He was in too much pain to be unnerved by the strange multi-voice Xiangu spoke with. The declaration of intent, however, had a powerful impact on Tian’s psyche. An internal winter swept through his mind, draining all emotion from his face and banishing all sense of pain from his perception.

  Primary Echo identified. Evade.

  Jets fired out of his palms. He shot across the ground, uncaring of the damage it did to his body. A wave of black fire crashed into the spot he had been laying in—missing his boots by the barest inch. His cloak scratched the ground as he flew backwards. Angling his hands, he lifted off, leaving a trail of scrapped dirt, blood, and burnt skin. Two new jets fired out of his feet, granting him additional speed and maneuverability as he soared into the air.

  Evasion successful. Engage at range.

  He reduced acceleration, until he was hovering fifty meters away. Secure in the air, the hand jets morphed into twin discs. He compacted the fire into thin, lethal edges, shining a bright white instead of the typical golden-orange, and flung them at her. With a face full of hate, she hurled black fire of taint. His white discs zipped around the conflagration as he dodged out of the way of the dark deluge.

  The discs cut into her body—or tried to.

  More of that wild energy fed his soul. The internal ice twitched before forcibly suppressing the foreign energy’s effect. The discs failed to cut through her defensive “field”. She did, however, react to this attack: glancing down, she shouted, “What magic is this?” Each of the four different voices shouted the same question in different pitches, tones, and paces, even the four words were emphasized separately.

  His blank face said nothing. Damage minimal. Unable to summon fifth construct. At mental capacity. Maintain assault.

  More black fire flew at him. A kick and a burst of jetpower saw him dodge and weave between the ineffective AA barrage with ease. She held out her arms and pooled her fire into a growing bundle, all the while his discs sliced at her. With a reptilian roar, the wave surged toward him, expanding outward into a lethal net. He kicked his legs forward and shot backwards. Proving once again the superiority of aerial maneuverability, he rocket ahead of the wave as they left Xiangu behind. All the while, the black fire stretched itself thinner and thinner, until it hit its limit. Space opened around the black flames. He dismissed the two discs and activated four jets, blitzed above the area attack and sped back toward her.

  Another multilayered scream emitted from her throat, wracked less with alarm and stacked more with frustration. She took a look around. “This is my realm! I was promised!” Her gaze turned back to him as her fingers sharpened into talons.

  He sent two new discs hurtling at her.

  Her body elongated as his attack struck against white scales. She kept growing, her human form dying away to leave a serpentine form to dominate. Her clothes melded into her body as she leaned over to be on all fours. A tail grew out behind her. Her long hair morphed into a mane traveling down her lengthening back as wings sprouted from the same, four sets of them unfurling into the air. Two new sets of limbs and claws stretched to support the giant upon the earth. Soon, she was ten times his size even as she kept growing.

  Then her head split apart.

  It was a bloodless thing as it quartered itself. Each quarter spread apart with similar portions of the neck as they separated, rapidly regrowing the missing flesh before elongating beyond human proportions. Horns pushed out of the temples of each head, each set different from the others. As the dragon neared its completion, its four heads arranged themselves to the four cardinal directions. The ‘North’ head had wavy antlers like a cross between a hart and some kind of antelope, pointing straight out the back. “West” and “East” had the same exact horns as the G- and the G-. ‘West’s segmented horns were thick, curling upward in a spiral like those of a ram. ‘East's antlers curved up and out with many points, resembling a stag. ‘South’ possessed the simplest and shortest horns. They angled up with a single bend in the middle, coming to a single point like those of a goat.

  He blinked as his conditioning withdrew, emotion pouring back into his features. He promptly struggled to concentrate enough to maintain the entire set of pyrokinetic constructs. Unhelped by the burns stabbing back into his skull. Ice mode hadn't cared at all for well-being. Scraping his body along the ground, Tian could feel blood running down his neck.

  The discs winked out as he struggled to just keep flying.

  It saved his life. The white dragon below looked up at him as it finished its transformation before surging into the air with a blast of wind. In a spurt of adrenaline, he kicked his feet toward her (them?) and jetted backwards.

  Fangs crunched a mere foot from his boot.

  He snapped his hands in front of them and devoted all his concentration, pushing through the searing pain, into flying faster than the dragon. Four jets fired as his survival instinct and adrenaline helped him focus enough to maintain all four jets. He blitzed away. Xiangu pursued, each head trying to snap at him. The two of them flew higher up as mountain stone raced beneath them. The mountain frost bit into him harder and harder as they ascended.

  To his relief, he flew just fast enough to inch away from them. Against his relief, it was slowly but surely getting harder to breathe as the air thinned. He glanced over his shoulder. He wasn't in danger of crashing into the mountain or reaching the summit any time soon. But he'd reach the snow zone a lot sooner, and he was not equipped to survive at those heights. Already, the air cooled, providing a little relief to his grilled head.

  “Surrender!”

  ‘West’ Xiangu had given up on trying to eat him as she(?) spoke. To his frustration, her intonation was liquid honey as she poured more of it into his ears. “You may have been blessed, but look at us!” The dragon was huge. As big as the walls of Mountain G-. A living battleship of the air. Were it not for the Vitalis, he would be outmatched. “Look at you!” His eyes flashed down. He was so small compared to even their heads. A single bite and gulp, and that would be it. Would he even count as a snack?

  “Why struggle?” She continued. “You might be able to put up a good fight, even a great one! Yet, you saw how little you've harmed us.”

  Might as well have been a pillow fight, he groused.

  “You can see how this will end. You possess enough wisdom to foresee that. Why drag it out? Cease and know that we will put you to rest as peacefully as possible.”

  It was annoying how tempting it was when she put it like that. How long have I been fighting? How many more scars will be stuck with? I can't keep fighting forever.

  One of his jets sputtered.

  A new spike of adrenaline stabbed his heart. “Mental manipulation!”

  “What manipulation? I'm just telling you some uncomfortable truths. You can't blame me for my hones-”

  He did his best to tune her out as he took stock of his situation. Air colder and thinner. I’m starting to pant. And, he winced as he took a hard look at the dragon chasing him. All four heads stared at him, and that was more unnerving than when they were chomping at him. He had completely lost his lead.

  “-eeze to death. Do you really want to die like that? Growing so cold, losing feeling in your limbs, until you finally close your eyes after nothing but long, drawn-out misery?”

  Another jet faltered. Another wave of alarm sounded in him, but it was weaker than last time. She’s got a foothold, he realized. I can’t just block her out with willpower. I need to do something more. The solution came to mind, and he grimaced. Well, what are the odds that she isn’t my target?

  His left-hand jet stopped entirely. Xiangu rapidly gained on him. ‘South’ opened her jaws in anticipation. With that same hand, he signed a cross.

  All four heads howled, “The Counselor’s sign!”

  He had no idea what that meant. His skin darkened to crimson as he reached for the wellspring of the very power of faith. ‘South’ lunged at him. He spent Vitalis. The massive maw bit… into empty air.

  He poured Vitalis into his wounds, healing the third-degree burns in seconds. Healthy new skin recovered what had been scorched. New nerve endings returned sensation. And fresh hair stood triumphant in the place of loss. This miraculous healing went completely unnoticed, while he watched as the dragon flew farther away from him for a bit longer before it, she, they? Realized he wasn’t in front of them. A roar broke out of those four throats as they searched for him. Although separated, he could feel that foreign, stubborn doubt wiggle in his mind as his hair regrew. Would it affect Ice Mode? It resisted the… Last World monster, and that was magic? Supernatural, at least. If only Ice Mode wasn't locked into killing humanoids. I need protection.

  “There! He's there!” The four-headed dragon swung around and flew straight at him.

  He pressed his palms together as he channeled more Vitalis, warmth rolling through his soul. He restored his defensive energy to full.

  “He healed himself!” East cried out.

  “Why did you do that?” West chided, voice thick with disappointment and worry. He twitched as he found himself chastised.

  Stop thinking like that!

  North opened wide. He had seconds before they were upon him.

  “You're only dragging out your misery,” East warned him.

  Maybe I am…

  North cocked her head back.

  Then sprung for him.

  He reappeared a quarter of a mile away, further down the mountain. It was easier to breathe. It's getting harder to resist her. This will be expensive, but I have no choice. More Vitalis rolled through him. “Permanent immunity against supernatural mental and emotional manipulation.” A crimson sheen covered him briefly before vanishing. He could feel the poison cleanse away in a pleasant, spiritual burn. With a thought, he summoned the Ledger, and locked it into his current Vitalis count: 963,811.

  He winced at the high cost. I’ve already spent more than 100k. He hovered in the air on two jets as he considered the situation. Just how powerful are they? I have the advantage of maneuverability, but my damage is so low. I need intel.

  He had the ability to peer into the very soul of a being, but, for this purpose, all he wanted to know was how much defensive energy Xiangu possessed. He wasn’t sure if it was his subconscious or the Contract, but it manifested this information as a bar above their head. Ten points of Vitalis deducted for this intel. He flinched when he saw all of the damage he had done against their humanoid form.

  A pathetically small black bar stood against the rest of the red bar. He might have done five percent of damage during their earlier fight. Can I win against that? Should I retreat for now? One of the heads spotted him and the huge body swung around toward him. …but if I win here, right now, I can immediately go back to the Last World. Mission accomplished in a single hour. He took a deep breath before taking his current Vitalis count and locking it into the corner of his vision. He lifted both hands and snapped them into fists. Twin crimson flames burst around his fists. I have the complete advantage of mobility. Let’s start with ten-thousand Vitalis. The count shrunk.

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  This time, ‘South’ opened wide. He punched, unleashing both fireballs. They shot straight into the throat.

  He heard a scream before teleporting away, a few hundred yards down the mountain. His gaze zeroed in on her health bar. The red had shrunk by a bit, maybe a percentage? Before disappointment could kick in, he heard South howling, “IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”

  Xiangu wasn't pursuing. The other three heads focused their attention on their companion, who writhed in agony. He could see mouths moving, but he was too far away to hear. Only South screeched loud enough for his ears. “IT'S HIS FIRE! HIS FIRE! FLY! FLY AWAY!”

  The other heads scanned around for him as he watched. He was confused. His fire hadn't inflicted this much pain on the Taotie. Is this because of the Vitalis or is this a difference between monsters and… whatever they are?

  North spotted him first. He tensed. I did so little damage. Do I try again or retreat?

  The decision was made for him.

  Xiangu turned around and fled up the mountain.

  He blinked. “Really?”

  As they fled, one of the heads howled. It wasn't a one-note sound, undulating as the noise flooded the area. He didn't like it, but couldn't ignore the obvious opportunity in front of him. If they think I can win, then, he lifted his right fist as crimson energy soaked it. Three-hundred thousand points of Vitalis imbued itself into this fist, until it exploded into a fire of shining light.

  I can!

  Jets blazed into full strength as he matched velocity. He might be able to catch them. In an hour. Except all he needed was to travel fast enough to not miss.

  He teleported.

  White scales were a foot in front of him.

  They screamed in panic.

  He punched.

  The crimson fire exploded against the dragon. Scales, muscle, and more melted as half of the huge body cratered inward, nearly bifurcating the dragon. Half of a melted wing fell away as the connecting tissue dissolved away. All four shrieked in acute agony. He gagged as the stench of roasted dragon smacked him in the face. Then he froze when he saw what was left of the wound. As the heat dissipated, the remaining black tissue set in a bubbled and scarred remains, as though someone had instantly frozen the surface of a sea. What shocked him was that he had seen a wound like this before.

  His left hand snapped to his side where a faded scar covered.

  “GET AWAY!”

  He looked up in time to see a gust of black wind slam into him as the dragon dropped beneath him. His protective energy shattered. His jets died as he fought to stay conscious. Both of them fell toward the mountain. They recovered first as they (or was it just one of them?) pulled themselves out of their fall before racing toward the mountain's snow-cap. Vitalis restored his shield. Even if it can only handle a single hit, he grumbled as he flipped head over foot. The air whistled past his ear, but this wasn't his first free-fall. He stretched out his hands, and fire blasted. His spin slowed, and he angled his hands to resist gravity's pull. Another ten seconds, with the ground a dozen yards below him, he came to a safe hover.

  He locked back on his target, focusing on the life bar. The red had lost 30%. His Vitalis: 655,781. I might barely have enough Vitalis for a straight kill. But it might not be necessary. He glanced over his shoulder. Somewhere lower on the mountain was a dragon wing. Maybe it's her, maybe it's the Vitalis. Doesn't matter. I can target body parts. He looked back at her shrinking form as he lifted a hand. I can decapitate for a fraction of the cost. He reached his hand back down the mountain. His war-scythe teleported to his hand. He shifted to a two-handed grip as he invested Vitalis into his weapon. Necks as thick as trees. I need a wider blade with enough cutting power. Let’s try fifty thousand. I'll also need a better shield that can take more than one hit. 50,000 there, too.

  The count dropped as more crimson flowed. A sheen of crimson energy covered himself. A bladed head of power sprouted over and past the physical scythe, until the energy formed a giant crescent head that weighed nothing. Above him, Xiangu was no bigger than a fingernail… and he could see a stream of specks heading towards her. He wasn't sure what they were, but his mind assumed the worst-case scenario: reinforcements.

  He jetted toward them before teleporting.

  East Xiangu had a second to react to his presence. This close, his ears endured a bombardment of pained wailing and crying. He doubted anyone heard East's panicked scream before his scythe sliced through her serpent neck. The empowered scythe faded with its power spent. Her scream died as the draconic, yellow eyes faded before the separated neck and head dropped toward the mountain.

  The rest noticed then.

  “HE'S HERE!”

  “MAHALATH! HE BANISHED MAHALATH!”

  South opened her maw and a black-tinged gale rushed him on an intercept course. It was too fast for him to dodge without teleportation. He held back. The aerial assault crashed into him. He had two rapid thoughts. Shield works. Why didn't she use wind earlier?

  South recoiled when he maintained flight. He hadn't even felt a push. The entire dragon pulled away as he poured more Vitalis into his war-scythe. At the same time, the environment reminded him the battle had ascended quite the elevation. His lungs struggled with the thin air as it chilled him. He did his best to ignore it as he selected South as the next kill. I only need a little more time.

  He hefted his war-scythe as North and West opened wide…

  … only to be punched in the head.

  He turned away from Xiangu—and discovered he was surrounded. What had been specks in the distance turned out to be a swarm of monsters up close. Really strange ones, at that: about the size of a horse, flying and not at the same time. Each creature had two sets of wings, which pointed in opposite directions, but they never moved. Each creature had two sets of feet, just as still and unmoving. Despite that, the creatures swept around him, leaves flowing with and against the wind in a pattern he couldn’t identify. The body of the creatures was oval-ish, hairy, and… lacking any other recognizable feature. No heads, no faces, nothing but hair.

  At first, he thought maybe they were too hairy for him to see more details. Then one of these fliers jerked toward him in a sudden turn that caused its hair to pull back. In that split second with the hair parted, all he saw was pink skin.

  Then, without lifting one of its legs, it punched him.

  No arm or fist. Nothing physically connecting the two of them. Yet, his crimson shield flared as it struck against his chest, and he just knew it punched him.

  “What th-?” Black fire enveloped him, immediately followed by a swirl of tainted water. He weathered the unexpected storm and turned back to Xiangu. They glided toward the mountain as they pulled out of range of their respective elemental breaths. A dozen fists pounded at him as the flying …whatevers swarmed into the aftermath. A quick scan counted several hundred fliers with more coming. At this elevation, he could see his mountain sat at the tail end of an entire range. One Xiangu retreated to as the swarm of flying monsters split in half to protect her and to attack him. If the monsters were coming out of the mountains, that implied Xiangu was using them to hide an entire army.The doom facing the Han was here. And if Xiangu reached those caves…

  “No!” He snarled as the Vitalis flowed freely and quickly. “I can win this!” He immediately heaved for breath after his outburst.

  Xiangu screamed and lurched to the side when he teleported in front of them. He lunged forward, swinging.

  A Winged Hairball, never moving any part of its body, jerked into the way. 25,000 Vitalis vanished from the count as he sliced through the monster like a snowflake. The creature let out a pained warble as its halves fell toward the mountainside. His ordinary war-scythe bounced off of South's neck. Eight nearby Hairballs rained punches against him.

  He flew after Xiangu as he aimed a burning, crimson fist. “Out of my way!” It came out as a wheeze before his head became uncomfortably lighter. His jets cut out for a second, dropping him.

  Damn it!

  His lungs guzzled on air as he burned more Vitalis to compensate for the environment; all the while, the Hairballs did their best to kill him. He aimed his fist at the nearest one and fired, but his target zagged out of the way as they moved like juiced-up hummingbirds. In the growing distance, Xiangu neared the mountain's apex. He shivered as a natural but biting wind bodied him. Gritting his teeth to prevent them from chattering, he noted the tips of his fingers were freezing. A growl signaled another constant expenditure as his body relaxed in newfound warmness. More Hairballs flooded around him. Dozens of strikes became hundreds.

  His crimson shield disintegrated.

  Snow pricked him after he teleported. The battle had ascended high into the peak. As he doubled the strength of the new shield, he spotted Xiangu crossing the peak. Ahead of her, hundreds more of the fliers reinforced her. His Vitalis dropped below 500k. He needed at least 150k for the kill. Could he kill all of the monsters with twice that? His count never stopped shrinking after he finished crafting the new shield—simply existing in this environment drained him.

  He gripped his war-scythe as he held it horizontally in front of him. The beam ignited into crimson fire as he opted for a straightforward tactic. His brief reprieve from the fliers ended as he essentially set off a beacon on his position, and his personal swarm flew toward him in that strange, jerky path. Their sheer numbers threatened to overwhelm him the longer he avoided them. If only they weren’t such effective dodgers. If he had more time, maybe he could figure out if there was any method to their madness, but every second he worried he’d lose whatever race he was in against Xiangu.

  Where are they trying to run to?

  The nearest flier entered punching range.

  Xiangu didn’t scream in either fear or surprise when he teleported back into their path. Just an immediate change in direction as a thousand monsters clustered around him.

  With a flick of will, he exploded.

  The new crimson fireball surged all around in a perfect sphere. That provoked a cry of alarm from his target—well, his primary target. The roar of the fire displaced the sharp sirens of the mountain wind as the expanding fire crashed into the Hairballs. Their warbling screams added a new edge to the fire’s roar. He didn’t know how tough or how much life energy they had, but it didn’t matter as he fed more and more Vitalis into the flames. Louder, more feminine screams announced that he had caught Xiangu in this all-consuming wave.

  A veritable river of that wild energy choked him as it stormed into his soul. He swallowed as much as he could before his soul declared ‘enough’ and refused anymore. His core struggled to contain this ferality as his fingers twitched. The energy strained to be released, but he had no idea how. It chipped and cracked his concentration. His jets flickered and threatened betrayal. To his frustration, he abandoned his pyrokinesis and switched to yet another expenditure of Vitalis to keep him aloft.

  The cost began to double and double again by the sheer size of his attack, but he continued to dump Vitalis into it so long as he heard more of the Hairballs be burned out of the sky. He stared at the Vitalis count as the fireball reached a quarter-mile in diameter. Don’t drop below the minimum, wipe out their support. New resistance withstood his attack as the spherical fire hit the mountain itself. Snow skipped water to vanish into steam. The fire vaporized the stone without mercy. Several avalanches attempted to flee as the top snow holding them disappeared. If anything lived at this height, it died.

  The rate of Vitalis tripled as his attack dissolved the mountain’s head.

  With a sharp gasp, he ceased the channel.

  The second sun of the morning lingered for a few more seconds. It reaped a final tally from the monsters and succeeded in melting down the mountain’s peak a few hundred yards. Then its energy spent itself.

  He hovered in the air with a moment to think. The Hairballs at the edge of the fire fell out of the sky in roasted chunks. Nothing but ash to represent those within. More importantly, he counted only a few dozen survivors beyond the fire’s reach. They too suffered from the same suicidal focus as the Taotie had and had charged straight against his attack, exactly as he hoped. He could handle the rest in time.

  Just one problem, he thought to himself as his head swiveled back and forth.

  Where’s Xiangu?

  The sky was suspiciously empty of dragons. The wild winds of the sky clogged his ears.

  She can’t teleport, and she couldn’t fly that much faster than me. That leaves…

  He blasted towards the other side of the mountain. All the while, the count haunted him: 13,121. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have tweaked the energy to affect only monstrous creatures. It was holding fine, until I hit the mountain. Not to mention all of the Vitalis I’m using to keep me alive at this elevation.

  He crossed back over the mountain peak.

  Just in time to see the remains of a burnt-off tail vanish into a cave. He managed a glimpse at the life bar: less than a mere quarter.

  He hesitated and cursed them. Given just how many of the Hairballs had come out of this mountain, it was a safe bet more monsters waited inside. Combined with unknown terrain, it would be a risk to continue the pursuit. Who am I kidding? He glared at the count. I don't have the Vitalis. Even if I could kill each head with a thousand Vitalis, there's no guarantee I could handle them, the fliers, or them collapsing the mountain on us. I only have four teleports left, and every minute on this mountain drains me further.

  The last of the Hairballs rushed him. He ignored them and oriented himself on a new course, angling downward back to a more hospitable elevation. All the while, his conclusion taunted him over and over in his head.

  “DAMN IT! I FAILED!”