The Silent Guard (mxm)

Chapter 40

(My roommate kept joking about me getting an anime body pillow cause she has a bunch. So I looked around for a heaven official's blessing one, not expecting to find anything... but the artttt. I couldn't not get it lol.) 

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It absolutely broke his heart. 

My sweet love...

Qi watched as Ashong began to charge for his Zen and ground his teeth as his fingers gripped the injury at his waist tightly. 

You forced my love to do such a thing. I will never forgive you!

He channeled his spiritual energy as quickly and quietly as he could as he watched his love easily deflect each of Ashong's attacks. He'd retrieved his blade right before the man had closed in on him, and was using it to prevent further injury as purple electricity slowly, somehow, sewed up his injuries. 

With each attack that his Zen blocked, Ashong grew more and more aggressive. He was beginning to become desperate, because even though the man still had plenty of spiritual energy left, his body was beginning to exhaust itself. There was a balance that had to be maintained... and he was ignoring it in order to try and kill them before they could turn the tables. 

As far as Qi was concerned, it was already too late for that. 

I will make sure that you can hurt no one else, ever again!

He was about to send a burst of energy forward to act as a shield should Ashong actually manage to land one of his desperate attacks, but then his attention dropped to the ground. 

He'd been able to summon plant life from the walls to restrain my Zen. Perhaps...

Qi lifted his gaze to the imperial general, then waited with baited breath. As much as he wanted to follow his own love and make sure that he had the defenses he needed, Zen didn't seem to need him for such a thing at the moment. 

I will make myself useful. 

He narrowed his eyes on Ashong's feet as the man danced around Zen, trying to find an opening to strike. His footwork was nearly perfect. 

Not for long...

With a rare smirk gracing his dirty face, Qi saw his chance and took it! Dropping to one knee, he slammed his entire hand, up to his elbow, into the damp dirt. Not a second later, a spiritual version of it surfaced abruptly directly beneath Ashong and grabbed ahold of his ankle right as he was about to dodge a strike. 

Instead of being able to move away, the man's body was jerked to a halt as his attention quickly redirected to what had grabbed hold of him. Unfortunately for him, as he was redirecting his sword to swing downward and remove the restraint, Zen completed his attack. 

Qi winced as Ashong's blade tore through his spiritual hand, dissipating the spell and slicing his real one along its back, but the pain was well worth it as he watched his love's own sword stab the man straight through his right shoulder. 

Again, love! 

Before Ashong could even stagger backwards completely and regain his balance, Qi was shoving his other hand down into the dirt. Its spiritual copy grabbed hold of Ashong's boot right as Zen withdrew his blade, then swung it toward the man's throat. 

The attack was blocked by Ashong, but the man didn't have time to strike at the ephemeral hand holding him without losing his head. His injured shoulder failed almost immediately, too,  and Zen was able to easily push him off his feet. 

Ashong dropped his sword and swung his arm forward with a feral snarl right before roots erupted from the walls all around them. Qi retracted his hand immediately in order to try and deflect the flora, but before he could even begin to form a barrier, the entire area around him suddenly erupted in dark purple and black flames. He could feel the heat, but it was clear that Zen had perfect control over his skill at that moment, because while the plants were being incinerated faster than they could appear, he wasn't being hurt by any stray ash due to his added wind ability keeping it away. Even the smoke created by the burning vines seemed to somehow avoid his lungs completely.