Chapter 48: Death

A/N: Hey everyone, here's the final chapter of the week. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 48: 

My onslaught of enhanced foxfire was managing to distract Qian Zhi enough to slow down his assault. He tried to just destroy them like he’d done Pan Song’s fire whips before, but I managed to make my foxfire stick and start to burn his swords.

It wasn’t enough to destroy his weapons completely. They weren’t hot enough for that. But it did damage, and forced him to spend time getting rid of my flames. Each time my foxfire latched on, he had to swing his swords around violently as they pulsed with his green Qi. The time spent doing that was less time he had to control his flying sword formation to attack our defenses.

It wouldn’t hold him off forever, as I didn’t know how many times I could burn the 8 spirit beast cores I had left. But for the moment, it was enough to buy us time.

The fox was trickier. It moved a lot and made illusions of itself to waste my Crystalizing Beams against. The illusions looked just like the fox, bounding around outside the defensive formation rapidly, making it hard to hit them.

If only I had more time to practice with my Illusionary Form Skill. If I did, and had the control for it, I would’ve created illusions of myself, lashing out with illusory beams to try and confuse the fox.

But since I couldn’t do that, all I could do was try my best at blasting each and every fox that appeared. It couldn’t make the illusions non-stop, and once I destroyed the fakes, I could get a shot off at the real one.

Unfortunately, even then, I wasn’t making as much progress with it.

The fox was just too fast an agile. Even when I managed to nail it, I could only make contact for a split second before it would get out of the path of my beam. And unlike the first time, which still left a portion of its fur and hopefully flesh turned to purple crystal, it was using its Qi to defend. That defense, plus the short amount of time I could actually hit it, seemed to prevent any real damage.

I was probably draining its Qi when I hit it, and when it made more illusions, but it didn’t seem to be fast enough to make a difference.

And all the while, while I was keeping it busy, its previous foxfire was still clinging onto our barrier. Slowly but surely, the creeping purple flames ate away at our defenses. I would have tried to counteract that with my own foxfire, but I just didn’t have the focus to do that and keep Qian Zhi at bay as well.

“How’s it going?” I asked Pan Song as I continued to try and hit that damned fox. One of them had the audacity to backflip over my crystallizing beam, its tail just barely missing it before rushing off.

Part of me wanted to believe that one had to be an illusion, but then it could also be trying to trick me as well. Damn it.

“I need more time,” Pan Song said, his voice strained. “Trying to move the defensive formations from where they should be is difficult. We might need to retreat further down the tunnel to the next formation.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but my voice cut off as a loud shout rang out.

“Okay, enough of this!” It was the fox. And he was mad. “You can fight above a minor stage? Do you think that makes you strong? I will show you strength!”

Green Qi exploded from all around Qian Zhi, and he waved his hand and threw out a bunch of small glowing green objects. Seeds, I realized after a moment, and the instant they hit the ground, they started to grow.

They exploded out as green vines at first, then quickly thickened and darkened to brown wood, forming a large barrier between us and them. It was large enough to take up almost half of the tunnel's width. The fox moved to shield itself behind the wall, leaving them both out of view.

I reacted by launching all 8 balls of enhanced foxfire I had ready at the same time at the barrier. They hit it and started to burn it rapidly, turning the wood black and creating holes. I followed up by hitting it with my Crystallizing Beam, but I stopped a moment later as I realized that was pointless.

The places where my beam hit turned to crystal, likely killing the plant that made up the wall. But it didn’t shatter or stop it from being an obstacle.

So instead, I focused on creating more enhanced foxfire. 

“Should we go now—” I tried to say.

But once again, I was cut off by something. More Qi. But this time it was different. It felt dark to my senses, and I could see an ominous red glow coming through the holes in the wall I was making. I didn’t know what it was, but I didn’t like it at all.

I liked it even less when a horrifying howl of agony rang out from the other side of the wall. It seemed to go on forever, and the most disturbing thing was how animalistic it sounded, yet human at the same time. Something told me it hadn’t been the fox.

I started backing away towards the other edge of our defensive formation, Pan Song doing the same from what I could hear. But I kept my eyes locked onto the wall, even as I launched more balls of foxfire at it to do enough damage to see the other side.

The fox appeared in front of the wall, my balls of foxfire blazing right past it. I froze at the sight, as it had been startlingly fast. One moment, the space was empty, then there was a blur through one of the holes I made, and the fox appeared in its place.

The fox’s appearance had also changed, sending a shiver up my spine as it stared at me with glowing red eyes. It had grown in size, probably coming up to my waist if it were next to me. But the most eye-catching thing was all the blood.

Blood dripped from its fur, which was now a blood red, leaving no trace of the purple crystal from my attack. Its maw dripped blood from its elongated fangs that seemed to be made out of crystallized blood, and the same was true for its claws as well. And finally, there was the new tail. Not made out of crystallized blood, instead it seemed to be made out of blood red Qi. It was semi-transparent, but it gave the fox an extra tail to work with.

“I’m running out of patience,” the fox called out, its voice deeper and more menacing than before. Blood red Qi started to ooze out of its body as it tensed. “Now you are really going to pay. I’ll make sure to drain you as painfully as possible for your vitality to fix up my new body. A Wood Spirit Body is quite valuable after all.”

I tensed but raised my hand defiantly, ready to launch another beam at the fox. Its new appearance was scary, and the power I felt was incredibly worrying. But it didn’t feel as strong as that extra tail would imply. And as long as Pan Song’s barrier held for a bit, perhaps we could—

The fox moved. It was even faster this time, and I almost didn’t see it. I only did when it hit the barrier with its blood claws. Pan Song’s defensive formation held for just one second before it shattered into pieces. 

I only had enough time to bring my arms up to guard myself. Then pain ripped through my left arm as I was thrown off my feet. My back hit something hard, knocking the air out of my lungs. I felt like I was hit by a truck. One with sharp edges.

“Gah!” I spat out, writhing in pain for a moment before I forced myself to open my eyes. To do something and not just lie down and die.

From the ground, I looked up and saw the fox. It had Pan Song by the throat, holding him up with its normal tail while its other tail plucked something from his hand. It took my blurry eyes a moment to see that it was the formation plate.

“None of that now,” the fox said, its tail tightening around Pan Song’s throat, choking him.

I gritted my teeth and forced a hand up to—

“Ah!” I screamed as something ripped into my hand. It was a blood red crystal, and it jutted straight through my palm to the other side. The force of the attack had almost driven it all the way through, leaving it pointed at my face.

“So eager for attention,” the fox said, turning its crimson eyes towards me. It hefted Pan Song up, choking him for another long moment. 

I tried to do something—anything—to help, but the pain was too bad for me to do much. It made it hard to think. All I managed was to get to my knees.

“Very well, you first, then,” the fox said before it hurled Pan Song at the opposite wall. His body hit with a sickening crunch and thud. The formation plate followed, landing and smacking into the wall beside him. The fox started towards me, using a slow and deliberate gait. “I did say I would make you regret everything after all. And I am a man of my word.”

I gritted my teeth, trying to force myself up to meet the coming threat. My arms gave way, and I fell to the ground. For a moment, I almost wanted to give up. But then I remembered my last trump card, still burning near my stomach.

Maybe it would be better if I lie down. Look defeated. Let it get close. I just had to get ready to unleash my last gambit.

“Man?” I asked, forcing myself to at least look up so I could see the fox. At the same time, I focused on something odd that it had said. Maybe I could get it monologuing again. “Do male spirit beasts call themselves men?”

The fox stopped and tilted its head. Then it let out a chuckle. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. Who knows, really. They are just beasts after all. Even the greatest of their kind don’t seem to be able to escape their baser instincts. They waste their potential.”

I frowned, pretending to be confused, but I already had an idea of what it meant. But the more it kept talking, the more time I had to recover. The more it might lower its guard. And the more time I had to move the foxfire I had burning within me into position. “So you’re different.”

“Of course, I am,” the fox said, sneering as it took a few steps towards me. I could smell the blood coming off of it. It seemed exceptionally potent, and I seemed to ‘smell’ it with my other senses as well, making me shiver in disgust. “I’m not some filthy beast. This is just one body of mine, little different than armor or clothes. I can make full use of the potential of a beast without giving in to foolishness. I can also do the same to people.”

So it was as I thought. He was some kind of body-snatching cultivator. 

The fox took another step towards me, its face twisting into a bloody smile. “I could do the same to you if I thought you were worth the effort. Grind your tiny little mind to dust like I did Qian Zhi. Leave you a meat puppet I bring around and inhabit when need be…”

The fox trailed off, looking to the side for a moment as footsteps approached.

Turning to look, I gasped at the sight of Qian Zhi walking over. I almost lost control of the foxfire I was moving from my stomach to my throat. But I managed to keep it contained and not expose it too soon.

Qian Zhi… he looked terrible. Where once before was a healthy and strong-looking teen with an animalistic glare, there was now a sunken… thing. He walked over in a shambling gait, his face so gaunt like he was on the verge of dying of dehydration. His skin was paler than pale, and his gaze was unfocused. Almost dead.

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” the fox said casually, as if talking about the weather. “A bit wasteful, too, but you were quite annoying with your little attacks. Almost caught me a couple of times with that dangerous little technique you managed. So I had to use a more… costly technique. I could have used something more elegant to show you your place… But it’s fine.” The fox's grin was back on its muzzle as it locked eyes with me. “Because I will be able to replenish the spent vitality with a readily available source of life essence.”

“Gah!” I screamed out as the crystal in my hand started to move. It spun, then spikes started to jut out, digging into my flesh. I gripped the wrist of my injured arm to try and steady myself and not lose control of the foxfire within me. “Ah!”

“Ah, like music to my ears,” the fox said as it moved closer. I could tell by the sound, even as most of my attention was taken by the pain. “I did say I would make you suffer, do you remember? You might think that it won’t be for too long, since I have a schedule to keep. But that just means I’ll have to make the most out of what time I have.”

The fox was so close now that I could feel its breath on my ears. But my foxfire was almost there now. I could feel it in my throat now. I clamped my mouth shut, cutting off my screams, and started to move it to my mouth. So close, and I could unleash it without a single delay.

“So, are you regretting it yet?” the fox asked right into my ear.

The shard of crystal continued to rip through my left hand. I grunted and whimpered something with my mouth partially closed.

“What was that?” the fox asked, muzzle still by my ear. “I can’t hear you?”

The crystal stopped for a moment, giving me a second to breathe. I breathed in through my nose and looked up into the eyes of the fox mere inches from my face. It was still grinning. It took everything I had not to tense my body as I got ready to move.

“Well?” the fox asked, its voice snide. “I’m waiting?”

I opened my mouth and gave him the reply he deserved.

A massive blast of white hot flame exploded out of my mouth. I had just enough control to direct it forward as fast as I could. Then it hit the fox, and I lost all control.

I put up my arms as searing heat washed over me. The world jolted around me, and I had a second to realize I’d been sent flying. My back and head hit something hard a moment later, and I saw stars.

Vaguely, through my dazed mind, I could hear screaming. It sounded inhuman. Properly so. It was filled with rage, anger, and fear. But I could barely process that as the world spun around me. I had to fight not to vomit.

But eventually, as the screaming started to die down, my head stopped spinning enough that I could feel how much more my arms hurt now. The out-of-control flame—my final trump card, foxfire I’d cultivated by burning some very pricey fire element aligned spirit material in an experiment to see just how strong a flame I could control—must have burned me good.

Forcing myself to open my eyes, I moved my aching arms and saw blistered and burnt flesh running across my forearms… My left arm was the worst, given the four claw marks the fox had dug into my flesh earlier. But somehow, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, given the test I’d done with the flame two days ago.

I examined my arms for another moment before the sound of something moving caught my attention. With as much effort as I could, I forced myself to flip over off my back, and I turned to see what it was.

Of fucking course.

The fox wasn’t dead. It was pawing its way over to what was left of Qian Zhi, who had fallen over and was lying on his back. He was burned as well, but the slight movement of his chest showed he was still alive.

The fox—burnt almost beyond recognition with no fur left and charred muscle exposed—reached Qian Zhi's side. It snapped its soot-covered fangs into what remained of the once young master. A red Qi started to emanate from the bite, flowing into the fox. 

It was doing something! Maybe healing its wounds. Or maybe preparing for a body transfer.

Fuck!

Cursing, I force myself to get up. My muscles protested loudly, screaming at me to stay down. But I wasn’t going to let it recover. I wasn’t going to let it get back up and kill me. Not after everything!

The fox turned one eye towards me as it drained lifeforce or blood Qi out of Qian Zhi. Its red eye was filled with hate and malice.

I glared right back and managed just barely to get to my knees. Using my left hand, I reached for my last card in my belt. I hadn’t really learned to use it in the time I had before the trial. I could only send it in a straight line. But that should be enough for this.

The fox seemed to recognize the flying knife I unsheathed. Its body started to shake, and the blood-red energy filled its mouth faster. It knew what was coming and was gonna try its all to stop me.

Well, too bad. It was too late.

My body still felt so weak, but I only had one thing I needed to do. Running my Qi into the flying knife, it hovered out of my hand. I slumped then, getting into a less stressful position, and put all my focus into pointing the blade.

The fox twitched harder, trying to get onto its paws. To move and dodge.

I launched the dagger with everything I had left.

It surged across the distance between us, a dozen yards at best. With a thunk and a squelch, it lodged itself through the fox's skull, barely missing the eye as it turned at the last moment. 

The fox twitched and spasmed violently, rabid snarls the only sounds it could make. The blood red energy surged one more time. I watched with bated breath, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do anything now if it managed to survive that wound.

But whatever last-ditch effort the fox tried didn’t work. The snarls died down, and the body stopped its violent movements. Then, with a final shudder, the fox went still.

I stared at it for a long moment, not sure if I believed it had actually died. Part of me was worried a cultivator, or at least their spirit, would pop out of the thing. It was only when a familiar blue outline appeared around the fox did I finally let out a sigh of relief and slumped down onto the ground.

It was over. The fox was dead. 

We’d won.