Chapter 19: Battle-Familiar

One line explained the Comet-Gem Mantis: the Comet-Gem Mantis is a war-beast purpose-built for the Comet-Gem Mantis Style, letting the host rapidly master this ascendant-path boxing art, sparing you all the agonies of training and cutting the time it takes to learn the art.

The other line covered the Comet-Gem Mantis Style: the Comet-Gem Mantis Style, an ancient ascendant-lineage boxing art, differs from what circulates among common folk, and is divided into four levels of attainment: "Talonstorm" trains the strength of the hands' tips; "Comet Weave" develops the changes of bodywork; "Eightfold Anvil" develops whole-body power methods; and "the Compendium" serves as the framework, re-exhibiting the techniques of every school—the very essence of this gate's boxing.

The two lines of explanation displayed for one full minute before fading from the emerald screen, replaced by two large characters in Old Tongue runes: START!

The barrage of stuff crackling out of the emerald screen had Nathan frozen solid! It was Sebastian who drew a little stroke in the air with his finger; the emerald screen seemed to sense it and its light flared—and only then did Nathan realize the system could be gesture-controlled.

"the Comet-Gem Mantis activated! Beginning vitae conversion..."

The war-beast's combat system automatically converted, compressed, refined, and output Nathan's vitae... into the Comet-Gem Mantis's unique emerald vitae, its sharp edge piercing through his body, keen as blade or sword—and behind him there faintly emerged the phantom of the Comet-Gem Mantis over ten feet tall.

That bloodborn-insect phantom was formed of vitae fused with the fist art's intent—majestic and martial, giving off a hard, fierce killing will. Its pair of gem scythes radiated cold like things forged of steel and iron, stretching out to a reach past sixteen feet.

Sebastian glanced at the readout on the emerald screen and a flicker of disappointment crossed him; he muttered to himself, "A bond-power rating of barely five hundred-something..." He paused a beat, then said in a low command: "Begin host adaptation!"

Nathan's body ran through an entire set of boxing moves without his say-so—the smoothness of it scared even him. His hands fluttered and flew, quick as a mantis striking, as he performed the full eight forms of Talonstorm.

When he threw the move "Flower Hidden in the Leaves," the Comet-Gem Mantis phantom moved with him, its long scythe cleaving the empty air—and instantly a vacuum blade-wave burst out, mowing down every tall blade of grass nearby, even leaving a gash close to half an inch deep in the trunk of a big tree.

The Comet-Gem Mantis Style paired with the Comet-Gem Mantis—vicious to this degree!

Nathan marveled inwardly—no wonder the combat system's explanation had said this martial art was an ancient ascendant-lineage fist art, different from what circulates among common folk. With the Comet-Gem Mantis's support, he'd grasped the mysteries of the whole Comet-Gem Mantis Style in a flash.

The eight forms of Talonstorm are:

First form: Intercepting Hand Circle

Second form: Ascendant Hand Ring

Third form: Iron Spear Thrust

Fourth form: Flower Hidden in the Leaves

Fifth form: Face-Splitting Thunder

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on NovelPhoenix.

Sixth form: Twin Sealed Mountains

Seventh form: Flower Hidden in the Mirror

Eighth form: Sun-Pinning Hammer

Eight forms chained together, fierce and mighty!

Nathan ran the Comet-Gem Mantis Style seven or eight times, hands whipping, the air booming under them—nearly every pass bought him another notch of progress, and soon he had the whole art down cold.

With the Comet-Gem Mantis's backing, his early progress was rapid; past the tenth repetition it gradually slowed, and by the fifteenth it was vanishingly small, nearly imperceptible. He had just barely completed the first level, "Talonstorm," without even touching the edge of "Comet Weave"—and as for the two great levels beyond, "Eightfold Anvil" and "the Compendium," forget it.

Sebastian didn't call stop until Nathan's twentieth run-through. The boy finally had his body back under his own control, and he flopped down on the ground without a thought for the sweat soaking him.

war-beasts weren't weapons for head-on fighting. They were complete support systems that converted the host's arcane energy or vitae and helped the host run every kind of combat skill. Without the Comet-Gem Mantis, Nathan would have needed at least ten years of grinding in isolated training to complete "Talonstorm," the first level of the Comet-Gem Mantis Style. Now it had been done in a single stride—minutes, and he'd reached mastery level.

An ascendant-path entry-level fist art with hard power ceilings like the Comet-Gem Mantis Style circulated in every one of the Eighteen Towers. Many of their acolytes held that an art of this grade simply wasn't worth dedicated suffering—grinding it out by hand was just wasted time—which is exactly why war-beast technology got developed.

Nathan thought to himself: "I've never trained a single martial art, and in this little stretch of time I'm already running the eight forms of Talonstorm like water. This Comet-Gem Mantis is the real deal. Never imagined the ascendant-path orders' tech was this strong—they can crank out a bloodborn insect that hands you brute combat power overnight. And here I thought the Concord's bloodborn-only subway and mini smart sigil rings were the peak. Turns out there's always a higher mountain—black tech stacked on black tech!"

Nathan switched the Comet-Gem Mantis to energy-saving mode, and the fierce bloodborn-insect phantom behind him gradually faded. In energy-saving mode he could only bring out thirty percent of his combat power, but the strain on his body shrank a lot too, and his vitae output dropped to eighteen percent of normal.

Sebastian said, beaming: "Benefit delivered. Time to do something for me, no?"

Nathan looked at Sebastian, remembered that swarm of black beetles at his command, and still couldn't shake the fear—scrapping any thought of jumping him with the Comet-Gem Mantis Style. Reluctantly, he said: "Fine. What do you need me to do?"

Sebastian gazed at the stone wall behind the yew-wood house with something like longing, then shook his head. "This Between's origins are anything but ordinary—even the Concord never finished exploring it, and then they went and developed it blind... Never mind, not stuff for you. I need you to go in and fetch me one thing, but there's no rush—you're far too weak, and this is my one shot. If you die, I'm out of hope. Starting tomorrow I'll put you through special training every day, until you can bring out the Comet-Gem Mantis's full power."

Hearing he wouldn't have to risk his neck right this second, Nathan breathed out in relief. He had no idea what Sebastian's special training would be, but anything beat charging off to fight for his life in some totally unfamiliar deathtrap this very minute.

Sebastian's spirits suddenly seemed to flag. He tossed the bronze key to Nathan, sauntered into the yew-wood house with easy grace, and—nobody knows from where—produced a jar of wine, poured himself a cup, and took a sip. Only then did he slap the windowsill and bellow: "Nothing more for you today! From tomorrow, remember—come straight here after school. If I wait and you don't show, I'll go kill your whole family, then butcher every last teacher and student in your school, and after that, do whatever I like with you."

Every hair on Nathan's body stood on end. The offhand way Sebastian said it, it could almost pass for a joke—but Nathan had watched this man kill two Raging Gale fighters between one laugh and the next. This Order of the Deathless acolyte was ruthless to the bone; killing came to him as simply as breathing. If Nathan actually skipped the training, the guy really might wipe out his family and his entire school.

Nathan cursed internally: "Damn it! One day I'll get strong enough to butcher this bastard." Of course, for now that was all it could be—something to think. He left Elderrow sulking and headed home.

Back home, after dinner, Nathan sat quietly for a while, thought it over for a long time—and decided to change his mind.