"As near as we can determine," Krainuun said, "it began with a worker from New Laeneria who had family in Korostir."

They were flying away from Romastir because they'd just picked up Krainuun, but Kai wasn't completely sure where they were going. Hopefully that wasn't symbolic of their entire response to the beginning of war. In any case, he thought that trusting the small bureaucrat was their best bet at a real counter. He'd told them to take three different ships, two being towed behind, so he must have something prepared.

"Families imprisoned at separate locations are unusual," Krainuun continued, "because the nobles usually decide to punish an entire family in one clean sweep. But families are sometimes split between cities in the first place, which must have been the case here."

"You're rambling," Omilaena told him. She was the only one who still seemed calm, perhaps because nothing she cared about was at risk.

"Yes, apologies. The point is that a worker in New Laeneria got some training, some cultivation, and some weapons. He then went to Korostir's crystal mine, freed his family, and began an uprising. They were successful enough in taking out the soldiers, but the problem is that Krysal is highly experienced at putting down this sort of uprising."

A premature start to the fighting, just like they'd feared from the beginning. So much effort at secrecy, keeping so many people in the mines or pits, only to have it all thrown away by someone he didn't even know. Kai had to remind himself that it hadn't all been wasted: they'd bought as much time to prepare as they could, so their own uprising wouldn't end so poorly.

"That much is known. I can only presume at this point that he was defeated by crystalliers and tortured." Krainuun shifted in his seat, uncomfortable not with the idea of torture but the implications. "Our information security is reasonably good. I do not believe there is any way that he could have known about me or your work near Yulthens, for example. But other city states will be moving, and they have one target in particular."

"Me." Omilaena nodded as if she had expected it. "He would definitely have told them that New Laeneria was arming its workers for war, and that I hadn't been seen recently. I presume they're sending an army to take it back?"

"Just so, I'm afraid."

"Is that why we're heading northeast?" Zae Zin Nim asked. She turned away from the controls of the diamond star for the first time. "We show ourselves and protect them, at the cost of revealing more?"

"Actually, it's more complicated than that." Krainuun coughed uncomfortably. "I assembled this information and contacted you as promptly as I could, but it may already be too late. That is the reason for the additional ships. I propose that only one of you continues to New Laeneria. Another will race to Yulthens to get ahead of the news, and one more will return with me to Romastir. We are traveling this way to save a small amount of time for the longer trips, but Romastir will also be under threat."

Krainuun had gathered the information and made a good plan, but he sensibly left the final military decisions to the three of them. Kai wished that he could go to all three places at once, so he was glad the others had stronger opinions.

"I want to remain in the shadows," Omilaena said, "let them worry about where I am. I'll go back to Romastir and protect Krainuun in secret. Just returning to New Laeneria wouldn't be enough to stop them, if they've really invested in war, so someone else might be able to do more."

"I'm the only one who could return to Yulthens publicly." Zae Zin Nim gave a small shrug. "I'm willing to do it. I'll check in with Orillia and gather our armies. But that leaves Kai to take care of the worst situation."

"Do we know the size of the army going to New Laeneria?" Kai asked. "I can go, but I don't know if I can take an entire city's crystalliers, if the city's average is too high."

Krainuun shook his head. "Korostir is not one of our greatest cities, so their assembled forces are likely to be weak unless they found allies in other city states. Speed may be more important than strength at this pivotal time."

Now that the decision was made, suddenly there was no more time. Kai leapt into one of the smaller ships and headed off, barely even waving goodbye. He'd have to trust the other cities to his allies and take on the army himself.

For all the haste, now there was nothing he could do but wait while he flew to New Laeneria. Krysal boasted about how superior it was to Goralia, but they didn't make use of portal magic. While on the trip the only productive thing he could do was cultivate, so Kai focused his mana and qi as if a little more would make a difference at this stage.

But he knew that the die had been cast. Heroic efforts now would matter less than the slow work of the past year.

When he drew closer to New Laeneria, he saw the smoke first. Entire fields were on fire, and the small farming communities he'd seen several times now had almost all been flattened. What reason would the merchants have to do this, since it would only cut into the profits of the city they hoped to reconquer? Was it punishing the workers who rose up, or did the logic of armies become inevitably destructive once they finally went to war?

Guards blocked all the gates into the city, but Kai leapt over easily enough since their discipline was scattered. He considered rushing in and attacking, as if he had arrived at the last possible second. No, he needed to choose his moment carefully.

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The city itself didn't look quite like what he expected. Not many dead workers in the streets - not many workers at all, actually. Some ordinary civilians huddled in fear as soldiers marched through the streets, but Korostir didn't have enough of an army to control the entire city. The threat they could project was substantially larger than their ability to back it up.

Actually, it looked like they were planning to loot the city and run. In several locations he saw heavily guarded wagons loading supplies, weapons, or crystals. Perhaps the merchants who had funded the attack only expected to hold the city long enough to take everything of value they could carry.

Except that, as Kai explored, he realized that there was a large gathering near the central city square. There were angry and fearful citizens, held back by a line of soldiers. He spotted several crystalliers standing guard, shifting anxiously as if waiting for something. When Kai saw the stage that had been set up, he realized that it was probably intended for executions.

He might not have arrived at the last second, but if he had come a few hours later...

While searching, Kai finally spotted a man he recognized from the workers. Kai didn't bother with secrecy, just grabbed him in an alleyway. At first the man struggled and tried to shout into his hand, then when he recognized Kai he slowed down.

"Kai?" The man leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. "You have to... they're going to kill her... soon..."

"If you're talking about the executions in the square, I'll try to stop them," Kai reassured the man. "But you have to tell me what happened. How did they destroy your army so fast?"

"Because we didn't fight them! When Cragrila heard we'd been betrayed, she knew the defense was hopeless. She had the bulk of the trained forces leave, carrying the moonmelt and most of the weapons with them. She stayed with a few others to hold the army's attention. They fought as well as they could, of course, but it was always hopeless."

"And so they're going to be executed to send a message." Kai grabbed the man's shoulders and pulled him upright. "I can stop the executions, but I need information."

The worker hastily told him what was known about the plans: all the revolution's leaders would be executed on the platform in the city square as a demonstration. They had archers standing in the surrounding buildings, ready to attack the crowds if they got out of hand. Kai wasn't personally concerned about them, but they could end up killing the very people he intended to save.

So, even though people were being dragged up onto the platform now, Kai instead circled around the crowd. He would have to hope they spoke for long enough for him to deal with the others. The only question was how quickly he could eliminate the archers.

They were well past the point of holding back, but direct violence might not be the most effective. His best option was likely Void Gaze, though he didn't know its full range or efficacy. Truthfully, he'd barely tested it at all on humans, except a little in training with Zae Zin Nim. Even as he climbed the stairs to get up behind the archers, he felt entirely unprepared, as if everything was about to unravel.

Kai was on entirely the wrong track. So far, he had only activated Void Gaze against immensely powerful monsters, pushing it to its very limits. As he used it against the archers turning toward him, he realized how much of a difference it made.

.

..

.

Cragrila had known that the uprising would probably end with her death, but she hadn't imagined it like this. Truthfully, she'd imagined that she'd likely die to some crystallier she barely saw. Sometimes she fantasized about laying down her life for her people, but realistically she expected to die in a bloody street somewhere.

Somehow she had become important enough that she was the one being executed to strike against all the others. What had happened to all the men and women who had inspired her to fight this far? So many had slipped away over the years, one way or another. And now she was the one that others would look up to, and she had no idea if her death would inspire them or destroy their hopes.

Almost all the fighting had been futile. The one true thing she'd accomplished was accepting that the defense was untenable and saving the army, along with most of their crystallier-level fighters. Everything she did after that was just playing out her part... was that enough?

They took their time dragging her up onto the platform because they were spouting nonsense about how this was what happened when the workers got out of place, it was their own fault, all the other bullshit. As a last petty act of defiance, she refused to listen. She had imagined herself shouting out final words of revolution, but in reality they had gagged her.

When the words stopped and it came down to it, there was nothing she could do. One of the crystalliers who had defeated her sneered as he kicked the back of her knees. Her head hit the block hard and she could only stare up at the crystal axe rise overhead, seeming to pause at the top of its swing.

Except it really had paused.

Cragrila stared in confusion as she saw the axe, the executioner, and everyone else frozen in place. The man's muscles trembled, as if he was straining against an invisible force. From her position all she could do was watch.

Kai Clanless landed like a mountain. There was no trace of the crystallier she'd seen before - he moved like a wild beast.

She could only see his back, but everyone standing in front of him flinched as if they'd been struck by a shockwave. Crystalliers froze, soldiers trembled, and one of the merchants pissed himself. When Kai started to turn away they fell over themselves, some struggling to get away and others simply collapsing together.

Then he turned in her direction and she understood.

His eyes burned with what she could only imagine were the fires of hell. He wasn't even looking directly at her and it felt like she stood in front of a blast furnace. A raw force seemed to seize her entire soul, locking her in place so violently it threatened to tear her apart. She was nothing but prey, waiting to be consumed.

When he eliminated the executioner, Cragrila gasped in relief, less because her life had been saved than because she was no longer in the path of his gaze. But she saw that three of the crystalliers seemed to have pushed through his technique - it had to have been a technique - and were now moving to surround him.

They were good fighters, the same three who had defeated her and her allies. Kai had saved her, she had to help him. Cragrila struggled to push past her injuries, but could barely manage to lift the executioner's axe.

It didn't matter. Kai demolished the three crystalliers with power she had never seen in him before. He had always struck her as a bit of a gentle giant, the type who wanted to talk things out or would jump in the way of arrows to save a child. Now she witnessed a ferocity that slaughtered all three of the crystalliers, and then he was standing in front of her.

Thankfully his eyes were normal again. She wanted to believe that she had imagined what she saw before but couldn't convince herself.

"Sorry I'm late," Kai said calmly as he lifted her to her feet. "You took the first hit, but because of that we can hit back."

"I... I think..." She wavered and had to lean on his arm. "The army got out, I hope. I thought... they can free others, maybe..."

"You should rest," he told her. "You survived the first battle, but the war is starting now."