Just over two months had passed since their defeated troops made it to the city of Ro and took up quarters there.

Master Satoshi honestly explained to Stas how to control and alter natural energy.

From his stories, it became clear that a significant part of rune magic was based on operating precisely with natural force. Thanks to the use of seals and external materials, the risk of intoxication was much lower than with direct work.

Stas also sent his new armor for modifications to blacksmiths. As an earthling, he had a much larger build, so the armor needed to be adjusted to fit new measurements.

Fortunately, this was relatively easy to do due to the armor's design, which consisted of a variety of rope systems, leather parts, and laces.

And as mentioned earlier, the rest was gradually coming to an end.

The first sign was a "call" from Minoru.

"Minoru-san?" Stas calmly looked at the lamia figure forming out of smoke. "What's happened? Why the rush?"

"Good afternoon, mentor!" Kaede, standing nearby, cheerfully waved her hand.

"And hello to you, student," the ancient spirit's voice was dry and displeased. "As for the reason for this conversation, it's quite obvious. How far have you progressed in treating or destroying chaos, human?"

"There have been some difficulties," Stas replied, already guessing what he would hear next.

"Difficulties?" The yokai sarcastically raised an elegant eyebrow and flicked her long hair. "Is that what people call it now? To me, if someone completely ignores the task entrusted to them, doing nothing to accomplish it, it's called criminal negligence!"

"Minoru-san, with all due respect to you, you are mistaken," Ordyntsev crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. "I have sent several requests to various collectors and merchants to purchase artifacts from those distant times. But so far, there have been no responses."

"Then you should have searched better," the lamia grimaced.

"In case you haven't noticed, we're in the midst of a global war here," Stas retorted, not willing to take such a tone silently. "It's easy for you spirits, sitting in peace and quiet while the petty humans slaughter each other and die. Meanwhile, I risk biting the dust at any moment!"

"Peace and quiet?!" Stas's words seemed to break some sort of dam, and the smoky figure moved closer to the unflinching Ordyntsev. If she had been real, drops of saliva would have been flying at the man.

"Little human, have you been outside lately? Blind one! You people kill and think it only concerns yourselves? Shall I remind you how we yokai come into being?"

Kaede, who had been standing aside, wrapped her arms around her shoulders, torn apart. The two beings she cared about were arguing, and she didn't know what to say to make them stop.

"The world around us feels everything and reacts," Minoru continued. "All these deaths, all this pain and suffering. They spread around like plague and disease. They settle in the lowlands of old and new battlefields, seep into the ashes of villages, and stir those who have already left."

Stas threw a quick glance at Kaede, and she silently nodded. Her mentor was not exaggerating.

"I utterly hate those onmyoji, but right now, they are the only ones who can deal with the wave of mad, hatred-poisoned yokai that will soon engulf us all."

A heavy silence hung in the room.

'If Minoru's predictions come true, the war will not be our only problem.'

"But I didn't come just to tell you about your uselessness," the lamia snorted, returning to her senses. "Rejoice, human, because the spirits under my command have found the item we so desperately need. It is steeped in chaos. And it was seen in the country of Midjo, between Rashta and Higatsudo, in a town called Gushto."

The lamia irritably flicked her tail tip against the ground.

"And since I've done all the work for you, I hope you can at least fetch this item yourself," without another word, she vanished into thin air.

Ordyntsev grimaced. Searching for an unknown item in an entire town in a country at war, what could be simpler?

Of course, Kaede said she could sense such objects, but that didn't solve the problem.

"Shiro-kun, don't be angry at the mentor," Kaede whispered, cautiously taking Ordyntsev's hand.

"What makes you think I'm angry?" He turned his head to look at the yokai.

"When you're angry, your eyes become... Well... Very angry," the girl tried to express her feelings. "And then someone always dies or suffers greatly. I don't want you and the mentor to fight."

"Don't worry about that," Stas smiled and patted Kaede's hair. "A power confrontation, in our case, brings no advantages."

"Then I'm very glad!" Kaede replied with a smile. "So, are we heading to that, how is it called..."

"Gushto Town in Midjo. And no, we're not going anywhere yet. I'm expecting the commander's rank and assignments from Io soon. While carrying them out, we'll drop by the place we need to go. Fortunately, it will be practically impossible to track our actions."

"Understood, I'll continue training then. I've become even stronger after the last battle!" the yokai boasted. "Soon, I'll be so strong that this Rinako will become completely unnecessary..."

"Ahem," a cough from the dark corner made Kaede practically jump, after which she began to glare suspiciously at Mari, who emerged from the shadow.

Stas was not surprised by the second girl's arrival, as Levi kept carefully scanning the surroundings.

"Excuse me, master, for my sudden appearance, but did I overhear right that we might have a new target soon?"

"You're right, Mari. Do you have any important news?"

"Yes," the girl nodded uncertainly, instantly alerting Stas. "Yesterday I... I met with my father."

Leviathan, upon receiving the order, immediately went into combat readiness, scanning the surrounding area for characteristic prana. But besides Mari, there was no one else around.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Or the girl's father was too good, which was not something impossible for a supreme warmaster with a shadow lineage.

"I would like to hear the full story from you. Take your time, I'm interested in every detail," Stas said slowly.

Mari sighed.

"It all started when my father expressed a desire to speak with you, Shiro-sama…"

*****

Stas arrived at the meeting fully armed, including his new armor set, assistants, and Leviathan lying in ambush deep underground.

Ordyntsev was not going to underestimate a man who had managed to survive for years as a renegade warmaster, hunted by the clan of warmasters-assassins and the Aikatsu ninja clan.

His desire for a meeting was also unclear.

Kenta, as the supreme was called, had said nothing to his daughter.

Fortunately, the meeting took place inside the city, and Stas hoped to hold out long enough for his "clanmates" to help in case of an attack.

The meeting place was one of the wealthy tea houses in the geisha district. Kenta had rented it himself, chasing out all the servants to maintain secrecy. There was nothing strange about that, so the servants obediently complied.

Surveying the one-story house with its high tiled roof, Stas walked up the steps and opened the door with a single motion.

Inside, as expected, sat a single human figure. The only thing unusual was its appearance.

Dressed entirely in black onmyoji garb with a high hat and cloth mask – this was not what Stas had expected to see.

The thought involuntarily jumped to Minoru and the possibility that this was all a grand trap.

"Come in, Shiro-san," the onmyoji nodded. "Don't mind my disguise. I am indeed the one who called you here. Mari's father, Kenta Rinako," the man chuckled. "Though I had lost the right to that surname long ago."

Stas silently entered, followed by Mari herself. Kaede stayed outside, ready to attack at a signal.

Guests settled beside a quietly smoking hearth and began to examine each other. Kenta slowly raised his hands and removed the mask, revealing his face.

He appeared as a man about thirty-eight years old with graying stubble and dark circles under his eyes.

The situation gradually turned from tense to awkward.

Stas remained silent, not intending to put himself in a subordinate position. Mari glared unfriendly at her father, who looked at anything but his daughter.

"Greetings... Father," Mari spoke first, her voice clearly dripping with irony. "How have you been?"

Kenta frowned and looked directly at Mari.

"Fine, daughter. But I don't understand why you're speaking to me like that?"

"As if you really don't understand!" the warmaster girl chuckled. "Should I remind you? Weren't you the one who left me to rot in that stupid village? Left me there all alone?"

"Don't talk nonsense. You know that was for your own safety."

"Really?" Mari's anger finally broke through the mask of calm. "Only in your 'safety,' I was nearly raped and killed! And even if it had worked out, how soon were you planning to take me from there? Tell me, father."

Kenta opened his mouth but hesitated for a moment.

"Never mind," Mari sighed abruptly. "Just tell me honestly, how long have you known that the village where I lived was destroyed?"

Unable to withstand the scrutinizing look, the man looked away.

"I thought so," Mari's words were engulfed in bitterness again. "I was nothing but a nuisance to you. A hindrance you simply got rid of."

"Mari, believe me, it's not like that," Kenta said, pain in his eyes as he looked at his daughter, who had turned away. "I couldn't take you with me, and you know that. Returning was not an option either, as it would have put you in danger. The best choice was to stay away from you to avoid trouble."

"Then why are you here now?" Mari asked sharply, turning around. "Wouldn't it have been better to 'stay away from me'?"

"I wanted to make sure you were all right. You have no idea what I felt when I learned that the village had been destroyed. Fortunately, I was able to find survivors who told me you had also survived and gone somewhere."

"Well, you found out I'm fine," Mari snorted contemptuously. Her whole posture screamed, 'Now be gone.'

"Daughter... Mari," Kenta chuckled bitterly. "I'm terminally ill." This made Mari, who was about to say something, fall silent. "I don't have much time left. And I wanted to do something for you before the end..."

"That's not fair," Mari clenched her fists until they cracked. "Why do you come only to say you're dying?! If I didn't know about it, I would have been much better off. You shouldn't have come at all!"

"Life, in general, is an unfair thing, little shadow," the man smiled sadly.

"I don't need anything from you," the girl cut off after a few seconds of thought. "If you want to do something for me, then do what my master says." Mari bowed toward Stas.

Kenta's gaze focused on the earthling who had been silent all this time.

"Thank you for taking care of my daughter in my absence," Kenta bowed politely, still seated.

"Don't mention it," Stas quickly returned the bow under the watchful eye of the supreme. It mattered not that Kenta allowed such a manner of speaking to his daughter; the Serpent was a stranger to him. "Any decent person in my place would have done the same."

"It's a pity that there are so few decent people these days." Kenta chuckled briefly but quickly stopped. "You've heard my daughter's wish. I don't know how much time I have left, but I don't think it's more than a couple of years. My blade and my skills are at your disposal, Shiro-sama."

Stas would have lied if he said that the honorific "-sama" from a supreme warmaster did not give him a thrill.

Too bad the supreme who said it was dying of illness. But Stas could work with that.

"Hold off on burying yourself, Kenta-san," Ordyntsev put on his best hopeful smile. "I'm sure you know, but I have some medical knowledge. Let me examine you. Then we can talk more precisely about the future."

"As you say," Kenta looked inquiringly at Stas. "Do I need to undress?"

"Not yet," Stas stood up and sat next to the supreme. "So, what do you say is your illness?"

"Prana channel suppression," Kenta briefly outlined his problem. "The healers I've been to said it's incurable. The prana channels, for reasons unknown, exhaust their vitality ahead of time and die off. And since the body can't live without prana, it dies along with them."

"Yes, I see," Ordyntsev frowned, taking the supreme's hand and running his Healing Palm, glowing green, over it. "It is indeed a serious problem."

Before Ordyntsev's eyes were incredibly developed and powerful prana channels. There was no doubt that they could drive monstrous amounts of energy through themselves.

But all were spoiled by countless ulcers that ate away at the channels along their entire length.

"Am I correct in understanding that the more prana you use, the faster the degradation progresses?" Stas clarified. To his shame, he had only heard of such a disease. It was too rare to study seriously.

"You're right." The supreme nodded indifferently. He had clearly already come to terms with his fate or was skillfully hiding his true feelings.

'The thinnest prana channels will stop working first,' Stas concluded from his observations. 'This is not critical, but then he will stop being able to perform techniques as the decay reaches his arms and legs. Next, it will be the turn of the main body and, finally, death.'

"Alright, I'll allow you to work with us," Ordyntsev decided. "I'll see what can be done about your disease. I don't promise much; the process has gone too far. For now, focus on training and teaching Mari. We'll probably have to leave in a week, so continue training on the go."

"Master!" Mari exclaimed indignantly, but stopped under Ordyntsev's stern gaze.

"Mari, I have no interest in the friction and complexities between you and your father. At the moment, I see before me a priceless source of knowledge about Rinako techniques. And I see no reason why you can ignore it. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand," the girl lowered her head, hiding her face with her hair.

"Excellent. Now I think we can disperse. It's late. We'll discuss the details tomorrow."

"Thank you, Shiro-sama," the supreme bowed gratefully. "I'm glad my daughter became your subordinate." The girl immediately let out a contemptuous snort.

Mari immediately followed Stas outside, sparing not a single glance back at her father, who remained sitting alone.

*****

Minoru was angry. One might even say she was furious.

Clearly, the Great Serpent King had made a mistake entrusting his life to this petty human.

Of course, Minoru was sure that if the lord had been fully conscious and not suffering from the pain that tormented him, he would never have done so.

And these eternal excuses of his. What were they really worth? All it took was a bit of effort, and the required artifacts were found at once.

The lamia looked doubtfully at the metal star lying before her. The material from which it was made exuded a greasily sheen, causing an uncontrollable desire to wipe it off.

Naturally, she took care of safety, placing the chaotic object within several protective circles of onmyodo.

Who better than her knew how they worked?

Yet even so, she felt the danger emanating from the star.

However, there was no choice. Since she couldn't rely on the human, she would have to figure out by herself how to heal the Serpent King.

After all, in her long life, she had encountered a multitude of different dangers.

The chaos artifact would be merely another difficulty she would overcome. Not even the most challenging one.

That's all there was to it.