Path of the Berserker

Kelsey cycled her Frenzy as she waited patiently in the darkness of her own mind.

Across from her, Venja crouched to bring herself to eye level.

“Anything yet?” Kelsey asked.

“The moon has only just risen an hour ago,” Venja said. “Have patience, Kelsey. It will show.”

All day Kelsey had been preparing for this.

She’s practiced her axe forms and every one of her manifestation techniques. She’d likely need all of them, facing the unknown strength of this demon. She only wished she was as well versed with her [Frenzied Lightning] skills. She could manage the basics with most of them, but mastery still eluding her grasp. Just the thought of challenging something so powerful without being fully prepared put the [Odd’s Against Her], she knew.

But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Time was of the essence.

Kelsey cultivated the Frenzy the technique produced from her Flame and stored it within her Dantian, preparing for the battle ahead.

“I can’t afford to lose another day if this thing doesn’t show up tonight,” Kelsey said. “I need to get back to the city no matter what tomorrow.”

“How are things going there?” Venja asked.

Kelsey almost didn’t want to think about it.

Trying to balance the needs of the sect along with her vendetta against this demon was really starting to take its toll.

“Jian Yi is keeping things together in terms of the community,” Kelsey said. “Fia helps as much as she can from the shadows, covering for me when I’m gone. But I need to get back there to be the face for the Sect. When people notice me missing, the attacks more than double.” She then sighed. “Times like this I really wish Max were back. Fighting cultivators is really not my thing.”

Venja chuckled. “And doing what you are tonight is?”

Kelsey shrugged. “It’s a lot less complicated. Plus, this thing is to start affecting me in the city. I can sense it getting stronger each time it attacks the barrier back there. It’s going to break through one day and when it does…”

Kelsey let her words trail off.

She didn’t want to think about where the first attack would be when it did.

The handler station.

Where Lee was.

“You’re really starting to care for this boy, aren’t you?”

Kelsey’s eyes went wide with embarrassment. “Hey! Stop reading my thoughts, Vee!”

Venja merely laughed again. “Have you even told your mother about him yet?”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “You know I haven’t. And you’d better not say anything either.”

“As if I could. But why not?”

“She’d probably just freak out. Plus, she can’t even meet him so what’s the point.”

“She may find out eventually.”

“How?”

“Through Max perhaps?”

Kelsey shook her head. “I told him not to say anything. Not until I’m ready.”

“I see,” Venja said nodded. “Any word from Max, by the way?”

Kelsey shrugged. “He was shoveling a lot of pig shit the last time he wrote. Other than that, it sounded like he was doing okay.”

Venja smiled. “Sounds like he is on quite the path out there amongst the star—”

Her words cut short as her eyes shifted to the side.

“It’s coming,” she said. “Best to get ready Kelsey.”

Kelsey nodded and then reopened her eyes in the real world.

She was outside in the courtyard of the bunker, next to the wagon containing Venja along with Harris and his team; all set and ready to go.

“Wish me luck guys,” she said as she readied her axe. “Definitely wait no longer than four minutes this time. Whatever I’m going to find out there, it’s bound to be a doozey.”

* * *

I stared out the narrow slit in the wall that was my cell window, looking for signs of Yora or the High Marshall leaving the main gates of the Academy. It was well after nightfall now and so far, I hadn’t seen a thing. I’d spent the entire day resting and cultivating and now I was waiting for my opportunity to get more answers.

It was probably a dumb move, but my curiosity was eating me up inside.

I needed to know what that horde truly was and if I was the one responsible for summoning it. But more than that, I needed to know just how serious such an event was on this world. Yora made it sound routine, but it felt like a watered-down response when I had asked her.

Surely, if it was important enough to involve the Academy President, there had to be some significance to it. And if I was going to be the one ultimately pegged as the reason for the horde’s arrival, I had to know just how much trouble I was stirring up for myself and how fervently they might come looking for me afterwards.

I thought I was safe to flex my power here at Du Gok Bhong, and while that was true to some extent, I had to always remember what my powers could peg me as.

A demon.

Or even worse now.

A demon summoner.

Another half hour went by before I finally saw what I’d been waiting for.

Chief Yora and High Marshall Tzu Li Zen appeared far below, heading off towards the barriers’ edge. I had to move quickly to keep up with them. Stuffing my cot with a pillow, I slipped out of my room and padded down the hallway as if heading to the latrine.

I stopped by Tu’lok’s room to glance inside and noted he wasn’t there.

Still partying with the Ren brothers, and Blue Rose, I thought.

At least if I was caught outside, I wouldn’t be alone.

I made a quick dash for the stairwell but headed up instead of down.

I’d been planning on how I’d do this all day and now was the time to put my non-existent stealth skills to the test. I was no Blue Rose after all. And no way was I going to be able to just waltz out the front door either, but the door to the roof was wide open.

I reached the roof in less than a minute and had to resist the urge to try breaking inside the locked tower door housing the aetherite crystal. Even now I could sense the faint voices I’d heard from before. Calling out to me almost.

Pleading…

One mystery at a time, I thought as I pulled myself away.

Depending on what I would learn tonight would let me know whether I could remain hidden in the shadows as a Berserker or if I would become the chief suspect of a witch hunt. I could pussy out and just take my chances in ignorance, but I’d rather roll the dice on being caught to learn the truth than to hide and let blind luck determine my fate.

Plus, I had more skills to rely on than just stealth.

“[Mark of the Beast]…” I whispered.

My limbs elongated and my fingernails lengthened into claws as I took on my beastly form. With a burst of Frenzy, I leapt over the roof parapet and dug my claws into the soft stone of the outer wall, quickly crawling my way down. I took care to stay away from any of the window slits as I shimmied down the back side of the prison, exiting in thick clump of shrubbery.

I then moved as quickly and as stealthily as I could, keeping low to the ground like a panther. My bestial instincts kicked in, heightening my senses of sight and sound in the darkness and I used them to track my quarry. I made for the fields and once through, picked up on movement far ahead.

I made certain to douse my [Devil’s Shadow] technique, keeping my Frenzy undetectable as Qi as I neared the two high tier cultivators. I honestly didn’t know what realm they were in— Sacred Soul Realm at least or even higher.

I literally hugged the ground as they neared the braziers marking the edge of the barrier.

I hid in some tall grass half a football field’s length away, but my enhanced hearing could pick up even their breath from the distance. The moon was high and full and although I couldn’t feel its Dark Frenzy I knew it was producing a shit ton of it.

The wilderness beyond the barrier lay empty.

No demons at all.

Chief Yora and the High Marshall casually strolled to the edge of the flaming brasiers.

“Well,” Tzu Li Zen said, as he folded his massive arms across his chest. “I suppose now we wait to see what comes.”

* * *

Kelsey steeled herself with [Iron Skin] [Iron Core] before launching herself into the writhing mass of demons. It was something she had done countless nights before, but tonight was different. Tonight, she was after more than just the weak beings that fell quickly under her swinging axe blade.

Tonight, she was after something more.

“Where are you?!” she cried into the darkness, her Flame spewing Frenzy like a volcano. “Show yourself, I’xol’ukz spawn!”

She spun in a circle, taking out four demons at once with a modified [One Chop Cleave]. She dared to progress a little further into the wilderness, away from the edge of the barrier and the safety it would provide if things went wrong.

Stolen novel; please report.

No guts no glory, she thought as she progressed further into the horde.

Her [Soul Shield] technique was protecting her from Dark Frenzy and thankfully the conviction of her own Flame—her vow of vengeance against the demonic invaders—was enough to produce enough Frenzy to keep it maintained.

But she could keep it up forever.

Even now, after a minute in, the faintest of a black edge of darkness was forming around her vision.

“Show yourself you damn cowa—!”

Something burst violently through the crowd of demons, sending them flying like bowling pins. A massive tentacle suddenly wrapped itself around her waist and she was pulled off her feet as it retracted.

Kelsey screamed in defiance, hacking away at the tree-trunk-sized tentacle as it dragged her through the forest. Ahead of her she could just make out the towering silhouette of the creature it was attached to. In the red hue of the Bloodmoon its features became clear.

It was as big as she thought it was.

At least two stories tall with a humanoid like body and head.

Its skin was gray and corpse-like and in one of its hands was a huge club that glowed with Dark Frenzy. She immediately recalled the hammer that awakened corpse demon had used when she was down in the basement of the bunker. The thing that made her transform into a full-blown demon and kill Jim. Already she could sense its power attacking her Flame, desperate to break her [Soul Shield] technique.

No, she thought as the trauma revisited her. Not again!

The head of the demon was human looking. A bald scalp with a set of glowing red eyes tucked beneath thick brows. On its face was a gnarled beard, but as she looked closer the beard was made of writhing tentacles instead of hair. On its chest was a second face more resembling the demons she was used to. Grotesque and alien with twin sets of glowing red eyes. Where its stomach would be, instead became the mouth of the second face, a vertical maw lined with razor sharp teeth that was now open like an undone zipper and from within it spewed a mass of tentacles, like bowels spilling from a cut open abdomen.

The sight of it alone was enough to make her scream.

Dark Frenzy pressed on her soul and filled her mind with madness.

Stay strong, she told herself, reaching for the spiritual root of her Dao. This is what you came for. The enemy you swore to destroy.

Her [Struggler’s Resolve] bolstered her psyche and she grimaced in defiance as the tentacle brought her face to face with the demon’s massive human-shaped head.

“Not who I was expecting,” it said in a deep, reverberating voice. “But no matter. The Lord calls for your demise all the same.”

The tentacle began to tighten about her and as Kelsey struggled to free herself, she quickly realized she had just stepped way above her weight class. This monster was indeed stronger than anything she had ever faced before. The [Odds Against Her] multiplied and caused a surge of Frenzy from her soul.

But despite the raw energy, the strength of her techniques failed to resist the crushing force of the tentacle. She had to do something. But it would mean going in a direction that might send her soul straight to hell.

“[M-mark… of the… Demon]!!”

Her vision closed in slightly as she gave into her primal urges. Horns erupted from her head as she released a visceral cry. Her [Steel Skin] and [Steel Core] manifestation techniques tripled in strength, resulting in a bit of relief from the demon’s crushing grasp.

“You show your true form,” it said, marveling at her as it spun her in the air. “Foul Demon of the Traitorous Flame.”

“I will end you!” she cried. “I will end you even if it kills me!”

But it was more bravado than anything else. Her system was taxed just maintaining her [Demon] form along with her defensive techniques plus [Soul Shield]. She needed the power of [A Thousand Slain Souls] to break free, but she had yet to master the technique, much less be able to employ it when her Dantian was about to explode.

A deep chuckle rumbled from the demon’s throat.

“Bold words,” it said. “But your strength is lacking. I sought far more than you to quell my vengeance.” It then looked away from her and towards the direction of the city. “But I will have it still. I will not rest until every soul in Jurin Province joins me in hell.”

What? Kelsey thought. This ‘thing’ knows what Jurin Province is?

“What are you?!” she said. “Who are you?”

“Just a pitiful mortal like you once. But the Divine Herald of the Stars has blessed this soul with new purpose now. To destroy you and whatever else I wish of this mortal world.”

The demon then turned and began plodding off deeper into the forest, further and further away from the safety of the barrier’s edge.

No! Kelsey thought as panic gripped her. I’ve got to get back!

“I will break through the walls of the city and feast upon the weak. The mortals will feel the agony of this wretched soul. The vengeance of Hong Fang, resurrected to fulfill the wrath of I’Xong’Zhang the Reborn.”

* * *

Close to half an hour had gone by with nothing.

No horde.

No attack.

Chief Yora and High Marshall Tzu Li Zen took turns stepping into the influence of the Bloodmoon, trying to coax out what had come the night before perhaps. As the time went by, it became more and more definitive that what I had already suspected was true.

The horde was drawn to myself.

And if that was the case, there was only one way to make it reappear.

Protecting my Flame with [Soul Shield], I stalked towards the barrier’s edge, taking a wide arc around Yora and the President. I put myself neatly three times the distance away that I’d been before. As I stepped into the effects of the full Bloodmoon, immediately my Frenzy began burning away under its influence.

I didn’t know how long it would take for I’xol’ukz to sense me, but there was one sure fire way to gain its attention. Slipping within my mind’s eye, I entered the spiritual realm and inhabited the Blue hued [Spectral Body] of the Struggler.

All around me the wail of demons pierced the spiritual darkness, the rays of the Bloodmoon in spiritual form perhaps.

It didn’t take long for the monster itself to appear, its tentacles whipping past me with its thousands of star-ridden eyes.

“I’m here you piece of shit!” I shouted at it with [Struggler’s Resolve] “Send your minions to come and get me!”

~Foul husk~ It spoke within my mind, its screeches translating into cognizant thought. ~Spreading thy putrid Flame across the cosmos~

It came at me then and I defended myself with a swipe of my [Spectral Blade].

It veered away, avoiding the hit.

Sensing its weakness I pressed on, chasing after it in the darkness.

I went in for another cleave and it backed off once more.

What the hell? Why was it running from me?

And then I remembered where I was.

I was in the spiritual realm, fighting what was most likely a mere shadow of its true self.

It was biding time.

While its horde of demons was on its way.

Bastard trying to catch me with my pants down in the real world, I thought with a grin. Not today, buddy.

I was just about to avoid its chess move by punching out of the spiritual realm when a sudden flare of Frenzy caught my focus.

It was faint like before.

But distinct.

Kelsey…?

I’d have to risk getting trampled in real life for a few seconds more.

I had to know if she was truly in here with me.

I ditched chasing after I’xol’ukz and chased after the faint trace of Frenzy instead.

It seemed an impossible distance away, but I pressed on, nonetheless.

I burned extra Frenzy to quicken myself towards it.

“Kelsey! Can you hear me?”

There was no answer.

But I did sense something else.

Fear…

Panic…

I arrived at where I thought the source was emanating from.

It was as faint as that outline the crystal had made.

Fainter even.

I reached into it and for a split second I could sense a sudden turmoil in my soul.

It was Kelsey, I could feel her.

But something was wrong.

She was in pain.

* * *

Kelsey screamed deliriously as the world closed in on her.

Her body was being crushed, but that was nothing compared to what was happening to her soul. Her vision was shrinking to a pinprick, the capacity within her Dantian soon to run out. She had no idea where she even was anymore.

Snarling demons and whipping branches.

Cursed moonlight and a million stars.

Nothing made sense.

Her mind was slipping.

The beast had its tentacles wrapped around her in both worlds.

She’d pushed too hard and too fast.

Her peek into the unknown had turned into a gaze within Pandora’s box.

No way to get back home now.

I’m sorry, mom… she thought, her mind wondering. I should have given you a better goodbye.

Suddenly the tentacles released from about her soul as a thought forced itself inside her mind.

‘Fight, Kelsey! Fight!’

New energy filled her and in an instant her vision snapped back to normal.

She was still within the monster’s clutches, deep in the forest somewhere.

But a clarity now filled her mind and soul.

Her Dantian was somehow replenished, her sanity returned, her abilities maintaining themselves at levels that were near impossible before.

She didn’t understand what was happening.

Had she ascended?

Had she died and was now living through [Death’s Door]?

She pushed it all aside to focus on the only thing that mattered now.

Fight!

“[Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls]!”

Kelsey fumbled with meridian sequences as she cycled the Frenzy through her Dantian, desperate to push full bore the technique she could scarcely manage to do in practice. Her body exploded with lightning and pain.

“ARRGH!!”

The tentacle released from about her and she shifted with [Mark of the Beast] to quickly heal her crushed organs and bones as she fell towards the ground. She spat blood when she landed, the transformation taking place in mere seconds.

Groups of smaller demons rushed her and with her enhanced speed she swatted them out of existence with a wide sweep of her axe blade.

“Foul little creature,” I’Xong’Zhang crooned from above her and within its hand it raised its enormous club to crush her.

Every instinct in her Berserker soul said to fight, but wisdom came as well.

A passage from the Orb.

Shura 3

Know this, kindled one. A Berserker can never back away from a challenge, or an injustice which ignites one’s Flame. Even if victory is unlikely, press forth, for even in defeat, survival is never your aim. The destruction of your enemy is all that matters. If destruction is yet impossible you may retreat to gain more strength and return once again, but return you must, until victory or death. But to turn your back on a challenge or injustice, untested, is to stray from the path of the Flame.

She’d stayed to her Path.

She’d tested her opponents might and it was far beyond her own right now.

“I will return to kill you!” Kelsey shouted up at it with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “This I swear by the might of the [Frenzied Flame]!”

The twin technique went off like a bomb in the air, the words of spiritual truth assaulting I’Xong’Zhang’s demonic core. It reeled and screamed, becoming enraged at the same time.

Kelsen spun and dashed through the forest, pushing through the stray demons that blocked her way. She was still slightly disoriented, but she could sense Venja in the distance. She homed in on her, speeding as the giant monster tried to give chase from behind.

But it was no match for her speed in [Beast] form.

Kelsey finally broke through the edge of the barrier and the reprieve from the moon’s assault lifted the burden pressing on her soul. She collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, her Flame resonating with the harmonics of Venja’s aura.

After a moment she finally sat up.

That voice, she thought.

The thing that had saved her and restored her soul.

She’d know it anywhere.

But was it possible?

“Big brother…” she said as she looked up at the stars perplexed. “Was that you?”

* * *

I channeled my Frenzy into the faint form that was Kelsey, urging her to fight on.

I had no idea if it was even working or not, or what she was going through, but her Flame flickered in and out of existence a few times. It seemed to strengthen then and I sensed her soul once more.

Stronger now.

Fight Kelsey, Fight!

I sensed her resolve return and then suddenly her Flame disappeared.

“No!” I shouted. “Kelsey!”

Before I could do anything else, I was suddenly knocked out of the spiritual realm by something. I opened my eyes to find myself in the middle of a swarming horde of demons.

Oh shit!

I punched and kicked in my bestial form, drawing black blood and offal as I clawed through several alien-shaped monstrosities. They hissed and squealed as they fell on top of me, covering me in their blood. I couldn’t even make sense of what I was seeing. Flying squid demons and slithering eels. Creatures that looked like giant amoebas covered in razor sharp teeth.

I suddenly wished I had brough a weapon with me, but I wasn’t planning on fighting, much less being caught in the middle of a demonic swarm. I struggled to get my bearings, trying to head towards the braziers flaming in the night, but they looked to be even further away now. It was as if I were caught in a rip current made of monsters.

Suddenly a brilliant light flashed from the sky as a powerful voice filled the air.

“[Monarch’s Reign! Glorious Fist of the Heavenly Throne]!”

An enormous translucent forearm three stories high punched into the ground a couple hundred yards away. A detonation like an atomic bomb went off, sending a massive shockwave flaring outwards, consuming the demons like kindling. It was all I could do to summon [Steel Lightning] and [Steel Skin] to absorb the attack, crossing my arms in front of me as the shockwave hit.

Blinding pain broke through all my techniques as I went flying head over heels into the barrier zone. I blacked out for a second as I hit the ground. When I reopened my eyes a few moments later, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The entire wasteland was on fire, thousands of demon corpses burning in the night.

As I struggled to stand, a new presence filled my senses.

I glanced upwards to see a literal god hanging in the night sky above me.

High Marshall Tzu Li Zen was standing in mid-air with his arms folded, glaring down at me.

He only barely resembled what he looked like before.

He was twice the size he’d been and radiated with a powerful glowing aura, his eyes a brilliant white. Gone were his normal robes, replaced by cosmic armor that looked like glowing runes that superimposed itself over his bare skin, which was now metallic bronze instead of its normal tan.

His red beard glowed like embers—his white hair flowing majestically as if underwater.

I looked back to the wasteland and the burning demons.

Holt shit…he killed all of them in a single technique?

I fell to one knee, unable to suppress my awe.

I’d only seen power like this once before.

Back when eight-year-old me watched the Earth be destroyed by cultivators as powerful as gods.

And clearly High Marshall Tzu Li Zen was one of them.

Chief Yora then appeared at my side, hands tucked behind her back.

“Good evening to you, Master Iron Bull,” she said, her tone even, her countenance unreadable. “It appears you are outside after curfew.”

I glanced between her and Tzu Li Zen, the realization of my screw up becoming clear as my awe began to subside.

“You have much explaining to do,” Tzu Li Zen said, his voice like thunder. “I suggest you speak quickly.”