Sword and Snow

The mood within the group soured as Avuri mentioned her brother’s name. She could feel Emery’s anger rolling off her in waves through their bond, which she had been expecting. Over the years since their wedding, they had both grown to resent her family more than ever.

She recognized that they probably fed each other’s growing hate for the Mephras every time they were mentioned. Emery simply couldn’t forgive them for the way they had treated Cierra, of course, but the way Avuri was treated by her own family is what really drove her hate. With her own background and family, Emery simply couldn’t accept the way Avuri had been treated.

Avuri, for her part, had begun to resent her family deeply after their confrontation after the wedding. It was mostly a quiet, seething hate that had festered over the years. Her family had not so much as reached out in any way to try to repair their relationship. Avuri wasn’t sure she would be able to forgive them even if they had truly shown remorse for what they had done, but the lack of any effort at all just made her hate them more.

Seeing Leon leading a group of Cultivators - from the rear, no less - toward their home was the last straw. There was no doubt in her mind that this was some kind of attack on them and their family. To what end, Avuri had no idea, but she wasn’t about to let it happen.

What did surprise her, though, was the anger and apparent rage that her cousins showed at the mention of her brother. Mica had gone quiet, but her expression was clearly that of someone also very angry.

Glenn and Cove both looked about ready to kill, too. Avuri wasn’t sure what had happened in the time between them returning home with their shared family and leaving for their Cultivation journey, but it had clearly not been anything good.

“If you have their location, we’ll break off from you here.” Vale said, breaking the strange atmosphere. “Be safe, all of you. And good luck.”

No one said anything, but he received six nods in response. He returned the gesture before the group of dragons veered off to the right, heading more toward the summit and the basin.

“What’s the plan?” Mica asked once the dragons had left them.

“We hit them hard and fast.” Avuri said. “When we get close, I’ll blast the whole group with ice and try to freeze as many of them as I can. I don’t think there were actually that many threats in the group - most were Earth Realm, and we’re all Sky.”

“You said Firmis and his team were there?” Ieji asked. “You’re sure they’re Sky Realm?”

“They’re definitely not Heavenly Realm, at least. I didn’t get that impression from any of them.” Avuri said. “They must have been stand-ins for the actual leaders, the same way we were.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” Mica muttered. “They looked as hesitant to fight there as we did. Knowing that they were playing a part and doing what they were told makes sense.”

“Either way,” Ieji said, pulling everyone back on track, “that means we presumably have, at a minimum, three competent enemies to deal with. I would assume more than that, though.”

“The fight is going to be a mess, no matter what we do.” Glenn said calmly. “We can try our best to avoid it becoming a random melee, but when we’re so outnumbered we don’t have a lot of options to engage.”

“I think Avuri is our best bet.” Emery said. “She may not be able to remove all of them from the fight, but if she can trap even half, our fighting ability goes way up.”

“Even if it’s just enough to remove all of the Earth Realm Cultivators from the fight, it’ll mean less distractions.” Cove agreed.

“Alright, that’s the whole plan, then. Avuri hits them hard as soon as we reach them, and we make it up from there. It’s not like any plans will last past that anyway.” Emery said.

“Got it.” Avuri said, resolving herself to make the opening move. “Everyone quiet now. We’ll be upon them in just a few moments.”

Avuri and Emery kept tracking the enemy group with their Domain as they led their own team toward the enemy. It took less than a minute for their group to crash into the enemy.

With Qi senses abound, Firmis and his team were prepared to meet them head on. They had formed up into a defensive formation, ready for Avuri and her group to ambush them. Those in the Sky Realm had unleashed their Domains which varied wildly in size. But Emery and Avuri could feel them as gaps in their combined massive Domain, giving them an accurate count and location of each Sky Realm combatant before they made visual contact.

“There’s only eight in the Sky Realm.” Avuri said loudly enough for her companions to hear.

“We should be able to blow away more than half of them on contact, then. Perfect.” Emery said.

And in the instant that they broke free from the trees, the two of them lashed out with Qi and their Domain. Combined, their Domain was typically able to exert more spiritual force than an average Sky Realm, but not to the level of a Heavenly Realm Cultivator. It did give them an advantage in an equal fight like this, however, as they were able to consistently keep enemy Domains restricted pretty close to the Cultivators’ body. In turn, it gave them more room to utilize their own Domain for combat.

Their opening gambit was as effective as they had hoped. Avuri pulled on their combined Qi, reinforcing her ice with thin wire made of Emery’s metal. The resulting ice was more resilient to shattering than normal, and difficult to break free of without causing damage to yourself in the process. Even if someone had the physical strength to simply break the ice, they would be cut by the fine steel wires running through it.

While the creation of the wire-reinforced ice was something that required some level of precision, the rest of her technique did not. Avuri simply brute forced her ice onto the entire battlefield, covering the entire area in a layer of icy frost that quickly began to grow and solidify. It took less than a few seconds before many of the potential combatants were entirely frozen over in solid ice.

There were a few among the opposing Cultivators that had prevented themselves from being frozen, but many were already being assaulted by the rest of their group.

Firmis had been recognized quickly by Mica, and she split apart from the group to engage him. Cove followed behind her to support her and deal with the few other Cultivators around Firmis that had remained unfrozen.

Ieji had chosen to leap straight into combat with Terrane, while Glenn moved to support them. Ieji was already moving quickly around Terrane, striking out with a wide variety of concealed weaponry that was apparently their preferred style. They were also deftly attacking the other Cultivators around them with thrown knives and needles, while Glenn kept them distracted. Thanks to the distraction, Ieji was able to land each throw with pinpoint accuracy to disable those weaker enemies quickly.

Avuri and Emery had moved to engage Leon as their primary target, who was also standing conveniently nearby to Quarris, the only other high priority target they knew they had. Another strong Sky Realm Cultivator could make themselves known, of course, and they would need to adjust accordingly.

As they each separated to try to avoid the fight becoming too much of a melee, Avuri drew on their Qi again to form barriers of ice to somewhat isolate each of their groups to avoid the larger force dogpiling on them one at a time. As the walls of ice went up, Emery prioritized defending Avuri as she focused on the large-scale technique while watching Quarris, Leon, and two others break themselves free of the ice that had clung to them from Avuri’s initial widespread attack.

Altogether, four opponents wasn’t bad for them.

Leon was in the back of the group, striking some kind of weapon against the ice that was clinging to his legs. It looked like a staff, but wasn’t the length of a traditional martial arts one. It was more like the length of a cane. Quarris and the two other Cultivators both appeared to be earth Qi leaning, and were moving the earth under their feet to dislodge the ice from the ground.

By the time they were free, Avuri had finished her large scale technique and was once again focused on the fight before her.

“Ivory.”

The name dripped from Leon’s mouth like sludge. The same sneer that was perpetually plastered on his face fourteen years ago was still in place. He looked a little bit older, but not significantly so, which likely meant he had put some effort into his Cultivation.

“Leon.”

Avuri and Emery spoke in tandem, their voices eerily mixing together. It was a very easy skill to use when they were connected through their Domain, and often made people uncomfortable. It was a neat trick in moments like these that they employed often.

“It’s not nice to see you again.” They said in unison. “I thought for sure you would have gotten the message when we broke your ribs last time. You’re not welcome here.” As they spoke the last sentence, they actively flared their Domain, blasting a quick gust of freezing wind at Leon and Quarris.

Leon raised an arm against the wind and stepped forward. “Oh, we got the message alright.” He spat. “‘Don’t come back.’” He mocked. “‘Strike me from the family record.’” He screwed up his voice in a poor attempt to sound like a whiney Avuri. It didn’t really work, and the lack of reaction from either of his targets seemed to just anger him more.

“Well, we came back to collect on your debt.” He sneered, motioning toward Quarris and her associates. “With interest.”

“Yeah, we heard about the two of you.” Quarris said, taking the chance to speak. She brushed off some of the remaining ice from her clothing while glaring at the other women. “Some sick women that protect a bunch of demon touched kids.” Quarris made a disgusted face and spat into the snow-covered ground. “Disgusting. The whole place should be cleansed.”

There was another flash of Qi as Avuri flash-froze a thin layer of ice across Quarris’ cheek. “Watch your tongue,” Avuri spat.

“Or you won’t keep it for very long.” Emery finished for her wife, as she reached to the side while creating several weapons in the air behind her. It was mostly swords that appeared behind her in the air, but a spear appeared in her hand. She swung it forward and took a fighting stance, pointing the blade toward Quarris. The blades behind her arrayed themselves as four took aim at Leon, and four each aimed toward the other two Cultivators.

Quarris laughed. It was a maniacal thing, and looked to even disturb Leon somewhat. As she leaned forward into a bestial stance to face Avuri and Emery down, she stomped. It shook the ground around her and stone spikes shot up from the ground randomly around her, shattering the ice on the ground where they broke through.

“Your weapons and ice don’t scare me.” She said, as dirt and stone rose from the ground to wrap itself around her ankles and slowly climb its way up her body like ivy. Her fellows were following suit with a similar technique. “You better start praying, ladies, because you’re about to meet your maker.”

When Quarris and Leon flared their Qi, Emery and Avuri lashed out as one with their own Domain. Ice rushed across the ground in large icicles, the sharp ends protruding straight toward their enemies, while Emery’s swords darted toward their intended targets.

As everyone sprung into motion, the fight began in earnest.