“Serve you?” Jared snorted, lifting the Dragonslayer Sword so the moonlight shivered along its edge. “I wouldn’t accept you as my errand boy. You’re only at the fifth tier of Earthly immortal Realm, hardly worth mentioning.”
His words were no idle boast. Back on the Celestial Stairway had pulled Kishor, Ararat, Zevon, Sidney, and others from the jaws of death, and every one of them had promised centuries of service in return. Ursan’s grin twisted into a snarl.
“Big mouth,” growled. “Let’s see if your spine is as strong as your tongue…”
He blurred forward. A fist the size of a boulder whistled through the air, trailing a wake that shredded the night.
Level-Five pressure slammed down like a falling mountain, squeezing the breath from Jared’s lungs. Jared raised his blade across his chest and braced for impact.
Clang! Steel met flesh with a deafening crash. Shockwaves rippled over the ridge; dust whirled into smoky spirals.
Jared’s arms went numb, boots skidding backward across cracked stone. Blood jeweled the corner of his lips.
Ursan halted, eyes widening a fraction. “Wandering immortal Realm Level Seven? You took my punch and lived… Credit where it‘s due.”
Then the derision returned.
“But you’re still an insect beneath my heel.” He charged again, fists raining down like a summer hailstorm.
Jared parried, but fresh cuts blossomed across his arms and shoulders. Flaxseed tried to rush in, yet Ursan’s crushing aura pinned to the spot. He paced in tight circles, powerless and furious.
Just as Jared’s knees began to buckle, a voice boomed from above. “Cub, you’re mauling my benefactor, did you ask my permission?!”
A meteor of muscle and laughter crashed between the combatants. Nearly three meters tall, Kishor landed in a shockwave of broken stone, arms folded and smile fierce.
Blackbear’s face drained of color. “K-Kishor? Why are you here?”
“Level five’s a big place,” Kishor replied with a shrug. “I go where I please. Reporting to you isn’t on my list.”
He turned, gentling his grin for Jared. “It’s been too long, Jared. Holding up all right?”
Jared stared at the giant before him, shock and gratitude flooding his chest. “Kishor? How did you find us, and when did you reach peak seventh tier of Earthly immortal Realm?”
The new aura rolling off his old ally felt vast, a storm contained in mortal flesh.
Not so long ago, when Kishor stepped onto the Celestial Stairway, the ladder’s crushing laws sealed away most of his strength and starved of every last resource. Even then, had clawed upward on willpower alone, a fact Jared could never forget.
Kishor threw back his head and laughed, the sound rolling across Darkwind Ridge like distant thunder. “It is a long story, my friend… Once I slipped free of the Ethereal Realm, I headed straight for level five and buried myself in training. Who would have guessed I would bump into you this soon, Jared?”
“Hmm… And look at you,” went on, eyes gleaming with mischief and pride. “Still breaking realms ahead of schedule, still punching above your tier like it is nothing. You reached level five while still in the Wandering immortal Realm, now that is the stuff of legends!”
“Hardly legendary,” Jared answered, rubbing the back of his neck with a rueful smile. “Moments ago, I was a heartbeat from death…”
Kishor’s grin vanished. He pivoted toward Ursan, and the temperature seemed to plunge.
“Blackbear,” said, each word coated in frost, “What, exactly, were you planning to do to Mr. Chance a moment ago?”
Ursan glanced from Kishor to Jared and felt the ground sway beneath his feet.
Kishor, seventh tier Earthly immortal Realm, had just addressed Jared as an equal, even as an old friend. The boast Jared made earlier no longer sounded like bluff.
He stumbled backward, hands raised. “Kishor, do not act rashly! I am lord of Darkwind Ridge. I have powerful…”
“You could have the cosmos behind you and it would not matter.” Kishor blurred forward. One iron fist hammered Ursan in the chest, launching like a broken kite.
