We slipped out of the granary into the chaos of Han-Guk. The city was a graveyard. The Sun-Zhen Void-Ships, massive, obsidian-colored hulks that hovered silently in the air were raining down 'Soul-Siphons,' translucent beams of light that turned civilians into withered husks.
I looked at the System map overlaying my vision.
[Tactical Overlay Active]
Objective: Reach the Iron-Shell Tortoise Ship 'The Great Shell' at Pier 4.
Enemy Presence: High. Elite 'Void-Blade' Unit detected at the Crossroads.
Ally Status: Scattered. 4th Infantry Regiment is being pinned down two blocks East.
"We aren't just running for the ships," I said, pointing toward the East. "The 4th Regiment is being slaughtered. If we lose them, there's no one left to man the oars."
Min-Ah nodded, her face hardening into the mask of a General. "The 4th... those are my brothers-in-arms. Lead the way, Kang-Dae. I'll clear the path."
As we sprinted through the burning streets, I realized the scale of the cheat I'd been given. I wasn't just a soldier anymore. I was a font of power. Every time I looked at Min-Ah, I could see the 'Link' between us, a shimmering cord of light.
[System Feature: Battery Mode]
[Description: You can 'overclock' your partners' abilities by burning your own War-Qi.]
"Min-Ah! Three o'clock!" I shouted.
A squad of Sun-Zhen soldiers leaped from the rooftops, their black armor absorbing the light of the fires. They moved with unnatural speed, their eyes glowing with the red tint of Blood Cultivation.
"Overclocking," I muttered.
I tapped into my newly leveled-up pool of War-Qi and pushed it through the link. Min-Ah gasped as her silver aura suddenly flared into a blinding gold.
She didn't just swing her sword, she became a blur of frozen destruction.
In three seconds, the squad was a collection of ice-statues that shattered into red dust as she blew past them.
"Kang-Dae!" she called out, her voice filled with adrenaline. "I can feel your strength inside me! It's... it's too much!"
"Keep it contained!" I yelled back, my eyes fixed on the crossroads ahead. "We've got a Void-Blade commander coming up. We need to hit him together."
I saw him then. A tall, gaunt man in ornate, spiked armor, holding a curved blade that seemed to drink the very air around it. He was standing over a pile of Han-Guk soldiers, his foot on the throat of a young girl in a cultivator's uniform.
[Notice: New Potential Partner Detected.]
[Subject: He-Ran (Scout). Purity: 90%. Compatibility: 88%.]
[Status: Critical Condition. Immediate Yin-Yang transfusion required to prevent soul-dissipation.]
I clenched my jaw. My power was growing, but the cost was going to be paid in blood and iron.
"Min-Ah, take the flanks!" I roared, drawing my dao. "I'm going through the middle!"
The Void-Blade commander looked up, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "A talentless worm with a glowing toy? This empire will enjoy breaking you."
The Void-Blade commander didn't move like a human. He blurred. One second he was thirty paces away, and the next, the air in front of my face was screaming as his blade whistled toward my neck.
"Too slow, Han-Guk trash," he hissed.
I didn't think. I reacted. The System shoved the Heaven-Splitting Slash movements into my muscles like a memory I'd had for twenty years. I parried, the impact vibrating up my arms and rattling my teeth.
My golden War-Qi clashed against his oily black energy, producing a shower of sparks that smelled like burning hair.
"Min-Ah! Now!" I roared.
Min-Ah didn't scream a battle cry. She was a silent, freezing wind. She drifted behind him, her movements elegant and precise, the polar opposite of my raw, brutal swings. She thrust her blade toward his kidney, the air around her sword crystallizing into jagged shards of ice.
The commander spun, his cape flaring out like a bat's wings, knocking her blade aside with his gauntlet. "A Lotus Sect butterfly? I'll enjoy pinning your wings to my wall."
He was fast, but I could see his rhythm now. The System highlighted the gaps in his form in flickering red pulses. He was overextended on his left side every time he swung high.
"Min-Ah, pin his blade!"
She didn't hesitate. She threw her entire weight into a frost-bind, her sword locking with his.
For a heartbeat, they were at a stalemate, the ground beneath them cracking from the pressure of their opposing auras.
I stepped in. I didn't go for a sword strike. I went for his throat with my bare hand, channeling every drop of the 'Emperor's Fire' I had left. My palm connected with his neck, and I let the heat explode.
The commander's eyes widened as his black Qi was incinerated from the inside out. He gurgled, a plume of steam rising from his visor before I kicked him back, sending his charred body tumbling into a stack of crates.
I didn't wait for him to get up. I turned toward the girl, He-Ran.
She was a mess. Her scout uniform, dark greens and browns was soaked in blood.
She was younger than Min-Ah, with short, choppy hair and a face that looked like she'd spent more time in the dirt than a meditation hall.
Her breath was a wet rattle.
[Notice: Subject He-Ran. Soul-Core fracturing. Void-Poisoning at 85%.]
[Time to total collapse: 120 seconds.]
"She's gone, Kang-Dae," Min-Ah said, her voice tight as she stood guard, her eyes scanning the rooftops for more scouts. "No one survives a Void-Blade's soul-siphon."
"I do," I said, kneeling over the girl.
He-Ran's eyes fluttered open. They weren't silver like Min-Ah's, they were a sharp, defiant amber. Even with her soul breaking, she looked like she wanted to bite my hand off.
"Don't... touch me... officer," she coughed, blood bubbling at the corner of her mouth.
"Run... the docks... go..."
"Shut up and hold on," I muttered.