17 Chapter 17: Lyia’s Chosen (1/2)

Unable to withstand the pressure, I caved in and stepped to the side. Asura's sword slashed through the space where I had been standing and cut a deadly swathe through the tall grass. Had I still be standing there when his blade fell, I would have been cleaved cleanly in half.

I gritted my teeth and thrust my staff at Asura. He didn't even bother to dodge. My eyes widened when I blew a hole through his body. Asura merely stayed still, grabbing my staff and holding it firmly in place. His face remained concealed behind that never-changing mask, but I bet he was smirking underneath.

This is the same tactic I used against Kijima!

I quickly let go of my staff before Asura slashed me.

”Gaaaaah!”

I almost blacked out from the pain. Even though it was a slight graze, especially since I succeeded in avoiding a fatal blow by stepping back in time, the red-hot agony flooded my mind and overwhelmed me. Staggering back, I forced myself to stand, heaving heavily as my healing prowess kicked in.

”Oh?”

Asura sounded curious. He pulled the staff out of his body and tossed it to me. The plants trailed around him and mended his wound near-instantaneously. He watched as my own cuts closed up, leaving pink flesh.

”You're the same as me.”

”In terms of having the Regeneration ability, I guess so.”

I caught the staff and shrugged haplessly. There was no point telling my enemy that I was an undead. Knowledge was power, and the less I gave to my enemy, the more advantageous it would be for me.

Asura studied me for another second, and then he raised his katana and slashed at me. However, as he attacked, several knights attacked him from behind.

”…!”

Asura spun around and slashed at them, but the knights deftly ducked his katana. Among them was the knight commander, who landed on the ground and thrust his sword into Asura's torso, cleaving through the armor.

”Get away, kid! We'll distract him long enough for you to run!”

”Huh? Run?” I stared at him in disbelief. ”And leave you guys behind?”

”Don't worry about us! The 5th Lancer Dragoon Company will be here soon to reinforce us! With our combined power, we should be able to overwhelm this demon!”

”How naïve.” Asura knocked several knights away with his sword, beheading one of them. ”You think reinforcements can save you? I'll wipe you out, and then destroy whatever fools who dare come here. Hmm, maybe I'll use your corpses to warn them.”

At his words, several more flower-monsters lunged up from the foliage behind the knights. The human warriors fought valiantly, turning their back on the demon temporarily to ward off the immediate threat.

”…!”

Asura whirled around to face me, his mangled body regenerating from the plants that crawled toward him. As always, the speed of his regeneration was astounding.

Damn it…I thought I could completely destroy his whole body with Doombolt. He's too powerful, huh?

I took a deep breath and charged. I needed to keep Asura busy and distract him from the knights. The commander seemed to have realized my intention, for he risked turning to me and yelling a warning.

”Don't worry, kid! We'll be fine! It's our duty to protect civilians!”

”I'm not a civilian,” I told him flatly. Ducking under Asura's sword, I countered with a riposte that blew off Asura's head. When he tried to grab hold of the staff, I obliterated a huge part of his body with Doombolt. However, even with most of his head and right arm missing, his left hand swung forward to slash me with his sword.

”Whoa!”

I jumped back, avoiding the lethal blade by just a hair's breadth. My school uniform jacket split apart, the fabric unable to withstand the sharp wind pressure from the katana. Fortunately, it didn't graze my skin. The remains of my jacket floated down, leaving just the shirt behind.

”Ugh!”

Behind Asura, the knights screamed and shrieked as they were gradually being overwhelmed by the flower monsters.

”Your allies are slowly dwindling,” Asura declared. I could hear the grim smile in his voice. ”Soon you'll be all alone.”

I gritted my teeth as I dodged and stayed out of reach of his sword. Sparing a glance at the knights, I saw that less than half of their number remained.

At this rate, the entire battalion would be exterminated.

”I'm sorry, sir.”

”?!”

The knight commander whipped his head to stare at me, baffled, when I yelled an apology to him. I bowed my head slightly before stepping back to evade another slash.

”I'll have to desecrate your dead subordinates' bodies for a bit. I'm very sorry, but if you want me to save your surviving men, you'll have to bear with my uh…unorthodox spell.”

”What are you talking about?” the knight commander demanded. I didn't have time to explain with words, so I showed it to him.

Hopping several paces back and placing as much distance between myself and my enemy, I raised my staff and slammed it onto the ground. Taking a deep breath, I casted the Reanimate spell across the forested battlefield.

”Ugh…”

”Uu…”

The dead knights were coming back to life, their bodies jerkily mechanically as they rose. Their movements were rough, as if whichever puppeteer handling them was clumsily pulling on their strings and forcing them to move. Slowly but surely, they shambled across the forest and plunged after the thrashing flower monsters, groaning and reaching out with their fingers.

”You think your weak zombies can stand against my Flora?”

Asura barked out a harsh laugh as he turned to watch the sight. He was unmoved, unlike the knights. The human soldiers had frozen in fear, staring at their once living-comrades in disbelief as they returned from beyond the grave.

”What manner of atrocities is this?”

”How dare you…”

”You're a monster!”

”Do you want to live or not?”

I directed this at the commander, who was looking shell-shocked. He turned to me, his eyes still wide and blank.

”Make a decision now. Do you want to save your remaining men, or do you want to die because you can't be flexible with your beliefs?”

”How dare you…! You think we'll abandon our principles just so we can save our lives?”

”Don't underestimate us!”

”Death over dishonor!”

”If you want to die so badly,” I retorted in a chilling voice. ”Then I don't mind leaving you guys here to die by yourselves. I don't know how long your reinforcements will take to arrive, but I guarantee that at least 90% of you will be dead before they do.”

The knight commander swallowed and clenched his fists tightly. I didn't blame him. It was a difficult decision for him to make, and he needed some time to sort out the mental turmoil I had just thrown him into.

Unfortunately, time was something we didn't have.

”So what do you choose? Life? Or death? If you want your men to live, I'll help you. If not, you can all die here together.”

”I get it.” The knight commander parried a thorny vine from a flower monster and slashed at it. With a roar of rage, he kicked it down before beheading it. ”Do whatever you need to keep my men alive. But if you attempt to betray us, I'll hunt you down to the ends of Restia myself.”

”But sir…!” one of the knights protested. The commander rounded on him.

”Did you not hear me, soldier? All of you! Fight alongside the zombies! We'll worry about them after we defeat this demon!”

”Yeah!”

Despite their reservations, the knights realized that they had little choice if they wanted to survive. With one final burst of strength, they formed up behind the dying zombies and defended themselves. They marched forward and slashed at the monsters.

”It's useless.”

Asura was chuckling at what he deemed to be futile efforts. He turned to me, slowly shaking his head as he swung his katana down.

”Your zombies are no match for my Flora. I've said this before. You're only delaying the inevitable.”

He was right. Even now, my zombies were dying by the dozens, chewed up and ripped into shreds by the flower army.

However…

”Is that so?” I pushed my glasses up my nose and smiled slyly. ”Then perhaps it is time for me to tip the scales in our favor.”

”…? What do you mean?”

I responded by throwing a hand up. All around me, 1,008 gravestones rose, smashing and splintering trees while splitting the dense foliage apart. The twelve symbols glowed brightly, and the zombies veiled beneath the shadows of the tombstones twisted, mutated and evolved. Their armor cracked open as their muscles and mass expanded, and they turned into more grotesque but terrifying shapes that unnerved their living comrades even further.

”What…what the hell is this?”

”How could you?”

I ignored the knights' objections and focused on directing my zombies. Under the buffs of my Thousand Astral Graves, the enhanced zombies lunged forward and ripped the hapless flower monsters apart. The Flora flailed about, stunned by the sudden increase in ferocity and strength of their prior victims. In seconds, the whole thing became a rout.

Not only were my enhanced zombies overpowering them in terms of brute strength, they were unleashing special abilities such as spawning new zombies or unleashing hellfire and Cocytus spells that bathed the forest in flame and ice. More Flora perished, unable to withstand such dread magic and aggression.

Within minutes, the tide had changed in our favor. So much so that several of my enhanced zombies bundled forward to surround and tear Asura apart.

”You think you can defeat me with these?”

Asura slashed at the first zombie, cleaving it apart, but the rest knocked him to the ground, pinning his sword arm and began tearing him apart. Asura regenerated, but the zombies were relentless and merciless, continually ripping and devouring him no matter how many times he healed himself. At this rate, he would run out of magical energy…

”Ha ha ha ha ha…”

I froze when I heard Asura's creepy laughter. Even in a situation of utter despair and pain, he hadn't fallen into panic, but was in fact amused?

”I never thought you would possess such an amazing ability…the power to buff your familiars, huh? Remarkable! Remarkable, indeed! Of course…I should have expected nothing less from a rival, from a fellow Chosen of her holiness Lyia!”

A burst of emerald flames blasted from his body, knocking my zombies over and sending them flying. Buffeted by the sudden shockwaves, I struggled to stay on my feet. I gritted my teeth and raised my head to watch a colossal torrent of green fire spike up into the heavens, even as the emerald inferno washed over the foliage.

”The Guardian is transforming?”

Even through the sickly, luminous emerald flames, I could see the shape of Asura's body shifting and distorting, growing in size. As the flames roared one final time before abating in a ferocious but harmless explosion, the smoke slowly dissipated to reveal Asura's new form.

My eyes widened when I caught sight of him.

”W…what the hell is this? You look completely different from before…”

Well, duh. That was why the process was called transformation, right?

My Absolute Appraisal kicked in and I stared at the blue holographic screen numbly, blinking as I tried to digest the new information.

Asura's Final Form: Blooming Buddha.

”Blooming Buddha?” I repeated dumbly, and then glanced at the colossal figure who now stood before me. Unlike the lean, feline-like armored figure from before, the new Asura resembled a gigantic sumo wrestler. Gone was his polymer armor and chainmail. Instead, thick green muscles rippled across his bulky body, allowing him to resemble the Incredible Hulk. A red tattoo of a lotus was imprinted on his bulging abdomen, and metal rings floated around both hands and his back, crackling with emerald lightning. He towered over me, reaching almost five meters in height.

”Goddess Evelyn…did that demon just grow into a ridiculous monster?”

”Blooming Buddha? It looks even more powerful than before!”

”Don't tell me…it was toying with us this entire time?”

The shrill voices of the living knights filled the air, even as they fought alongside their undead comrades. I paid no attention to them, my focus riveted on the Guardian's immense bulk. A hole opened up inside his chest, revealing a green fruit.

”Fellow follower of her holiness Lyia.”

His voice boomed across the battlefield, several times louder than before.

”Do you know what this is?”

”If I were to guess, the forbidden fruit of knowledge.”

Asura…no, the Blooming Buddha threw his head back and laughed.

”Indeed! As expected of a fellow seeker of knowledge. You really do not disappoint.”