Three Square Meals Ch. 144

Taking advantage of the dragon's frantic roar, John rolled to his left and freed himself from her jaws, which also forced Jade's right arm back towards the ground. Alyssa's telekinetic bands erupted out of the earth, then lock around the scaly limb, staking her out on the forest floor. He lurched away, half-crawling, half-dragging himself clear of the furious dragon. Jade planted both rear claws on the ground and heaved with all her might to break free, but that only resulted in those limbs being telekinetically bound too. A glowing band appeared around her scaly throat and pinned her monstrous head back, bringing an abrupt end to the dragons frantic attempts to bite them.

"There you go. One angry dragon wrapped up like a burrito," Alyssa said with a triumphant grin. "What's the plan now?"

The furious Nymph glared at them with unvarnished loathing, but bound as she was, Jade had run out of avenues of attack.

John reached for his sword and used it to help him stagger to his feet, while shrinking back to his regular size. "Now we remind Jade who we really are..."

Alyssa gaped at John in consternation. "You can't be serious?!"

He nodded and tore off his battered helmet, revealing his grim resolve. The dragon watched him warily as he raised his sword, then those emerald eyes blinked in confusion as a burly four-armed figure materialised in the air before him, swinging its own blade down to clang against John's. He knew what the shadowy Drakkar swordmaster was going to do next, but it didn't stop it from hurting like hell as Overlord Okug impaled him through the chest with a two-foot wristblade.

As agony burst through his torso, Jade shimmered in a verdant haze, her monstrous draconic form shrinking to a not-inconsiderable size. She pounced on the shadowy simulacrum, the hulking tigress reacting instinctively to save her master.

"Jade, it's me!" John called out to the Nymph as he waved away the illusion.

She shimmered again as she landed, then flung herself into his arms, now restored to her favourite form. "Master! It's really you!"

He returned her desperate kisses, then pulled back to look at the exhausted shapeshifter in alarm. "You're worn out, Jade! You're killing yourself resisting!"

"The Achonin..." she whimpered weakly. "They're trying to make me turn on you... but I'll never betray my Master!"

"I know, my loyal little Nymph," John said gently. "But you have to let me help you."

She looked up at him, torn between trusting John and worrying about trying to protect him. "How?"

John turned and pointed towards the frothy river surging against the sealed culvert. "Just let me in."

Jade looked on and a flicker of understanding appeared in her feline eyes. "I love you, Master."

The gates sealing the culvert slammed open with a crash that could be heard from the hillside, then the river poured through the hole in the fortifications. Instead of sweeping in to form a moat around the inner keep, the river reared higher like a tidal wave and washed the female figure from the battlements. She landed in the churning lake and disappeared from view...

... just as the Astral projection of Jade's mind faded away around them.

***

"John!" Sakura cried out, catching him as he slumped down beside the prone Nymph.

He leaned heavily on her, feeling waves of exhaustion seeping through his body, as the latest psychic exertion on top of all the morning's activity finally caught up with him. Alyssa had also collapsed, and was now lying unconscious on the floor, supported in Calara's arms.

"What happened?!" the Latina asked, looking up at him in distress. "Edraele said you were both getting weaker, but we couldn't contact you!"

"Not now, I'll explain later," he said through gritted teeth, clinging to the medical table.

Pulses of green light were now sweeping out from Jade's swollen stomach to spread across her body. At the same time, the Achonin glyphs had shifted and were now converged on her chest, the orange glow intensifying.

"Help me up," he asked Sakura, who immediately nodded and raised him until he was standing.

John leaned forward and placed both hands on Jade's chest, directly above her crystal heart.

*Edraele, I'm going to need energy... as much as you can give me.*

*John... you've already pushed yourself to the limit,* the Maliri pleaded with him.

*Jade needs me. She can't fight off the Achonin on her own.*

He knew that as much as she wanted to refuse, Edraele would do whatever was necessary to help him save Jade. An instant later, he felt their connection thrown wide open and a torrent of psychic energy poured into him. Now that Jade had started absorbing his load, he shared a powerful connection with the Nymph, her mind and body fully under his control. He could see how fractured her mental architecture had become and could sense the malevolent presence that was constricting her crystal heart.

Pouring more psychic energy into Jade, he shielded her mind from intrusion and focused on eliminating the alien glyphs. He'd had time to study her five sisters and see how her crystal heart was intended to be configured. It became a delicate balancing act to restore the integrity of her heart without causing accidental damage to her current personality, an ephemeral construct that was never originally intended to last for more than a few months, but which John now intended to last as long as the stars.

The Nymph writhed on the bed, her body rippling and contorting as she became the battlefield for the ancient conflict between Achonin and Progenitor. The unsettling glyphs were stubbornly resistant, the strange runes flaring bright as they fought against his attempts to remove them. But John was Jade's Master and every fibre of her being was devoted to serving him. With the battlefield overwhelmingly tilted in John's favour, he worked with her to scour the unwanted presence from her body.

With a strangled cry, Jade's eyes shot open and the Achonin runes faded away, freeing her from their insidious grasp. "You did it, Master!" she gasped with relief.

John wobbled unsteadily, then his eyes rolled back as he collapsed in Sakura's arms.