Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

“Gaaaah! Damn it! Damn that bastard!”

A coffin-like stone pod burst open and out stepped an ash-skinned individual. In the circular hall around him, other coffins opened a moment later, revealing other similar individuals, both male and female.

“That was… horrible.” A woman said as she clutched her chest, the memories of an energy orb piercing her still fresh in her mind.

“That didn’t quite go to plan.” Another spoke, seemingly unconcerned, with a flat voice and an even flatter face.

“No shit it didn’t go to plan! We barely killed a few dozen of them! What was that monster?!” The first one barked.

“It looked like a Dragon… I think.” A second woman spoke.

“Shapeshifter.” Another member corrected her. “I saw him transform. But such size… It was incredible.”

As they debated what just happened, the first one to awaken, also their leader, felt a headache forming.

“Ugh… And we lost all our cannons on top of it all. Damn it, the High Priest will not be happy!”

“You killed all of them?!”

[I mean… I’m not sure. I think so.] The fact that their Souls were absent was bugging me.

“Damn it!” The Elder in charge cursed. Why, I wasn’t sure. I thought I did pretty good. The enemy was dead, and most of the new guys were saved. How was that not good enough?

Well, as it turns out, the Drow liked to fight dirty.

[Hey, where are the corpses?] I asked aloud while searching for their remains. I mean, I blew up quite a few, bit I knew it for a fact that that not all of them evaporated. Well, they did, but I only found out that later, after one of our guys blew up after touching one of the cannons.

“Don’t touch anything!” The Elder shouted. “Anything these devils leave behind can be, and often is, booby-trapped!”

Everyone looked warily at the silver metal tubes lying on the ground. Nobody dared to approach them anymore.

[Seriously? Surely not everything is-]

The cannon I tried to pick up exploded, nearly taking my skin off.

[Okay, never mind. These things are dangerous.]

Considering the orbs just tickled me when transformed, the explosion had to be at least a hundred times stronger. Though it was weirdly contained. All the energy was used up for the strongest localized damage, instead of spreading out over a large area as it should. More magical nonsense.

“The Drow you killed were nothing but puppets. They often fight using underhanded means and all kinds of perverted forms of magic.” The Elder somberly explained.

I shrunk back down into my human form and came closer to listen to the short lecture.

“They are capable of creating artificial lifeforms and anchoring their Souls far away from battle, so that in the case of death, they can revive.”

[Can’t we just trap their Soul and prevent it from leaving?] I asked. [Also, I thought revival was impossible.]

“If only…” The Elder sighed. “And no, revival is very much possible, it’s just that we haven’t figured out how to do it yet. The Drow do it all the time, which is incredibly annoying. The only good thing is that their temporary bodies are extremely weak, but with weapons like these, that isn’t much of an issue.”

[Hmm…] That was an interesting revelation. Also, I already knew how to bring people back from the dead, it just wasn’t very practical or fast. Also, I needed the original body to bring them back, otherwise they would just go mad over time due to the incompatibility of Body and Soul.

If I could only find a sample to examine, maybe I could reverse engineer a new body.

“By the way, don’t bother searching for bodies. They never leave one behind. They have some kind of a deadman’s switch inside them or something, and they simply burn to ash in seconds upon death. Same with their weapons.” The Elder pointed at the silver cannons lying on the ground. Those touched simply exploded, destroying any clues they might contain.

[Really? Wow, talk about sore losers.]

The Elder snorted. “Oh, you have no idea.”

“Forgive us, your Excellency.” The leader of the Drow group, Duk, groveled on the floor before an incensed High Priest and his entourage. “The filth had a beast with them to guard their reinforcements, a shapeshifter-

“Silence! How dare you offer me excuses for your failure!” High Priest Antasaghar thundered. “Thirteen sacred cannons were lost due to your incompetence, not to mention all those vessels that were lost! Were you not so successful in the past, I would have executed you all on the spot!”

“Mercy, your Excellency! Mercy!” Duk cried. The dozen others trembled in silence as the voice of their High Priest struck fear in their hearts.

“You want mercy?! Fine, finish your task and I’ll consider your debts to the settled. But, be warned. If you die again, don’t bother coming back. That, I decree.” The High Priest said.

“Yes, your Excellency, mighty Antasaghar. We will complete our task and wipe away our shame.” The group declared as one. The Priest shooed them away.

“Go now, and return victorious!”

While the Drow left no Souls behind, the other Cultivators weren’t the same. I absorbed around fifty Spirit Realm Souls, most of which were in the early stages. It wasn’t much, but it helped advance my own Cultivation a little bit.

As the group responsible for meeting us died, a few new guides were chosen, though the urgency with which we got assigned our quarters was much greater. After that, we were summoned into the main hall where the roles for each person were chosen at random.

I was assigned to the vanguard. The most dangerous job possible. I seriously doubted I got it by chance, considering how many different roles there were. More than half of them were a form of administrative or supporting nature. Someone had to keep in contact with the Clan, and the transport of weapons and other goods also required people. Not to mention all the Formation Masters and medics that were required to keep the army going.

Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced our roles were chosen in advance. Everybody got a role they were most suited for. Why insist the distribution of labor was random, I don’t know.

Anyway, I got stuck into an advanced vanguard unit, or the AVU, together with many older recruits. Well, everyone there was older than me, obviously, though it was difficult to tell just by looking at them we all appeared similarly young. Especially after I changed my face to appear slightly older.

The AVU had about twenty people, plus another ten, half of which were Formation Masters, and the other half were scouts.

We each received a standard issue gear, a combat attire of earthy colors, and a few talismans that were supposed to protect us for a short time. We also received teleportation tablets, or tabs for short, which could be triggered in times of crisis, and get pulled back to the platform we came from.

Towards the evening we received our orders for the next day. Due to the ambush, we had to clear the perimeter and check on the guards stationed further out of the settlement. The higher-ups contacted them, but there appeared to be something off with them, so we had to confirm in person.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Drow replaced some of their people with convincing doppelgangers, and probably wouldn’t be the last.

We left in the early morning, just after dawn.

“We should be close, keep your eyes peeled.”

“I ain’t peelin’ shit! That’s women’s work.”

“Now’s not the time for jokes, dumbass, pay attention.”

“I ain’t payin’ shi-”

Someone punched the guy in the face which effectively shut him up. We were close to the first station where a lookout should be stationed, and indeed, we quickly found it. Weirdly enough, the cloaking barrier that should have been there was deactivated, putting us all on alert.

However, just as we came close, the front door opened, and out came a tall man.

“Oh! Uh, hello.” He greeted.

“AVU, code 2573. What is your name?” The older man, an experienced Elder who got assigned to our group, spoke first.

“Cultivator Chang.” The man answered. “Codename Hawk, 3316. But why are you here? Did something happen?”

“Routine inspection, Chang Hawk.” The Elder said. “But why is your barrier down?”

“Oh, the Formation malfunctioned. I was just about to repair it.” Chang said and gestured at a vial of ink in his hand.

“I see… Mind if we take a look around?” The Elder continued.

“Go right ahead.” The guy gestured casually.

We split up into smaller groups and began looking for anything that might be out of place. Obviously new as we were, we didn’t know what we should be looking for in the first place. But, it helped keep attention. Not that it was needed. I already knew what was wrong at a glance.

I slowly approached Cultivator Chang, and just as he turned to me, I struck. Claws grew from my fingers and I sliced him up in one swift motion, opening his belly from top to bottom.

“Hey! What are you-!” Cultivator Chang shouted, yet was too slow to defend.

His stomach burst open, but instead of blood and viscera, all that came to light was gray flesh and black ooze.

Obviously, people noticed, especially after his shout. Almost instantly he was surrounded by two dozen Cultivators.

“The fuck is that?!”

“Yuck!”

“Kill that thing! Quickly!” The old Elder shouted from afar.

But the creature I just uncovered didn’t seem to go down without a fight. It roared at me. “Curse you, maggot! Die for me! Teredra Sinrefni ni!”

I felt as the energy around me shifted and a fiery blaze enveloped me whole, sticking to my skin like honey. I tried to shake it off at first, but it didn’t do anything, so I just watched my burning hands for a bit and then looked at the impostor.

[You call that fire?] My eyes glowed for just a second, and his head disappeared in a blaze of light and flames. The headless body immediately collapsed, but at the same time, I noticed a Soul trying to sneak away. It remained conscious after losing its protective shell.

[Where are you going?!] I mentally pulled and the Soul was sucked towards me.

“Eeeek! Get away!” I heard a mental scream as the foreign Soul felt the pull. I grinned as I saw it near my grasp.

A delicious snack!

But then… It disappeared.

[Eh?]

It was there and then one second and then just… poof. It was gone.

[Eeeeeeh?! You got to be fucking kidding me! Not again!]