Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

Jay ran.

Electricity surged through his thighs as he pummelled them into the mountaintop. The roc had already begun its dive, but Jay reckoned he could reach Luka first. Ping raced in front of him, finally able to fly now that most of the winds were concentrated on keeping the roc in the air. Luka scrambled over the rocks but it was a feeble attempt at escaping the giant eagle.

Luckily he had backup.

Ping smashed into the eagle's talons, knocking the beast off target. Jay simultaneously speared Luka to the ground and shoved him clear of the roc's second foot. He rolled over, cautious about leaving his back exposed, and dove on top of Luka.

The roc wasn't finished. Although Luka had evaded its claws, the gigantic bird still had the rest of its body to attack with. It ducked its head downwards, thrusting its beak towards Jay.

He flared Eye of the storm; time slowed down to Jay's eyes as he raised both fists. He'd sparred with Samira's gifts before, but this was their first real test. Liquid metal rolled down Jay's forearms, solidifying around his fists the instant he formed them. Jay's raised arms formed a block slightly off the roc's incoming trajectory. When its beak slammed into Jay's guard, he knew he couldn't simply dodge the attack.

Instead he rolled with it.

Jay twisted his body, pressing Luka into the rocks as he deflected the gigantic bird aside. The roc's beak pulverised the rocks as it sank into the mountaintop. One of its giant eagle eyes stared deep into Jay's soul as they stared at each other, the encounter dragged out by Eye of the Storm.

But the eagle's beak was already lodged into the rocks, and thanks to his deflection Jay had both of his hands free. He jammed a fist into the roc's eyeball, unable to generate any power off the ground.

He didn't need any. Jay unleashed a torrent of electricity through his metallic fist and into the eagle's eye socket.

The giant bird shrieked and reared its head, flapping its wings and pressing Jay into the ground beneath a gigantic gust. Its compromised eye glared at Jay, the feathered muscles around it still twitching as the roc prepared another attack.

Kestrel had other plans.

Jack ran in front of the bird, entire body wrapped in black iron chains. Two extended from each leg, locking him to the ground and bolstering him against the magical creature's gusts.

"Get Luka to the Lookout, we'll hold him off!" Jack screamed over the winds.

Jay rolled over, scooping Luka under his arm and getting to his feet. The boy looked around dazed, and Jay chided himself as he saw a sliver of blood rolling down the boy's temple.

Better that than dead…

CLANG!

Ringing metal dragged Jay from his thoughts. Jack had caught the roc's beak in a net of iron chains, stifling an attack directed at Jay and Luka. Just as the enormous bird freed itself with a sudden gust of wind, Corinne leapt at it from the mountaintop. Her legs looked thrice the size as they had before and had scaly plates jutting from each joint.

Her right arm grew mid-air, muscles bulging within as her bones lengthened and expanded. Shaggy fur burst from Corinne's deep brown skin as she pulled her right hand back. Her hand became a paw and her nails became claws the instant she swiped her monstrous arm at the roc's wing.

Jay dragged Luka over to the Lookout, the boy barely able to walk on his own. As they passed Marko, Jay watched five illusory clones of him and Luka walk alongside them, twisting and turning their directions and weaving around each other.

Even if the roc got past Kestrel, they'd crafted another layer of defence for their young guide.

Crushed rocks and feral shrieks bellowed behind Jay yet he powered towards the Lookout, hoping that Ping and his team could protect him.

A painstakingly slow sprint later, Jay reached the Lookout's entrance. He all but threw Luka inside before spinning instantly, not wanting to leave the roc out of his vision.

But Kestrel had it covered. While they were far from defeating the giant eagle, the roc couldn't threaten them when they worked together. Jay watched five Markos run at the beast with daggers in their hands. The roc flapped its enormous wings, blowing back the gladiator with a gust of wind. It blew away the illusions and knocked Marko off his feet, but an iron chain clamped around his ankle and pulled him back down to the ground.

The roc attacked with its claws next, but Marko didn't need help dodging that attack. An instant before the roc's talons impaled his chest, the gladiator simply vanished, reappearing a metre to his left a second later. He jammed both his daggers into the roc's gnarled foot, but its armoured scales deflected his weak attack.

As the roc twisted its neck to screech at Marko, the third Kestrel member joined the offensive. Both Corinne's arms had transformed by now, they each stretched over two metres long and were as thick as her chest. She scraped her claws against the roc's torso, opening multiple gashes and flinging loose feathers into the swirling winds.

After three iron chains tried to wrap themselves around the bird's ankle, it decided it'd had enough of team Kestrel. It pounded the air with its wings, buffeting the mountaintop with a gigantic gust and knocking Corinne and Marko prone. Jack summoned chains above them but his protection wasn't necessary. Instead of attacking, the roc flew further airborne. Its wail echoed over the winds before an updraft lifted it further away from the mountain and it began to fly away, gliding across the air without even flapping its wings.

The Kestrel members all ran back to the lookout before the chaotic winds returned, funnelling into the protective structure.

Jack led Luka down the stairs followed by Corinne while Jay and Marko kept watch by the entrance.

"What do you think?" said Marko. The gladiator grinned as he tucked a strand of curly silver hair behind his ear. Even to Jay, he seemed remarkably casual after such an intense encounter. If Jack hadn't caught him with one of his chains then Marko might have been flung off the mountaintop.

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"Limitless Ascent ain't half bad," joked Jay, trying to match Marko's casual confidence. "How far can you teleport? It seems like a giant waste to have that ability and only use it to move a metre or so."

Marko laughed. "I have to keep them short to make sure I don't throw up when I come back! The longer the jump the more taxing it gets. I'm fine when jumping relatively close but one time I tried to jump a mile and a fell asleep for a whole day as soon as I returned!"

Jay smiled at Marko's comments, impressed that the gladiator had even tried to teleport a mile away. Even if he questioned Marko's attitude or Jack's rigidity, he definitely couldn't question their skill. As they walked down the stairs to check up on Luka, Jay reminded himself that he was amongst true D graders now.

"How is he?" asked Jay.

"He'll live," said Corinne, standing beside the youngster as Jack bandaged his head with strips of cloth he'd torn from the dusty bed sheet.

Corinne flicked her finger against the uninjured side of Luka's forehead. "Maybe next time he'll tell his clients about any giant eagles the next time he guides anyone. They call that thing 'the Queen of the Skies'… but apparently that isn't worth telling us about according to Luka here."

Corinne kept enough mirth in her voice to let the boy know she wasn't seriously berating him, but he still hung his head sheepishly as he mumbled something about not wanting to sound scared.

"Mind telling us a bit more about the Queen?" said Jack. He tucked the final loop of cloth beneath a previous roll and admired his handiwork. The off-white bed sheet clamped half of Luka's messy hair beneath it while letting the rest flop outside it and directly into his eyes , but the boy wasn't about to complain.

"She's a roc, but well, you know that. She has a nest on the Isle of Birds but comes to other islands to hunt occasionally. I didn't expect her to be here, and I've only ever seen her once before," he said.

"The Isle of Birds sounds interesting, what is it?" asked Jack.

"It's… well it's an island full of birds," Luka spluttered. "Nobody goes there because whenever someone tries to build anything there the Queen tears it down."

Marko raised an eyebrow. "Sounds a whole lot more interesting than this stupid island!"

Jay laughed, but found it harder to joke about being bored after the roc attack. Especially since it was his fault that Luka's head was half covered in bandages.

"Interesting or not, we have orders," Jack said bluntly. "Let's wait here a few minutes for Luka to recover before visiting Old Beach, then we can head home after nightfall.

Jay let out a tiny sigh, but nodded at Jack's plan.

After an uneventful trek down to Old Beach, and an even-more-uneventful stroll along it, Kestrel returned to Hooktown with confirmation that the Smothering Grasp Alliance had no influence on the Island of Saulin. They bid Luka farewell with one of the Queen's fallen feathers as a souvenir and stern instructions not to tell his mother what had happened until they had already left the island.

They met Mahon munching on a fish skewer at the docks, watching the sun set over the ocean. Once it was past the horizon, they boarded the Ana-Marta, and began their journey home.

Kestrel's journey back to the full moon sanctuary was just as turbulent as their trip out. In fact, the starlit sky and moonlit waves only seemed to make the Ana-Marta sail faster. When they neared the belt, Mahon stood up and used his punting stick to guide them past the minefield of coral and rocks that protected the rebel stronghold.

The glowing crystal attached to the stick—which Mahon told them was called Embrite—gave the sailor enough light to weave through the belt's hazards, although Jay barely caught glimpses of the gently lit coral poking out from beneath the waves.

Kestrel sat in complete silence, letting their driver concentrate on guiding them home. All Jay heard was the waves lapping against Ana-Marta's hull and the underwater taps each time Mahon punted them forward.

The experienced boatman sat back beside the engine once they'd cleared the belt. The sanctuary's docks were emptier than they'd been in the morning, presumably because of people still out on missions. Jay wondered which unlucky team of gladiators had been ordered to scout the Isle of Birds and lightly chuckled to himself as Mahon moored the Ana-Marta beside two other longtails.

A short woman wearing a hooded, yellow moko walked over to the Ana-Marta. After Kestrel exited the boat, she told them that Samira wanted to hear their report as soon as possible.

They immediately followed her to the war room.

Samira was the only one in the war room this time. She slumped over the table, staring down at the mapped islands below, as if she wished her gaze could wipe out the enemy troops she was tracking.

Jack dealt with most of the reporting. He relayed everything they'd learned that day to Samira, even if they hadn't learned much.

The Lookout had the potential to be useful, but it relied on anything of note happening on Saulin which wasn't likely to happen. Kestrel's most useful information was probably about the Queen of the Skies, however it appeared that Samira knew more about the roc than the people who'd actually fought it.

"Yes, I considered its value as a strategic jump-off point," she said after Jack informed her of the Isle of Birds. "It's close enough to Red Rock but, as you said, the Queen stops the island from being too useful."

Jay nodded his head as if he knew what Samira was talking about although he wagered the alliance leader saw past the gesture.

Samira gestured at the map, specifically pointing at two stacks of red and blue tiles on islands near the centre of the map.

"Now it's my turn."

She pointed at the stack of red tiles situated on a large central island named 'Miranda' before splitting the stack into two smaller ones.

"This, is the Smothering Grasp Alliance's home base," she said, pointing at the larger stack. It stood above an inland town named Red Rock. "The mountain fortress at Red Rock is also the Directorate's HQ, although a lot of their focus is on Miranda's port, Red Sands. It's the largest city in the archipelago by far."

Imaginative names…

"Surprisingly near Miranda is our own base, the Full Moon Sanctuary. Neither the Smothering Grasp Alliance, or the Directorate know this however. As far as they are concerned this is the uninhabited island of 'Waistline' surrounded by the treacherous 'belt'."

Okay that one's a bit better.

Samira scooped up the tiles and dotted them across the map, casting her troops like a net over the archipelago.

"To the best of my knowledge, the Smothering Grasp are keeping their gladiators close to their seats of power, not wanting to spread themselves too thin. A wise decision considering that although they're at a power and numbers advantage, however we have the people of Whispertide on our side and will always know more than they do."

"What's your plan going forward?" asked Jay.

Since he wasn't as tied to Limitless Ascent like the rest of Kestrel, Jay reckoned he could afford to be more pushy with Samira. He didn't mind offending her if it meant learning more about their situation.

"I want to wait for more scouts to return before I finalise a solution, but it looks like we're facing a guerrilla war. Alongside their gladiators, the Smothering Grasp Alliance has Directorate soldiers that the people of Whispertide simply can't match up to. They aren't as powerful as a D grade gladiator but they're much stronger than civilians and could easily team up with Smothering Grasp gladiators to take down one of our own.

"The Smothering Grasp Alliance want to stay compact. Therefore, we need to forcefully spread them thin. Using the knowledge the people give us we strike at important hubs of Directorate control, forcing them to make a decision of whether to protect it and grow weaker or cede control to the people of Whispertide.

"Our victory in this fight is tied to the Howling Wind Resistance. I assume our opponents have a similar deal with the Directorate. Stealth and knowledge are our advantages; we need to leverage them into victories. We need to force the Smothering Grasp Alliance to make bad decisions before capitalising on their mistakes."

Samira spoke with a conviction that almost made Jay want to fight for her.

As he clenched his fists and remembered the reason he joined Limitless Ascent, he reminded himself that he couldn't.