12: Eye of the Storm

Seeing the soulless corpse bandit was nerve-wracking. Fortunately they were reviving slowly and with sluggish steps.

"Let's not give them a chance to regain strength." Aiden calmly suggested as he stepped out with his weapons raised. 

Clover nodded and dashed ahead: Annoying Imp followed with heavy sprints. She struck blows to knock back the oncoming soulless; he grabbed and sucked up the lingxi before they could regain balance.

Aiden whirled his sword to draw lingxi to it and stabbed it into the ground. "Sol Blood Code: Repel Wave." 

Gold-white light shot out from the longsword, casting a barrier around the courtyard to enclose the corpses.  

He then picked up his sword and rushed to slash and hack at a blackened corpse before finishing it off with a kick into the barrier.  The body slam cast magical vibrations to dissipate it into ashes. However, this type of barrier was a guzzler on his lingxi, so...

"We have five minuturn to dispel as many of those things into the barrier!" he shouted, taking mental note of his power drain.

"Just kick them in to get smashed up?" Bosnia smirked. "Now you're talking." 

She tested the idea with a bandit corpse, which she was rapidly hitting like it was a punching bag. After it was pretty beaten up, she did a roundhouse kick to send it flying into the barrier. Her eyes widened when it burned into ash.  "LET'S DO THIS," she roared, pumped up.

"That girl's a worry." Rat squeaked as he sprinted about the corpse bandits' boots, which were moving faster now that they were saturated with the black magic. He had exerted a fair amount of lingxi during the last fight, so he could only rely on intelligence.

He surveyed the area and saw a few lanterns holding flame magic under eaves. His eyes narrowed when he saw Clover clammy and struggling for breath the closer she was to the soulless. 

"Fire and choking air!" His eyes lit up with an answer. He raced up a rail to where a lantern was hooked to the verandah roof. Using his thin tail, he threaded it through the hookring to slide the lantern off. With a mighty kick, he watched it smash to the ground.

Fire spread and was made more potent due to Aiden's area barrier. However, everyone was hit with fighting fatigue due to oxygen deprivation.

Rat scampered up Aiden's arm. "Get everyone... out... of the barrier, then shrink it!" He bellowed near his ear.

Aiden understood. He gave Clover and the others a signal to gather to him, where he then made an opening for everyone to exit the barrier.  Outside, he concentrated on shrinking it around the soulless. 

The corpse bandits were forced into a cluster and surrounded by flames. The barrier kept shrinking to set them ablaze. Without air to breathe, the black magic was weakened.

"Kijen Blood Code: Frost Breath," Clover soberly whispered, casting an icy mist around the barrier. Aiden released his blood code.

The soulless shattered and were dispersed into ash. However, the black magic scattered, then faded. The atmosphere eased, showing an evening sky with orange and yellow streaking across the vast blue. The air felt crisp and cozy.

"Holy Mother of Light," Aidan gasped for breath and collapsed to the ground. The others followed suit.

'You're smart for a rat," he said, acknowledging Rat's intelligence.

Rat groaned. "I'm a mus griseus, of the vermin, not a rat. Although, my name is Rat."

"Mucus... vermin. Never heard of this kind. Do you have a lot of sticky parts?" Aiden nonchalantly asked.

Rat's whiskers twitched with annoyance. "Ugh, dumb Hu. Not mucus, mus musculus griseus! Musculus!" He snapped, hopping up and down in a fit.

"Mucus grievous?" Aiden innocently continued to get the species term wrong.

"I guess it would be a grievance to clean puke off the ground," Clover commented.

"Mucus puke-us!" Bosnia laughed, which turned Rat's rant toward her.

"Mucus goofus." Annoying Imp joined in with the fun.

"Gunky mucus," Clover soberly added, stirring a shared chuckle from the group.

Rat let out a loud groan. "You're all hopeless."

"Lyashi Blood Code: Healing Light!" Rei's voice carried as he cast a group healing spell to restore their stamina and vitality. He approached them from the verandah.

They staggered to their feet, feeling refreshed.

"Thank you," Aiden bowed. "How is Liran-sai?"

"I was able to stop the spread. She's recovering," Rei reassured them.

They followed him inside.