"What am I to think of this?" To say that Stas was angry would be an understatement. He was furious. But he could control himself, so his rage was conveyed in overly polite words and a pressing tone. "How could you not know that a real dragon was hiding in the mountains?"

Ordyntsev sat opposite the scowling village head, demanding an answer. The mission was complete. Ideally, he should have solved the problem. And perhaps he would have considered it - in exchange for something as trivial as world domination.

"Just don't tell me you didn't send spirits out to scout," Ordyntsev pressed on. Right now, he could afford some audacity. The task was complete, but the risk level certainly didn't match the advanced level. And that was the client's mistake.

"No one is saying that," the onmyoji finally spoke, looking grimly at Stas. "Our spirits did indeed reach the mountains and ventured a little inside. But that was only enough to sense some great threat. None of the onmyoji were sent because the mountains are a very dangerous and cold place. And unlike you warmasters, we don't have strong bodies."

"So why...?"

"If only I knew the answer..." Hidoro Shijero clicked his tongue in irritation. "When we commissioned you for this mission, we honestly mentioned the risk. Given what we described, an experienced advanced or even supreme warmaster should have been sent. Ideally, someone adept at stealth."

"So why didn't you say anything when I introduced myself?" Stas frowned. "Why didn't you mention the increased risk?"

"Because it would have been disrespectful to your abilities," the old man replied, shrugging. "I decided that your clan knew what they were doing and that you had secrets that would help to cope with our problem. So I was genuinely surprised to find out that you were practically sent to your death."

'Io, you scoundrel!'

"So, a dragon has occupied the mountains," Shijero mused as the silence began to stretch. "What color was it?"

"Red. Is that important?" Ordyntsev was distracted from the thoughts of his cruel revenge on the sly bastard.

"Yes. Dragons live very, very long. People have encountered them, and those who survived even recorded it. This way, we can learn what to expect from this dragon. For example, legendary black dragons are a true disaster for the nearby lands. Even compared to their brethren, they have a deeper hatred for the human race. Did you happen to learn its name?"

"No," Stas lied without blinking. "He just toyed with me like a cat with a mouse before sending me to deliver the message."

"He must have been in a good mood," concluded the elder. "Dragons rarely let witnesses go. Usually, they like to kill anyone who wanders into their territory. They don't care that people will keep coming, unaware of the danger. They consider themselves above the necessity of announcing themselves."

"I felt it well enough," Stas smirked crookedly, shrugging. Although he spent a couple of hours mending the most serious injuries, he didn't fully heal himself as he thought it impolite to test the dragon's patience.

What if the dragon decided to return to check if the man had left?

As a result, Ordyntsev came to the onmyoji not in the best of moods. He even had to activate Insensate Demon a few times to cope with particularly strong attacks.

During such moments, Kaede was bustling around, but he eventually sent her back. She had nothing to do near the onmyoji.

"Shiro-san," after returning, the attitude towards Stas involuntarily changed. Even the clan head now addressed Ordyntsev as an equal. Apparently, a confrontation with a dragon could not go without consequences, even if he hopelessly lost. "We cannot let you go just like that."

Stanislav narrowed his eyes.

"It would be the darkest ingratitude on our part if you do not rest and recuperate after your battle."

"Thank you. I will gladly take advantage of your hospitality," Stas decided after some thought.

*****

Stas enjoyed his stay with the onmyoji. A quiet, peaceful village where people knew what they wanted, and it filled their lives with some deep insight.

Especially curious was what revealed itself if one turned on spiritual vision.

No, Stas did not dare to break his own prohibition.

It was just that Leviathan was not limited by such restrictions. She curiously crawled around the village, sending Stas images of what she saw.

Dozens of large and small spirits swarmed everywhere.

Especially many wisps, or, in other words, the smallest irrational spirits similar to glowing fireflies, were around unique totems in the form of carved wooden statues or little houses. Often, small offerings lay near such places.

And judging by the spirits' contentment when something was brought there, it worked quite well.

They didn't eat food as such; rather, they nibbled at some energy component of the prepared food.

At least, that's the conclusion Stas came to after a couple of hours of observation.

Stas was treated like an honored guest. He was given a decent house almost in the center of the village. Besides, they fed him as if fattening him up for slaughter. And although Ordyntsev suspiciously examined the food with Healing Palm and Levi's spiritual vision, he found nothing fishy.

However, during all the past days, the locals were in no hurry to engage in dialogue with him.

Moreover, looking through the eyes of the snake, Stas saw hidden fear and rejection in the gazes of some onmyoji.

But the negativity was not directed at him personally, but rather at the very concept of warmasters.

Grown onmyoji, having traveled enough around the world, had a good idea for what "merits" a title of advanced warmaster was given.

And Stas could not blame them.

In the eyes of these people, he was a bloody butcher, only intending to enlarge the cemetery behind his back.

On the second day of his rest, in the evening, he had a conversation with Temotsu, the man with whom he had traveled to the mountains.

"Am I disturbing you?" the onmyoji approached Stas, who sat on the veranda at the moment, dangling his legs to the ground.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

He was just following Levi's eyes, but to someone else, it might seem he was deep in thought.

"No," Ordyntsev smiled lightly. "Have a seat." Stas decided to switch to a more informal tone.

"Thank you." They sat in silence for a bit, each lost in their thoughts.

"You know, I've encountered warmasters before," the spirit enchanter suddenly spoke. "A couple of times, it was even a fight to the death."

Stas didn't ask stupid questions. Since his interlocutor was sitting here, it meant his enemies were probably long rotting in the ground.

"Nevertheless, I never understood why you are the way you are," the onmyoji grimaced. "The path of spirits and kami teaches us patience and peacemaking. People were not created to bring only pain and death."

"Are you saying onmyoji never kill?" Stas clarified with irony.

"They kill," the man honestly replied. "But unlike others, you've discarded everything else. Even your very name, 'warmasters,' speaks of what you live by. Why?"

"Maybe it's about power?" Stanislav suggested. He hadn't given it much thought. There were always more important issues.

"We also have power," Temotsu disagreed. "Even monks and samurai have it. But everyone tries to use it for good deeds."

"I think it's about two things," Stas finally spoke. "First, the absence of restrictions. As far as I know, there are great spirits. They set the rules by which the rest of their kin and onmyoji live. Am I right?"

"You know our world's history well," Stas practically heard the unspoken "surprisingly well."

"It's the great spirits that restrict you from all kinds of things dubious from the point of view of balance. Warmasters, on the other hand, are not particularly restrained by anything. We have no one to spank us if we get too carried away."

"But the samurai have no one either," the onmyoji muttered, stung by the warmaster's words.

"What about the daimyo?" Stas chuckled but immediately waved his hand. "Okay, let's assume there's no daimyo. But here comes the second thing, which is power. Warmasters are much stronger individually than samurai. The only thing they might surpass us in is weapon mastery. In all other respects, warmasters are stronger."

Stas subtly lifted a corner of his mouth, but his gesture was devoid of joy.

"Now think about how unlimited power can affect people? As long as a warmaster is alive, they get stronger. Even an elderly warmaster's prana works as before. Yes, the body and memory begin to fail, but the power of prana doesn't go anywhere."

"So, power is evil?" the spirit enchanter asked tensely.

"Who knows," Stas laughed, then explained to the puzzled Temotsu. "I'm not the person you can discuss this with. I'm just going with the flow and trying to survive. In this business, unnecessary questions lead to only one thing – death."

Ordyntsev didn't intend to open up to just anyone.

Five days later, when his body was fully healed, Stas, having received supplies, set off on the return journey.

*****

"Son, what has piqued your interest in this man?" the village head asked his eldest offspring, also one of the strongest spirit enchanters of his generation. "You rarely communicate even with compatriots, so what have you found in this outsider?"

"I don't know," Temotsu murmured thoughtfully, staring blankly ahead. "But I'm willing to bet a lot that we'll hear about him again. And his story about the dragon... No, he told the truth. The dragon indeed sent him with a message. But he's definitely omitted something important."

"Do you think we should inform Sumada?" the old man frowned.

"And when have you begun taking interest in my opinion?"

"Don't start! You're my son, and you're to become the head of our village. Learn to make important decisions!"

"I wouldn't report anything. Shiro truly didn't know about the danger, so I don't want to engage with those who betray and send their own to death."

"So be it," the head nodded. "Also, why don't you reconsider? How long can you be a wanderer? It's time to finally settle down and..."

"I don't want to hear it!"

*****

"I would like to apologize," were Io's greeting words to Stas upon his return. "What happened to you was nothing but my mistake."

"What are you talking about?" Ordyntsev wasn't going to make it easy for his opponent.

"Your mission," Io sighed. "It reached the council of elders first. Only after them did it come to my desk. And somehow, it lost mention of some points the onmyoji spoke of. If I had double-checked their data right away, this wouldn't have happened."

"The elders, huh?" Stas chuckled. "Then, this time, they almost succeeded."

It wasn't that Ordyntsev immediately believed Io's words, but he considered that he might be telling the truth.

After all, their cooperation promised benefit to both parties, and he saw no reason for Io to discard him so soon.

"But let's forget about this... Misunderstanding," Io stood up and went to the nearest table, then handed Stas a beautiful scroll. "Here is your official appointment as an advanced warmaster. Now, you are capable of taking on much more difficult missions and working alone. You also have the opportunity to receive a nickname."

Ordyntsev nodded. Personal nicknames indeed became available only from a certain level of strength.

"And here I would like to help you, making up for my mistake," Io finished, calmly looking at Stas.

"What do you mean?"

"Choosing a nickname is a responsible process. Enemies might give it, and you may not like it. Right now, I offer you to decide on the nickname that I will try to spread as far as possible. I will take it upon myself to make it official."

Stas didn't have to think long, as the answer was on the tip of his tongue.

"Shiro the Serpent will do best."

"So be it," Io nodded, pulling out one of the scrolls and writing something in it. "In that case, Advanced Warmaster Shiro, known as the Serpent, you are given two months off due to the severity of the past mission. Its successful completion will be recorded in your file."

"I serve Sumada," Stas smirked.

*****

Leviathan was engaged in an unusual activity for herself - she was thinking hard.

The encounter with the dragon made her feel not just fear, but something much deeper and more terrifying.

Where Stas felt pressure and could fight it, Leviathan was completely defenseless.

What else is there to say if she didn't even think about disobeying Stas's order to run?

Now, thinking about it, she was painfully ashamed, for she had left her master to certain death just to save her own skin.

It was a terrible experience.

How could she have sunk so low?

Even when she was a little, ordinary snake, she, without hesitation, attacked an armed man. She had no chance of killing him, even if he hadn't resisted, but that didn't stop her.

So what happened now? Had she gone soft?! Could her master's words about her getting fat have a real basis?!

With such a state of things, Levi was not ready to reconcile.

She took only one day to make a decision.

The next morning, alongside Stas, who was running prana through his body, sat a tense Leviathan, intently hypnotizing a small pebble.

Stas didn't interfere with his pet, whatever she was doing. Moreover, he occasionally glanced at her.

But his surprise was palpable when the small pebble, under Leviathan's gaze, quietly shifted a couple of millimeters.

It could have been mistaken for an optical illusion, but when the snake's gaze became even more intense, the stone moved a whole centimeter.

Stas smiled softly.

'I'm glad my words about hobbies stayed in your heart.'

*****

This day in the life of Sumada seemed like it should have been just like any other. Nothing noteworthy.

But that was not the case.

The last minor restraining seals in the citadel walls were methodically destroyed. Now, the only thing still holding the mighty yokai in prison was a network of spells located at the centers of the domains of the ruling Sumada families.

Places protected to the highest degree, because to get there, one had to bypass the city, cross the glass-smooth open approaches, take the citadel by storm, and finally make it through a network of tunnels where the Sumada felt like fish in water.

But everything changed when the strike could come from the heart itself.

Deep underground, in the ever-reigning darkness, the final preparations were underway.

Grim soldiers marched silently through web-filled and dusty tunnels. None of them exchanged jokes, and not because they were disciplined. Dead men just aren't good at joking.

Each of the two groups of zombies was led by something more and, at the same time, less than a human. Empty eyes indifferently scanned the surroundings, guiding the dead exactly where the man with serpentine eyes had said to go.

Stas had managed to catch another advanced warmaster and perform the ritual on him. He could have tried to increase his army further, but there was a need for haste.

A rumor had spread that the war with the Sansa was nearing its end. And this meant that a large part of the Sumada forces would soon return, bolstering the Citadel's defense.

Nevertheless, Ordyntsev did not forget to record the techniques known to the dead warmasters. Unfortunately, part of their memory was damaged, and he couldn't access everything they knew.

But even so, Ordyntsev expanded his arsenal of techniques. Of course, he didn't learn to use them, but he intended to remedy that in the future.

Minoru looked up and, with triumph, gazed at the dead soldiers entering her cave. Following the orders of a couple of vampires, they lined up along the walls, allowing the ancient prisoner to assess the forces before her.

"My lady," the sound rasped from the throat of the one who once responded to Shuji. "We are ready to carry out your orders."

"S-s-splendid," the lamia smiled.