Chapter 89: Cinderheart

A chorus of armored boots stomping the dirt ground announced the march of three hundred King's Guard soldiers. Long banners flapped in the wind, each depicting the Grasping Hand of Demia as the military force marched towards the Ashen Valley.

At their front, Lucian Valaran rode beside Prince Takis in plate armor, a tabard and cape moving with the wind as his eyes took in the scenery ahead of them. A large barren mountain valley, filled with grey ash and bright autumn trees in the middle of spring.

In the depths of the Ashen Valley, he knew he would find today's prey. The Cinderheart sect.

"We will reach their gate within the hour." Takis called. "There is no need to camp and allow extensive preparations on their end. We will ride through and announce ourselves loudly."

Captain Hugh Stone nodded from his charger on the other side of the prince, while Sir Hunt and David tightened the grip on their reins behind.

An hour later, the hooves of horses hit grey ground as dead grass and pale stones broke away into clouds of ash that filled the air in their wake.

The steady forward march of over three hundred cavalry began to speed up under the lead of the forerunners, as Lucian, Takis, and Captain Stone spurred their chargers forward. The ash broke away into larger clouds that soon obscured the vision of the rear cavalry, though they charged onwards uncaring.

In the distance, Lucian detected a great amount of movement and knew their prey had become aware of their presence.

"Chaaarge!" Takis called, as all others echoed.

The whistling of wind sounded as arrows sparked to flame only while they fell from the sky in arcs. The cavalrymen raised shields to block arrows as the three hundred men split into three distinct columns. The left and right columns separated from the central assault, taking flanking routes as the central column charged faster into battle.

The large gates of the Cinderheart sect were closing, but they cared not. Takis raised a hand high as electricity sparked along his arm, before hurling his arm forward as if throwing a javelin.

In the space between their army and the large gate, the air heated as brilliant lightning appeared in a fraction of a second, striking at the northern entrance of the walled sect and blowing it open in an instant.

The men roared and called for victory and triumph as they charged, and Lucian took the initiative to flex his cultivation and let an aura of life, death, and blood explode forth.

Takis was just a moment later in doing the same, a cyclic shifting of seasons manifesting in his vicinity as his early 4th stage cultivation was revealed plainly. Sir Hunt mimicked, though Captain Stone and David did not.

Within the Cinderheart sect, only another 4 seconds charge away, auras began to explode forth from two of the elders, announcing their positions and their acceptance of the duel.

Warfare had changed drastically since the advent of qi. Now, the greatest threats were hidden experts capable of decimating an army if left unchecked. And so, among their cavalry, and among the members of Cinderheart, were many high 3rd stage experts hiding and fishing for equals among their foes, or a chance to strike deadly blows at the lesser soldiers.

The final two elders, Captain Stone, and David also fell into this category.

"Lucian, with me!" Takis called as he spurred his horse onwards, faster than the rest of the charge.

Lucian followed, drawing his longsword as he rode by the prince's side.

3…

2…

1…

Armor bent and bones broke beneath the hooves of his armored charger as Lucian's longsword extended like a whip, severing the heads of disciples left and right as he charged. A powerful wind surrounded Takis, blowing back disciples nearby as they fell beneath his shadow's blade.

Behind them, walls of metal clashed as one hundred heavy cavalry consisting of mostly high 2nd stage and early 3rd stage soldiers charged into the larger numbers of the Cinderheart defense.

The strongest aura among those elders who announced themselves flared greatly, and a lance of fire shot towards the two from a rooftop ahead.

Lucian broke off from Takis and moved toward another aura that closed in rapidly, leaving the strongest, High Elder Liza to the prince.

The ground beneath Lucian's charger broke, and he freed himself from the stirrups smoothly, launching himself backwards off the saddle as the charger's legs broke in its fall and a tall, lean man extracted his spear from the fractured earth.

The ground here was not made of ash as in the valley beyond, but of hard, scorched earth, almost black in colour. It was atop this earth that Lucian's feet landed gracefully, his sword disappearing as he did.

'Elder Rafiel, Papeli's Hound' Lucian recalled as he stared at the dark grey haired man. His foe was an older man of fifty or so years, though his wrinkles were few and his body still toned with light muscle.

"Lucian Valaran" he announced himself as had become custom when he dueled in the estate.

"Ra–" The man did not finish, instead dashing towards Lucian at incredible speeds to catch him off guard.

Lucian clicked his tongue in disapproval as the plate gauntlets of his thick armor morphed to bear clawed fingers.

Rafiel's spear bore a red tassel near it's blade, singed with embers that grew bright as he thrust towards Lucian's unprotected head. To Lucian's eyes, the man's motion was experienced and minimal, but it's speed was a bit too slow.

Leaning left, he avoided the thrust at his head while moving to deflect the weapon with the back of his right hand, but the spear was of flexible wood and in Rafiel's hand, it shook and bent like a serpent that lashed out at him.

Lucian used his right pauldron to defend and his gauntlets to deflect as he made to close the distance between them, the fractured ground shifting under his approach.

Rafiel moved backwards as his spear continued swift, lashing movements, remaining exceedingly difficult for Lucian to get a handle on. Embers burned on it's blade and heat began to build in the surroundings, though that was tame in comparison to the raging inferno he could feel from Takis and Riza Papeli's battle.

'Enough.'

With a flick of his left hand, a drop of liquid metal flung from his gauntlet, the glamour on it vanishing to reveal a drop of red blood that flew towards Rafiel.

The man moved with incredible speed and control, as if to sever the drop of blood with his spear head and throw it away, but before his spear made it, the drop of blood expanded into enough red liquid to fill a jug, all of it shooting forth rapidly now as dozens of solidified crystal spikes.

Rafiel reined in his spear, moved left to avoid half, and formed a shield of spear and embers to defend against the rest, but as he did, Lucian closed in.

A gauntleted fist shot forth like a cannonball as Rafiel's aged eyes widened slightly. He tried trapping the fist between his grips on the spear and redirecting it, but was too slow, and while redirected slightly, the fist still reached his shoulder.

A muffled boom rang as Rafiel was thrown off guard, though his eyes only glowed a bright orange as he moved with the momentum to deliver a side kick to Lucian's ribs.

Lucian took the hit and his dense, steel like body, shielded by bloodplate only rocked, bringing little pain as he continued his assault. Lucian did not allow Rafiel to put distance again to use his flexible spear, locking him into close quarter combat instead.

His right hand managed to interfere with the slippery spear of his foe, while his left hand shot forth another drop of blood to form rapier that Rafiel blocked with a right kick to the hand. Finally, Lucian delivered a kick of his own, bringing his left knee up as if to strike at center mass, but as Rafiel released his right hand grip on the spear to defend, Lucian flicked his lower leg up high delivering a kick to the side of the man's head.

The fight continued in close quarters as Lucian broke his foe's wooden spear in the middle, only to see the elder wield the two halves as short weapons each.

The longer they battled the fiercer the elder became as the surroundings grew blazingly hot. Lucian combated this with an aura of deathfog, using a self made technique similar to his golden life flames to bring a deadly chill into play.

Elder Rafiel's strikes began to release blinding flashes of light, but Lucian countered by closing his eyes and relying on lifesight to battle.

Lucian drained life and strength with every exchange, but at every injury, the elders body was forcefully enhanced, recovering at incredible speeds beneath the domineering will to battle.

The sound of cloth flapping in the wind sounded as punches and kicks were thrown, Lucian's tabard flailing and his cape long lost and burnt to scraps.

He held now a dark grey halberd, almost black in colour as he made wide swings and fierce stabs at the elder. It was now he with the range advantage and he pressed hard.

The man was pierced through the left arm and a series of horrifying ailments struck him. Black veins barely visible within the dark bloodmetal drained him of life, while deathfog flooded his body and froze everything. A drop of corrosive blood was released from the halberd before expanding to burden the capacity of his veins as they infiltrated his body.

The elder shrieked in pain for a second before resolutely dropping his broken spear and severing his left arm with his right hand.

Blood fountained as Rafiel backed away, Lucian's offensive faltering for only an instant as he threw the impaled limb off his weapon and attacked.

'Almost there' He thought as he swallowed.

Rafiel's eyes burnt fiercer than ever as he continued to defend, and behind Lucian, the severed arm began to collapse in ash and embers as his bloody stump burned hot.

Just as Lucian made to sever a few fingers with a feinted flick of his halberd, Rafiel roared powerfully and struck a fist at the air.

Scorching heat assaulted Lucian's entire body inside and out as a wave of heat and power knocked him off his feet, flying backwards.

He regained his footing swiftly, and endured the burns throughout his body as he looked back at his foe. Elder Raphiel had taken a wide stance as his eyes burnt fiercely and the air around him distorted in heat, displaying the silhouette of a two headed serpent.

Where his left arm had been severed, flaky ashes and embers gathered, as the limb was rebuilt piece by piece.

A domineering aura spread forth and for once Lucian considered that a 4th stage expert might not be so simple.