The two Praetorians screeched in unison, their psychic ire focused entirely on the new and greater threat, Li Yu.

"This," Li Yu murmured as he charged forward, "is the true fight."

His devouring field remained active, a constant siphoning pressure on the entire Xylarri swarm. He now focused a more intense targeted drain on the two Praetorians. His Abyssal Sentry orb fired relentlessly, blasting smaller drones that tried to approach him. He shot downward and his staff was wreathed in dark void energy, plunging directly toward the two Xylarri leaders.

Down below, the Cultists rallied now that the pressure lessened. Their two Soul Formation leaders were freed from the Praetorian and came to their aid to secure the area.

High Priest Vrak took advantage of the sudden opportunity and roared from the center of the plaza. "He's taking the leaders! He's drawing them to him! All forces, counter-attack! Purge the drones! Fight for your gods and your lives!"

Shocked out of their despair, the Cultist forces rallied with a ferocious and fanatic desperation. They surged from their broken defenses in a chaotic motley wave of dark, strange and brutal techniques. Li Yu, as he engaged the first Praetorian, caught glimpses of the battle unfolding below him. It was unlike any allied force he had ever seen.

A tall and gaunt cultist with runes tattooed all over his bare, emaciated arms howled a prayer and deliberately sliced his own palm open. He flung his blood onto a cluster of Xylarri drones. The blood ignited into sticky, black-purple flames that didn't just burn but corroded the Xylarri's tough hides. It was causing them to melt and shriek in agony. He was a Blood Zealot, a being who weaponized his own life force in horrific but effective sacrificial bursts.

Not far from him, a slender woman in tattered dark robes fought with a horrifying grace. Her martial spirit, a grotesque multi-limbed 'Grave-Puppet,' hovered behind her. Its spectral string-like tendrils darting out. As Xylarri fell, her spirit would latch onto the fresh corpses.

The dead Xylarri, their pale bodies jerking on invisible strings would stagger back to their feet and charge back into their own ranks. It was a gruesome twitching barrier of expendable reanimated shields.

But it wasn't all heretical arts. A solid core of the Cultist force fought with disciplined and traditional techniques. A squad of swordsmen, their black armor etched with protective blood-red runes moved as one in some kind of formation technique.

Their movements were synchronized to an extreme degree. They unleashed waves of corrosive black sword-Qi that proved brutally effective at sundering the Xylarri's pale flesh. They were skilled, ruthless and fought with the grim efficiency of veterans.

A small, twitchy rat-like beast-kin cultist darted between the legs of a larger Juggernaut drone. He created a spectral decoy that drew the Juggernaut's attention. As the creature smashed the illusion, the rat-kin darted in, stabbing its glowing poison-laced daggers deep into the creature's joints. He then vanished again into the chaos.

Further down the line a heavily wounded Cultist with an arm missing was surrounded by three Xylarri. He laughed, a bloody choking sound. "For the True Gods!" he screamed. His Martial Spirit, a small cracked idol-like statue materialized in front of him and flashed. The Cultist detonated himself in a sacrificial blast of shadowy energy, vaporizing himself and the three Xylarri drones, a final, fanatical act of defiance.

The battle below was chaotic and gruesome, yet was surprisingly effective counter-assault.

Li Yu’s staff met one of the Praetorians' crystalline claws. The creature was powerful, far stronger than any of the ones at the monastery. He could understand now why they had such a hard time here.

The violent drain from Li Yu's Koi was already taking its toll on the Praetorian. The Praetorian's movements were sluggish, its purple aura flickering as Li Yu's Martial Spirit siphoned its energy.

The second and slightly larger Praetorian screeched and ignoring everything else fled with a quickness that surprised everyone.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from NovelBin. Please report it.

"Not today, beast!" the Red-Eyed Mistress shrieked. She and High Priest Vrak were now freed from defending the plaza, finally entered back into the fray with these Praetorians. Vrak's 'Shadowy Oracle' spirit pulsed and the world around the second Praetorian seemed to twist and warp. It was a high-level illusion, a 'Veil of Madness,' causing the creature to stagger and disoriented. Its multiple black eyes swiveled wildly as it attacked phantoms.

The Mistress's 'Crimson Banshee' spirit let out a targeted psychic wail, a soul-shock that hammered the Praetorian's already confused mind, making it reel in agony.

Li Yu, seeing his "allies" had their target handled, focused on his own. He unleashed his 'Void-Lattice Cage.' Threads of pure void energy snapped into existence, forming a 3D prison around the first Praetorian. It slammed into the invisible wall, its corrupting energy fizzling harmlessly.

Li Yu then shot towards the second Praetorian. "Now!" he yelled.

The three of them assaulted the creature in a unified overwhelming attack. Li Yu's staff smashed its head. Vrak's shadow-magic formed tendrils that pierced its chest. The Mistress's soul-shriek shattered its now weakened consciousness. The creature convulsed and was torn apart. Li Yu's Koi instantly devoured the massive burst of energy.

They then turned as one to the final Praetorian, still trapped in the 'Void-Lattice Cage.' It screeched in desperation as the three powerful cultivators descended upon it. The fight was over in an instant.

With their two leaders dead in rapid succession and Li Yu's devouring field once again spread wide over the remaining drones, the Xylarri swarm finally lost cohesion. Their hive-mind, if they ever had one, was broken. A screech of terror rippled through them and they turned fleeing back east and abandoned the siege.

Li Yu had seen this happen twice now. The swarm seemed to attack and go as commanded but once the leader was lost, they got their minds back. Their instinct was to run away and hide, much like his own. He wondered if species actually wanted to be left alone but were being commanded to attack or if they simply ran because they felt the danger.

The outpost fell into an exhausted silence, broken only by the panting of the survivors and the groans of the wounded.

Li Yu landed on the cracked stone of the central plaza. His Sentry orb dissolved. He let the devouring field recede, his cultivation base was churning, compressing and agitated. However, he was feeling stronger than ever.

The courtyard was a ruin, littered with the bodies of Cultists, their faces frozen in desperation, alongside the grey dust of the Xylarri. His intervention had saved the outpost but the Cultists had still suffered devastating losses.

High Priest Vrak and the Red-Eyed Mistress landed near him, their expressions complex. They were exhausted, wary and deeply, deeply confused. Their enemy had just become their savior. Not just an enemy, an enemy that kept turning the tide of war back then wherever he went.

"Commander... Little Crab," Vrak began, his oily voice now just a hoarse rasp. "We... did not expect... we owe you a debt."

"If your outpost was lost it would not be good for the war effort," Li Yu said. He had no warmth for them but he understood the cold reality of their new alliance. There are times in life you have to let go and do things you normally wouldn’t do.

"Until this plague is purged, we are on the same side. Nothing more." He looked at the rows of dead Cultist. Then he saw the healers frantically trying to save the wounded. They might have been enemies before but they were now all fighting for life. Their sacrifice here was no less than any other person. "Your forces fought bravely. You've held this position and paid a heavy price."

The Red-Eyed Mistress just nodded, her usual fury replaced with a hollow exhaustion. "They died for the True Gods. Your arrival... your...methods... they are terrifying. But they saved us. Our thanks, Commander."

"There is no need for thanks, you’ve already paid enough," Li Yu said, turning to leave. He didn’t know what else to say to them and wanted to quickly leave. He didn’t hate them but at the same time he didn’t understand them either. "Consolidate your forces. I am returning to Sorrow's Peak."

"Wait! Commander!"

Li Yu stopped. It was the Cultist from the wall who had been screaming. He was a middle-aged man, his armor in tatters and a long gash on his face. He looked shell-shocked but no longer hysterical. He was just a man who had survived.

"I... I'm Harlen," the man stammered, rushing up to Li Yu. His eyes were wide with a mix of terror and relief. "I... what I said... I just... we... thank you. You saved us. You saved all of us. I thought... I thought you were... well..."

Li Yu looked at him. "It is no problem. We are allies against this enemy. That is all that matters."

Li Yu met his gaze. A small, almost imperceptible ironic smile touched his lips. "Those stories," he said, "are wildly exaggerated."

He turned and leaped into the air. A moment later Li Yu shot away, a white streak heading back north-east, leaving a very confused but grateful Cultist standing in the ruins of the outpost, surrounded by the corpses of his comrades and the grey dust of the Xylarri.

What Li Yu didn’t know was that his legends were only going to grow and his stories even more exaggerated.