"Oh," the last enemy supreme sobbed, collapsing to the ground. The impact caused her wounds to reopen, and a pool of blood began to spread rapidly beneath her. However, she no longer saw it. "Sister..."
The warmaster's disbelieving gaze remained fixed on the place where an enormous, water-filled crater with serrated edges now lay.
Since she could no longer feel her sister's presence, it was likely that she was dead.
"You... I will..." The woman's words, full of unbearable agony, were abruptly cut off as Kenta materialized behind her, having just finished his strike.
With a soft squelch, the supreme's head detached from her neck and thumped to the ground by her feet. Her body, after standing blankly for a couple of seconds, followed suit.
"Tokitoru chose to flee," Kenta explained in response to the questioning looks from Stas and Minoru, who had spent the last few minutes diligently cornering the twins.
"Excellent," Ordyntsev, greatly relieved, stopped the flow of the nearly depleted spiritual energy into the asp's body, causing it to freeze like a stone statue. The purple fire burning in its restored eye sockets reluctantly died out. "Kenta, how are you feeling? Minoru?"
"Fine," the lamia replied curtly.
"Tired, but I've got some strength left," the supreme answered more elaborately. "Do you want me to check on the rest of the troops?"
"That would be good," Ordyntsev nodded tiredly, feeling an unpleasant chill on the left side of his chest, where an unsightly melted hole marred his armor. "If necessary, help finish off their opponents and tell them to return."
Stas winced as he scraped the edge of the breach in his breastplate and sighed heavily. Such armor was expensive, and repairing it was problematic.
Of course, he had a spare set in his scrolls, which he could wear while the main one was being repaired, but it felt like switching from a not-so-expensive Mercedes to an ordinary old Toyota.
"Come, Minoru, let's check on our healers," Stas waved, drawing the thoughtful lamia's attention.
"Why do you bother with all this?" Minoru's question made the man slow down and look closely at the yokai walking beside him.
"What 'this'?"
"All this bother with healers, caring for those wounded petty humans, and so on," she gestured vaguely. "Although I didn't specifically watch your fussing with that old man, I still understood some things."
Stas's eyes narrowed involuntarily.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't pretend to be dumber than you are, Shiro-kun. I won't believe you anyway," the ancient yokai shrugged ironically. "You're the one who managed to achieve what your pathetic species has always lacked. Now you're immortal. You must have thought about what that means, right?"
"And why do you think it's wrong to help other humans?" Stas neither confirmed nor denied her words, still demanding an answer from her.
"Because it's pointless, that's why!" Minoru exclaimed, losing her composure and flinging her hands up. "In just thirty or forty years, only a few of them will remain. A couple more decades, and even those left will be dead. You don't fret about the lives of ants, do you? Yes, you won't kill them just for fun, but you won't go out of your way to save them, either. Their existence means nothing to you."
Stas understood what Minoru was talking about. There was some truth in her words, yet...
"I just like it," Ordyntsev finally said after a minute of thought, surprising the lamia with his response.
"Like it? You?"
"Understand me correctly," Stanislav winced slightly. "I'm not particularly touched by gratitude or the happiness of my patients. Rather, I just love doing my job. I like seeing that my patients' bodies function as they should and will continue to live long into the future. Some love gardening, others archery, and I like to heal people. I think it's not the worst hobby."
Ordyntsev chose examples of hobbies that would be understandable to a resident of this world.
"You are a very strange person, Shiro-kun," Minoru finally uttered.
"I know," Stas agreed. "But it's people like me who achieve success in this life. The natural path is simple and well-trodden by millions, while other roads have been taken by, at best, thousands. I never liked to follow the crowd."
Minoru said nothing more, nauseated by the arrogance and audacity of the man walking beside her. But she couldn't deny his achievements.
Meanwhile, Ordyntsev pondered the breach of secrecy regarding his and Satoshi's discovery.
Stas doubted that the lamia would decide to tell other warmasters his secret, exposing the immortality technique just like that. But he believed in her desire to spite him and complicate his life.
The question was, how to make the ancient yokai who feared little keep silent? And should the method be too radical?
The hospital greeted Stas and his companion with the sight of charred spots and bodies being moved aside.
Fortunately, there weren't many.
"What happened?" he barked, surveying what was clearly a battlefield. And there was no doubt that a clash had taken place here.
"Shiro-san, I'm glad to see you've returned safely," Kizashi appeared with a couple of guards following him, as if out of nowhere. His gaze anxiously swept over Ordyntsev's damaged armor, but realizing that Stas was unharmed, he calmed down slightly. "The secret group of the Alliance's warmasters attacked. They waited until you engaged the supreme and advanced warmasters before striking from the other side."
"And what ensued?"
"May I, Shiro-sama?" Izamu appeared from the side, bowing subserviently to Stas and then to the alchemist. "By the Kami, master Kizashi showed his best side. When the Alliance warriors attacked, no one knew what to do. There were very few guards left. Panic ensued. At that moment, he took command and led the remaining guards into battle, along with those we had previously healed."
"Really?" Ordyntsev smiled slightly, looking at the suddenly embarrassed Kizashi. "So you're a hero."
"What hero, Shiro-san? You're exaggerating," Kizashi fussed with his hair nervously, but Izamu interjected:
"A real hero, master Serpent! Nearly half the attackers fell to his potions and techniques. If not for him, we wouldn't have held out!"
Stas shook his head. The earthling couldn't help but admire the audacity and impudence of this particular warmaster.
Among warmasters, such characters were quite rare, and it was all the more surprising that he had lived to his age.
On the other hand, although Izamu's loyalty was questionable, it couldn't be said that he wasn't useful. He clearly had a sense of "which way the political winds were blowing."
"Kizashi-kun's valor will be reported to the command," Ordyntsev proclaimed loudly, playing to the attentively listening audience.
"And how do you fare, Shiro-san?" the alchemist quickly asked, trying to overcome his embarrassment. "We heard the rumble and saw flashes of explosions. The battle was very intense. Did you win?"
"Yes, we won," responded the just-returned Kenta, bowing to Stas before turning to the hospital staff. "Against the three of us, four supreme warmasters of the Alliance came out."
Frightened whispers spread among the crowd.
"And our leader, Shiro the Serpent, single-handedly killed one supreme, Nofu Rangiku, and aided in killing the remaining two, Tai and Kuishi Raigachi. The fourth, Tokitoru Jomon, cowardly fled the battlefield, leaving his comrades to die."
Stas allowed a few dozen seconds of respectful murmuring among his subordinates before cutting off their discussions, ordering them to continue working. Not all the wounded had been moved, and he wasn't about to wait for another clean-up squad to attack them.
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Everyone immediately bustled about twice as fast, trying to linger as little as possible near the irate boss.
"Well done, Kenta. Thanks," Stas nodded when they were alone again.
"Thank you, master, but it wasn't up to me. It was you who defeated Rangiku in fair combat; I merely recounted your successes."
"Don't play dumb," the earthling chuckled. "Presenting a victory correctly is almost half the success."
"Your wisdom is no less than your strength," Kenta responded formally, but Stas noticed his lips quivering slightly.
The supreme, trying not to show his emotions, was clearly pleased with the battle's outcome, and Ordyntsev could understand him.
They had just emerged from a rather uneven fight.
Yes, Minoru was quite a match for three supremes, or even all four, but only if she took her full form to unleash all her hidden power, which could have raised questions if someone had seen her.
In her human form, she could, at best, fight only against two supremes.
Meanwhile, Stas himself wasn't really a supreme, and Kenta was even a cripple.
But one way or another, they had emerged victorious, and Leviathan was now telekinetically holding the unconscious Rangiku. The snake and her captive were kept away from the hospital, as Stas didn't want to let Sumada know who he had captured.
Stas was very interested in the principle of pumping prana with emotions.
Yes, he understood that a significant part of the process was tied to lineage, but even so, there were chances for some secret techniques.
Besides, Ordyntsev had yet to perform the zombification ritual on a full-fledged supreme warmaster.
Stas was even afraid to imagine how sentient the result of his work would be.
If the ether imbued in an ordinary warmaster was enough only for the simplest actions, and an advanced could be questioned for the most basic knowledge, then a supreme should become outstanding in terms of development.
By rough estimates, the resulting being's ether level should be slightly less than that of a full-fledged vampire. The latter were practically the physical embodiment of ether's lethality.
And while Minoru told him everything she knew about creating and controlling ether zombies, Ordyntsev doubted that would be enough to subdue such a monster with absolute certainty.
After all, the ether leash was simple enough for a fully sentient mind to circumvent.
Meanwhile, Mari, who had returned with the other warmasters, managed to please Stas just as much, for she also unloaded a captive to Leviathan, this time an advanced Tokitoru.
This meant that even after processing with ether, they could extract the most basic information about the art of seals from him. There was no point in aiming for anything more complex, as it was difficult to obtain overly abstract matters from a zombie.
However, Stas couldn't figure out how to take a break to perform the ritual without attracting undue attention.
Of course, warmasters had powerful physiques, so theoretically, they should be able to go without food for a long time. But the problem was that their bodies required far more nutrients, which meant that, at best, they could fast as long as ordinary people.
With these thoughts, the transfer of the remaining patients came to an end.
The new hospital location was right next to the command post, meaning it was much better protected. The wounded from other hospitals and various military units also converged to this place.
Michiro was in charge here, and Stas was glad to shift some responsibility to his shoulders.
As it became clear from the news, the Alliance's front had been breached, and the Sumada troops were resolutely pushing forward.
However, since the losses were significant, some units had to be disbanded and merged into new teams.
There, Ordyntsev inadvertently met his sensei. However, the latter was not alone.
"Shiro-kun, meet my old friend, Emisu from the Jero family," Jun slapped his companion on the shoulder cheerfully. "He, like me, is supreme. And if rumors are true, soon you'll be like us too."
Stanislav carefully examined the man who approached, noting his overall plumpness, which was unusual for warmasters' bodies. Fat rarely settled on them. There was clearly something amiss with his metabolism.
However, looking at Emisu's rosy, healthy face, it was evident that he was not at all suffering from his "ailment." In the breadth of his shoulders and height, he even slightly surpassed Jun, which was impressive.
"Pleased to meet you, Emisu... Jero."
"Don't mind his family," Jun snorted. "Like me, he couldn't care less about the opinions and whims of those old farts."
"So this is your most successful student?" Emisu looked at Stas with interest. "After your stories, I thought he'd be taller."
"I'd say he's the only remaining one," Jun grimaced. "The other one's sitting around dreaming of spreading her legs and popping out a bunch of little Eikos, and the last... Eh."
Noting Stas's puzzled look, Jun reluctantly explained his words.
"Recently, Eiji completely lost his marbles. With his people, he went to a village where the families of the servants of one of the Alliance's smaller clans lived. And they turned it into a slaughterhouse. He was ordered to take them prisoner and transfer them to us, but that idiot started killing women, spouting some nonsense that they were all traitors and other rubbish."
"How sad," Ordyntsev shook his head, not knowing what to say to such revelations. "I hoped that with age, he would be able to overcome his fears."
"That's why I consider that I have only one student left. I won't allow any hysterics to call me their sensei. Yes, one, but what a one, eh?" Jun proudly lifted his chin, gesturing grandly towards the Serpent as if advertising. "Killed a supreme with his own hands! He's cooler than your students, right, Emisu?"
"He looks a bit frail to me," the supreme critically surveyed Stas. "Besides, my students also killed a supreme!"
"Yes, but the two of them did it together, and they're almost twice his age!"
"Hey, whose ears are you pissing into!" Emisu exclaimed indignantly, shaking his jowls and poking Jun in the chest with a thick finger. "If you're gonna bullshit, at least make it believable! They're older by five to seven years, probably even less than that."
Stas left the two supremes to enjoy their argument. It was evident that they had involuntarily forgotten about Ordyntsev, and he didn't intend to remind them of his presence.
The earthling had already roughly figured out what kind of people Jun sought out as friends. The same chaotic anarchists and lawbreakers as himself, whom others tolerated only because of their overwhelming strength.
Their "fellowship" was blatantly flimsy, but his sensei somehow managed to maintain it.
In the meantime, Ordyntsev was again planning to check how the hospital was operating.
Eiji's sorry fate didn't particularly affect him. Stas wasn't worried, as his former teammate would most likely get away with just a reprimand and a fine.
It was doubtful that those villagers were important people. And Eiji would be judged not for killing someone but for partially failing to carry out an order - not bringing in everyone specified in the assignment.
However, a warmaster approaching Stas interrupted this train of thought.
"Shiro the Serpent?" he confirmed, examining Stas's new armor.
"Yes. What happened?" Stas had a bad premonition from the courier's expression. He highly doubted that someone would send a messenger just to praise and congratulate him on a promotion.
Usually, it was quite the opposite.
"I have an urgent missive from the clan head. Have other messengers come to you yet?"
"No, I've only just made it to this camp."
"Excellent, then take this package and wait a bit, about half a day, for a messenger from Shadow Stone. If he doesn't come, execute the order. These are the words of the clan head."
"Understood."
Having said what he had to, the courier bowed sternly and quickly left a puzzled Ordyntsev.
Stas couldn't imagine why two messengers were needed and why one might not arrive.
He hoped the missive would explain that, and he wasn't mistaken.
Leviathan shuddered from the wave of anger that came through their connection. Her master was clearly very upset, and the snake was even glad she was several kilometers away from him.
Overwhelmed by emotion, Ordyntsev began to pace back and forth, nervously crumpling the scroll in his hand.
'Damn it! How could this happen! I viewed you as one of the smartest warmasters of this damned world. Why didn't you prepare for the assassination? Did you really think that the old families would let such a trick go so easily? Well, surprise, it wasn't the case!'
Stas perfectly understood that he was being unfair to the head of the Mizuno clan. He had heard that there had already been assassination attempts, so sooner or later, they were bound to succeed.
What really angered him was Jishin's explanation of why the situation had occurred in the first place.
As it turned out, it was all because of Katashi's excessive soft-heartedness towards his clan.
Jishin's friend had hoped to the last to resolve the issue with half-measures and words, using light punishments to bring the main families to obedience.
Of course, the Mizuno didn't have such a harsh division between old and new families. But some were still "more equal" than others.
In this regard, warmasters' way of thinking is as simple as a stool. Kindness they see only as a weakness. You didn't kill a criminal but spared him instead? Then you're afraid of his family, and they can continue to do whatever they want.
Jishin's letter briefly outlined the political situation in the clan and indicated which families could be trusted and which definitely could not.
The complexity lay in the fact that most of the clan was questionable, and Stas had to figure things out on the spot.
The only thing that gave hope was that Jishin had contacted Katashi's uncle, Aoi the Water Strangler.
Ordyntsev remembered this stern, rule-loving warmaster. In this situation, he felt that he had already begun to like the man.
Aoi was ready to meet Stas and escort him to the bedside of the Mizuno clan head, preventing the guest's death at the hands of the rebels.
Ordyntsev couldn't help but contemplate ditching everything and telling everyone to go to hell, yet he knew very well that he couldn't do that.
And it wasn't even because they would find him one way or another.
Sighing, Stas went to get ready and give his final instructions. He planned to leave Kizashi in charge of the hospital.
He had already reported to the command about the young alchemist's achievements, so let him continue to build his reputation. Stas had solved the biggest problems, so Kizashi should be able to cope.
The remaining issue was deciding whom he should take with him to Mizuno.
And as much as he wanted to take everyone, Mari, unfortunately, did not fit the bill.
Despite all her talent, at best, she was only approaching the level of an advanced veteran. However, in the upcoming turmoil that threatened to drown them all, there was only room for full-fledged supreme warmasters.
This applied to Kenta, but there was still the question of Minoru.
After all, she was the most wanted yokai in this world.
And here was a funny nuance. Only onmyoji could recognize the lamia as such. Moreover, by giving up her serpentine form, she had managed to greatly blur her species identity, effectively disguising herself.
Weak onmyoji could only tell that she was a yokai, but no more.
Of course, this greatly diminished her power, but on the other hand, she could worry much less about being caught.
Moreover, at the moment, all onmyoji were very busy frantically trying to calm down or eliminate the wild yokai agitated by the war.
Thus, as long as Minoru refrained from booting at their doors, she was in relative safety.
Stas planned to leave Mari with Kizashi. Kenta's daughter had to ensure that the alchemist survived this war by any means necessary. His intellect was still to bring great benefits to this troubled world.
She was also supposed to explain to the returned Kaede and Ketsumi where they had suddenly disappeared to.
Well, he hoped that three supremes would be enough to pull them out of the pit of crap they had all fallen into.
Because if not, they would all have very big problems.