The Last Sacrifice of Kalinga: Crushing the Goddess's Harem

Chapter 8: When Hunters Become Prey

"Halt! Traitors of Kalinga!" a harsh voice boomed through the freezing mist.

Six figures in silver-and-gold armor stepped out from behind the moss-covered stone graves, swords already drawn and gleaming with cold light.

"Well, that didn't take long," Aristha muttered, skidding to a halt.

"I told you!" Gayatri hissed, her fingers digging tightly into his arm. "That giant golden laser beam wasn't exactly subtle, Aristha!"

"Hey, blame the System, not the driver," Aristha said, rolling his shoulders.

"Who are you talking to?!"

"Doesn't matter. Look at the guy in the middle. Is it just me, or does his armor look way too expensive for a regular scout?"

The man in the center stepped forward, his heavy iron boots crushing a moss-covered skull. A nasty, jagged scar ran from his ear down to his collarbone. "I am General Soka of the Royal Vanguard. Surrender, fallen princess, and your execution will be swift. Resist, and I will personally drag you back in chains."

"Soka," Gayatri whispered, her voice trembling slightly as she shrank back. "He's Rama's personal attack dog. He doesn't take prisoners. He... he flays them."

"Why is it always flaying with you guys?" Aristha sighed, shaking his head. "Does Rama not have any other hobbies? Like, I don't know, stamp collecting? Gardening? Anything less messy?"

"Mock all you want, peasant," Soka sneered, raising his heavy broadsword. "Kill the boy. Bring me the girl's head. Rama only needs her corpse to seal the treason charge."

"Stay behind me, Gayatri," Aristha warned, his voice dropping its playful edge.

Two scouts leaped forward, their spears thrusting in perfect, lethal synchronization. 

Aristha tried to sidestep, but a sudden, blinding ache flared in his chest, making him stumble.

"Ungh! What the..." He barely avoided a silver spearhead, the cold steel grazing his tunic.

`[System: Warning. Barong Spirit energy is experiencing high physical recoil. Host's body is unaccustomed to 'Spiritual Warrior' capacity.]`

"Now you tell me?!" Aristha yelled at the empty air, ducking a second swipe.

"Aristha, what are you doing?!" Gayatri screamed. "Move!"

"I'm trying! My knees feel like they're filled with wet cement!"

"Get behind the tomb!" she yelled, throwing herself toward a nearby stone altar.

An archer in the rear notched a glowing blue arrow, aiming directly at Aristha's exposed chest.

"Not today, Legolas!" Aristha gritted his teeth, lunging behind a massive stone tomb just as the arrow shattered the granite above his head.

"Gayatri! Can you do that blue magic trick again?" Aristha called out, shaking the stone debris from his hair.

"I... I can try! But my meridians are still burning from the seal break!" she shouted back from behind a pillar. "I cannot channel a massive blast!"

"Just give me ten seconds to get this crazy engine started!" Aristha closed his eyes, forcing the raw, golden-red energy in his chest to circulate. "System, bypass the recoil! Numb it!"

`[System: Suppressing recoil. Cost: 200 Prana. Temporary relief active for 60 seconds.]`

"He's pinned! Flush him out!" Soka ordered, his voice echoing through the dark cemetery.

Two more scouts closed in on Aristha's tomb, their blades gleaming with deadly intent.

"Hey! Over here, you tin cans!" Gayatri yelled.

She stepped out from behind her pillar, her hands glowing with a faint, trembling blue light, and unleashed a sudden, concentrated blast of Prana toward the archer.

The blast missed the archer but shattered the rotten tree branch above him, sending a massive, heavy bough crashing down on his head.

"A direct hit!" Gayatri cheered, though she instantly stumbled, clutching her stomach with a groan. "Ugh... that hurt."

"Nice shot, princess!" Aristha laughed, his golden-red aura flaring around his fists, hot and violent. "My turn."

He exploded from behind the tomb.

"Die, traitor!" a scout yelled, thrusting his spear straight at Aristha's face.

Aristha didn't dodge. He caught the steel spearhead with his bare, gold-glowing hand.

Crack.

The scout's eyes widened in sheer terror. "What... what kind of strength is this?!"

"The kind that doesn't like being stabbed," Aristha said, a cold smirk playing on his lips.

With a brutal pull, he dragged the scout forward, slamming his fist straight into the soldier's chest plate. The steel collapsed inward with a sickening crunch, launching the man ten yards back into a stone grave.

"One down!" Aristha shouted.

"Behind you!" Gayatri shrieked.

A second scout slashed at his back. Aristha spun, the raw physical boost of the Barong Spirit making him move like a blur. He swept the scout's legs, grabbed him by the throat before he hit the ground, and threw him directly into another charging soldier.

"Two, three!" Aristha counted, his eyes glowing with a wild, manic light.

Suddenly, the recoil in his chest flared again, making him cough up a drop of dark blood.

"Damn... this power really has a kick," he muttered, wiping his mouth.

"You're bleeding!" Gayatri cried, running toward him. "Aristha, stop using it!"

"Don't worry about it," he gasped. "Just keep that archer busy if he wakes up."

Soka watched his elite squad crumble in seconds, his face twisting into a mask of pure rage. "You... you are no mere peasant. What demonic sect do you belong to? No normal cultivator possesses such brute strength!"

"I'm self-taught," Aristha smirked, stepping over a groaning soldier. "Mostly through trial and error. Mostly error."

"Impudent rat!" Soka roared, drawing a secondary, glowing red dagger. "I will carve that smirk off your face myself!"

Soka lunged, his speed far matching his scouts. He was a stream of crimson light.

Clang!

Aristha blocked the blade with his bare forearms, the golden Barong aura sparking violently against Soka's red Prana.

"You're fast, General," Aristha grunted, his feet sliding back in the wet mud.

"I am a General of Kalinga!" Soka snarled, driving his weight forward. "You are nothing but trash destined for the execution block!"

"Yeah, I've heard that one before," Aristha wheezed, straining against the blade. "Honestly, your royalty needs some new writers. The dialogue is getting super repetitive."

"Die!" Soka unleashed a flurry of rapid stabs, each one leaving a shallow, burning cut on Aristha's shoulders and arms.

"Aristha!" Gayatri yelled, desperately trying to channel another blast of Prana. "He's aiming for your throat! Move!"

"I see it!" Aristha yelled.

The physical recoil of the Barong Spirit hit him like a sledgehammer, blurring his vision.

"Your strength is failing, boy!" Soka laughed, raising his glowing blade for a decapitating strike. "It's over!"

"Not quite," Aristha whispered. "System, give me everything left in the tank."

`[System: Channeling remaining Barong reserves to right fist. Pain receptors offline.]`

The pain vanished instantly. The world seemed to slow to a crawl.

Aristha ducked beneath the swinging blade, stepping inside Soka's guard. His right hand glowed with a blinding, golden-red lion's face.

"Actually," Aristha whispered in Soka's ear. "It's over for you."

"What—"

"Crimson Burst!"

Aristha shoved his fist directly into Soka's armored stomach.

The explosion of golden energy was deafening, shattering Soka's armor into a thousand metallic shards. The general was thrown backward, crashing through three stone tombs before coming to a violent stop against the ancient Taru Menyan tree.

He slumped forward, coughing up torrents of blood, his chest completely crushed.

"Aristha..." Gayatri breathed, running to his side, her eyes wide with awe. "You... you actually beat him. A general of the Vanguard."

"Yeah," Aristha gasped, falling to one knee as the golden aura completely faded. He clutched his chest, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps. "But... damn, that hurt. System... some pain meds... please..."

`[System: Prana levels dangerously low: 640. Pain management active.]`

"Thanks," Aristha muttered, slowly pushing himself back up with Gayatri's help.

"Who are you talking to?!" Gayatri demanded, her hand shaking as she supported his weight. "You keep talking to the air!"

"Just my personal assistant," Aristha groaned, limping toward Soka's crumpled body. "Let's make sure this guy is actually—"

Suddenly, Soka let out a wet, rattling laugh.

"You... you fools," Soka wheezed, his bloody fingers trembling as he held up a small, cylindrical brass tube. "You think... you've won?"

"Drop it!" Gayatri shrieked, lunging forward.

"Too... late," Soka grinned, his teeth stained crimson.

With his final breath, he twisted the bottom of the tube.

Pshhhhhhh-BOOM!

A blinding, blood-red streak of light shot from his hand, tearing through the misty canopy and exploding high in the night sky. It bloomed into a massive, glowing red crest of Kalinga, lighting up the entire forest for miles.

"Damn it!" Aristha cursed, kicking the empty tube from Soka's lifeless hand. "A signal flare."

"The Kalinga crest..." Gayatri whispered, her face completely drained of color as she stared at the glowing red symbol in the clouds. "Aristha... that's the Royal Hunt signal. It means..."

"It means they know exactly where we are," Aristha said, his voice dropping all humor.

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to vibrate.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A low, rhythmic rumbling echoed from the southern edge of the forest. It wasn't the sound of wild beasts. It was the synchronized, heavy march of thousands of iron-shod boots.

"The main army..." Gayatri whimpered, her hand shaking as she clutched Aristha's wet tunic. "They were already nearby. They're coming, Aristha. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands."

Aristha stared at the glowing red crest in the sky, then down at his remaining Prana count.

`[System Warning: Approaching hostile army. Estimated troop count: 1,200. High-level spiritual signatures detected within the vanguard. Survival probability in current state: 2.4%.]`

"Two point four percent," Aristha muttered, a cold, sharp grin slowly returning to his face despite the sweat dripping down his temples. "You know, System... I've beaten worse odds."

"Aristha, what do we do?!" Gayatri cried, the rumbling getting louder, the trees around them shaking as the massive army closed in. "We can't fight an entire army!"

Aristha grabbed her hand, pulling her close. His eyes glowed with a faint, dangerous golden spark.

"We don't fight them," Aristha whispered, looking toward the dark, uncharted depths of the Dead Woods behind them. "We make them chase us into the fire."