Depthless Hunger

Zae Zin Nim crossed the distance between them so quickly that Kai couldn't take action to help. It also wasn't necessary: she struck Anaelina with such fury that she was sent flying backwards, nearly falling into the poison cloud.

The large warriors closed on her and Zae Zin Nim focused entirely on one of them, knocking aside his sword to hit him with a palm strike. It was strange for her to be so focused on one opponent, because the others were closing on her from behind, swinging their own weapons. Kai generated a Tyrant's Claw and hesitated at the last second.

When the weapons struck, they were blocked by the Coldfire Corona. But while Zae Zin Nim had used that defensive strategy many times in the past, what followed was completely different. She reached out to stab her hand into one of the bulky men, lifted him by his chest with one hand, and then plowed him directly into the others. They tried to gang up on her, but now that she had them grouped, she attacked them all with fierce blows. These were no longer just palm strikes to damage inner organs, he heard ribs snapping when she struck.

So that was what the Pure Yin Shroud did.

Since Zae Zin Nim could clearly take care of herself, Kai hurled his Tyrant's Claw at some of the soldiers trying to flank them on the steps to the building. The resulting massacre would hopefully keep the rest from following, and also keep the monks out of their way. There weren't many civilians left within the circle, so it was getting easier to fight.

Instead of worrying about the other soldiers, who Zae Zin Nim was blowing through, Kai leapt to help Omilaena. Both she and the demoness had cut one another, but they both seemed able to resist the other's poisons. When Kai swept in with another Tyrant's Claw, the demoness was finally forced onto her back foot.

They battled her a little further back before her veins glowed brighter green. The demoness tossed a number of emerald shards into the air and they began to spin around her, apparently controlled by her chakra. When Omilaena tried to throw a needle through the pattern, they shifted in order to deflect it.

Then it was time for overwhelming force. Kai released a huge gout of Baleful Breath, intending to consume the demoness and all her emerald shards. But she flipped overhead with startling speed, spinning toward him even while he was still expelling the smoky flames. He tried to cut off and pull back, but he was a second too late and emerald shards cut him in multiple places.

Each was coated in poison, or perhaps they were pure poison. Kai staggered back, focusing on Behemoth's Heart to fight through it. He was growing more resistant to this poison, but this demon was extremely powerful, so it would still take time.

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Zae Zin Nim flowed past him first, unleashing a barrage of qi techniques against the demoness. Some were deflected, but several of the emerald shards began to crack. Even when Anaelina jumped in to attack, Zae Zin Nim didn't slow in her assault, fighting both of them simultaneously without breaking a sweat.

Several other demonic arts users who had fallen further from the building were coming into range, some of them decently strong. Kai leapt directly into them, swinging another Tyrant's Claw. These were tough enough that it didn't kill them outright, but he still pushed the group back. He saw two others get around him, apparently deciding that it was a higher priority to attack the others. Since he was still facing several, Kai had to focus on them and assume the others could handle themselves.

The demonic arts users all struck together, properly coordinating their strikes. When Kai started to use Baleful Breath, they retreated rapidly to get out of range. He still nearly caught them by sweeping his head to the side, but these fighters were light on their feet. Worse, he'd inadvertently pushed some of them toward the other battle.

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One of the strongest demonic arts users had Omilaena in a strangle-hold and appeared to be trying to break her neck. She had injected him with a syringe, but it wasn't having enough effect. Worse, the other supporting fighters were all closing in on them now.

Before Kai could act, Zae Zin Nim burst into another energetic flurry. She grabbed Anaelina and hurled her into the poison user, forcing her to rapidly shift to avoid impaling her own ally on emerald shards. In practically the same motion she kicked off one of the larger thug's legs, breaking it, and threw herself into the next. Her shoulder, so tiny compared to the man's bulk, still sent him flying. Somehow she'd also snatched his weapon from his hands and hurled it - the weapon spun just over Omilaena's head to strike the man trying to choke her.

Anaelina had recovered first and tried to strike from behind, but Kai hadn't been idle. He intercepted her attack with a Tyrant's Claw and finally landed a clean blow: Anaelina flew backward with several bloody lines torn across her side.

For a moment all three of them were out of melee combat and close together. Zae Zin Nim swayed slightly on her feet and Omilaena quickly moved beside her to provide support.

"This chakra ability is brand new," she said. "You shouldn't be pushing it so hard."

"This is our chance." Zae Zin Nim shrugged off her hands and focused on the enemies remaining. "We need to finish them off. No more running."

She lunged forward, bashing her way through one of the remaining soldiers on her way to the fallen Anaelina. Kai joined her, ready to use Baleful Breath, but the poison demoness intercepted them both.

This time she'd formed an even larger cloud of emerald shards around her, and as her veins throbbed the cloud expanded, forming a wall that shielded Anaelina as well as herself. Maintaining the cloud must be taking something out of her, but Kai wasn't willing to bet that they could exhaust her.

He tried another Tyrant's Claw, only for the emerald shards to gather together, forming a defensive wall. It trembled underneath the force of his technique, but it held. Damn, this wasn't going to be easy, and she could evade his breath. This would have been a good time for Void Gaze, if only he had it set in his soul. In a fight this fast there was definitely no time to change.

When he looked back to Omilaena, he saw that she was finishing off the other soldiers. Thanks to Zae Zin Nim's ferocious attack, they'd wiped out most of a demon army in a short time. But the floating palace beyond... Kai realized that it was flying closer, ready to unleash more streams of fire.

Somehow he managed to hurl himself into the way in time, defending Omilaena with his own body. The flames were hot and loaded with chakra, but he'd survived worse. Kai growled and prepared his counter-attack, but the vessel was already flying on, as if he'd never been the target.

While he fought, Zae Zin Nim continued to press the poison user relentlessly. Her qi attacks weren't getting through the new swarm of emeralds, so she hurled herself forward. She burned through the storm, surrounded by blue flames and finally closing the distance to her opponent.

The demoness lashed out with blinding speed, a black needle biting down. It punched through Zae Zin Nim's defensive aura and she gasped... but she still thrust her palm forward. When it struck the demoness in the stomach, she spat up blood.

But didn't fall. Even as Kai ran at top speed to help, the demoness stabbed again, piercing Zae Zin Nim with another venomous needle. Such blows would have disabled her before, but now she kept fighting, first breaking the demon's arm and then finally striking her in the head with a palm strike that made her collapse.

At that moment the vessel tried to fire on the injured Zae Zin Nim and Kai was barely in time - instead of acting as a human shield, he tore off the front of the vessel with a Tyrant's Claw. Too late, he saw a sleek gray form detach from the ship and drop to the ground.

They were in no shape to fight back, but this wasn't actually an attack. When the man picked up Anaelina and one of the surviving demonic arts users, Kai recognized him as Troulon from the Great Library. He stared back at them once, more afraid than angry, and then leapt up to the ship. It raced away, just ahead of Kai's next attack.

For the first time, despite all their reinforcements, the demons had actually retreated. Kai should have been glad, but then he heard a low cry from behind him.

"Do you know how much poison you've taken?" Omilaena asked. "Why did you take that risk?"

"You'll save me, right?" Zae Zin Nim smiled weakly and then collapsed into their arms.