Heretical Fishing

Book 3: Chapter 70: Pride

As I witnessed Trent’s eyes welling, I almost shed a tear of my own. Deklan had arrived just in time, giving me my second dose of schadenfreude for the day when he whapped the king upside the head with dual-wielded fish. Even better, the network below was done draining us, its mesh of interconnected ropes filled to the brim with chi. I’d had to empty my entire core, but it worked.

I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to stand. My body didn’t answer, my subconscious still listening to the echoed urging of my pals’ wills to remain connected. I tugged at the connection, not understanding what still needed to be done. Before I got a concrete answer, the king attacked. He released so much power that his core strained at the seams, threatening to break. The flames were hot enough to burn everything they touched. Packed earth cracked and blistered, warping beneath the assault.

The defenders retreated from him in droves. The attackers held their ground, which I assumed to be a foolish move. I was wrong. Rather than hurt them, the flames seemed to bolster their strength and double the madness in their eyes. The king was engulfing most of the area now, his chi’s expansion slowing but not coming to a stop. He railed against the limitations of his body, not at all bothered by the fact his core was threatening to detonate.

As the defenders regrouped, they turned toward the flames and awaited the attackers’ advance. Now that my animal pals’ chi was no longer being drained, they got to their feet. A sharp pang of worry drove into me. If they were as drained as I felt, they wouldn’t be able to do much more than move around. But then the same network they’d been feeding power into sent essence streaming back to them. In an instant, their cores were refilled, their chi returned. Despite how much it had to expend, it didn’t even put a dent in the network’s reserves.

Beside me, Maria let out a hiss, shocked by the sensation of essence running through her.

I was the only one still drained, the network not giving me a single drop of power. “Go,” I said. “Help them.” Though my eyes were still closed, I felt her attention roam over me.

She gasped. “It didn’t give you anything...?”

“No. I still have to do something.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Her resolve washed over me, telling me any complaint was useless.

“No.” She sat back down beside me. “I’m not leaving you undefended.”

I reached over and rested a hand on her leg, her touch a welcome comfort. If I was completely honest with myself, I was happy about her staying. As selfish as it was, I didn’t want to expose her to the danger the king represented. The network below sent me a mental nudge, delivering a pulse of chi directly to my core. It wasn’t just mine. The trickle held a hint of me, Maria, and each of my animal pals. After being deprived of chi, the feeling of it coursing through my body was like the first cup of coffee in the morning, making endorphins rush through me. As fast as the power came, it was whisked away, draining down into the ground and leaving me empty.

Truth... the echoes whispered.

“You want more truth...?”

The response was immediate. Yes, the echo of everyone responded.

“In that case, I want you to give me my chi back so I can go help my friends. That’s the truth.”

There was a long silence, nothing coming in reply. While I waited, I watched the battle.

Sergeant Snips, back at full strength and beating back the flames with her arcs of energy. Private Pistachio unleashing blast after blast, only pausing long enough to gather more power in his joints. Corporal Claws and Cinnamon riding atop the pelicans’ backs, the former chirping as she spotted an outcropping of stone. Bill and Pelly locking onto it, diving groundward with their violently inclined passengers. Borks, ears alert and eyes darting, saving his abilities to be used defensively. Bumblebro and Queen Bee, steering clear of flames and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Lemon, once more joining Peter and the other tree spirit, flooding pure chi out into the world.

No, the voices finally answered, giving me a bigger taste of chi before tearing it away again. Truth.

Why was it slowly increasing the dose of power before taking it away again...?

Yes, the echoes called. The process was repeated, an increased burst coursing through me before being dragged away, returned to the network.

I thought I understood now. It would return my power, flooding me with chi until I was full... but only once I did what it wanted. What was the goal here? Was it trying to make me have another breakthrough?

Yes! it answered, the echoes seeming exasperated.

I considered just getting up anyway. I’d likely be able to draw a fair bit of chi back into my core... especially if I went to the battlefield and ate one of the fish Deklan was currently smacking a woman over the head with, the handler having the audacity to leave the protective area of the king’s flames.

No, the echoes replied, growing increasingly annoying despite sounding like those I loved. Trust. Trust. Trust.

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Frustratingly, I believed it. I clenched my jaw and took a steadying breath. “This is some bullshit, you know that?”

Yes, they answered, holding a hint of Claws’s mischievous grin.

It might have made any other person up and leave immediately. To me, though, it was like a warm hug. I barked a laugh, then turned to Maria. “Sorry,” I said. “I promise I’m not going insane. I’m talking to—”

“I know,” she interrupted, squeezing my hand again. “I can feel it too.”

I opened my eyes, leaving behind the vision of a lightning-wreathed boulder just as things were about to get interesting. I stared into Maria’s eyes, searching for an answer. “What do I do...?”

“What you’ve always done, silly.” She gave me her cutest smile, the one that was somehow both shy and filled with confidence. She lifted my hand and rested it against her cheek, leaning on me. “The right thing. Stop questioning yourself and do whatever you think is right.”

It was a simple statement, yet it struck me to my core. I was getting so caught up in the minutia of what I should do that I wasn’t listening to what I felt was correct. I let out a slow breath, mentally laying out the facts.

Now that my animal pals were no longer incapacitated, I didn’t believe that the enemy forces as a whole presented a threat—not one that the defenders couldn’t overcome, anyway. The only thing that gave me pause was the king. His core was increasingly unstable, and it was clear that he lacked the self-preservation that any sane individual should possess.

Because of the numerous conversations that had taken place since the battle began, I’d managed to work out that Theogonia was the source of the king’s corruption. So... what would happen if he straight up exploded? Would my beloved Tropica become my new world’s equivalent of Chernobyl? A place that was anathema to life? Such an eventuality would be devastating, but we could rebuild. The real threat was that the king detonating like a nuclear bomb would endanger my pals.

But… I trusted my friends. Even if something like that were to occur, I knew that they’d find a way to nullify it or get everyone to safety. The air around me vibrated, as if the very world agreed.

Trust, the network echoed. It, too, believed that the defenders would be fine.

Maria still rested her head on my hand, so I stroked her cheek with my thumb. “Thank you,” I said.

“For what?” She tilted her head to the side, a strand of hair falling from behind her ear.

I didn’t respond for a moment, soaking in as much of her beauty as possible. “For always knowing just what to say.” I gave her a smile that she returned, her cheeks rosy. Closing my eyes and crossing my legs, I adopted a meditative stance. “If this thing wants truth, I’ll give it some bloody truth.”

The moment I rejoined my awareness to the network below, the battlefield returned in my mind’s eye. A lot had changed in a short time. A never-ending barrage of boulders crashed down on the king’s position, the ground thumping and fires flaring with each strike. Enemy cultivators kept leaving the king’s flames, only to retreat after they got whacked by a fish or blasted by the onslaught of attacks launched their way. I searched the surrounding forest, finding a total of fifteen small campfires burning. Even the oldest of them still spewed out the alchemists’ numbing haze, the clouds drifting over the field, suffusing the air.

Barry had just finished telling five defenders what the herbal smell was, and at his instruction they split up, dashing around from group to group and repeating the words in hushed whispers.

A bone-chilling roar cut across the field, bringing terror to the hearts of the masses and a smile to my face. Teddy and Dom had arrived. Deklan’s brother was riding Teddy like a horse with the build of a... well, a bear. Somehow, he held on as Teddy charged down the mountain. One of the enemy cultivators spotted the threat and left the safety of the king’s inferno, the misguided handler assuming she could easily quash them. She was, of course, wrong. And unfortunately for her, Teddy had no qualms with hitting a woman whose core was corrupted. Teddy’s paw, impervious to any of the damage she could inflict, lashed out and struck her torso with the force of a runaway Truck-kun. He slammed her into the ground where she went completely still.

She was alive, though... I think.

On the other side of the blaze, the rest of the attackers had regrouped. Sick of being thrown back and too insane to know that it was a terrible idea, they formed a flying wedge and forced their way out of the inferno. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but as they raced from the king’s still-expanding zone, the flames came with them. It wreathed their bodies, and when Snips sent an arc of energy their way, the barrier lashed out and blunted the attack. Pistachio’s blast came next, and though the flames absorbed some of the force, it didn’t get all of it. The formation rocked backwards, two men at the rear shoved out of the protecting flames.

Because of the awareness-dulling haze now covering the battlefield, they didn’t feel the portal that Borks opened up behind them.

Two squads of defenders, all former slaves of Gormona, stepped through space. Scratch that—it wasn’t just former slaves. A defender struck out with an open fist, and instead of a chi blast, two insects flew forward. Queen Bee and Bumblebro’s wings were silent as they slammed into an attacker’s jaws, the man spinning around like a beyblade before falling to the ground, unconscious. The other man, similarly unaware, was punched in several places at once by the former slaves. Instead of spinning, his head rocked back, his eyes rolling. Both knocked-out men were left there, the flying wedge of enemies not even aware it had happened.

A sense of ease washed over me. The enemy force was being picked apart, meticulously dismantled by the defenders. I shook my head and grinned as I checked on Solomon, who was fist pumping at his successful contribution to the battle.

Next, it was Roger’s turn to attack. His blade arced out, cutting a crisscross pattern into the entire right flank. The attackers reeled back as Tom Osnan Sr. dashed forward, raising vines that absorbed the myriad slices. At the rear of the wedge, another three cultivators were expelled from the protective zone. Before they knew what was happening, silent blows landed across their bodies, taking them out of the fight.

Unlike his followers, the king was well aware of his force’s diminishing numbers. Even through his madness, his fury burned, flaring bright each time an ally was eliminated. His core had small rips in it now. Despite the damage, he continued forcing his flames outward.

A pulse of chi dragged me away from my contemplation of the king. Nestled within the defensive forces, Barry’s core was also fluctuating.

“Seriously, Barry,” Danny said, his eyes locked on the fight. “Your battle tactics have proved incredible. If I didn’t know better, I’d have assumed you were a seasoned soldier.”

“Agreed,” Ellis said, not looking up from the notepad he was scribbling in. “Because of your plans, we are only needing to utilize a fraction of our forces.”

The defenders close-by nodded and voiced similar sentiments, heaping the praise on him. My brow furrowed, confusion rolling over me. Barry should have been preening under their commendations.

So why did he appear so troubled...?

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