Chapter 354: Combined Might Against an Insanity Weapon
At first Zae Zin Nim had blundered into the smoke, using only her qi senses to search for anyone else. The area had become more complex due to the destroyed walls and she thought that Omilaena had fought her way into side chambers, but it was impossible to tell where she was.
Then everything around her exploded and she knew where at least one battle was.
Zae Zin Nim ran through a door of what had been an underground chamber and into the empty air. A massive crater had been blasted out of the city, including partially underneath the First Crest. If there had been any Crestguards outside in the area, there was nothing left of them. Now she could clearly see the First Crest, cables leading to a column that must be a weapon. She flinched when she saw Matiavel there, fighting some sort of monster.
No, that was her monster.
Kai had transformed into an even larger monstrous form, but she could see something of him in his face despite the toothy jaws. The form was partially covered in the Beggar King's Rags, which were proving their worth by growing along with his new form.
But against one of the great powers, Kai was clearly at his limits. Zae Zin Nim saw him make an admirable attempt to evade the ferocious assault, but he was off balance. When the flames began to close in on him, Zae Zin Nim was ready to leap to his defense.
For a split second she was hurtling toward the ghostly flames that killed anything, which was absolute madness. She had already gathered her qi, though, increasing its phase as far as she could. When she released a qi technique, surrounded with the Coldfire Corona, it managed to strike a single one of the demon's flames and they neutralized one another.
She reached through that gap, grabbed Kai, and pulled him to safety. They leapt across the crater as the flames crashed together, eerily silent but terribly destructive. Another part of the city burned away into nothing.
"You alright?" she asked as they regained their footing.