I had for escaping the situation had already been shoved out of my head when I saw Gareth’s second attack; the smaller bolt of fire had been entirely obscured by the massive blast that had preceded it. He’d already predicted where I was likely to move, and neither Isabella or I were ready as the bolt sailed right by Isabella and slammed into me.
I’d felt my back break and my tendons snap, but nothing could prepare me for the pain of burning alive. A scream tore itself out of my throat as the fire eagerly ripped into my leg, washing over and leaving my flesh cooked and skin charred. Almost instantly it was followed by the blessed relief of the Ruby Tears pushing back, but the overwhelming agony had left me impaired at the worst possible time.
“Ryan!” Isabella had immediately kneeled down to my side, clutching my hand hard enough that for a brief moment I could ignore the burn. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, we need to go, we need to go now!”
One. Moment. It took some effort to gather my thoughts through the pain. It’s just a wound. We still have a chance. I squeezed her hand back. Come on, you’ve seen me go through worse. Hells, you’ve watched me die.
“I don’t want to watch you die!” She choked out. “Please, Ryan, please!”
I tried my best to lift my other hand onto hers-
Gareth was in front of me before I could even blink. He kneeled right over my body, a fist clenched by his side, ready to strike at a moment. “Enough. You’ve met your end. If you have even a hint of self-preservation, you’ll not move a muscle. You will comply with my commands. Perhaps if the Sect wills it, you will be allowed to live. Understood? You may nod.”
“Hell of a deal,” I choked out. “Can we negotiate?”
Flames wreathed themselves around Gareth’s fist as he moved it ever closer to my body. “Even now, you refuse to take this seriously. I know little about demons, but whatever trickery you used to seize the Ruby Tears will surely fail if I reduce your host to ashes.”
“No!”
I could feel the heat of the technique slowly burning against my shirt, and Gareth’s gaze weighed upon me with the promise of oblivion.
But it wasn’t him I was looking at.
The scythe laid discarded to the side; both of Isabella’s hands were now clutching mine. Isabella’s face was wrought in an expression of fear and anger, caught between tearfully glaring at Gareth and looking at me with what could only be grief. “No, please. It’s not fair,” she whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I promised her.
“Not going-” Gareth sputtered. “You’re- of course you’re not! I have you at my mercy! Do you truly somehow think you have the power in this situation? You do nothing but distract yourself from your very end! Do you understand!? You’re courting DEATH!”
…
I laughed. Hey, Isabella. Think your parents would approve?
Isabella froze. “W-what?”
I hope they do. Wherever they are now. And I really am sorry for making you watch this, but I made you a promise. I don’t break promises to pretty girls, you know?
“R-ryan-”
The burn on my leg was almost healed now; the Ruby Tears had washed away the incinerated flesh, replacing it with pink new skin that glistened under Gareth’s fire. I could still feel the Remedy in my veins, the unfathomable fortune in medicine barely depleted by everything I’d gone through. My qi had managed to regenerate too, for what little that mattered; just a single second was all I had.
It would be enough. I squeezed Isabella’s hand, and let go. I felt the pressure of the Compound’s aura fall onto me, but even its might was halted in its tracks as I poured everything I had into the Seven Falls Stance.
Gareth didn’t hesitate, his fiery fist crashing into my chest and breaking every rib in my body, but that only helped me as my legs pushed out against the ground, my sandals barely keeping traction against the carved stone to send me flying backwards.
Out from under Gareth.
Out from the Wing room.
Out over the cliff-side bridge.
Out over the Burial Fault.
I laughed again as I hung there in the air, throwing an arm out to point back at Isabella who watched me with wide eyes. I don’t know if you feel quite the same way…
But I’d say I’m falling pretty hard for you.
I fell to my death.
What a way to go.
