On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

That one’s still dangerous. My chain spear should have broken her legs, but she seems unhurt. The Chosen who specialised in incredible speed felt the agonising pain in his own leg as he dragged it behind him, the flesh burned and melted by the beams of light the women were firing at him. That wasn’t the only thing that ached, his whole body was pushing against his limits, as he moved his arms with short bursts of rapid movement, to accelerate his thrown bombs to the speed of bullets. With only one leg I can’t diffuse the backlash. It’s excruciating.

The people in front of him were yammering something in what sounded like English, not that he spoke much more than a few sentences he remembered from school. Narrowing his eyes, mouth twisted into a pained scowl, he glanced once more at the young woman who he had hit with his glass shell, even if doing so had led to his injuries. One of the strange golden statues shaped like a beautiful young woman raced at him, broken scythe swinging, and the view reminded him of who he served now.

I remember the time the Army came to my door. I’d been careless, bragging about my newfound abilities online. People thought I was a liar, but the government must have had an inkling about what was really going on. They then roped me into this mission, threatening conscription if I didn’t comply. At least they offered me some compensation, meagre as it was, for my efforts… Remembering the anger, shame and humiliation he had felt that day, he pulled out a number of thin, tungsten rods, sharpened to wicked points, and with his muscles and tendons screaming, he tossed them, his arm moving in a rapid blur, a small shockwave blasting through the air as his arm breached the sound barrier. The spikes pierced the golden woman in front of him, penetrating deeply, and one arm shattered and fell away, sparking into the pretty lights he needed to sustain himself, before the whole thing collapsed, broken to fading golden rubble.

“Pretty. Just like my Queen…” he muttered, the appearance of the statue reminding him of her. It was her who taught me I was misusing my abilities too, wasting them like a fool. I didn’t care that one day the world would be destroyed, Korea would fall. Why should I? It’d happen after my death, most likely, and even if not… I just wanted to live a good, easy life, money, women, luxuries… until I met her. And now these foreign interlopers are standing in her way. Unacceptable!

Light flashed, and he moved, the beam missing his shoulder by a scant distance, his clothing smouldering at the intense heat. They were clearly trying to disable him, rather than kill him, and he curled his lip at their arrogance, before casting a glance back at the woman he had struck earlier. She may have covered her mouth with a mask, but it’s useless. When the blessed, holy water gets on her skin it’s already too late. She’s clearly fighting it, but just like those other fools who didn’t accept her baptism willingly, in the end she’ll obey the Queen. They all do. But me, I’m different, superior!

“Can you stop him? If he throws those spikes at us we’ll die for sure!” The foreign man was saying something, clearly panicked, and by the way he was looking at the remains of the golden woman, bent and deformed spikes embedded in the ground, he had an idea of what worried him.

“I’m doing my best. But it’s hard to disable him without killing him. And if I use my Mind Sharing Light, you’ll get caught in it, and more to the point, Aiko-chan will, and Akio-kun will never forgive me for that…” the woman he had struck earlier with his chains to no avail was replying.

“I’m scared, idiot brother! Gamóto, your stupidity and need to be right is going to get me killed!” the foreign woman who looked like the man shouted, frantic.

I’m not one of the zombies, whose minds break when they try too hard to fight her baptism, no, not I. Making up his mind to deal with those less useful people first, while feeling a twinge of guilt that he couldn’t share the baptismal water with them, as his Queen no doubt wished, he contented himself with knowing that he had secured one like himself, and would get the other who was annoying him with deadly beams of light soon enough. It’s just a shame they’ll be mere toys. Though if she finds them favourable, she can spend some effort to bring them back to some semblance of sanity… like him. Oh, my Queen… he licked his cracked lips, face slightly burned from several near misses of light. I investigated the other world at the behest of the Army. What choice did I have? But it was nothing special. I was going to destroy it, until I met her. My Queen, so beautiful…

A volley of needles surged, and the last golden woman darted forwards to block them, also collapsing. Reaching down, he grabbed some of his last projectiles, shattering a glass bottle over the sharpened tips of the metal rods, on the slim chance that they survived the strike. She was a young girl, just heading into adulthood, with brilliant, piercing eyes that could see through everything, and a sly smile that captivated his heart. For a moment he had wondered what she was doing there, before the obvious realisation that she was like him, another person with magical powers, dawned on him. He immediately put up his guard, ready to strike her with his fist at a speed that would reduce her to paste, but his hands trembled, unwilling to break such splendid beauty. The words she spoke then were seared into his heart, and changed his life…

“I see. You are worthy to stand beside me. One of those chosen to inherit the Earth, and worlds beyond.”

She had paused then, her dark brown eyes seeming to see right through him, with wisdom beyond her years, the clash between youth and maturity exciting him.

“Hmm. Judging by your movements approaching this place, you are blessed with the power of great speed. It is a worthy gift.”

“It’s useful, yes, but when I strike someone, I take injury too…” he had replied, a little irritated, but at the look in her eyes that had soon vanished, replaced by a mixture of lust and veneration.

“Of course. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Or so we were taught. Our existence perhaps disproves many of the laws I have studied in this place.” Her beautiful eyes had narrowed. “But for now…” She tossed him a pebble, which he had caught, surprised. “Use your legs and your body to mitigate the force, and simply cast the stone forwards. Then you should not take any injuries, but be stronger than any soldier, those ants that have come crawling over my domain.”

With that he had done as she said, and the stone had penetrated the ground deeply, and he saw new possibilities.

It was destiny. Just as this all is. But the game is coming to an end, and I, her loyal knight, will gift her new subjects… Making ready to throw, he was suddenly caught by a savage, wrenching pain inside, stumbling, eyes watering and head spinning. Through the curtain of tears he saw a strange sight, the woman he had thought was some sort of secretary or teacher seeming to have changed completely, sporting cat ears and a lashing tail, brilliant blue eyes peering into him.

“Nya, I can’t steal it.” she said, the words nonsense to him. “It’s too deeply entwined with him, and it burns, but… nya, I bet it hurts, having me pull on it!”

“Stop that!” he roared, spittle flying from his charred lips, mixing with salty tears that stung his hot flesh. “I’ll… kill you!” The needles in his hand were ready for dispatch, when a heavy impact struck his abdomen, and he was suddenly crashing to the ground, writhing in pain, as the projectile that struck him unfurled into numerous small yet strong cables, wrapping around him like dozens of whips, in cruel parody of his chains from earlier. As he fell to the ground, his one leg unable to support him any longer, beams of light flared, and his wrists were pierced, the wounds instantly cauterised. As he screamed, he realised the woman he had subdued earlier was standing above him, finger pointed at him, faint sparks of golden and indigo light fading, her other hand removing her mask, revealing a beautiful face within, one which reminded him of his Queen, though the expression was dissimilar, hers aloof and keenly intelligent, this one… she was looking at him with amusement and mockery in her sapphire eyes, and he struggled against his bonds, flesh tearing as the wires tightened. Bitch! Nobody gets to look at me with such eyes! Nobody but her!

“Good job everyone.” The girl was saying, not that he could understand her. “I knew you had it in hand. But I just wanted to be sure everything was fool proof. Haru-chan, think you can calm him down?”

The other woman nodded, and a brilliant light bloomed, bleaching out his vision first, and then his anger, his rage, his devotion, all seeming to fade out from him, leaving him hollow. No, no, NO! Reaching out in his mind, trying to keep the image of his Queen vivid and fresh, as magnificent as she was in reality, he let their foreign words pass over him.

“Seriously, this barrier cream is good stuff. I mean, come on, my bro, Shaeula and the others, they went up against something that would kill if it got on their skin or into their lungs. Of course it’s going to protect against whatever this guy is slinging. Liquid of some kind. As long as I kept my eyes shut until I boiled if off with a little flame, there’s no problem!” She pumped her fist cheerfully, not that he could see very much in the brilliant glow that dyed everything a sterile, cold white. “Now that we’ve got him though…”

“Yes. And the situation with the army seems to have been resolved.” The other woman was saying as she glowed. “Akio-kun had to intervene himself. And it seems like things are heating up.”

“Wow, no kidding. Oh well, it’s time…” the girl held her fist up, and there was a vibration that set his teeth on edge, even though his dimming consciousness and emotions. A vivid slash in space opened up, and out stepped a beautiful, cold woman, wearing a full-body protective suit, mask and all. Even hidden so, from her eyes, cold as they are, she’s a real beauty. I know it.

“Arisu-chan, you’re here! I wasn’t really sure it’d work!” The girl who defeated him gushed, and her reply was withering, even he could understand that, needing no words.

“Do not call me -chan. I find it unbecoming. And without the enhancement from White, crossing the sea to Korea with my Room would stretch, or even exceed my abilities. Yet… here we are. So, I assume the situation is in hand?”

“Yep. We’ve got this one good and caught, and Haru-chan’s trying to purify his mind. He’s obviously under some crazy influence. Just like the army… but we can’t keep him here. So we’ll use your Room. Though there’ll be a lot of guests.” She laughed, nodding at the fallen army.

“Fine. I have remodelled it into isolation cells. It was a nuisance, but…” Even as his vision was finally swallowed, the image of his Queen fading away, he could still hear them, and just before the end, he thought he could see people wearing similar biohazard suits and masks coming out of the tear in space, though from the way they moved, and the strange tails that were also clad in protective cloth and rubber, he realised they weren’t human. Oh my Queen… he thought bitterly as he was seized in rough hands and lifted up. …will I ever see you again? Will you dissect me with your wisdom, better me, cherish me? Will… will I ever get to hold you? No, I… And with that last thought he sank into a dreamless sleep, and the expression he longed to see again was lost to him…

********

“Got you, you slut!” Jun-Seo sneered maliciously, as his blood splattered over the beautiful woman, whose gorgeousness offended his eyes. Beautiful women are a curse. It makes them arrogant, proud, hateful, and the world always gives them an easy time of it. Cho-Hee was the same. I’m just as brilliant as her, it’s just her looks! Our parents always loved her more because she’s beautiful. I’m not ugly, I’m handsome, I’m her damn twin after all! But for boys it’s about strength, which has to be earned, not born with. It’s not fair!

Working himself up into a rage as everyone froze at the shocking sight of him slashing his own scarred wrist and spraying thick red blood over the pristine face and hair of his opponent, for a moment he imagined his sister’s face, with her supercilious, arrogant eyes that dissected everyone around her as if they were insects, seeing how they could be of use to her, fawn over her, covered in her own blood, the knife in her neck, not in his hand. Even thinking that way caused him pain, and he ground his teeth together, bitterly pondering what his sister had done to him, and why he had to follow her orders. Bitch, you wouldn’t let me break like the others. You claimed it was love for your oppa, but I know it’s simply that you enjoy looking down on me! Well, I’ll still have the last laugh. You made a mistake leaving me some shreds of autonomy!

As his pitiful ally, the half-dead wind user, who Jun-Seo insultingly didn’t even remember his name, merely calling him Wind contemptuously, approached to provide support, bloody particles being whipped into the air to join the water that his cursed sister had provided, Jun-Seo grinned, eyes glittering with madness. “Go berserk, bitch! Turn on your allies and fight until you break! You can’t die, not anymore, my shibseki sister won’t allow it, but that beauty that has made your life easy will all be gone, broken, distorted!”

“Shiro!” the tattooed woman called out, suddenly alarmed, and Jon-Seo turned, even as wind and blood rolled over the strange, almost androgynous men she was with, staining them, adding them to his pawns as well.

“Your turn will come too!” he warned. “Now I just need to lay my own trap, so that Cho-Hee doesn’t see it coming and… huh? The hell is going on?” he titled his head in confusion, as the pale woman he had sprayed with his blood and her water had begun to unbuckle her armour calmly. “Have you gone mad? No… this isn’t what Berserker Blood does… though maybe your brain is broken?” he snorted. “Perhaps to a woman who sees herself as the centre of the Universe, self-destruction through shame might be more meaningful than rage…”

Despite himself, Jun-Seo found himself eager to see it, and as the clasps were undone, the woman lowered the shoulders of her armour, only to disappoint Jun-Seo, as underneath were more clothes, shining gold. For a moment he had hope that she would continue to disrobe, only to meet her dark eyes, which were looking at him as if he was a worthless piece of dirt, a bug. Just like my fucking sister! I’m not stupid, I’m as clever as you! Nobody at Choe-Museon is outside the top one percent unless they are some rich brats who got in through wealth and connections!

“Shiro… are you… all right?” The woman with the scorpion tattoo said. Suddenly her men roared into rage, turning to attack those around them, and she waved her inked arm, dismissing them into nothing with a faint pop and cascade of rainbow motes of energy, before they reappeared, for some unknown reason calm again.

“Of course.” The woman Shiro thumped her ample chest which was still covered by her armour and the golden cloth which was also wrapped around her shoulders. “Disappointed? Aren’t you such a kid?” She sneered at Jun-Seo contemptuously. “There’s only one guy who gets to see me undress, and even if you could rerun the world a million times, it’d never be you, brat.”

“Shut up! You… you can’t resist my blood for long, it’s impossible…” he shot back, not even caring as the seemingly unharmed men wrestled with the hostages, exhausting their strength. Each time they were affected with blood or water they would disappear and reappear, and leap back into the fray, the only evidence it had even happened the ever-increasing weariness on the face of the tattooed woman.

“Impossible? That’s a bold claim for someone who hasn’t seen any of the world.” Shiro snorted, gently stroking the golden cloth. “This mantle is proof that no man but mine can touch or command me. So of course you failed. It’s why I’m here… but…” Her face twisted into an expression of disgust, one eye flared a brilliant red, captivating him. “…you splashed your filthy liquids on me. Shit, so gross.” Flame flared yellow and crimson, precisely consuming the blood and water, leaving no trace. “I’ll need Aki to give me a good bath after this. Although…” she giggled charmingly, a shocking sight considering the small battle raging in the corridor. “… if he’s jealous, that’s great. He can mess me up with some liquids more fun than blood.”

Open-mouthed, Jun-Seo let out an annoyed stream of curses and complaints. “Fuck. Shit. Nothing is going right! If I was in charge, not my whore sister, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Wind, Wind you dumbass, forget trying to control her or those men. Go for the other two!”

As wind gusted again, the barrier of raindrops constricted, forming a tight barrier around the tattooed woman and old man, but Jun-Seo knew that would be useless against the power arrayed against them. Wind was burning his strength recklessly under Berserker Blood, but also restrained by the watery curse, so he was able to perform significantly above the strength the half-dead corpse should be able to. A fine mist would soon envelop them, and then… When the woman that controls those four who keep vanishing and coming back is in hand, then we can overwhelm Shiro… I’ll teach her to mock me before she loses all her self-awareness. Hey, maybe I’ll show that off to the guy she was talking about, assuming he’s one of the other invaders. My bitch sister can let me have that at least… His thoughts scattered as she was now looking at him with mismatched red and black eyes, and her smile was so… predatory… it was almost as if she was a different person.

“Interesting. This Favour… it is one that ruins a person, making them self-destruct, but… amidst that it does have a strengthening aspect. Though it is hopelessly polluted with further tangles of Adherence. A shame. I could devour it, but it would gain me little. If it could be stripped to a base form… no, such is beyond me, and likely beyond most beings. In any case, we should finish this.”

The woman, Shiro… No, is it Shiro, she has entirely different tone, word choices and mannerisms… raised one hand, and Jun-Seo backpedalled desperately, wary of her next move, only to realise she wasn’t aiming for him. The woman’s silver hair turned crimson, and flames were flickering ominously amidst her long locks. “I can feel the spatial distortion from here. It is time to secure the prize for our efforts, although…” Her ruby eyes glittered coldly as she surveyed Wind. “…I doubt even your man can help this ruined fool survive, princess.”

Princess? And who is she talking to?

A sudden ball of flame roared into existence, filling the corridor. Water flared into steam, which might otherwise have caused him to celebrate, but he had seen that it had little effect on her previously, so expecting it to work now was a fool’s hope. The flame suddenly shrank, forming a humanoid figure of flame, a burning elemental, which reached out, arms extending. Wind hurled blades of air, but all it did was fuel the creature, which suddenly thrust, five flaming talons piercing legs and arms, rendering Wind useless. As the broken puppet collapsed, not even letting out a cry as his limbs were scorched and ruined, Jun-Seo wished he could retreat, but every time he considered it, all he could think of was his cursed bitch of a sister, her eyes condescending, ordering him to stand his ground.

“Sorry kid.” The voice changed again, back to the first style, as Shiro eyed him coldly. “You may have had some successes playing your little game, but now it’s the big league, the adults have arrived.” She suddenly paused, clicking her tongue. “Shit, that’s a little unfair. Kids can be smart too, I guess it has nothing to do with age. Hinata’s a smart cookie able to go toe-to-toe with adults when it comes to business dealings. But then, despite her age, it’s not fair to call her a kid. She’d never be this much of an idiot, staying to fight a losing battle. No…” she amended. “…you’ve obviously bested plenty of adults, even the Korean Army. But… our experience is just too different. While you were playing wargames here, we were facing life-and-death battles over and over again.”

As if to prove her words, another voice could be heard coming over the earpiece in the tattooed woman’s hands. “Hey, the situation here is under control, we’ve taken out the attacker, and proved the barrier cream and masks work. Arisu-chan… uh, Arisu-san sorry…” she corrected hurriedly. “…has arrived, and she’s brought the clean-up crew. Flag the location of any hostages or prisoners, and we’ll take them to her Room for processing!” she paused. “Uh, sorry bro, you’ll have to go it alone, my Golden Sisters all got totalled I’m afraid. But hey, that’s no bother for you, right?”

“Sure. I had to do some clean-up here too. The Unsheathed Blade will be returning to base shortly, so when Jin-Ae is safe, let the others do what they want. Now… I’m kind of busy… can’t spare too much attention, there’s something nasty in the Boundary, probably what Tan mentioned. But… I think it’ll be okay.” A man’s voice echoed over the earpiece.

“Cool.” Shiro agreed. “Things here are winding down too, we’ve captured the wind user, and blood boy won’t be hard to secure. Good luck Aki!” she glanced at the group accompanying her. “And just for the record, Violet and the gang weren’t as useless as I expected.”

As the line went dead, Shiro snorted. “Yeah, with Arisu as a backup, I was assured we’d be fine. And that’s hardly all our preparations. So, you ready, kid?”

Before Jun-Seo could reply, his face pale with anger and blood loss, he noticed that the tattooed woman, Violet, was looking down, face flushed. “Uh, you seemed kind of different then… very cool.” she whispered, and Shiro snorted again.

“Sorry, don’t swing that way!” she insisted, and Violet blushed a deep crimson almost matching her namesake.

“Me neither! I like guys, I swear! Just… can I call you unni? Please?”

“What’s with this lily-like development?” Shiro scratched her head. “Sure, whatever you want. But… don’t make me take back my evaluation of you. We still have to snatch up this punk here. It’s fine, I can handle it, no man can compel me other than Aki.”

“I see.” So it’s come to this. Ever since I lost to my damn sister… it’s not fair, it’s not fair. Not fair, not fair, NOT FAIR! Cho-Hee always gets everything I want. Sure, Berserker Blood was powerful, but… my pawns got used up, while hers kept increasing. Nobody could have won in my position, it’s like playing chess with only half the pieces against an opponent with a full board! And now I’m being treated like I don’t matter by another bitch who has it easy with awesome abilities she never had to earn, that the world gave her because she’s beautiful… and I can’t even flee, because of my sister and her cursed water. Fuck her, fuck her, fuck you too, fuck everyone! Well, if I am going to fail, then I’ll be sure to fuck up everyone with me, and ruin everyone’s plans! Suddenly grinning, he ignored the fire elemental closing in on him, and thrust his knife upwards. Shiro tensed, but he wasn’t aiming for her. Blood gouted, streaming from his slashed throat, soaking his tattered uniform.

“No man can compel you, huh? My sister isn’t a man, so we’ll see how she does. Fuck, if she was just my brother, we could have competed on… level… ground.” His voice was trailing off. The flame elemental darted for him, but he backhanded it, heedless of his burning flesh, and the elemental shivered, before disintegrating, the flames starting to circle him in multiple concentric rings. “Too much to hope… that… you two kill each other … like… the last … poisonous insects… in this… pot…” His eyes were starting to turn as red as Shiro’s had been before, only instead of bright flame, they resembled dark blood. “…but… sister… too strong… enslave you. Hope… she… has you… toyed with… by every guy… in Korea… before… the… end. Berserker Blood!”

With that his body expanded, muscles growing grotesquely, aether levels surging, flame clinging to him like a shroud, the smell of cooked meat sickening. With the last fragments of rational thought in his mind, kept there by the curse of his sister, he managed a bloody smile. I’m strong, I know it. The whore must have limits, so… when I kill the bitches and bastards here I can… break free, and… be the last… man… standing…