"I still have to say that Eiji's presence on the team is justified," Stas finally decided, and then proceeded to explain to his interlocutor why he had made that decision.

"As you know, Toshiyuki-sama, the importance of teamwork cannot be overstated. And over the past two years, we've put a lot of effort into developing certain combinations together."

"Really?" The raised eyebrow was the response. "As far as I remember, in the recent battle, each of you fought alone."

"That happens," Stas agreed. "But our skills simply weren't enough. A single technique from just my opponent alone would have been enough to roast us all to a crisp. The risks were too great."

"Let's do without the colorful descriptions," the head dismissed. "If that's all, then I can guarantee that I will do my utmost to provide a worthy replacement for your team."

"Unfortunately, no. Whether you've heard or not, our sensei takes great pleasure in tormenting Eiji. However, that's just on the surface. In reality, all his mockery and degrading tasks have one single purpose – to make him stronger. Among the three of us, Eiji is the master's favorite. If something happens to him, sensei might... get upset. And then I don't know what might happen."

"Hmm," Toshiyuki actually began to ponder. "Jun is no joke. He's too fond of acting on emotions, and then all that's left is to clean up the ruins... I understand you, but keep an eye on him - I don't want him to make another such blunder. And yes..."

The family head glanced at Stas with a hint.

"I would like to ask you to look after my daughter. Or rather, in case of need, help her to come out victorious and survive. As you understand, she is destined to inherit all this," he gestured around the room, "and to rule the Eiko family. A leader must possess authority and victories earned from youth."

"I'll do everything in my power." Judging by the fleeting smirk, Toshiyuki noticed the vagueness of Ordyntsev's promise.

"But don't think I'm simply ordering you around. You've probably noticed that all your missions have been outside the front lines, right? Yes, I couldn't keep my daughter from participating in missions on the eve of war, but it's still within my power to keep your team away from the carnage."

"We are very grateful to you," Stas bowed sincerely.

"Furthermore," the head continued, "I see that you don't need too much fame for now. Nevertheless, I want to say that the Eiko family knows how to be grateful. I won't forget he who will help my little girl."

"I understand you perfectly. I'll make every effort to ensure nothing happens to Mei."

"Glad we understand each other."

*****

The usual clearing in the forest was quite crowded this time, aside from Stas himself.

Three people stood before Ordyntsev, each behaving very differently.

The first of the trio was Mari. Over the past year and a half, she had grown stronger, taller, and gained a bit of muscle mass. Stas didn't skimp, ordering her to eat well and train hard. The samurai who instructed her also had no mercy, so he tried to keep her as busy as possible.

Of course, a year and a half wasn't enough for radical changes, but Stas would prefer not to fight this girl at night or in a dark room. Her lineage skillfully hid and blurred movements, making it very difficult for the opponent to predict.

The girl proudly thrust her small chest forward and consumed her commander with her black eyes.

Next came Kaede. Stas still hadn't managed to convey to her the need for serious behavior, but some progress had been made.

She had learned to stand still and even sometimes listen without interrupting.

At the moment, she looked around the meeting place with interest.

The third and last participant was a sixteen-year-old lad. The previous six months had also done him good. Of course, he hadn't completely gotten rid of his timidity and uncertainty, but Kiochi Fukasa was no longer the victim that Stas had seen at their first meeting.

"Today, I would like to test your strength in a training fight," Stas's voice took on a threatening tone, making all three of them come closer. "Training is good, but it won't give you the skills to fight different opponents. Show everything that you have learned."

Everyone had training weapons in their hands, so Stas was more or less confident that it wouldn't end in tragedy. If anything happened, he was a healer.

"Hai!" the Serpent's fighters, as they called him among themselves, cried out in unison, ready for the clash.

"Kaede-san, be ready to cast your illusions on the Serpent at my command," Mari began to give orders quietly.

"Okay, Mari-chan," Kaede giggled, starting to weave the future illusion. They had discussed their roles, so the yokai knew what Mari wanted.

"Kiochi, you and I will attack the master simultaneously from two sides. This is our only chance to defeat him. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mari-san," Fukasa whispered, gripping the hilt of his sword tighter. Mari nodded; she knew that despite his uncertainty, the lad wouldn't let her down.

A second passed, and everything came into motion.

"Dark Stealth!" Shadows covered Mari, blurring her figure in space.

Stas's vision swirled, and the approaching warmasters dissolved into smoke clouds, beginning to fill the makeshift arena. Shadows and shapes teased the eye amidst the gray swirls, obscuring where the blow might come from and bewildering the target.

This was Kaede's entrance, applying "smoky illusion." The latter hid not only the visible but also the sound.

But unfortunately for his subordinates, Ordyntsev had not only normal vision but also spiritual. Thanks to it, he stepped aside, dodging Kaede's clawed paw. In the spiritual vision, she shone like a Christmas tree.

'Note. Tell her to work on stealth. What if the target is an onmyoji?'

However, two were still hidden, and here, the recently learned earth technique, or rather two of them, came to the rescue.

As the attackers were running on the ground, their steps invariably spread vibrations, which the attackers didn't think to hide with illusion.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The activated Earth Sense technique allowed Stas to accurately assess where the last two attackers were.

"Earth Technique. Earth Gliding!" Ordyntsev didn't know the technique well enough to skip at least part of its name.

Mari and Kiochi's blades almost reached his body when, to their astonishment, their opponent dodged everything by simply sinking into the ground up to his hips.

"Earthworms!" A dense bunch of writhing bodies shot from the Serpent's hand. Kiochi almost dodged, but in the world of warmasters, "almost" doesn't count. This time, the worms didn't bite but only hit, knocking the lad back several meters.

But Mari wasn't to be underestimated. Her sword changed direction at the last second and would have certainly reached Stas if he hadn't blocked it with his spear.

The most amusing thing was that although Stas knew where his enemy was, he couldn't tell exactly where she was striking with her sword.

So how did he know?

Because Ordyntsev didn't promise to play fair. At that very moment, Leviathan, sitting to the side, beyond the influence of the illusion, was transmitting a video stream of their fight to her owner.

Processing the perception belonging to someone else was challenging, but Stanislav had been developing this skill for a long time.

The spear and sword collided several times at inhuman speed, and with each strike, Stas realized more and more that he was losing to the girl in skill.

'Damn locals!' he thought irritably, 'They train from childhood, and I still have to fight them somehow.'

For some reason, Ordyntsev didn't want to remember that his specific opponent's serious training had only started a year and a half ago.

'Time to end this.'

It was no surprise to Stas that his close combat skills were terrible. That's why he developed his prana like mad. Why learn how to strike if you can do it so quickly that the enemy simply won't notice the blow?

Stas's channels howled as prana, given a push, rushed through his body. Muscles swelled from the pumped energy.

The world sped up.

Now against Mari was not an ordinary warmaster, but someone suspiciously close to the speed of the advanced rank.

It all ended instantly. Ordyntsev blocked the slowing blow with the spear shaft and continued the same movement to hit his opponent in the stomach, sending her after Kiochi.

But the next second, Stas had to throw the spear away and pull out mock knives as Kaede, thirsting for battle, appeared next to him.

The natural speed of the yokai was beyond praise. It matched - and sometimes even exceeded - Stas's own speed. Moreover, her transformed arms, in terms of strength, were only slightly inferior to steel.

The only thing that saved Ordyntsev was that the yokai had no idea how to fight. Her strikes were more suitable for some beast, while Stas had still gone through a certain combat training.

The situation changed dramatically.

"Ether Technique. Cursed Fog," Ordyntsev exhaled through his teeth, spraying around a poison that drained spiritual energy.

"This is..." Kaede got distracted and paid the price.

"Bloody Strike!" The yokai's eyes bulged as she dashed away from the technique, which could harm even her. But Stas didn't aim at her. The red projectile hit the ground behind her back, creating an explosion that threw the spirit girl onto his prana-filled fist.

Kaede could only gurgle as she slumped over Stas's hand like well-wrung laundry.

With a careless motion, Ordyntsev threw the yokai aside, then waited for his subordinates to come to their senses.

Finally, they gathered around him, afraid to look up. The only one who felt normal was Kaede. But she was suspiciously thoughtful.

Stas suppressed a smile. If earlier, he was powerless before her, now the roles had changed, and this worried the yokai.

'Let's see what she'll come up with.'

"Your mistake is that you relied too much on Kaede's illusions. Also, even though you attacked simultaneously, which was a good example of teamwork, you didn't expect that something might go wrong."

Kiochi lowered his head in shame.

"Don't forget about stealth. Your spiritual presence must also be hidden. Who knows, maybe your target will be onmyoji."

The yokai nodded silently in response.

"And, finally, although your skills have improved, they are still insufficient. You need to increase the number and quality of training sessions." This time, Mari reacted, nodding sharply.

"We won't let you down, Serpent-sama!"

"I hope so. You're dismissed now."

"Hai!"

*****

Stas took a deep breath, filling his lungs with oxygen, then slightly released the stored air, exhaling the technique's name.

"Earth Technique. Earth Gliding."

As the last word sounded, Stas fell onto his back. But instead of painfully hitting the ground, his body slowly began to sink into it, like into a swamp.

The moment the shifting earth obscured the sunlight was frankly creepy. It seemed as if he had buried himself alive.

There was still air in his chest, and thanks to the warmaster's endurance, it would have lasted for another couple of minutes.

"Earth Technique. Earth Sense." After the second technique, the darkness of the underground world blossomed into fluctuating black and white waves.

It immediately became clear where the surface was and where and in what position Stas himself was.

Something smooth and cold passed over his skin.

'Levi, stop fooling around, I'm training!'

In response came only mirth.

The snake was openly scoffing at her master's clumsy attempts to swim in the earth like her. It came much easier and more naturally to the snake herself.

In any case, Ordyntsev tried to distance himself and focus on his goal. Immersing himself in the information coming from the technique, he finally found the person he had been looking for.

The gliding in the earth was constantly interrupted by the technique's deactivation or by Stas not moving where he wanted.

But he still achieved his goal.

The most decisive moment was approaching.

There wasn't much air left, so it was time to hurry.

The earth exploded in all directions with clods and grass, as Stas's technique went awry at the end, but his emergence turned out to be even more spectacular.

Eiji tried to jump away, but the strike on the support leg was fatal, and Stas's training dagger found his back.

For now, Ordyntsev couldn't manage to pull weapons along with him, covering them with a layer of prana. And he didn't have the money for a durable and small scroll for storage. In contrast, Katashi Mizuno could afford a master to create a seal right on his armor.

"Damn, you got me again," Eiji was disappointed. "But it's alright, I almost felt when you approached me. The water sensing technique is awesome!"

His comrades were resting after training, so Stas thought now was a good time for a serious conversation.

"Eiji."

"Hm?"

"I wanted to talk about Mei."

"And what about that Crystal Princess?" the half-blood smirked, not even realizing what kind of storm was brewing over his head.

"Eiji, be serious," Stas's words made the young man flinch and look at Ordyntsev in surprise. Shiro rarely yelled at anyone or showed strong emotions. If he did, it meant something anomalous had happened. "Our apprenticeship with Master Jun is a stroke of luck, and I, like you, thank the heavens for it. But in all this, you forgot who you are and who Mei is."

"What are you trying to say?!" the lad clenched his fists. "Are you defending that arrogant bitch?!"

"Eiji, just a few days ago, I heard talks about killing you. And the people who discussed it could just say a word to have your head brought to them," Stas spoke measuredly, as if with a foolish child. "Mei belongs to the ruling Eiko family. They are a young family, and they don't tolerate any insults to their status. And to humiliate their heiress..."

Ordyntsev's statement hung in the air.

With each word sinking in, Eiji grew increasingly paler.

"They wouldn't dare. If they kill me, Master Jun..."

"Yes, Master Jun will make them pay," Stas interrupted, trying to drive his words into his interlocutor's head. "But by that time, you'll be irretrievably dead. Understand, you don't even give them a chance to let go of the situation. Their honor is at stake, and they know perfectly well who gave their princess such a shameful nickname."

"And... What to do?!" Eiji was visibly scared, but he tried to control himself and even managed to do so. After all, he had seen death many times and been a hair's breadth from it himself.

"I'm glad you asked that question," Stas nodded approvingly. "As you know, I've been doing some work for Io. Our sensei's brother is well acquainted with Mei's father. I can ask for you, Eiji. But you must understand that turning to such important people can't be for free."

"I... I understand," the young man struggled to say, looking away. "What do you want for your help?" It was painfully hard for him to ask for aid from someone like Stas.

In the eyes of Eiji, who went through life independently, asking for help equaled humiliation.

A pat on the shoulder made the half-blood flinch and look at Shiro in surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Stas smiled amiably. "We're comrades in arms, battle brothers. We must help each other. If we don't help each other, who will? All I ask is for you to bother Mei as little as possible and definitely to stop spreading any rumors about her. Can you promise me that?"

"Yes," Eiji nodded. "Actually, maybe something will slip out because she really pisses me off, but I'll restrain myself."

"I'm pleased." Ordyntsev's smile grew even wider.

"And... Shiro."

"Yes?"

"I will never forget this."

"I know, Eiji, I know," Stanislav smiled gently at him.