Path of the Berserker

Still no rise out of her. Guess I needed to be more direct than stupid jokes.

“Before we start, I need to ask you a question,” I said, locking my eyes with hers. “Are you sure you want to do this, sis?”

The woman let out a little scoff. “Your vacant bravado does not impress This One. I know exactly what you are. A mere mortal commoner playing at games you do not understand. You should feel lucky to have your life taken by one such as I.”

“Is that right? And does ‘this one’ have a name?”

“I don’t share my name with dead men.”

I nodded. “I’m assuming Hein sent you then. Guess he’s a pussy, after all.”

I chuckled as I undid my overcoat, slowly peeling it off to reveal my fresh wound and the jagged scar across my ribcage. I idly mused that this might be a great opportunity to add some more scars to my collection, if I survived, that was. I did a quick check of my surroundings. The axe was a good ten feet away, firewood scattered all around me. We were in the middle of the street, just behind us a busted-up gas station and across from what looked to be a used car lot, full of half-torched vehicles.

“Fine,” I said. “Listen carefully, ‘nameless’ one. I’m not trying to impress you with bravado. I just want to be sure you know what you’re getting into. Because once I reveal what it is I truly am…I’ll have no choice but to kill you. Do you understand?”

I backed my words up with [Struggler’s Resolve] and I sensed a touch of fear finally bubble up within her. It was just enough to fortify my body with [Indifference] as I quickly converted her fear into Frenzy.

What I’d said was still mostly bullshit though. I had found new strength, but I didn’t know jack about how to fight. The most they taught us in Foundation school was some Tai Chi crap and maybe how to do a backflip, but I wasn’t good at either. This woman on the other hand was a trained assassin sent by Hein, a man who wanted me dead.

Truly the [Odds were Against Me].

As I completed the technique a well of Frenzy surged from within me and I used it to further bolster my defenses, reinforcing and hardening my skin while increasing the healing of my wound. I had no finesse, no skill. If I were going to kill her, it was going to be by brute force alone. And that was just fine with me.

“Go on then, if you’re so sure.” I grinned at her and prepared myself for death if this was to be the end. “I’ll let you take the first swing.”

There was a second of hesitation from her, fear and uncertainty increasing, but then with a blur she suddenly disappeared.

“[Third Heaven! Silver Cross Strike!]”

The words echoed with power and something flashed past me. Blood and pain erupted from my side as the woman reappeared several feet to my rear, her sword raised with the follow-through of her technique. A wound opened up deep in my side and I tasted more blood in my mouth, but I held my form with [Indifference]. She was much faster than I had expected and that martial attack was no joke either. Had I not advanced to the second stage of Body Hardening perhaps and fortified my skin with Frenzy, I doubt I would have survived it.

But survive I had.

The taste of blood cause something new to trigger within me, a new source of Frenzy emerging as the [Lust for Battle] kicked in. I let out a gleeful cackle and the woman looked at me like I was possessed.

“[My Turn], bitch!”

I grabbed the closest log and flung it at her with a huge burst of Frenzy.

It flew like a missile and her eyes widened with shock as she flashed to the side to avoid it. The log slammed into the door of a parked car behind her, making the entire thing bounce on its wheels and burst its windows as the piece of wood lodged halfway through the door with a massive crunch of metal.

Shit, I thought, amazing even myself.

The woman had a similar reaction, a bit of lemonade mixed with her fear as she glanced behind her. I used the opportunity to scramble to my axe, snatching it up just as several silver pins hit the ground around me, one of them piercing me in the back.

I howled with rage and pain as I dashed towards her, wild swings from my axe cutting the air ahead of me. She backed away from me with quick flashes of Qi, shooting needles at me the same time. I ignored them with [Indifference] as I pressed on, taking two right to the chest. I felt a sudden weakness inside, but somehow the surge of Frenzy and bloodlust kept me on my feet.

“Pathetic!” she said with a disdainful laugh, dashing past me with her movement techniques and slicing at my leg. The cut was painful but not deep. I kept after her and she did it again, while still throwing pins and cackling, toying with me I realized. Rage burned inside me, fueling me with more Frenzy as I growled and gave chase.

She dipped between the parked cars, forcing me to slow down. I yelled and cursed at her, jumping over the cars and pushing a couple of them out of the way with a massive kick, like I was breaking down a door.

She returned to the street then and still, I couldn’t catch her. After over a minute of chasing my Frenzy was starting to wear thin. She was playing smart. Keeping her distance while egging me on, waiting for me to tire out. I had to end the stalemate soon. Go for broke. All or nothing with no regrets. I delivered what was left of my Frenzy into my meridians to increase my speed and leapt into the air, targeting not where she was, but where I expected her to be with her next backstep.

“[Three-Log Chop!]”

I brought my axe down upon nothing, missing her by a hair. Shit! The asphalt exploded, sending rocks and debris high into the air as a spiderweb crack formed a five-foot crater around me. My axe was stuck in the ground and as I tugged on it, the woman disappeared again.

“[Fifth Heaven! Seven Point Strike!]”

The woman flashed around me faster than I could see, sharp pain coming from each slash of her blade. It was no taunting cuts this time. It was all I could do to try and maintain focus, sending my remaining Frenzy to my skin as my [Indifference] technique finally broke and failed. I cried out and dropped to one knee, clinging to my axe as pain exploded through my entire body. Weakness sapped my strength as blood poured from me like a stream, forming a pool at the bottom of the crater I’d made. The pain was enough to almost cause me to black out and I could feel numbness taking hold as my vision darkened.

No…not yet…I told myself. She’s still alive…you can’t stop…not until she’s dead…

“You have strength, I’ll admit,” the woman said as she suddenly reappeared about ten feet in front of me. Her statement caused a welcome bit of lemonade to flow from her and I gobbled it up hastily with [Your Fear is my Strength], but it was barely enough Frenzy to keep me alive. She then slowly unwrapped her head dressing, revealing her face. There was nothing remarkable about her, save for her eyes, which at this distance I could now see were a silvery gray and intense with focus.

“And you take a good beating as well,” she continued, “but you are as skill-less as a child playing with a toy.” Her tone then became smug with arrogance. “Do you know how many men I’ve killed, little boy? Men of both strength and skill? Foundation Realm cultivators much higher tier than my own have fallen to the quickness of my impeccable blade techniques. And here you, a mortal savage from a backwater seed world, would dare have the gall to declare that you shall be the one to kill me?” She flash-stepped forward, stabbing me twice through my chest in rapid succession before spitting right in my face. “You are not even worthy of death by my hand, you filthy worm!”

I tried to keep focus, my body trembling as I looked up at her. “Then why did you come? Did Hein promise to free you from his harem if you did this? Or, shit, with that ugly face, maybe you had to do it just for him to let you in.”

Anger exploded within her as her face twisted with rage. “Silence your filthy mouth!”

She wheeled on me in a flurry and I expected to feel the slice of her blade across my throat, but I felt the hard slap of her palm across my face instead. Blood spurt from my burst lip and I careened to one side with the force of the blow.

“You are not even worthy of knowing my name, you wretch.” She glowered at me as her rage seethed and I sucked up every bit that I could, replenishing my Flame. “But I will tell you, so that you know who ended your miserable little life and put you in your grave. I am Zu Tien of the Silver Leaf Clan, Inner Sect Practitioner and Tenth Blade of the Silver Shadows Enclave. I do this task for Young Master Hein not for his favor or honor, but only to regain my own and to restore my place at my true master’s side. This is the only reason that I have come to kill someone as weak and insignificant as you.”

The anger welling up within her was immense. There was some deep resentment there and I’d only scratched the surface it seemed, but it was more than enough for me. As I siphoned it from her, I regained a bit of my focus, but my body was failing me, perhaps even beyond repair, but I had to push on.

I had but one chance at this. She’d proven her superiority when it came to fighting and now I was near death if not dead already. The [Odds were Against Me] like never before. The thought caused a new surge of Frenzy within me, spewing up from somewhere deep inside my soul. I quickly diverted it into both speed and strength, steeling myself with [Indifference] as I dropped [Pain Soothes the Frenzied Flame] and allowed myself to feel the full brunt of my wounds. I nearly fell over from the pain, my breath becoming a labored wheeze.

“That’s a cool story, sis….” I strained to talk normally. My brain was on fire with the intensity of my wounds, each one a burning, pulsing volcano of pain. I opened my meridians to perform two techniques at once. I wasn’t sure if my body could handle it in my current state, but I didn’t care. I was probably dead anyway and this was the last thing I could do to try to ensure she ended up the same. “I’ll be sure to tell Hein that you died whining about your wounded pride like the little bitch you are.”

Her face contorted with a scowl of indignation and rage. “You insolent shit!”

The insult spiked her anger, creating the last bit of Frenzy I needed to let it all fly. I spun in a flash, using [My Turn] and [One-Chop Cleave] at the same time. The move surprised her, but she was quick enough to react at just the last second, but not quick enough to avoid the technique completely. My axe hit something hard and a horrified shriek filled the air as blood flew everywhere.

Zu Tien screamed again and again, staring in mortified disbelief at where her left hand used to be. Blood pulsed in streams from the twisted clump of bone and sinew that ended at her wrist. The sight caused a new rush of Frenzy within me as my [Lust for Battle] returned. I released a savage cry as I focused on nothing but killing her, my axe swinging wildly.

The woman’s pain and fright became my own, a new vigor filling my veins with Frenzy instead of blood. I caught her once more on the arm and then her side, before she stirred from her state of shock, and began defending herself with the sword still in her good hand. Sparks flew as our blades met, the force of my heavy strikes enough to make her wince and slide across the ground as she blocked them.

Every curse-filled statement she’d made returned to me, fueling me with more Frenzy from my own source of rage. I watched her face change from grimaces of pain to outright fear and terror as I wailed on her relentlessly, chopping at her again and again. An exhilaration filled me like never before, like the Demon within me had finally slipped free of the Struggler’s hold. The intoxicating rush of exceeding Frenzy. I was barely in control of my own thoughts, as I chopped with abandon. It was all the woman could do to block me with her blade, her martial skills as good as she’d said to keep up with the speed of my hacking.

Zu Tien finally seemed to come to herself, as if realizing she was in a battle of attrition she could not win and that she had other skills at her disposal. She disappeared in a burst of Qi, backstepping from me twice to put her about forty feet away. She stared at me a moment, a confused sort of shock on her face, as if unable to make sense of what had happened to her and how. Finally, she sheathed her sword and grasped her wrist to stem the flow of blood as she turned tail and ran.

“Come back, you bitch!”

I started after her, my inner Flame demanding her demise with hatred and bloodlust.

But it wasn’t just the Flame. She’d seen what I could do and there was no telling what that could lead to now. She moved with lightning speed, utilizing both Qi and qinggong, jumping up the side of a building and running across the roof. There was no way I could catch her.

I pointed the tip of my axe to her back instead and screamed as she disappeared into the night. “Know this, Zu Tien, you one-handed whore! You’ve been marked and I will finish what we started here today!”

My Flame stirred with the conviction of my words, the promise of her death strengthening my path. But if I was ever going to fulfil it, I somehow had to now stay alive.

Frenzy boiled within me in an amount I had never had before. I was sure it was the only thing holding me up, but it would dissipate in time and I was still a mile or so from home. I found my overcoat and took off running in a sprint, burning precious Frenzy while still trying to conserve what little I had left…just to stay alive.