The snake crashed down over Jai Long like a living lightning bolt.
Jai Chen screamed, but Kelsa had her perception locked onto him. They had weakened the technique, and a body forged in soulfire was tough. Jai Long dropped to his knees, and his skin was sliced all over…but he was alive.
Covered in blood and on the verge of losing consciousness, with severe spiritual damage, but alive. Even the Silent King’s halo was fuzzing to essence.
She let out a breath of relief, and at her side, so did Jai Chen.
Then every other controlled sacred artist on the street raised a hand and unleashed techniques.
All targeting Jai Long.
He looked up to see them coming, but he didn’t defend himself.
Earth erupted where he knelt at the same time as madra of every aspect crashed on his location. The constructs didn’t defend him; Lindon hadn’t left Jai Long any protection.
Jai Chen and Kelsa watched in numb horror as he died.
The scene was surreal. Kelsa wondered if she herself had been caught in an enemy’s illusion. Jai Long couldn’t die so easily. He had never told her the last of his secrets, the ones that weighed so heavily on his conscience.
Kelsa had told him he didn’t have to, but she’d been sure he was going to come around. After all, they had plenty of time.
Or so she had thought.
Now, before she’d realized it, their time had run out.
The constructs didn’t move until the Remnant, blue-white and serpentine, rose from the cloud of dust. Then, because it threatened the safety of their charges, they tore Jai Long’s Remnant into pieces and tossed the essence into the night sky.
Wei Shi Jaran held a spear pointed at the front door of his house in Serpent’s Grave. He could barely see his wife behind the shell of launcher constructs that floated all around her.
Both had been prepared to die in honorable combat since they were young. This…didn’t feel like honorable combat.
Jaran was certain that, if the protective scripts failed and the enemies came through the door, that he and Seisha would be wiped from existence in a second. It would take the direct intervention of the heavens for him to draw a single drop of blood with this spear.
Even so, he firmed his grip.
Light through the windows flashed as there came another assault on the dragon-bone building. Sacred artists surrounded them, all wearing crowns of white light, all focused on blasting a hole in the walls. And on reaching the two of them specifically, according to Lindon’s warning.
He had given them instructions, too. Sleep inside the scripted walls, and if they were besieged by enemies, activate a particular device.
They had followed what Lindon told them to do, mostly at Seisha’s insistence. Jaran still suspected Lindon had caused this situation somehow, but he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut about it.
The device—a tiny scripted key hanging from a string—had created a circular doorway in midair. At first, that had startled them both. There were too many strange things in there, including something that looked like a golden Remnant, though they hadn’t gotten a good look at it.
Lindon had been clear: do not go inside. So they stayed out.
But they weren’t sure what was supposed to happen. Lindon had only told them what to do and made it clear that this was a last resort.
Another barrage of Striker techniques lit up the sky and shook the ground, and Jaran steeled his spirit. Lindon’s defenses around the house couldn’t last much longer. They were trapped in a cage, and now they were going to die.
The launchers around Seisha drifted apart, revealing her grim face. “We can’t reach them out there. We’ll have to open the—”
She cut off as a Remnant shot out of the open gateway.
It was a long serpent wearing gold armor…and only after a quick examination did Jaran realize it was both armored in gold and covered in gold scales beneath. Though it was still a Remnant, so its every detail looked as though it had been painted onto the world in luminous colors.
The serpent turned to regard them, and while its eyes were only dots of light, Jaran thought it was looking down on them.
It spoke in a woman’s voice. “Are you Lindon’s parents?”
“Yes!” Seisha said immediately. “Please save us! Pardon, but we don’t have much time!” She was only glancing at the dragon spirit, most of her attention focused on the windows outside.
The ground shook again, but the dragon looked to the door. “Let me out. I’ll take care of this.”
Jaran delicately sensed the spirit’s power, and he had no word for it other than “strong.”