Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 48: Demonstrider

Alex’s fist met what felt like a mere token resistance, then blew through it like a Kyle taking on drywall.

Ulanni’s sword shattered, and his fist continued on, slamming into the mage’s chest with a crunch, and launching them off their feet as if they were an arrow shot from a bow.

His opponent didn’t even touch the ground, Alex saw their body fly across the platform and impact the protective barrier with a flash of energy before rebounding and tumbling over the metal floor until finally collapsing down into an unconscious heap.

He looked down at his fist, almost not believing the power that he had. One punch, despite Ulanni’s array boost and massive potency increase from his [Technique], one punch was all it took. He expected a bit of a fight, a simple exchange at most, maybe, but not to end it so fast.

Lowering his hand, he looked at the area around where he was standing, finding the metal platform had bent and crumpled from the shockwave-force of his strike as well. He had never seen anyone else be able to do that so far in the tournament.

The platform was enchanted and made from metal durable enough to handle Magus Tier fights. And yet, he had damaged it.

With the fight over, medics rushed to Ulanni’s side, and Alex could see one of the Magus Tier retainers who was assigned to Ulanni by the Serakhan Imperium had even left the stands to join the med-team.

The Magus looked toward Alex, and their eyes—which were all Alex could see due to them also being covered head to toe in garb—contained an angry venom, tempered by a hint of shock.

Obby, what are my stats looking like with… this? He asked as he took in the image of his blue streaked dark aura.

“All physical stats are easily at forty, vitality would be even higher. Your physical wounds are currently even healing from the vital essence influx in your body.” Obby showed him a quick translucent image of his own body, highlighting wounds and showing their improvement.

Alex had to admit, he still felt amazing, exhilarated even.

How much longer can we hold this form?

“Maximum? One minute, four seconds and counting.”

In the timescale of a fight between mages, that was a long time.

And the backlash that will follow?

He almost dreaded asking. But it was important. He knew the kind of toll just his normal boosting skills and spells took on him. Just the [Dual Descending Fist] alone had put him on his back and ruined him for weeks when he used it against the Original Chimera Queen.

“Ah, well… if it doesn’t just have permanent effects on your body and aether channels alone? You will pass out instantly once the [Technique] is released. And your body will be forced to undergo catastrophic strain.” Obby almost sounded like he was pitying Alex, which was a sure-fire sign that this was serious.

He was running on the magical equivalent of a massive adrenaline high. Once it ran out, he’d crash harder than a meteor hitting the dinosaurs.

Alex turned to the stands, seeing the rest of the team looking down at him. Many were cheering. Garret flashed him a double thumbs-up, and mouthed what Alex assumed was “freaking awesome”. Holly, on the other hand, was pale, and he could see the worry on her face.

She knew what was going to happen as well.

Guess there’s no putting it off then. He thought.

“Uh med-team,” he shouted out to them. His voice sounded gravely, a deep and unnatural quality still added to it.

“Yes?” One of them asked, looking at him askance.

“I’m going to need your assistance as quickly as you can,” Alex said.

The medic looked him up and down, seeing only his cuts and injuries from the fight. Nothing life-threatening.

“Well…”

Alex ended his martial style, prompting the balance in the [Technique] to break. He felt Obby’s hold on his aether get pulled away, and everything inside him went berserk. Aether, draconic essence, and his martial aura all clashed, tearing through his muscles and tendons, and breaking bones as his limbs twisted on themselves.

His meridian imprints attempted to take in some of the backlash, but they were overwhelmed almost instantly.

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He pitched forward, the bent metal platform rushing up to meet him.

Then everything went black.

***

“You were unconscious for twelve days,” Holly confirmed to him.

Alex looked at her in shock, trying to understand where he was, how he had gotten there, and what had happened.

He had only awoken a few minutes ago, finding himself in a med-bay. He remembered his fight. Remembered Ulanni activating a [Technique], and the realization he had about how to complete his own. The rest was a bit of a blur until the point when he had been standing alone on the platform and ended his [Technique], passing out from the pain that resulted.

Alex knew how severe the backlash was going to be. But he had assumed he would’ve woken back up in a few hours, a day at most. Nothing as drastic as being out cold for more than two days, tops.

As it turned out, that wasn’t the case at all.

“The tournament med-team got you stabilized, then you were transported to the med bay here at Lady Xhiu’s family estate. They didn’t even let anyone see you the first day. Garret, Devon and I almost fought with the medics and the whole Xhiu family, but they insisted you were still far too weak to see anyone. When you didn’t wake up after a day, we began to worry,” she paused, taking in a shaky breath.

It was clear she had assumed the worst. He didn’t blame her.

“They kept you stable for a week, then more, and each day they said you’d wake up eventually, but…” She took his hand into hers, even that much hurt like hell, but he didn’t complain.

“It was horrible, Alex. They had all these enchanted needles in your limbs and chest. Allie checked on you and said all your organs looked beat to hell. She wasn’t sure if you’d wake up either.”

“It's alright, I’m awake now. I’m alive. I’m okay,” he said with a forced smile.

That last part might have been a lie. Even lying there on the bed, he could feel his body was still in agony. Her hand on his felt like jolting lightning bolts firing up and down his arm. His chest felt like he was being ravaged from the inside by an alien worm parasite just from the act of breathing.

Even talking made his face cry out in pain from moving his cheeks and jaw.

He knew his muscles and limbs were torn to shit. Even nearly two weeks wasn’t enough to have him back to the point of even sitting upright.

“You always do this, Alex. Always push yourself too far and end up lying on a bed, or cot, beat to Diyu and back,” she said through a combination of angry and happy tears.

“I’m sorry, Holly.”

“Then stop doing it!”

“You know I can’t.”

She let go of his hand and turned away, wiping at her face. “Fucking stubborn ass idiot. Was winning that important? You couldn’t just be okay with top fifty?”

“I had to be sure, to get a spot. We need it,” he said. “Wait, the tournament! It's been twelve days, what happened?”

Alex had accounted for the fact that he might not have been able to compete in his next fight. But it was double elimination, so he had been okay with that. He had misjudged things far too much. If he was out for more than a week then—

“Tournament is over,” she confirmed. She turned back to him, wet streaks now smeared across her cheeks. “You ended up having a forced forfeit on all of your following fights since you were unable to appear on account of being, well, almost dead. So you got only up to your final fight’s ranking, meaning you got thirty-second place.”

That was unfortunate. He might have been able to keep going if he wasn’t basically sent into a short coma. But thirty-second was still in the top fifty. He’d made it far enough to earn a spot in the Inheritance at the very least. That was the main goal anyway.

“Did Ulanni… I remember when I hit them, I think. The damage I left behind was next level,” he said.

“Ulanni recovered within the day due to some items the Serakhan Imperium had brought with them, and continued into the losers bracket. With no serious opponents for a while after that, they ended at fifth place overall,” Holly continued. “Garret got forty-sixth place. Still really good, but he’s pretty upset about not doing better. Henry got forty-eighth. Kate made it to thirtieth, technically higher than you,” she said with a wink. “Oh, and remember that kid Kletos? He got eleventh! He’s got some crazy good aether control.”

Alex immediately noticed that there was someone that she was leaving out.

“And what about you?” he asked.

“Oh. I got twenty-seventh,” she said with a grin.

“Whoa, congratulations!” Alex groaned as the pain hit a little harder from his excitement.

“Take it easy there. Medics said you wouldn’t fully heal for at least a few more weeks. Allie has been coming by each day to help with that, but even she can only do so much.”

“A few weeks? When does the Inheritance open?”

“Around that same time-frame. Twenty-nine days from now,” she looked to count on her fingers, but Alex knew she could just do it in her head. She was doing it on purpose, making him slow down.

“We should be fine then. We have time to strategize and figure out what our plans will be regarding Erich and his offer. Then some last-minute cultivation and training. There are some refinements I still need to do, and the last two meridian imprints. Plus we can start having everyon—“

“Hey, hey, slow your roll. You’re not doing anything for awhile, okay. And certainly not any training. You can’t even use aether yet, if you haven’t noticed,” Holly snapped at him.

He looked inward once more, checking the state of himself. Sure enough, his aether channels and soulgate were strained beyond belief. His meridian imprints felt like the blown-out hip of a geriatric patient. And his physical body was still just barely held together by partially healed bones and ligaments.

There would be no training for a while.

“Damn… this [Technique] might be worse for me than even my enemies,” he lamented.

Holly snorted derisively. “I don’t know if you saw yourself, but you looked fucking crazy, Alex. Horns, claws and tail, it was like you were possessed. I don’t know what you plan to call it, but [Kamikaze Form] might fit well.”

He chuckled, then coughed, then hacked up some blood.

“Damn, stop that,” Holly said, wiping his chin and chest with a small towel near the table.

“I think I already have a name for it that would be fitting,” he said, once his coughing fit died away.

“Oh great, what is it?”

“[Demon Strider],” he said confidently. “That’s what they are calling me, right? Seems pretty fitting given the appearance, too.”

“You’re such a damn guy.” She shook her head. “Fine, oh his horrible Demon-ness. But no striding around, nor walking, nor crawling, until you’re fully healed. Got it?”

“Deal. No problem.”

“Good. Now, get some sleep. We can figure out plans once you're able to talk without coughing up blood.” She fluffed his pillow and added another blanket over him before he could even think to protest.

“Thank you, Holly.”

She leaned down, kissing him softly. “You’re welcome. Idiot.”