Chương 346: Epilogue 20. Invaders

"Your resistance is as futile as it is– Is…" Kite didn't care to listen to anymore of what the tall figure with its mighty wings had to say, words fading into mana-deprived unconsciousness as it fell to the razed rice farm far below. There was already another ready to fight him, the gold-ranked being having hung back just outside the ongoing battle that was currently devastating the countryside of western Hua-Xi.

"You call yourselves Messengers, yet you bear only words of pride worse even than anything I have seen in my own home," Kite called to the next approaching being, a woman well over two and a half meters tall with golden wings and contrasting silver armor.

"And believe me when I say that we have had pride to spare."

"The would-be judgment of the slave races is as pathetic as it is inconsequential," she replied with the same cold aloofness as her predecessor.

"Ker Kan Sho has shown his weakness. My victory shall not be tarnished by his failings."

"I wouldn't so readily dismiss the fact that your kind seems to be able to fail," Kite retorted.

"The battle in the heavens doesn't look like it's going too well for you, after all." As if to punctuate his point, uproarious laughter echoed out over the spread-out aerial battlefield as two winged figures clashed with speed beyond anything Kite could even get close to himself, one with the same pristine figure as the Messengers below, the other raven black broken only by a bright red bird's head atop his humanoid form.

"A pathetic excuse for a distraction, already turned upon you," the Messenger in front of Kite growled just as six odd creatures sprang into being around him. They were all a mishmash of rotating sets of wings and eerie eyes as they dove for him, the ambushing summons out for blood. Except…" Dissolve the patterns of power." As fast as they had appeared, the summoned creations vanished, only for a sphere of sharp, glowing swords to appear all around Kite in their stead.

The swords all shot inward the next moment, Ripple of Cancellation already spent. However, Kite's staff appeared in his hand as he thrust the end of the staff downwards to impact a small conjured pane of force. The four rings atop the head rang out with a pure chiming sound that broke through the din of the battlefield.

That wasn't all that happened either, because a sphere of rippling cracks spread out from Kite a moment later, shattering all the swords while the messenger's form lit up with repeated flashes of transcendent light. WWJS: [Item] Immutable Echo Combat Staff Gold rank - [Growth] Legendary Forged through unyielding reverberations of inner strength, this staff heralds an immovable path. [Effect] Greatly increased striking power [Effect] Echoes the effect of special attacks delivered through this weapon once.

The echo deals only half the damage of the original attack, but any other effects are undiminished. Can occur once every five seconds. [Effect] Absorbs a part of the physical force behind intercepted strikes, if any, lessening the remaining physical force to be endured by the wielder. After absorbing force in such a way, the next attack delivered will deal additional resonating force damage. The damage increases with the amount of physical force absorbed from the blow.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. [Effect] Vastly increased durability [Effect] - Bronze: Pay a cost of moderate mana to detonate one of your barriers struck by this weapon, creating a wave of resonating force. The damage of the wave scales with the mana cost of the barrier destroyed, and size of the wave increases with the size of the barrier. Remaining integrity of said barrier does not affect the potency of the damaging wave.

[Effect] - Silver: Add another echo to special attacks, dealing further reduced damage. [Effect] - Gold: Pay a cost of extreme mana to turn one of your special attacks into a spherical area of effect extending outwards a short distance. Cooldown: 2m Pattern-Shattering Counter turned out to be most effective and well worth the additional cost as it tore apart the many projectiles all at once, the Messenger howling with indignant fury as her assault was thwarted by the backlash.

"Do you think I need more than my blade to defeat the likes of you?!" she roared, conjuring a mighty greatsword as Kite felt another kind of power latch onto him. The world started blurring, and a moment later he was suddenly standing in a stark white empty space with only a dark floor covered in twinkling stars beneath his feet.

"Nobody can come to your aid now, lowly human," the Messenger proclaimed, her sword seeming to light up with additional power as the stars from the floor started flowing into it.

"This–""This is a dueling power. I have felt one many a time before," Kite interrupted while spiritually fighting off the aura equivalent of a slap delivered from the Messenger's spirit at his insolence. It still rocked his spirit rather forcefully, but not worse than he could bear.

"My father has one as well, and I shall therefore share a sentiment of his. He once said that when facing me in an enclosed space like this… Only the heavens know who is actually stuck with whom."

"Bwahaha! Good one! Good one!" The raucous laughter nearly threw Kite off his feet despite Unyielding as Kite snapped back into the real world along with a very dead messenger. He didn't need to turn to see the powerfully winged man, the stark red feathers of his head in clear contrast to his black body and wings. The darkness even seemed to be alive, shifting between, around and over the feathers and lending a bit of subtle threat to the man's every motion.

Still, it was a figure Kite had heard described before in tales shared in the feasting hall of a certain clan, making him bow deep with respect.

"This humble warrior greets the Tengu. May your clan live on forever."

"Ho! Yes! Good! Good!" the bird man bellowed, a hand slapping Kite's shoulder enough for the pane of force beneath his feet to crack briefly.

"It was most pleasing to see my little clan thriving when I returned. It wasn't even that hard to follow these pathetic excuses for wing-bearers back home. Messengers aren't exactly subtle once they get going. And then I heard of a certain little human who helped the clan greatly over the years. Who even introduced the current head of the clan to his lovely little wife. Pathbreaker! Sentinel of the Gates! Kingslayer! Such names! It was great to see you wield your path, little human!

We should test it more, here and now! We– ack!" Kite had just started sweating a bit at the prospect when the impossibly powerful diamond-ranked being before him was suddenly yanked downward by one wing as a thin, willowy woman with porcelain white skin and alabaster hair appeared beside him. Her clothes were white as well except for a single scarlet sash matching the head of the Tengu, and another yank pulled the outworlder´s head down to her own eye level where pristine white orbs glared at him.

"Manners, husband. Wait until the boy is diamond rank at least," she chided, her grip seeming to bear the weight of mountains as the thrashing of the larger man didn't move her an inch.

"Wife! Please! Not in front of the younger generations!" The Tengu pleaded, with the woman eventually letting go.

"Oh don't worry, you old bird. I have shielded us from view. Your reputation is safe," she sighed, before bowing briefly to Kite.

"Apologies, young Pathbreaker. My husband is a bit too energetic at times. I am called Pristine Dahlia. A pleasure."

"The second honored progenitor of the Tengu Clan then," Kite said, bowing low.

"While I do not speak for Hua-Xi as a whole, I still wish to convey our gratitude for your most timely return. The Messengers are powerful, with means from beyond this world. Your help would be invaluable… If I dare to assume that is why you are here?"

"Bah! As if we'd let those feathered half-measures act however they wish here," the Tengu harrumphed, recovering some of his dignity.

"Neither of us might hail from this world, but it was where we came into our own. Where we deem it reasonable, we shall aid these lands. But you younger generations need to pull your weight too! We shall be watching! And as soon as you hit diamond rank, little human, I want to face you myself! You and that little Queen of yours! Come now! A bit of the battle still remains! Let us show those brazen sticklers that this part of the world isn't theirs for the taking!"