Path of the Berserker

Blue Rose stood firmly at attention at the front of the assembly as the gong sounded, and the music of the imperial anthem began to play. It was the two-week deployment rotation, the general assembly that ushered in new recruits, sent new legionnaires to the Hell Worlds and brought the victorious one’s home. Although in this case, it was closer to nearly four weeks now.

When news had come that Max’s deployment had been delayed, it came as somewhat of a sign to Blue Rose, that the universe was giving her yet more time to prepare. And so, she had done just that. Utilizing the drawing Max had left her, she trained doubly hard to increase her spiritual endurance.

The first few days, looking at the horrific drawing had plagued her with vivid nightmares and flashbacks to when she’d nearly lost her mind in the desert during the final exam. And without Max’s help she certainly would have. But now his help was aiding her to build her own strength to combat the effects of the Demonic Qi exerted by the Bloodmoon.

With the extra time of being delayed, she retook her final exam and passed with ease.

Now she stood with pride at the head of the assembly, awaiting the return of Max’s deployment to start her own. Deep down she wondered if Max would still be able to keep his promise to her. To join her on her deployment.

She knew he had to get home though.

To see his future wife and start his family.

But in a way she wouldn’t even mind if he couldn’t join her.

Max had given her a gift in more ways than one.

She had now found her own strength and confidence to challenge the Hell Worlds on her own. A part of her was beaming with inner pride, eager to show him just how much stronger she’d grown since he had left.

Not that she wouldn’t mind his company, of course.

But the weakness that had plagued her to need it, was now gone.

Still, she couldn’t wait to just see him again period.

Not as a savior or protector.

But simply a dearly missed friend.

President Tzu Li Zen finally entered the assembly from the back of the square to perform his inspection of the various ranks and Robes on display within Du Gok Bhong.

Butterflies of excitement and anticipation roiled within her stomach.

She still couldn’t believe this day was finally here.

As President Tzu Li Zen passed by and gave his final inspection, she braced herself even firmer, but sadly he didn’t pause to spend much time inspecting their platoon. A brief glance was all he gave, his mind seemingly elsewhere with preoccupation or stress.

It was an unusual demeanor for him and the look of it caused a ripple of apprehension to course through her soul. The hastiness continued as he gave his usual commencement speech to the new Grey Robes who had survived the gauntlet and when he finished, she waited in anticipation for the next part of the ceremony.

“Tributes,” Tzu Li Zen said. “As is our custom, on every second week, we hold this assembly to not only welcome our new cohorts, but to welcome home those who have served their final tours as fully blooded Legionnaires. Legionnaires of the 28th Deployment of the 5,073rd campaign, step forward and give report!”

Her heart pounded with excitement and anticipation as she eagerly awaited to see Max step on stage, but then the pounding of her heart turned to fear, as all she saw appear was Jei Su Long.

What the hell? Where was he? Where was Max?

Fear continued to grip her soul as the blue-haired bastard stepped on stage now wearing the jade trimmed robes of a full-fledged legionnaire and when he bowed to the president, he had the slightest smirk of superiority upon his face.

“High Marshal, I, Senior Commander Jei Su Long of the 28th Deployment gives this report of our endeavors on the Hell World of Fhae I’ang,” he said. “Zero gates destroyed and 9,855 taels of aetherite crystal recovered.”

Senior commander?

Blue Rose waited for the other shoe to drop.

For Max and the rest of the platoon to emerge.

Clearly, this had to be some powerplay by Jei Su Long to hog all the glory of the announcement. No way Max would not have survived. She pushed the thought out of her head immediately as the ceremony proceeded.

“Well done, 28th Deployment,” Tzu Li Zen said almost solemnly. “Assembly… congratulate the deployment on their success.”

A measured round of applause was given, but nowhere near the usual level of celebration and enthusiasm for a returning deployment. As Blue Rose glanced up and down her own platoon, she could see her colleagues shared the same looks of concern.

What the hell had happened out there?

“May the 29th Deployment step forward,” Tzu Li Zen said and Blue Rose was still so shell-shocked she nearly forgot to advance with the rest of her platoon. “Assembly, hail the 29th Deployment of the 5073rd Campaign. Give them your praise, respect and honor!”

Everyone in the assembly thrust their right fist into the air and began shouting the commencement chant as one. “To those who now face the Hell Worlds of the Cursed Stars, we the assembly of Tributes salute you! May we too one day tread the path of death and sacrifice ourselves for the glory of the Empire. Go a mortal and return a god!”

Blue Rose couldn’t feel the power and conviction of those words right now.

Her soul was bleeding with anxiety and dread.

Her mind didn’t want to acknowledge was she knew the lack of Max’s presence meant.

No, she thought. This didn’t just happen.

This isn’t happening!

“All of you remain here,” Chief Yora said as the assembly broke. “The President wishes to speak with you all personally.”

“What’s going on, Chief?” Blue Rose said. “What happened to the Iron Bull?”

Chief Yora’s eyes shifted down toward the ground and then to the side. “All will be explained in a moment. Remain in form.”

Blue Rose did so, suppressing the dread and anxiety building in her gut.

Her eyes watered.

She felt like she was about to throw up.

The President approached them, joined by Jei Su Long and another man she didn’t recognize, but by his robes and blue hair, he clearly had to be some senior member of Jei Su Long’s clan.

“29th Deployment,” Tzu Li Zen said. “This is Governor Tai Su Long of the Twin River Clan, the chief benefactor of Du Gok Bhong. He joins us here to apprise you of an anomaly which took place during the last deployment. The information you are about to receive is strictly confidential and should not be repeated, but because it will impact your deployment, you are being made aware. Governor?”

More apprehension filled her as Tzu Li Zen stepped to the side to make way for the governor. His introduction too had been given with a lackluster nature as his commencement speech earlier.

As if he didn’t want to say much, or anything at all.

“Graduate Legionnaires of the 29th deployment.” The governor acknowledged them with a short dip of his head. “I bring unsavory news about the 28th deployment. There was a plot that was uncovered, but sadly too late before the damage was already done. My, nephew, the Senior Commander was the only one to survive.”

The words hit her like a thunderbolt.

There it was.

The confirmation.

Max was dead.

No… She shook her head reflexively, rejecting the notion.

She didn’t want to believe it.

Couldn’t believe it.

“How?” she said, her voice cracking. “What happened to all of them?”

“I shall let the senior commander explain,” Governor Tai Su Long said. “Commander?”

Jei Su Long stepped forward to address them. “It appears the Iron Bull, who you all adored so much and put so much faith in, was against all of us from the very start.” He paused to shake his head as if in disappointment. “When I ventured to the Hell Worlds, I found the Iron Bull had slain his entire platoon and then sought to kill me. Thankfully I was strong enough to defeat him, but on his body, I found evidence, in the form of a letter, of a plot to return as the sole legionnaire, in order for his world to receive the imperial benefit alone.”

Her disbelief quickly turned to anger as she stared at Jei Su Long.

“What?” she blurted out despite herself. “You killed the Iron Bull? How?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“He was weak,” Jei Su Long said, glancing at her with a smile. “And I was stronger.”

That son of a bitch.

She wanted to say more, but she held her tongue.

What treachery had he wrought? What had he done to achieve this?

No way Max would have done anything like what he’d said.

Although she did recall reading that letter from the princess that he’d gotten.

Surely, he wouldn’t have gone through with it.

And then something else struck her.

She wanted to say more, but she read the circumstances. Now wasn’t the time. Whatever Jei Su Long had done, he had convinced everyone of his story, and his alone. Anger and rage seethed within her soul as the reality was slowly setting in. Max was gone and this bastard was responsible somehow.

But he couldn’t have killed him directly.

He was far too weak and cowardly for that.

Her anger built as her hands curled into fists, but then suddenly, her heart broke.

The realization hit her again.

Despite how it happened.

Max was now gone.

She choked out a sob as her eyes teared. Damn it, Max… what the hell happened to you out there?

“Due to this transgression,” Tai Su Long said. “My Nephew will be accompanying your platoon as its senior commander to ensure no further anomalies occur. I shall leave it to your president to ensure that the Iron Bull’s name is not retained within the history of this grand institution. Were he still alive, the punishment for such treason would be execution. That is all.”

“You’re dismissed,” Tzu Li Zen said dispassionately, like he himself didn’t want to be here. “Prepare now for your deployment. The skiff will leave in thirty minutes.”

As the assembly broke, Blue Rose immediately rushed to Chief Yora.

“I need a word please, Chief.”

“What is it?”

“He’s lying,” Blue Rose said. “Jei Su Long. He’s lying.”

Her eyes widened and she immediately pulled her to the side. “Do not say such things openly. The man and his uncle stand just over there.”

“What he said does not make sense,” Blue Rose said.

Yora sighed. “Not much of this does, but it’s the reality we have to accept.”

“I mean more than what happened to the Iron Bull,” Blue Rose said. “I have proof Jei Su Long is lying.”

“What do you mean?”

“That evidence he spoke of,” she said. “The letter. There is no way he found that on the Iron Bull’s body.”

“What?”

“The letter exists, but Jei Su Long confiscated it from him months ago during training. And it does indeed say what he says, but no way Max would carry out such a deed. Besides his honor, he hates his princess.”

“Max?” Yora said.

“Sorry, the Iron Bull,” she said, realizing not many referred to him as such. “If Jei Su Long was so weary of a plot, why did he not disclose that letter to you or the president earlier. Clearly, he must have liked the idea himself and is now perpetrating this fraud to clear himself as the sole survivor and benefactor while blaming the Iron Bull.”

“Quiet now,” Yora said in a hushed whisper as her eyes shifted to something behind her. “He approaches.”

Blue Rose stiffened as she turned to face Jei Su Long.

“Ah, Blue Rose,” he said with another cold smile. “So fateful for you to be joining me on this tour. I must extend my condolences on the Iron Bull. I know you two were estranged lovers or something, but clearly now I hope you can appreciate that the man was a fraud in all his ways.”

Deep anger and resentment burned within her soul, but she took a page out of Max’s book and would not give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing it on her face.

“Never lovers,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Max was my friend.”

Jei Su Long raised his brows in mock surprise. “Oh, I see. Well, it matters little now. The man is dead. But fear not, I will ensure your safety on your tour of the Hell Worlds, Blue Rose. You just ensure, that you are assembled on time.”

And with that he left, hands behind his back.

The rage returned and she would have given anything to plunge a dagger into his skull.

“Easy with those eyes,” Yora said. “The killing intent within them is palpable even without the Qi.”

“Please, you must believe me,” Blue Rose said, turning back to her. “Something is not right here. You can confirm my story with Tu’lok. He was there with us when Jei Su Long confiscated the letter.”

Yora sighed. “It’s okay, I believe you. I’ll mention what you said to the President, but I’m afraid Jei Su Long is still correct in the long run. There is little that can be done for now. Play things smart, Blue Rose. I understand you may wish revenge, but an assassination will not go unnoticed, nor uninvestigated. And this proof of yours would look very weak in retrospect, if that occurs.”

Blue Rose nodded, taking the words of wisdom from the Chief like a whisper from heaven. Her mind had already been busy calculating how she could quickly and quietly kill that bastard while enroute to the Hell Worlds, but that would raise more suspicions than anything, just like Yora had said.

“You should focus on yourself,” Yora said. “That boy betrays his intentions as plainly as you do. Watch your back out there. All of you.”

* * *

I stretched and flexed as I went through my calisthenics routine.

My body was bathed in sweat from the three-hour long workout, but I could feel my full strength finally returning like never before. It was now day five of my demon meat only diet and I had to say, the results were nothing short of phenomenal.

I stuck to the scorpions mostly because they actually tasted good and were somewhat easy to round up and kick down the hole. And just one of them could feed me for a couple of meals. I did eventually manage to snag one of the tentacle rays on day three.

The meat turned out to be a lot less flavorful than the scorpions and was chewy to boot, but it was a lot hardier and chowing down on one of them kept me full for longer. My appetite was ravenous once I started eating regularly, which I guess was my body’s natural response to shifting out of starvation mode. By day four I was eating two whole scorpions a day to stay full.

The whole thing reminded me of this ‘carnivore diet’ my dad had tried for a few weeks to lose weight. My mom had been totally against it—said he would give himself a heart attack or something from all the cholesterol. He argued with her about it constantly, but then quit on his own after about a month anyway.

“Ain’t worth giving up my beer,” he’d said.

I chuckled at the thought now.

He was probably right about that.

But for me, thankfully I had no such luxuries to be tempted by.

And the results were now showing for themselves.

Instead of losing weight, however, I was gaining it by the day, quickly returning to my normal physique. I wasn’t sure if it was the demon meat itself, or the fact that my body was healing from the worst thrashing of its life, but now that I had the fuel to fully heal, I was feeling beefier and stronger than ever. After just a day I could lift my weapons again and with them I practiced not only my martial forms but my Frenzied Techniques as well.

But it wasn’t just my body that had repaired itself.

My mind was working better now too.

Even though I was training my spirit and soul when I was down by the pool, I had no clue how much brain fog I’d been stumbling through thanks to the reduced calories. After eating that first scorpion, I had the strength to truly explore the cavern in my physical body and to my delight I discovered that my pack had bounced down a small crevasse and was dangling by its straps.

Finding that thing had felt like the damn Fourth of July to me.

Rooting through it, I found my water canteen, a stash of real food and even my writing implements I’d promised Chief Yora I would use to capture the unseen monsters of the Hell World. I used the jerky sparingly as a condiment and seasoning, which sent my meals to the next level. The pack itself was helpful to filter the muddy water from the pool and turn it into decent tasting stuff that I stored in my canteen.

After that life was looking up in many ways.

I had the strength to train physically during the day, and also to study the cultivation manual to further hone my [Spectral Projection] technique. By night, I kept watch on the sky for the next deployment.

I truly had no idea just how long I’d been down in the cavern, but it had to be over two weeks by now. I feared that perhaps I’d missed the next drop, which filled me with a bit of dread.

That would be the 29th Deployment.

After that would come the 30th. That would be the final drop on the Hell World of Fhae I’ung before they rotated to a different planet. If I missed that, it would be all over. Another deployment would not visit Fhae I’ung for another year and who knew where the drop zones might change to.

Even now I knew they probably changed the drop zones already.

With that bastard Jei Su Long reporting a total loss, they would assume it an unsafe drop zone, despite us clearing out five gates and making it the safest drop site on the planet. From my study of the records in the archives at Du Gok Bhong, the standard procedure was to deploy about a hundred miles from the last failed drop with a rotation back to the initial drop zone on the final deployment. That meant I needed to be ready to assist the next deployment wherever and whenever it came down.

That kept me keeping one eye on the sky every single night.

The other I kept on my drawing pad as I sketched the new creatures I’d seen.

Those tentacle-rays were one of them, but I had no idea what their true name was.

Their demonic name.

But I was sure the larger aetherite crystals of this planet would know.

If I could find one large enough, perhaps it would be inhabited by an actual conscious spirit that I could communicate with—just like my legionnaire Berserker predecessor, the Imperial Marshal Wi Chu Lou, had done.

It was that thought that stuck in my head as I was about to get some sleep while the Curse Star rose on the surface. I’d been busy improving my physical self, but now that I was back into shape, I could turn my attention to more spiritual matters again.

And those voices I’d heard from the first time I started digging still haunted me when I returned to the pool for water. I had to find out what it was. It had to be a massive aetherite crystal of some kind, perhaps even what that spirit had told me to seek out back at Du Gok Bhong.

What the hell, I thought as I roused myself from sleep.

I had a good 14 hours until the Cursed Star set.

And that gave me plenty of time to explore.

* * *

I started from the pool and began making my way downward. With light from a constant spark of [Steel Lightning] the terrain was well lit, and I could find my footings easily. I dipped in and out of the spiritual realm, every so often to orientate myself.

In the spiritual realm, I could find the source easily.

It was huge, whatever it was, but just like when I had seen it previously, the dotted outline of the crystal was bound in purplish tentacles of Dark Frenzy and when I tried to approach it, I was immediately ejected from the spiritual realm and thrust back into my own body again.

I cursed frustratedly as it happened for the fourth or fifth time.

It was well over seven hours of exploration now and I had descended what had to be close to a mile, but I could find no way to go further or deeper. Yet still, in the air, I could sense the power of the crystal resonating and calling me to go deeper still.

I sighed and plopped down on a hard piece of shale in lotus position to think.

I would need to start heading back up to the surface soon.

As deep as I’d come, I would not be able to keep an eye on the night sky from here with my [Spectral Projection] and even if I did happen to be lucky enough for the deployment to arrive, I’d be a good seven hours behind in trying to reach them.

I was just about to call it quits when a new idea occurred.

I spilled back into the spiritual realm and found the source again, but this time I didn’t try to touch it. Instead, I readied myself and activated my [Spectral Projection] technique. As my meridian sequences connected, my [Spectral Body] materialized in the real world wherever this crystal was and instantly I was transported to someplace else.

Blinding golden light filled my eyes as I suddenly stood before a massive crystal the likes I’d never seen. It was bigger even than those I had seen within the imperial cities, easily the size of a mountain. And the cavern I was in was barely large enough to contain it.

I felt my Frenzy zapping instantly just to maintain my projection.

I had to be many miles away and the rate at which I was being depleting I would have perhaps a half an hour at maximum. But then I noticed my Frenzy was depleting for another reason.

Dark Frenzy.

It permeated the air like a putrid stench and as I focused on it, my spiritual vision saw where it was coming from. There, crisscrossing the giant crystal was a lattice work of what looked like spider webs, each one pulsating like a living thing.

Suddenly a malevolent presence filled my soul as eldritch thoughts filled my mind.

~The Flame draws a new Flame. Folly upon thee for venturing into my dominion~

I instinctively looked upward and there upon the ceiling of the giangantic cavern, was a spider so large I couldn’t even find something to easily compare it to. It had to be the size of a plane or more. It was blood red and covered in hairs, but where its eyes would be, was something even more disturbing. A woman’s face, complete with long white hair, leered at me from a distance that had to be over a quarter mile away. The giant spider then leapt upon the crystal, covering the sizable gap between it and the cavern wall in an instant.

The sight of seeing something so large move so quickly sent a primordial fear running through my bones. My Flame converted it instantly and the new Frenzy helped keep my [Spectral Projection] sustained.

~Come now, foul traitor. Receive thy just punishment~

As the spider began racing along the surface of the crystal toward me, my heart did the same. This thing was no ordinary demon or monster. I knew no true name for it. Not yet. But in my soul, I understood immediately exactly what it was.

I was now facing a Deep Dweller.