Chapter 405: Boss Fight, Stage Two

The reality-shattering explosion pushed every Bastion backward like a tsunami. The shields on every Bastion except Erebus were vaporized in the shockwave, and the leaves on all demonic trees for miles had been stripped in the wake of the assault. It was a miracle that the Bastions hadn't been blown out of the sky and the forest below wasn't on fire.

As the roar of the attack reduced to a distant rumble, Ashlock wondered if he had spent more Qi shielding the Bastions and his offspring in the forest below from destruction than he had during the attack.

"Did you get him?"

Ashlock was broken from his thoughts and looked toward the voice in surprise. Stella had appeared out of nowhere and was standing next to Elysia on the edge of the Bastion. She was shielding her eyes from the blinding chaos of Qi sprawling out above them, which had replaced the sky.

"No, Cult Leader," Elysia bowed respectfully before pointing into the distance, "The vermin still lives."

"How can you tell—oh god, what happened to you?" Stella sandwiched Elysia's head between her palms and studied her face.

"I thought my mortal eyes could handle a fragment of the All-Seeing Eye's power." Elysia reached up and opened her eyelids, showing the empty space within, "As you can see, I paid the price for my foolishness."

"Sol can heal your eyes—"

"No thanks." Elysia respectfully rejected Stella's offer.@@@@

Stella blinked in confusion and tilted her head, "Why?"

Elysia's forehead opened some more, exposing her third eye. "What use are my mortal eyes if they cannot see? They did nothing but feed my brain a false version of reality. But with this, I can finally see."

Stella inspected the grotesque eye, peering through Elysia's cracked skull in amazement.

"I know it might look strange, but trust me, it's far better."

Stella didn't seem to be listening. "This is so freaking cool! Can I get one?"

"No."

"Why?" Stella pouted.

"Your reality is limited to what others, specifically the heavens, decide it will be." Elysia shrugged, "Mystic Qi allows me to alter reality to my ideal. I wanted this eye, so I made it. There's nothing much I can do for you."

Stella looked like she was about to keep arguing, but as the Bastion finally righted itself and the cosmic shield reformed overhead, she lowered her hands. "Fine. But can you catch me up on the situation?" ṞAꞐՕΒƐⱾ

"I can do that," Ashlock spoke into their minds, "But why are you here? I thought you and the other sect members were defending Red Vine Peak from the blood puppets."

"The Mudcloaks were too effective at killing the blood puppets, so I left it to them." Stella shrugged.

Ashlock had caught a brief glimpse of their capabilities and decided that was fine. They seemed to have the situation under control. He was about to start explaining when Diana glided in through the still-reforming cosmic shield and dropped beside Stella. She folded her magnificent wings and seemed out of breath. "Stella, stepping through the aether isn't fair... phew, that was the fastest I've flown in ages."

"Good, you're just in time," Ashlock included her in the conversation and glanced over to Vincent with his evil eye from Red Vine Peak. "To quickly catch you both up to speed, I hit Vincent Nightrose with my bloodlust, and it has briefly made him lose control over his Qi and mind." While explaining, Ashlock moved Orion closer to where he could see Vincent was still hidden. "We have launched two attacks thus far on him, with the last one being the largest and further empowered by Elysia's mystic Qi. The gravity rings surrounding Vincent absorbed the brunt of both impacts, with the chaotic illusion Qi around his body tanking the rest."

Stella bit her lip. "It's so strange. I can feel his presence now that we are this close, but I can't see him other than a slight shimmering in the air. However, looking in the aether plane is a different story. He appears as a black hole of power where his presence warps reality around him."

"That black hole of power you speak of must be caused by his high level of gravity Qi."

"Aether affinity is seriously cheating," Diana sighed, "I can't see shit."

Stella gave Diana an unamused look, "You can eat people's heart demons for breakfast.

"Don't worry. I'll force him to show himself soon enough." Ashlock maneuvered Orion as close to Vincent as he dared. The cosmic Qi Bastion's Core hummed with power as he had it resist the gravitational pull of the rings around Vincent. It felt like casting out a fishing line and getting a big bite. There was a constant tugging on the fishing line, so he had to apply equal force to keep the line taut.

"I suppose that's true. The Lunarshade Grand Elder did something similar by surrounding himself in an avatar of lunar Qi."

"Having two souls and such vast amounts of Qi to work with definitely changes the size, scale, and tactics of these fights." Diana paused. "I wonder what a battle between two Monarch Realms would look like."

"I don't want to imagine, but I fear the day we will witness one isn't too far away," Ashlock sighed, "I just hope we aren't involved and can watch from the sidelines."

Stella and Diana exchanged a knowing look.

"Don't give me that look, I'm serious. With Vincent finally dealt with, we should be free to deal with the beast tide."

"The beast tide... are you talking about the largest one in history? The one that's said to contain a Monarch Realm monster?" Diana smirked, "That beast tide?"

"Okay... fair." Ashlock left this debate for later. With Erebus in position, time was of the essence. "Bastions prepare to fire." The fully charged flowers sprouting from the sides of the Bastions swiveled to face Vincent. With those darn gravity rings out of the way, it was time to puncture a hole through the less dense illusion Qi. Since it wasn't a defensive technique and was simply a chaotic storm of unfocused Qi, Ashlock was confident this would be enough.

"Fire!" The world flashed for the third time as orbs of void Qi from Erebus impacted first, followed by beams of cosmic Qi that erupted out of the flowers on Orion. The assault lasted a full five seconds before Orion's Bastion Core bottomed out, and the attack died down.

A sudden spiritual pressure washed over the two Bastions, making their shields ripple and crack.

"I can see him!" Diana said in disbelief. "It's quite creepy to see nothing but a floating torso, but I can finally see!"

Ashlock didn't waste any time and sent his void tendrils and vines through the hole in the chaotic illusion Qi before it filled in. Impaling Vincet's stomach, Ashlock began to fight the man's insane regeneration by draining his Qi and life force directly. He had hoped the void tendrils would tear Vincent apart in seconds as it was known to prevent healing, but this was different. The damaged flesh was not healed. It was regenerated. Blood Qi solidified into muscle and tissue and was woven into new flesh to form a living barrier that was regrowing faster than he could devour.

If not for the influx of Qi, Ashlock would be skeptical if he was even doing anything. But as the man's white skin began to turn a deathly grey, Ashlock could see the fruits of his labor.

The end of this battle was in sight. If he could just devour Vincent from within, he would emerge victorious.

"Wait!" Elysia suddenly panicked, "The illusion Qi, it's becoming less chaotic."

Ashlock focused on it and had to agree. The turbulent illusion Qi was now calm and being pulled back into Vincent, slowly exposing the rest of his body to reality.

He was regaining control—and fast.

"Shit, not yet! I'm so close." Ashlock forced his vines and void tendrils to try and dig deeper. Much of the man's torso had been devoured at this point, but there was a seemingly impenetrable wall of vitality and regeneration focused around his pounding spiritual twin hearts.

"Stab him!" Stella shouted.

"With what—"

"My birthday gift to you."

Ashlock was confused until he remembered what Stella had gotten him for his birthday. A sword cast from Bloodiron, a cursed metal found under ancient battlefields. While as weak as iron on its own, when fed enough lifeforce, it could parry attacks from Monarch Realm beings... and maybe even stab a Nascent Soul Realm through the heart.

Quickly diving into the spatial cave in the center of his Inner World that was serving as his inventory, he found the giant sword in question. It had been made for him, so it was many times larger than a human sword.

"To finish Vincent off with a gift from my 10th birthday from Stella, crafted by Elder Mo from the Redclaw family that Vincent had deemed lesser. What a great twist of fate." Ashlock pulled the Bloodiron sword out of a rift with an ethereal root coming out of Orion and pointed its tip at Vincent.

"I will kill you with a sword empowered by your own downfall," Ashlock muttered as he redirected all the lifeforce he was rapidly absorbing from Vincent back into the Bloodiron sword. The red veins pulsed as if alive, and an aura of slaughter began to radiate from them.

As it reached its zenith and the sword could not take any more lifeforce, Ashlock wreathed it in the purest desolation Qi infused with every Dao he could muster and thrust it forward with the weight of his Inner World.

Right as the sword impaled his chest all the way through until the hilt, Vincent's eyes snapped open. The man seemed momentarily confused as he looked down at the pulsing sword impaling his heart. He inspected its hilt and then looked up to meet everyone's gazes. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and for a brief moment, Ashlock thought these might be Vincent's dying moments.

But then he grinned.