CHAPTER 460: SHIFTING WINDS

“Impossible,” Vir and Cirayus said at the same time.

Jagath was one thing, but the Aindri at large?

“Your clan has never succeeded in taming Ash Beasts!” Cirayus cried.

“Had never succeeded,” Jagath said with pride. “I’m afraid your information is out of date, Ravager.”

“No,” Cirayus replied with a shake of his head. “I would have heard of something like this. This is a recent development. Related to your most recent foray into the Ash, if I had to guess.”

“Astute,” Jagath said. “And correct. No longer will our clan be the laughingstock of the Demon Realm. With Ash Beasts as our mounts, we will become an unstoppable force!”

Vir watched on in horror as airship after airship fell from the sky, taking the Asura aboard with them. The brave few who managed to jump off in time thinking they might take their chances with the fall were not spared either.

The Shrikes dived mercilessly, biting the falling demons in half or swallowing them whole as they fell. Those who did make it to the ground impacted with a sickening crunch that Vir would never forget for his remaining days. Prana of the Ashen Realm worked wonders, but not even it could save them from such a fall.

Not one rose again, and there wasn’t a single thing Vir could do. He was their leader—the one who had commanded them to fight under his name. A being they worshiped as their god, and for all his power, he had failed them all.

“Get a hold of yourself, lad,” Cirayus shouted, arriving just in time to protect Vir from another of Jagath’s Chakra attacks.

The Raja had taken full advantage of the confusion, rampaging around the battlefield to pick off several more Asura as they stood transfixed by the terrible spectacle.

“I’m sorry,” Vir muttered, shocked both at the cruelty of his enemy’s attacks, and for having allowed himself to become distracted in the middle of a battle.

Jagath redoubled his attacks, firing Warrior Chakras in random directions at random times, making it impossible to predict his next move. All Aindri had good mobility thanks to their mounts, but Jagath was on another level entirely. His Ash Beast mount was nearly impossible to keep him contained.

The Shrikes dove relentlessly, and as deadly as they already were against the airships, it was their diving attacks that made them one of the most terrifying beings in the Ashen Realm. Their ability to swoop down and pick up helpless soldiers—only to carry them hundreds of yards into the air before dropping them—was nothing short of terrifying.

The battlefield was soon awash with screams of terror as Asura were picked off one after another, utterly unable to avoid their doom. Even the small handful that managed to free themselves from the Shrikes’ talons found themselves falling to their deaths moments later.

The tide of battle shifted as quickly as the winds as the Aindri forces swiftly regained their morale, pressing their advantage to slaughter Vir's soldiers.

Vir was soon forced to decide—order his forces to retreat to the Demon Realm through the still-active Ash Gates, or stay and watch his Asura die.

Yet, ordering a retreat meant fighting Jagath, the Shrike riders, and the allied Aindri-Chitran army on his own with Cirayus, and they struggled as it was.

Even so, Vir knew either of them was unlikely to die. They would lose, yes, but they might at least save any further loss of life.

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Vir was about to give the order when a white streak raced across the sky, thunder sounding in its wake. This time, it was Jagath’s turn to look up in surprise, and for the first time in the battle, he stopped moving.

Neither Vir nor Cirayus wasted the opportunity, activating Balancer of Scales to slam the Raja with a thousand times his weight between their two active arts.

Not even Jagath’s incredible Ash Beast could resist that force, and its legs buckled just as Cirayus brought Sikandar down on the Raja’s neck.

Vir didn’t relent either, throwing a barrage of prana darts at the Raja while attacking with his Life Chakra.

The combined assault proved too much for the distracted Raja.

Sikandar connected with a sickening crunch, though not against the Raja’s neck—Jagath’s centuries-honed instincts allowed him to move slightly, deflecting the blow to his chest armor.

The hide armor proved little protection, however, and Raja Jagath Aindri was sent flying off his mount, tumbling to a stop some thirty feet away.

Vir was already there by the time he landed, pummeling him with blow after blow with his prana-laden katar. Then he slammed the Raja’s chest where his armor had been torn asunder and poured Ash Prana into the Raja’s body until he vomited blood.

As if summoned, Jagath’s mount reappeared and bit down on his back, hurling him into the sky and onto its back before bounding away.

Vir took this golden opportunity to wreak havoc on the Aindri-Chitran army, carving through them with Chakra and prana arts alike while Ashani streaked across the sky from Shrike to Shrike, searing them with bolt after bolt of lightning.

Nothing but charred husks fell from the sky.

Her work finished, Ashani landed beside Vir.

“My apologies for arriving so late,” she said with genuine guilt.

“I never expected you to get here in time at all,” Vir replied in exasperation. “That was quite the save. Thank you. Truly.”

“Would you have me chase after them?”

Vir looked up to see the Shrikes fleeing in a hurry.

“No, I don’t think they’ll pose a threat any longer,” he said. “If it’s not too much to ask, I’d appreciate it if you could help out down here. With your help, I think we can finally break this infuriating stalemate.”

“With pleasure, my friend. Though, I must inform you that my core is running low. I still have the spare you charged earlier, of course…”

“But you can’t change it out in the middle of a battle,” Vir said. “Understood. Then please ensure you keep enough charge to retreat safely away.”

Ashani nodded, then tore after the enemy.

While the Aindri’s greatest advantage might’ve been mobility, against a goddess who moved faster than sound, the advantage vanished entirely.

And despite her arsenal consisting of a single lightning attack, they were completely unable to resist. Forget harming her—they couldn’t even see her coming. Not one blow landed on her skin, and their freshly bolstered morale shattered like glass.

Ashani’s lightning occasionally found Jagath as well, forcing him to keep one eye on the goddess while he fought Vir and Cirayus, though he learned too late that Ashani didn’t need to be close to strike—her lightning could hit even from afar.

It took only a couple of strikes for his skin to sizzle and roil, but Jagath shrugged them off despite the pain. Vir couldn’t even fathom the amount of training and combat it must have taken to deaden one’s body to that degree. He doubted even he could shrug off Ashani’s lightning blast.

Still, with the sheer amount of prana coursing through Jagath from his time in the Demon and Ashen Realms, his vitality surpassed even that of Vir’s most elite Asura. Only Cirayus’s time in the Mahādi Realm allowed him to gain an edge; otherwise, even he would have come up short.

With Ashani now on the battlefield, the enemy had shifted tactics, relying on swarm attacks and the coordination their Chitran Bloodline Arts afforded them to minimize the impact of her lightning bolts. As powerful as they were, they simply weren’t effective against entire armies.

As Ashani herself admitted, this streak wouldn’t last. The only question was whether it would last long enough for Jagath to retreat, duty fulfilled.

Fate, however, was not on his side. Vir was starting to question if it ever was.

Ashani’s lightning abruptly stopped, and she returned to Vir’s side.

“Go back to the city,” he said. “Make sure everyone’s safe, and make sure you change that core out.”

Ashani nodded and flew off into the distance.

There were few things that boost morale like the presence of a living goddess—and few that damage it more than her departure.

Despite their crippled numbers, the Aindri fought back with the ferocity of an army reborn, pummeling the Asura with a deluge of arts and Chakra. Meanwhile, Jagath partly recovered from the damage Vir and Cirayus had inflicted, re-engaging their pitched yet useless battle. At this rate, their stalemate would drag on and on. Though Vir saw the faint candlelight of victory on the horizon, he couldn’t say how long it would take, and what would be left of his forces and Samar Patag once he’d finished.

Annas, coward that he was, still hadn’t shown his face, which could only mean one thing—he was in Samar Patag, concocting some plan. He couldn’t afford to remain here, stonewalled by an Aindri Raja they couldn’t kill for political reasons.

Relenting, Vir pulled out a communications orb borrowed from Maiya and spoke.

“Are you there?”

A demon cackled on the other end. “I thought you’d never ask. Is it time? Can it be time?”

“It is,” Vir said. “Bring out the Automaton.”