"Hey, trash!" Kensei was pierced by the hateful glares of the couple dozen warmasters, but none of the assembled dared to invoke the wrath of the ronin.

They knew all too well what could come of it.

"Now, you all are servants of the Sumada," continued Uramasa, pacing along the row of fighters. "And therefore, you must live up to this proud title! And I wouldn't be Kensei Uramasa if I didn't hammer at least some understanding into you!"

This was one of the training camps for Jishin's personal army. More precisely, at this point, it was already an official division of the Sumada.

Five months had passed since the end of the war, during which the younger prince had been diligently consolidating his position in the clan.

In his quest for power, he often acted crudely and straightforwardly. This, along with his confrontation with Izuna, unsurprisingly resulted in a talk with the clan head.

However, regardless of the complaints reaching him, Goro saw nothing wrong with his son shaking up the established swamp.

Since the old treasurer had been in her position for a long time, numerous deals had been made that weren't at all beneficial for the entire Sumada clan.

Jishin changed this by diverting some of the agreements to himself, weakening or outright canceling others. This decision freed up a significant portion of funds, which went straight into the clan's treasury.

Such an approach could have ended poorly for anyone else, but Jishin was literally the clan head's son, favored by his father. Thus, all attempts by malcontents dissipated before they could even take shape.

That's why, after five months, Jishin deemed his position solid enough to declassify and present the bulk of his secret forces to his father.

By that point, he had gathered around a hundred ordinary warmasters and a dozen advanced. An impressive force capable of seizing power in some small country no one cares about.

He did this due to the growing difficulty of maintaining secrecy.

It had been possible when he was of no interest to anyone. But the affairs of the treasurer attracted too many eyes.

Understandably, Goro Sumada did not take well to the news of his son's unaccountable troops. The younger prince received a notable dressing-down, but interestingly, he didn't lose this personal regiment of his.

His people gained the status of personal servants and were to obey only Jishin.

Since the matter had been "legalized," the prince sent Kensei to instill order and discipline among the troops.

This decision the poor warmasters were now experiencing on their bodies, getting beaten up by the merciless samurai.

A smaller part, consisting of the particularly clever warmasters, was handed over to Shin. Only Goro knew about them, and they weren't listed in any records, except in Io's archive.

Shin was quickly adapting to his commander rank in the Shadow Stone, recruiting informers and weaving a spy network over the nearby territories.

Unlike Kensei, who was indebted to Jishin for fulfilling his quest for revenge, Shin maintained a much calmer stance towards the prince.

Nevertheless, he could see the benefits of cooperating with Goro Sumada's younger offspring and thus intended to remain loyal to him.

Just like Jishin himself, his people were doing their utmost to increase both their own influence and the might of their patron.

*****

Another important development was that Kizashi heeded his sensei's advice and began collaborating with the younger prince.

Jishin received him warmly.

"So, Shiro-kun is your sensei?" inquired Jishin curiously of the embarrassed Kizashi. Though the latter had overcome much of his shyness, standing before the prince himself was still new to him. "But weren't you the one teaching him?"

"Yes, Jishin-sama!" he unintentionally shouted too loudly, but the prince didn't bat an eye. "But Shiro-sensei taught me so much more."

"That's very good. Also, you may address me by name. After all, a friend of Shiro is my friend."

"Thank you for the honor," Kizashi bowed quickly.

"Shiro-kun has told me a bit about you," the prince assumed a thoughtful expression. "He mentioned that you have a bright mind and can come up with many things that will make our clan even greater."

"Shiro-sensei is too kind," Kizashi blushed. "But I do indeed have some projects that I'd like to show you."

"Oh, excellent! Hey, Kori!" A secretary peeked in, bowing.

"Jishin-sama?"

"I'm busy for the next two hours."

"Jishin-sama, the traders from the Hogoro Country are due to arrive at that time…"

"What part of 'busy' did you not understand, Kori?" Jishin frowned. "Engage them in something, anything, perhaps idle chatter. Be creative. You serve as my secretary, do you not?"

"Thank you, master."

Jishin's face immediately lost any hint of irritation, and he looked with interest at the flustered Kizashi.

"If only you knew how I long to be distracted from those pompous and fat faces of the traders sometimes! Ah, now I'm beginning to understand why the clan conservatives were so opposed to innovations in trade with the common folk and the world. It's not quite the business for warmasters."

Kizashi wisely stayed silent and began laying out his notes on the table in front of the prince.

"Shiro-sensei warned me that the clan needs projects that can bring benefits as quickly as possible," Kizashi saw no reason to hide their relationship from the prince, and judging by the encouraging nod, he was right to do so. "Therefore, at the moment, I have two suggestions."

The alchemist cleared his throat, or rather, tried to do so.

"The first project is pills that allow a warmaster to enhance one of their predispositions to the elemental component. However, according to my calculations, they will have a side effect," he hurried to add, seeing the spark ignite in the prince's eyes.

"A side effect?"

"Yes, if someone has two predispositions. For example, fire and air or water and earth - then the pills will enhance one and completely kill off everything else. Only one element will remain."

"Interesting," Jishin mused. "And promising! What do you need for this?"

"Jishin…" Kizashi struggled a bit with the address. "I must clarify. We can't be certain which predisposition will win. That means, if we give a pill to someone from our clan, they risk losing the earth element and getting, for example, only water."

"Don't worry, Kizashi-kun," Jishin cheerfully nodded to the alchemist. "We have much more suitable candidates for these pills. Those whose lives aren't as important and valuable as our clansmen," at that moment, the prince thought of his personal fighters. "So, feel free to propose ideas; we have subjects to test them on."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Um, as you say, Jishin. The second project relates to the accelerated growth of the prana core and, accordingly, prana reserves. But, as I've already said, there are side effects here, too. The lifespan of those who use them will be reduced by just under half. Nevertheless, if one completes a six-month course, there are good chances of rising from an ordinary warmaster to a beginner-advanced."

"Excellent!" the prince exclaimed. "As always, Shiro has not let me down. So, what do you need for successful completion of these projects? An army of advanced warmasters will wipe away any threat from our path."

"A few proficient healers for calculations," Kizashi began to count on his fingers. "A number of rare ingredients. And I need them on a regular basis. Some valuable equipment, but we already have most of that. And no, I'm afraid we won't have an army. We won't be able to produce that many pills."

"Fine, everything will be provided," Jishin concluded. "I'm confident your developments, Kizashi-kun, will benefit the Sumada clan. I just would like to ask you to remain silent about the side effects of the second set of pills."

"May I ask why?" Kizashi inquired cautiously.

Jishin sighed.

"These side effects might seem too harmful to those who will receive them."

"But won't they find out over time? By then, they'll have become much more dangerous." Kizashi tried to persuade Jishin but met an indifferent gaze.

"Don't dwell on it too much, Kizashi-kun. As for them finding out… The World War is coming soon, and few of them will survive it. And if anyone does, we'll address that issue then."

After such an answer, Kizashi found no strength to continue asking questions.

Involuntarily, the young alchemist doubted whether asking anything from someone like the prince had been a good idea.

Entering the big game turned out to be very frightening. Because in such a game, human lives are merely worthless chips to be traded between players.

*****

Stas might have laughed it off when he received the cursed limb, but deep down, he understood that it was a blow not so easily withstood.

It was no joke; not only had his research on reversing mutations achieved no results so far, but he had become even more like a damn humanoid serpent.

The scaly limb irritated Ordyntsev every time his gaze caught it.

To this was added the deteriorating sensitivity. As expected, the scales possessed a disappointingly small number of tactile receptors.

The only benefit was that the scales were quite strong, and with prana reinforcement, they demonstrated excellent defensive qualities.

Moreover, surprisingly, prana conductivity also increased. This point made Stas shake his head in confusion. Why did natural energy have a positive effect on prana channels? There were no answers yet.

It seemed the changes were even for the better. But Stas liked his former hand and human appearance.

Nevertheless, although the blow was hard, Ordyntsev could not wallow in despair for long. Once assured that Levi was recovering, Stas, leaving her to recuperate, headed to a secret location where his personal fighters, unknown to anyone else, resided.

The more he thought about them, the more his mood soured.

Still, he refrained from jumping to premature conclusions.

All this fuss with secret subordinates Stas had done with one single purpose – to compensate for the lack of his own strength.

These people, whom he found in various difficult situations, were supposed to become stronger to help him if necessary.

Well, even very smart people can make errors. The smartest, however, are able to admit their mistakes.

The attempt to take weak warriors and make something acceptable out of them was doomed from the start.

The reason was simple – in this world, too much depended on starting conditions.

The world is unfair, and no matter how much an ordinary clanless warmaster trained, they would remain cannon fodder compared to the death machines belonging to clans.

The situation was slightly different for the unicums, who were born with a large reserve of prana. But such children had to be raised appropriately, and considering that the World War was about to start, there simply wasn't time.

On Earth, the individual prowess of fighters always fell short against the coordinated efforts of units. No need to go far for examples. The conflict between the barbarians and the Roman Legions is well known.

One-on-one, a barbarian could easily kill an ordinary Roman soldier, but already ten Roman soldiers would kill a couple of dozen barbarians without much effort.

In this world, however, a supreme warmaster could almost endlessly massacre armies of ordinary fighters. If they ran out of prana, they would simply retreat, rest, and resume the slaughter.

At the moment, Shiro the Serpent's personal squad consisted of five people, out of which only one girl – Mari – could interest him.

From birth, Mari had belonged to the clan of shadow masters, Rinako. This clan wasn't particularly strong, but it had passed on good genes to her, allowing her to reach beginner-advanced rank by now.

Her talent and perseverance should not be forgotten either. The girl was undoubtedly Stas's pride. After all, it was thanks to him that she had blossomed so much.

As for the rest…

Right now, Stas called Mari and listened to her report. It seemed like business as usual. The girl talked about their successes, and Ordyntsev remained silent.

But at some point, Mari stopped speaking, hanging her head.

"Mari, what's wrong?" Stas had plenty of problems already; he didn't like how his subordinate was behaving, especially since it was so out of character for the usually calm Mari.

It smelled like new trouble.

"Master," the warmaster girl whispered softly, still lifting her eyes and locking them onto the face of the Serpent. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Ordyntsev frowned.

"I see how you look at us," Mari spoke up, finally gathering herself. "I went to the city for groceries and heard stories about your victory over a supreme. While you, master, are already killing supreme warmasters, we live off you and do nothing. We're useless to you. Or rather, we are even harmful. Like a stone tied to a dragon's paw, preventing him from taking off."

"You're wrong," Stas leaned back. The conversation took place on the bank of a small river, where all the nearby territories were clearly visible. "Your own progress pleases me greatly."

"But only mine. Isn't that so?" Mari noted astutely, looking at Stas with ruthless eyes. "You no longer believe in them," the girl disdainfully gestured towards the house with her comrades. "For you, they are a… mistake. A failed experiment," she finally picked what seemed to her the suitable expression.

"Hmm, and what are you trying to say with that?" Stas raised an eyebrow, revealing nothing of his opinion on the matter.

"They're dragging you down, master. I suggest we get rid of them." There wasn't a hint of doubt in the girl's voice.

Stas pondered. Mari's decision didn't surprise him much. From their very first meeting, the girl had shown an abnormal reaction to problems and relationships. Over all these years, she hadn't gotten close to anyone else, seeing them exclusively as a useful resource.

She had her reasons for such an attitude, as she had always been stronger and more experienced than the rest.

"But why get rid of them?" Stas asked calmly. "Wouldn't it be easier to send them to the rest of the prince's forces?" Mari was aware of the overall situation.

"They've seen your face, master, know your name, and have carried out several illegal missions. Besides, their appearance would make Jishin-sama suspect that you have more people."

There was frightening truth in the girl's words, and Stas acknowledged it.

"And you're sure you can handle the problem in a fair fight?" Stas emphasized the word "fair." Given Mari's lineage, she could wipe them all out before they even realized what was happening.

"Yes, master." There was no doubt in the warrior's voice. "They're so useless that I alone would be enough to deal with all of them at once."

Stas pondered. His fingers on his left hand instinctively touched the glove on his right, which concealed the non-human limb.

The mood darkened involuntarily. The world became a shade darker.

Stas was about to speak and… Ended up saying something entirely different than he had intended.

"Your suggestion, Mari, is good, but we won't be killing them after all."

The girl simply bowed silently, not questioning the Serpent's decision. If her master said not to kill, who was she to argue?

"Call them here immediately."

"Hai!"

Now Stas faced the bewildered young warmasters. What he saw truly saddened him. Despite all the techniques, training, and nourishment they were provided, they remained at the level of ordinary warmasters.

"Listen carefully. I won't repeat myself twice," Stas stood up from the grass and looked around at the four people. "Each of you is nothing more than a mistake." His words hit the gathered like a whip.

"Out of all of you, only one person has reached an acceptable level. And that is… disappointing," the place by the river fell silent. "In fact, the only way out of this situation would be to kill you, but… I won't do that."

The warmasters, frozen in place, managed to exhale a little, afraid to even twitch.

"I will give you just one chance. Run. Flee Rashata, flee Hogoro. The further you get from here, the better. If I see or hear about you, I won't be so merciful next time. Gather your things and leave. You're free."

"H-hai!"

Only Stas and Mari remained by the river.

"You pack up too… Student."

"And I knew you wouldn't do it, Shiro-kun!" Kaede laughed in relief, emerging from behind the trees. The yokai was dressed in a long gray cloak. "You're too kind for that. But there's something seriously wrong with that girl, believe me. I got chills from her words, and I'm a yokai, after all."

Stas said nothing, not bothering to correct the yokai. He just hoped his choice wouldn't cause problems in the future.

At that moment, Mari, now ready, had arrived. A sack of belongings rested on her back, and she was wrapped in a black travel cloak.

The girls nodded to each other in silence and looked at the thoughtful Serpent, who was watching a leaf swept away by the river's current.

'It's time.' Confirming with Earth Sense that there was no one in the wooden building, Stas slowly placed his hands on the ground, gathering prana.

"Earth Technique. Stone Trap." As the technique fully formed, the ground beneath the house parted in all directions, leaving the structure standing on a thin stone strip supported only by prana. As soon as it vanished, the building immediately collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.

"Earth Technique. Collapse." Since speed was unimportant, the edges of the pit closed slowly and neatly, leaving a fairly even empty lot. In a couple of weeks, once grass grew over it, nothing would indicate that anything had been there.

The new techniques had performed excellently.

Three figures in cloaks disappeared quickly, leaving no trace of their former presence.