But he’d paid a price for it.
Red Faith coughed up a mouthful of blood and looked down at the hole in his stomach.
Rather than preserve itself, Redmoon’s Remnant had launched a technique against him. His loyal Archlady, Kahn Mala, ran up and caught Red Faith as he staggered.
“No…matter,” he spluttered out. “Will…heal.”
He couldn’t regenerate immediately as a Herald might, but he still had unparalleled control over his own body. Without superior blood authority to his own, the enemy would have to annihilate him to destroy him.
Even the Silent King-possessed Emissaries hadn’t recovered yet. The Sage’s bloody lips quirked up in a smile. This was a victory long in the making.
Without the awakening of the Phoenix, Redmoon would never have grown bold enough to challenge him. Then Red Faith wouldn’t have been granted this opportunity, this satisfaction…
The satisfaction immediately faded as he realized what he was sensing.
He and the Archlady looked up at almost the same time as the Phoenix’s cry echoed out again, and the moon flickered red.
The Blood Shadows of the fallen Emissaries gathered together in a swirling tide. Even the pieces Redmoon had left behind and some of Red Faith’s own power were added to the mix.
Kahn Mala unleashed her full power on the mass immediately, as did several of the other artists aboard. Red Faith was dedicating most of his concentration and spirit to keep his guts from spilling onto the deck, but he still wrestled with the aura around it.
It was no use. This was the level of blood authority that he had feared.
A moment later, a tiny phoenix—barely the size of a man—rose from the mass of blood on the deck.
The Dreadgod’s miniature avatar looked at Red Faith, and its liquid beak stretched into a cruel smile. The creature he had studied, whose development he had encouraged, was now biting the hand that fed it.
It was going to undo his life’s work. Just like that.
He could feel Yerin close by, pushing for advancement, and he spared a moment of irritation for her. She should have fled to preserve his greatest success.
Now, the Phoenix would surely destroy everyone here.
With his final breath, he would fight it.
The Sage of Red Faith pushed out with blood aura, shoving away all the humans around him. Then he stopped preserving his own body and gathered his nine daggers into formation, focusing his will and pushing his spirit onto the avatar of the Phoenix.
“Die,” he spat.
Then he unleashed everything he had into the Bleeding Phoenix.
Yerin felt Redmoon die, and she sensed the Phoenix manifest a small portion of itself onto Redmoon Hall.
The aura from the natural treasures around her died, the winds falling. Now nothing concealed the bodies of the Silent King thralls who had tried to attack her while she advanced. They had posed a threat to her while she was in the middle of advancement.
But not when she had finished. Then, they faced her new purpose.
“To kill monsters.”
Yerin was certain the Blood Sage was mortally injured, but she felt him squeeze out the last of his spirit to face down a copied Phoenix. They clashed.
Fresh out of advancement, Yerin’s mind was clear. Perhaps clearer than it had ever been.
The newborn Herald appeared on the deck of Redmoon Hall.
The small copy of the Bleeding Phoenix had morphed into something that resembled a storm of claws and blades. It was shredding Red Faith even as he responded in kind. Each cut on both sides sent blood and sword aura spraying into the air.
She could feel the sword aura resonating with her sword, and now she could feel a hum in the blood aura as well.
Yerin’s whole body rung like a bell, and the crimson vital aura resonated.
The tiny phoenix exploded.
It started gathering itself together immediately, but Yerin Forged the Netherclaw technique. More than ever, the binding in the sword felt smooth and simple to use.
The claw swept the deck clean, and the influence of the Phoenix faded.
With the battle finished, Yerin looked to the Sage…or what was left of him.
He resembled a bloody pile on the deck, and though he was still twitching, Yerin was certain he wouldn’t be able to pull himself together. Kahn Mala desperately poured a shining green elixir over him, but Yerin could feel it was too late.
Her black-bladed sword moved in front of the Archlady.
“Take three steps back unless you want to kiss his Remnant,” Yerin said.
Kahn Mala looked up in shock and horror. She seemed reluctant to move. But when scarlet lines began drifting up from the Sage of Red Faith, she saw reason.