Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

The monolith was falling.

What was once an immovable titan now plummeted earthward. Even from afar, Jay could see the slash that had doomed it. An angled cut bisected the monolith roughly a third of the way up. The now-exposed stone was completely smooth, as if the Sawblade's slice had met no resistance at all.

Even the clouds behind the pillar had parted; a gash of faint blue tearing through the early morning clouds.

After Jay tore eyes from the falling monolith, the ravaged battlefield shocked him even more. The pool of blood leaking from Marko's torso had grown and the sword hilt jutting from his chest quivered with every faint breath. His glossy eyes stared blankly up at the million tons of rock hurtling towards him. Even if he recognised the danger, Marko had no chance of escaping it.

Several paces closer to Jay, the culprit stood with both hands clenched onto the Sawblade's polished handle. He hadn't escaped his own attack either, the toothed scythe surrounding his body had sliced inwards too.

Jay saw the gladiator's torso slide sideways, slipping half an inch from his legs before his entire body became mist.

Carla stood before the misty cloud, staring transfixed at what remained of her right arm. It barely extended an inch past her shoulder. A crimson cross-section of severed flesh and bone, cleaved from the armoured black limb that lay motionless on the floor beside her.

Jay ran.

He pushed electricity into his thighs and sprinted forward, desperate to reach Marko before the falling rocks did.

But Jay and Corinne's battle had been separated from the rest of the fight.

Even as Jay accelerated forward, the falling rocks moved faster.

Every inch he covered, they fell two or three.

Jay could do nothing but watch, powerless as the monolith's inevitable weight bore down on Marko's limp body.

A streak of carbon black burst forward, trailed by a cape of crimson pouring from her shorn right arm. Carla ran forward. Slower than Jay, but much closer.

After three desperate paces, Carla had almost reached Marko. The first falling pebbles peppered the ground beside them.

Jay looked up. The rest of the monolith was soon to follow.

Most of the stone hadn't broken apart and the gargantuan tower of earth fell as one, plummeting lower and lower.

It was mere metres from Carla's skull when she reached Marko.

She didn't hesitate.

With her one working arm, Carla grasped for Marko's ankle. She tossed him aside, flinging him into the air.

A thousand tons of stone crushed her before he hit the ground.

A wave of displaced air and dust hurled Jay backwards as the shock-wave slammed into his eardrums. The disorientating blast shattered Jay's balance while the swirling air currents swept at his legs and sent him sprawling to the dirt.

Jay squinted his eyes and shielded his head with his hands as the tiny fragments of stone pelted his skin. He hugged the dirt, hoping Ping hadn't been swept away by the rolling blast and could still protect him from any falling stone chunks.

After the dust-choked maelstrom had passed, Jay rose to his feet and ran forward. He sprinted to where he'd last seen Marko. Tearing through the dust clouds in a frantic search.

A moment later Jay found him, just about breathing in between coughs of dust strewn blood.

Alive.

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Barely.

"We should leave him behind," said Yagao, staring down at Marko. Team Scorpion's captain held the Sawblade over his right shoulder. The weapon still had a deadly presence to it although much of the blood-lust that had soaked the serrated blade before was gone.

"No. I can stabilise him for long enough," Felix replied. One of his pale blue stasis bubbles had completely covered Marko's body and Felix pressed both his hands against its surface.

The two remaining Scorpion members squared off at each other. Jay hadn't expected Felix to dispute his captain's command but the gladiator showed an impressive resolve and was determined to keep his ally alive.

After the monolith had first fell, Yagao had dispersed the dust cloud by coagulating all the tiny stone fragments and clearing the murky air by shunting the dust into the forest. While Jay was awed by the impressive show of strength, he couldn't take his eyes off Marko for long. Felix had reached Jay and Marko first, and the gladiator's stasis bubble did a much better job than Jay at keeping Marko alive.

Once the dust had settled, both Kestrel and Scorpion gathered around Felix and Marko.

"I know you can stabilise him, Felix. But should you?" asked Yagao.

Jay watched his friend bleed out with glossy, shell-shocked eyes. The blood spilling from Marko's torso had slowed, but Jay still saw it seeping out behind the bubble's hazy surface. He wanted to chastise Yagao for his callousness, but a guilty lump in his throat choked the words back down.

How could he criticise anybody's attitude? If he'd been less selfish, Marko wouldn't be bleeding out.

If he'd been less immature, Carla might still be alive.

"I won't be able to fight for a few days after," said Felix, "but Marko will make it. There's stronger healers at the sanctuary who can look after him."

"I know he'll make it, Felix. But will the resource spend be worth it?"

Corinne all but bared her teeth at Yagao. Jay kept his outrage contained but snapped his head towards Scorpion's captain.

"What do you mean resource spend?" said Jay, finally forcing out his words. "He's our ally, not some statistic!"

Yagao's piercing eyes met Jay's and bored into his skull. Jay's face flushed with heat. He wondered if Yagao had seen him run from the battlefield after the guard with the crystal.

"Yes, Marko is our ally, Jay. But this battle is only running for a month. Is it worth spending all the time and effort recovering and healing him if he's only of use to the alliance for the final week? Marko won't die if we leave him here. He'll simply return to the coliseum and wake up when the battle's over."

Jay seethed at Yagao's coldness before his hate turned inwards. Was he really attacking Yagao's pragmatism with a plea not to abandon an ally when he'd deserted his allies for far less? At least Yagao was worried about the battle. Jay had left Carla to the Sawblade wielder for no reason other than a selfish chance to grow stronger.

He'd sent Marko to join her all because she got on his nerves.

What if Jay had joined Carla in her fight against the gladiator, would he have succumbed to the same stab that had knocked Marko unconscious? If he was closer to Carla rather than helping Corinne, he might've had the chance to rescue Marko before she sacrificed herself.

Even that asshole sacrificed herself for an ally… what did I do, forsake them all for a chance at growing stronger?

"I don't want to leave him here," said Felix, his voice hardening with resolve. "You're the captain so you have the final say, but I think I can do it. I think I can keep him alive."

The resilience in Felix's words resonated within Jay, kicking him out of his self-destructive spiral.

Jay could hate himself later. Right now his friend needed to live.

"What do you need to keep him alive, Felix?" asked Jay, hoping the gladiators didn't hear the guilt lurking in his voice. "We already lost one today. We can't lose another, not if there's anything we can do about it."

Jay's words made him sick.

He spoke the truth through liar's teeth, preaching to his allies when he'd been the one who'd betrayed them, who'd caused this whole mess in the first place. But regardless of how Jay felt, his friend needed him.

"I need his body to stay still throughout the journey back, that way nothing interferes with the bubble and it can keep him stable" said Felix, eyes flitting around while most of his concentration stayed on Marko. "If you can use their cart, that might work."

"On it," said Jay. He turned towards the cart and Corinne followed.

"No."

Yagao's voice stopped Jay in his tracks.

Jay turned around, fists clenched as he prepared to argue. Before he could raise his voice, Marko began floating. His entire body, as well as the bubble that covered it raised a metre in the air, pushed upwards by a slab of rock beneath it.

"The cart will be too slow, if you can even get it to work. Jay, Corinne, you both need to scout a path back to Navaras for us. The whole island shook once the monolith fell. People are certainly on their way to investigate it, make sure we avoid them."

Yagao turned and began walking along the path to Navaras with Marko floating in tow. Felix walked alongside him, one arm touching his bubble as he walked.

Jack looked back towards Jay, eyes beginning to squint. Jay wondered if his captain had seen him run after the crystal too and was a second away from confessing before Jack spoke.

"I'll guard the rear. You two stay out in front as per Yagao's orders. We'll walk along the road until people start coming in our direction. Once you see someone, fall back and take Marko and Scorpion through the forest. We'll reassess the plan once we're in Navaras."

Jay nodded, willing to follow Jack's orders; eager to have something useful to do and desperate to drown out the whispers screaming traitor from behind his ears.