Path of the Berserker

Kelsey gave Lee the longest and sweetest kiss the morning she headed off into the wild. It was still dark out, just before sunrise when she had left, but now over seven hours later, the sun was bearing down on her with the heat of the afternoon.

Sweat drenched clothes chaffed her skin under the strain of the enormous pack on her back. How Max managed to carry a wagon load of goods each time still baffled her. Even with [Mark of the Giant] the most she could manage was something the size of a large suitcase or duffle bag.

Still the supplies she carried within it were important.

Qi infused herbs and medicines and more literature for June to teach Yee.

Aside from that there were a few other treats such as steamed buns and fruits.

Kelsey had wanted to get back home a lot sooner, but she had kept her promise to Fia and went to auction with some of her father’s wares. The first item ended up being a spear that had a tip that sparkled like diamonds. With a little help from Lee, who went through the crowd whispering rumors that someone was selling one of Master Hei Dong’s prized pieces, the bids at the auction skyrocketed.

The final price ended up being over 3000 spirit stones.

When she finally handed the money over to Fia, she looked as if she were about to cry. Kelsey still didn’t understand all the nuances of Yee society, but she knew what she had done meant a lot to Fia, and in extension a lot to Max as well.

She was glad she could help and promised to do more once she returned, but now it was time to address her own challenges. Images of that giant creature she had seen that night still haunted her and the closer she got to the bunker the more she started to pray that everything would be alright.

But Kelsey was more worried for her now.

The thought spurred Kelsey on.

Even though her Dantian was nearly dry, she pressed through the pain, cultivating what she could from it to keep going. It was settling towards late afternoon when she finally reached the edge of Venja’s barrier and the harmonics of her pure Frenzy resonated within her soul.

A while later she approached the log wall of the perimeter and the main gate to the village.

Still looks intact, she thought.

A good sign.

Nothing had broken through the barrier here.

But that didn’t mean that it perhaps didn’t happen somewhere else.

She used the last of her strength to holler for someone to open the main gate.

A few moments later the familiar face of Corporal Andrews peered over the top.

“Kelsey, is that you, gal?” He gave her a huge grin. “Been a while! I hope you brought us good stuff!”

His jovial greeting put her at ease and when she finally got inside the gate she was greeted with a lemonade-filled welcome from Andrews and the rest of his security team. These were men she had fought demons with and although she was stronger than all of them, it was still hard for her to view them even as equals when she was just a kid to them for her entire life. Now they revered and respected with adoration. As much as Max even.

Their own home-grown superhero.

“Any problems?” she asked, hiding the embarrassment of their attention with [Indifference]. “Breaches in the barrier?”

“Only problem has been my lack of pork buns,” Andrews said. “I hope you bought some.”

She laughed at that.

Thank goodness everything was okay.

But now that she was sure that home was secure, she had to get to her next reason for returning.

She needed to train.

“My mom gets first dibs,” Kelsey said with a grin. “After that, it’s a free for all.”

She left Andrews and headed through the fields now budding with early crops of potato and corn. The spring harvest was coming along nicely and in no small part due to the handful of residents who were now budding Qi cultivators.

Most were kids close to Kelsey’s age and she waved to them as she passed by. They responded with excited yells and lemonade just like the soldiers and Kelsey accepted their gifts of adoration as she cultivated to replenish her Frenzy starved Dantian.

By the time she reached the town center and the entrance to the bunker, half the community was following her. Only when her mother finally emerged from the crowd did she stop telling stories of her adventures and rushed to her for a long embrace.

“Mom!”

Despite being a Berserker who could slay demons and monsters, coming home made her feel like just a kid again. Kelsey’s heart warmed in her mother’s embrace, thankful that she was okay.

“I was worried to death,” her mother, Susan, said. “Why did you stay away for so long? You were supposed to be back over a month ago! We all had no idea what had happened to you. Where were you?”

Kelsey sighed.

I guess being a kid again has its drawbacks too, she thought with chagrin.

“I know, I’m sorry, mom. Things got a little complicated.”

“Complicated how? Did you get hurt? Did you get into trouble? What do you me—?”

“Just glad you’re back safe, kiddo.” Colonel Harris cut her mom off with a smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “What’s going on back there?”

“A lot,” Kelsey said, thankful for the interjection.

She then spent the next half an hour filling them all in while she unpacked the goods. Max’s departure, the Bird Sisters being put in place as Vice Wardens and of course their new laws that caused had the upheaval in all their lives.

“It’s all pretty messed up right now,” Kelsey said. “I’m the only one the Terran Sect can rely upon to protect them now so I can’t be away for too long. Even just being here now I’m taking a risk.”

“When will you have to go back?” her mother asked.

“Soon,” she said. “Like tomorrow.”

Susan frowned. “Kelsey, your home is here. You can’t treat us like a pit stop.”

“No, mom,” Kelsey said gently and took her hands into her own. “Our home is there. Our real home. And I need to get back there to make sure it’s still there when you all are finally able to come with me.”

Mom pressed her lips together but didn’t say anything.

“Well, you’d know better than us,” Harris said. “And Max?”

“Got a letter from him. He seems to be doing okay. Haven’t written him about all this other stuff yet, though. Fia thinks maybe we shouldn’t, so he doesn’t worry too much, but I don’t know.”

“She’s probably right,” Harris said. “But a man out in the field needs to hear from his loved ones.”

“And the opposite is true,” Mom said. “I just need to know that you’re alright when you’re back in that city.”

Kelsey smiled with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “Mom, are you kidding? It’s me you’re talking to here. They’d better watch out for me!”

That at least got a little laugh out of her.

Kelsey spent the rest of the afternoon reuniting with her family, sharing in a big meal they prepared in her honor. After they were done, it was the perfect time for her to get to what she had truly come for.

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It was after dusk and the Bloodmoon was on the rise.

Kelsey was dead tired and running on fumes, but she didn’t have much time.

Evey moment had to count.

Returning to the center of the square, Kelsey slid Venja from out of her slot in the broken concrete and then sat in lotus position and placed the giant blade on her lap. Focusing her mind’s eyes, she looked inwardly.

Darkness greeted her.

And then, like looking in a mirror, she saw herself.

A perfect image.

Except she was Blue.

Next to her Blue self was something that still unsettled her.

The red form of her demonic alter ego.

She was nearly twice Kelsey’s height, a body packed full of muscles and claws.

The demoness leered back at her.

Tempting her.

Kelsey quickly tucked into her Struggler form instead.

When she opened her eyes and breathed in the ‘air’ within her spiritual inner self, the demon was gone. But replacing her was another figure that was even taller than her demon form, packed with muscle and gray skin.

“Vee!” Kelsey said excitedly.

Venja merely smiled. “So…I sense you enter my domain almost four hours ago and it takes you this long to come and say ‘hi’?”

Kelsey blew her a raspberry. “Please, I’d rather face your wrath than my mom’s. You know how pissed she would be if I ran straight to the giant sword? Plus, no one understand you’re a person, y’know?”

Venja harrumphed. “Ignored as always. If only Max were here. He knows how to treat a sword properly.”

“Easy,” Kelsey said. “Or I’ll take you into the woods to chop trees.”

Venja laughed and finally gave her an embrace. “It’s good to see you again, Kelsey. What news of Max?”

“He’s okay, I think,” Kelsey said. “But we haven’t heard much. I’m hoping no news is good news.”

“I see,” Venja said. “And yourself? It’s been a while. I sense you haven’t grown much spiritually since you’ve left.”

“Yeah, that’s part of why I’ve come,” Kelsey said. “I’m getting tons of martial training preparing for the Iron Bracket, but there hasn’t been much opportunity to cultivate. And there’s something new that popped up that I’m hoping maybe you can help with.”

“Oh?”

“Have you sensed anything different about the demons lately?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like have they been more aggressive?”

She folded her arms across her chest looking upward in thought. “The moon has been stronger. Even now I can sense its strength. But the demons having been more active. Perhaps even the opposite. I sense less of them at night.”

“Less?” Kelsey said. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. Especially recently. Why?”

Kensey pondered that for a moment. “Back in the city, they are attacking the barrier like crazy. Almost every night. Two nights ago, I saw something within them. Something huge. An awakened demon, I think. I could swear I could hear the thoughts of I’Xol’Ukz itself coming through it.”

“I have certainly not sensed anything like that,” Venja said.

“Anyway, it sensed me,” Kelsey said. “And I swore to kill it. So, you know what that means, right?”

Kelsey grinned and Venja rolled her eyes.

“More wiping you ass, you mean?”

Kelsey laughed. “If you don’t mind. I need to train my [Soul Shield] technique to be able to survive outside the barrier long enough to fight and kill that thing.”

Venja frowned. “That’s quite dangerous to do alone, Kelsey. Max isn’t here to guide you in the darkness with his Flame and I’ll be too far away from you to help once you step outside the barrier. You’ll be on you own.”

Kelsey bit her lip as she thought on it.

It was the same though she’d been chewing on the in back of her mind the whole way here.

She needed to cultivate under the Bloodmoon.

But how was she to do it solo?

Maybe I could just chance it, she thought.

But if she went too far, stayed too long, she’d be lost in her demon form forever.

“Yes, forever,” Venja said, echoing her thoughts.

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Damn, I hate when you do that, Vee.”

Venja laughed. “No hiding your thoughts from me in here.”

Kelsey blew out a sigh.

Think, think…

“There has to be a way,” she said.

And then suddenly, it hit her.

Venja smiled even before she could.

“Ah,” she said. “You have an idea.”

* * *

Kelsey hefted Venja high into the air and then placed her gently within the bellow of the wagon. She then grabbed her own weapon from the ground, clenching the Cursed Streel handle of her axe within her hand.

Colonel Harris looked at her with a mixture of amazement and confusion as did the small squad of soldiers with him. She supposed it was still a shock to see a teenage girl lifting a four-hundred-pound sword and a hundred-pound axe with such ease.

“You want us to do what now?” Harris said.

“Okay, I need strict timing on this,” Kelsey said, explaining for a second time. “I’m going to run out to the edge of the barrier. It will take me a few minutes to get there. When I do, I’m going to shoot a bolt of lightning into the sky. That will be your signal to start counting. Once you reach sixty seconds, push the wagon fifty feet in the direction I went. Got it?”

“What’s this supposed to do?” Harris asked.

“It’s too much to explain, but trust me, my life will depend on it. So please don’t screw up.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Harris said. “I think I better call your mother.”

“Please, she won’t understand. And I know you barely do, but I trust you guys not to mess up. You’re army strong right?”

She grinned and Harris shook his head.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ve trusted you to do worse. Just don’t die out there or your mother will kill me.”

“Thanks guys!” she said, excitement filling her. “Watch for the lightning and remember, not a second too slow!”

She touched Venja briefly. “Wish me luck.”

Good luck, Venja’s voice sounded within her head. And don’t push it!

Harris and his men wished her good luck as well and she took off for the edge of the barrier. Nerves filled her stomach, flashing into Frenzy they touched her Flame. She looked up at the Bloodmoon now partial covered in by clouds.

She was about to do something either totally brilliant or monumentally stupid.

Kelsey was sure her Big Bro, would be proud either way.

“This one’s for you Max Choon…”

She psyched herself up as she approached the barriers edge and just like Venja had said, she didn’t see a demon in sight.

“What the heck?”

She was just about to retrace her steps to see if she had miscalculated the edge when a snarl ripped the air. From out of nowhere a seven-foot-tall demon with stunted wings slammed into an unseen wall before her. Its appearance was so sudden and unexpected that it caused her to jump.

A few seconds passed and another demon appeared.

Then another.

And then a horde of them came scrambling out of the forest like someone had just rung a dinner bell.

“Son of a bitch,” she swore.

These things were waiting for me!

Waiting to kill me.

The thought caused her Flame to flare, the spiritual root of her Dao igniting.

“You murderous pieces of shit…” Frenzy surged as she focused on their demise. “Come try and kill you if you can!”

She leapt into the midst of them with a cry of fury, bolstering her body with [Iron Skin]. It was so long since she’d been able to cut loose freely and the [Lust for Battle] all but overwhelmed her. Blood flew as her axe cleaved through several demons at once, and she laughed with [Indifference] as their claws raked against her skin ineffectually.

Then suddenly she felt it.

The squeezing pressure of Dark Frenzy on her soul.

She immediately channeled [Soul Shield] and the technique lit up around her Flame to protect it. But already she could feel the toll it was taking on her near empty Dantian. It was a risk to even attempt this while so low, but she had to last only sixty seconds until—

Oh shit!

“The signal!” Kelsey cleaved through another demon and then Summoned her Frenzy to shoot a bolt of lightning straight into the sky.

Damn, how much time did I lose?

10 seconds?

12?

20?

She had no idea.

She could make a run back for the barrier while she still had her senses.

The thought lasted all but half a second.

Screw that…

You didn’t get strong by being a pussy.

She’d messed up on the timing, so the [Odds were Against Her] now.

That caused fresh Frenzy to spew from her Flame just as the limits of her [Soul Shield] technique began to flicker. She strained to maintain it while fighting the demons as they surged in like a tidal wave. She was just about to channel [Mark of the Demon] to match their ferocity, but as her vision began to shrink and tunnel she knew she didn’t have to.

The Demon was already taking control.

Stay with it, Kelsey, she told herself. Struggler don’t fail me now.

She saw the small image of her Blue self in the darkness as her vision shrunk to a pinprick. She was in the spiritual realm now. Like clockwork the haunting screeches of the unknown invaded her mind.

She entered her [Spectral Body] and used her spewing Frenzy to summon her axe in [Spectral Weapon] form. She couldn’t maintain this for long. But that was the point. Only by pushing herself past her limits could she grow any stronger.

A flash of tentacles crossed her vision.

She swung her axe, but was too slow.

Bastard…

“Show yourself, I’Xol’Ukz! I’m not afraid of you!”

Horrid screeches filled the air.

Amusement.

~Thou are but a whelp. Still, thy hubris spawns contempt~

From the darkness it emerged.

The embodiment of Dark Frenzy itself.

The tentacle creature filled with countless eyes.

Eyes that spelled the horror of the Stars.

~Wouldst though perhaps make a vessel? Nay. Thou art a husk to be snuffed out. For mine vessel shall be pure. Perish Cursed Demon of the Treacherous Flame~

The words shook her soul and she cried out with pain as they violated her spirit.

“No!” she screamed, but her [Soul Shield] had already faltered.

The tentacle wrapped about her [Spectral Body], ripping into the flesh of her very soul with the piercing gaze of their star-shot eyes. Visions of madness invaded her psyche. Armies of demons, millions strong.

A world crying out.

Injustice.

Salvation lost.

Indignation.

Defiance!

A brilliant yellow Flame emerged to consume the demons.

They cursed it.

~The great betrayer.~

~The Traitor of the One True Fla—

Kelsey awoke from the vision with a scream of sheer terror.

She found herself in a fetal position, rocking and still screaming.

She couldn’t control herself.

And then, like waking from a dream, the remnants of the visions evaporated from her mind, replaced with the soothing harmonics of Pure Frenzy.

“Vee,” Kelsey said weakly and then felt suddenly sick as the tar clogging her Flame sough pervade her very soul. She dragged herself from the ground, her body covered in deep wounds and blood.

It was a rough one.

But she had survived.

More than that, she felt she had gained something.

Something important.

But she couldn’t remember it now.

Whatever it was.

The demons hissed and wailed at her from behind the barrier, but about her feet Kelsey saw the damage she had done to them as well. Not less than a hundred demon corpses were now smoldering in the effects of Venja’s barrier.

Kelsey grinned, the Demon within satisfied.

“Quite the shitshow,” Kelsey muttered as she turned from the demons and began limping back towards Venja and the town. “But it worked.”

She had indeed done it.

She had found a way to cultivate the Bloodmoon on her own.

Well, mostly on her own.

Painful as it was, she would have to push herself again.

To face the darkness and terror.

To grow stronger.

Kelsey then paused to look up at the moon.

“Strong enough to kill you all one day.”