As it turned out, Stas was slightly mistaken about the Mizuno clansmen's skills. Having become accustomed to manipulating prana and other types of energy with terrifying ease, Ordyntsev had somewhat overestimated the water clan.
Thus, instead of the expected day, it took the warmasters summoned by Aoi Mizuno a whole two and a half days.
And such a prolonged period of time could not pass without several crises.
As a result, a few chaos servants, sensing trouble, managed to incite panic among a couple of small families of warmasters, convincing them that they were all soon to be killed.
That insane attack cost the Mizuno dozens of slain warmasters and a couple of hundred civilians. Unpleasant numbers, but only a drop in the ocean.
A new attack on the palace was cut from the same cloth. The only difference was that this time, only chaos servants took part.
As a result, there were more dead, and the destroyed section of the palace now pleased the city's inhabitants with its battered walls.
Nevertheless, despite no longer checking the Mizuno for chaos energy, Stas had other matters to attend to.
He was deeply troubled by Katashi's psychological state. Besides, the earthling wasn't ready to completely dismiss the idea that the head of the Mizuno had surrendered to the forces of chaos.
Yes, the likelihood of the latter was low, but considering the high stakes, one couldn't blame him for being overly mistrustful.
However, even if one assumed that Katashi was still himself, it didn't mean that his days of mental torment had passed without consequence.
The young Mizuno was to Ordyntsev's liking, which was a rarity. His infectious optimism and inner fire were what Shiro the Serpent desperately lacked.
Furthermore, compared to the impenetrable gloom that was the society of warmasters, Katashi's company was like a powerful industrial lantern. His kindness and desire to be merciful were a pleasant exception.
In addition, the head of the Mizuno was undoubtedly smart and knew what he wanted from life.
All this allowed Stas to enjoy their conversations.
But even with all his exceptional qualities, Katashi was an ordinary human. And the horrors of chaos don't just fade so easily.
That's precisely why Ordyntsev, to Aoi's great annoyance, tried to spend as much time with Katashi as possible, excusing their prolonged meetings as essential for healing. Even though they both knew it was just a pretext.
At the same time, while Stas tried to help, he understood that he couldn't fully empathize with what Katashi was going through, so he couldn't provide full support.
Despite this, the man still had a certain opportunity, which he used without remorse.
"Greetings, stunning…" Katashi curiously looked at Minoru, who sat down next to him.
The yokai's eyes, dark as deep pools, locked on Stas.
"Minoru," Ordyntsev responded with a smile, noting how the lamia twitched slightly. Apparently, her movement didn't go unnoticed by Katashi either.
"Don't mind it," Ordyntsev shrugged indifferently. "Minoru-san has a very strained relationship with her kin. That's why she prefers to hide her real name."
"If someone didn't toss my name around so recklessly, it would be much easier," Minoru retorted, not caring how her words sounded. But Katashi wasn't offended; on the contrary, he looked at the cold yokai with enormous interest.
"Like you, Katashi, Minoru-san had the misfortune of falling into the cultists' hands. And like with you, they hoped to break her mind so she would join their side willingly."
The man's expression changed, and he looked at the woman sitting across from him with different eyes.
"Minoru, what was it like?" Stas asked calmly, staring demandingly at the agitated lamia.
"Why should I answer?" she hissed. "It's my business, not..."
"I felt as if I had sunk deep into the water, seeing neither land nor sky," Katashi suddenly spoke, interrupting Minoru and taking the first step. "Around was just... I don't know how to describe it. It had no color or shape, but its countless hands grabbed me from all sides and crawled under my skin, trying to tear me apart."
The room fell silent. The gazes converged on the grimly silent lamia.
"For me, it was sand," she finally uttered, not lifting her eyes. "I felt it clogging my throat, rolling down and entering my stomach. And then... It started to flow through my veins. I tried to resist, but... It was futile."
"What made you keep fighting?" Stas gently prodded. Right now, he was like a cobra that noticed a mouse peeking out of its burrow.
"My clan," Katashi replied without hesitation. "I couldn't let those creatures influence my people through me."
"I made too many mistakes," Minoru whispered with genuine pain. "I would've preferred to die rather than cause more harm. I longed for death, but they were too skillful, bereaving me even of that. I was left alone with my despair; there was nothing more."
"The main thing is that you didn't give up," Katashi leaned forward understandingly, squeezing her hand in reassurance.
Minoru was stunned, slowly looking first at the hand of the Mizuno head and then at the man himself.
At that moment, Stas frantically thought about how he would have to save Katashi from the deadly serpentine coils. Mizuno was still too weak to even think about escaping the lamia's grasp.
"I see you are sincere," Minoru said softly, the corners of her lips twitching in what was probably meant to be a smile. She didn't pull away her palm.
Katashi held her hand for a few more seconds, then let go, but no matter how hard Stas looked, he didn't see any dissatisfaction from the lamia, which allowed him to mentally exhale.
"Tell me, Katashi-sama..." Minoru started unexpectedly.
"'San' will be enough," Mizuno smiled.
"Very well. I wanted to ask, how exactly did you fight against their influence? Were there any successful methods?"
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
"Surprisingly, yes," Katashi nodded enthusiastically. "As I've already told the Serpent, I considered everything around me an illusion, so I fought it as if it were illusions..."
Stas listened attentively to the conversation of his "charges" but tried not to interfere. Right now, they didn't need him, but he was also interested in mental resistance methods against the energy of change.
Watching how the human and the ancient yokai enthusiastically shared their experiences and suggested each other methods to confront them, Stas was pleased.
Now, he could be a little more at ease about the fate of Katashi and, perhaps, Minoru.
*****
Aoi had immediately warned Ordyntsev not to wander too much around the palace, so to speak, to avoid trouble.
For his stay, Stas was allowed to use several floors, including the one where Katashi lived.
Considering how the rest of the city lived at the moment, this couldn't be called inhospitable.
Nonetheless, Ordyntsev was surprised and wary when, one day, he was approached by a stern but pleasantly looking woman with the prana level of a supreme warmaster.
"May I assist you?" Ordyntsev asked politely, deploying a searching technique.
'There's no chaos. So, what does she want from me?' The Serpent was always uncomfortable around warmasters capable of destroying small towns with area-of-effect techniques.
"Good to see you, Shiro the Serpent," the woman's voice was strong and deep. Her eyes looked on with a respectful calm. "My name is Ayano Sumada." She paused, watching Stas closely.
Ordyntsev's eyes lit up with understanding.
"How may I assist the mother of my former teammate?" Stas looked at Eiji's mother with renewed interest.
"I merely wish to deliver a message, Serpent-san," Ayano said detachedly, as if she were somewhere else. "Please tell Eiji Sumada that if he continues to seek me out, he risks dying. Since our clans have formed an alliance, I do not wish to cause trouble for Lord Jishin and Lord Katashi. But if we meet, one of us will die. Kindly convey my words to him."
"Will do," Stas nodded briefly, watching as the woman returned a slight bow and walked away leisurely.
Ordyntsev had no doubt that this supreme was not exaggerating in the slightest. If she meets her son, she will kill him, even at the cost of her own life.
*****
The cleansing of the city from chaos went on as usual, but Stas wasn't particularly troubled by it. Every day, explosions thundered, and the noise of water techniques echoed. Nevertheless, it was noticeable that, gradually, such disturbances happened less frequently.
As Ordyntsev suspected, the Mizuno began to pass the technique on to new apprentices. The earthling didn't know where they found so many ordinary warmasters willing to forego their lives, but the important thing was they had them.
The technique required almost no prana, so the Mizuno had the opportunity to calmly sacrifice ordinary warmasters instead of advanced ones, let alone supremes.
In a way, these two weeks Stas spent with the Mizuno could be considered a real vacation.
Delicious, free food, exquisitely trained servants, the purest silk sheets, and a couple of other things that only the heads of great clans could boast of.
A couple of days after the memorable conversation, a somewhat embarrassed Minoru approached Stas.
For a few seconds, she stood next to him, uncertain of how to start the conversation, then sighed heavily.
"I want to talk to that warmaster again. It... It doesn't interfere with any of your plans, right?" One could only imagine the effort it took her to squeeze out that question.
Asking permission from a human, wasn't that a nightmare for all yokai?
Ordyntsev was tempted to say, "No, it does interfere," but he understood that it wouldn't end well.
"Of course," he smiled slyly. "Have fun."
"Hmph!" Minoru snorted disdainfully at his hint, then walked away proudly, albeit a little hastily.
Stas was curious about the game Katashi was playing, but he could be fairly certain that the clan head, at the very least, was honest and had no ill intentions.
Minoru was too good at sensing lies and emotions to be easily deceived.
And if the unapproachable yokai was so intrigued by an ordinary human, it was at least interesting.
Ironically, despite all the help Ordyntsev had provided to the great clan, according to local traditions, the Mizuno owed nothing to him personally.
The logic was simple: since Jishin had sent Stas here, it was he, or in general, the Sumada clan, that deserved the reward. Shiro the Serpent himself was just an unnamed blade wielded by his master's hand.
An ugly system where a person is nothing more than an appendage or a cog in one social structure or another.
However, as Stas had already confirmed on several occasions, Katashi Mizuno often thought much broader than the people of his era.
That's why, when Stas arrived for another tea party, his gaze was greeted by a rack of splendid samurai armor and a long spear laid atop three thick cushions.
"You didn't think you could leave me empty-handed, did you?" Katashi asked cheerfully. In recent days, he had started to regain his form rapidly. The flesh was growing on his skeleton at an impossible speed for normal physiology. "This armor and one of my spears are yours. It's the least I can do for what you've done for my clan and me personally."
"I still think it's too hasty a decision," Aoi, sitting nearby, shook his head disapprovingly. "By your action, you put the Sumada clan in an awkward position. The Serpent should be rewarded by the head of his own clan, not a foreign one. If you seek friendship with the Sumada, breaking traditions is not the best way."
"It's a great honor for me," Stas bowed, carefully picking up the spear and checking the blade. The finely engraved rune chain was hard to miss. "I gratefully accept your generous gift."
"I'm glad," Katashi smirked. "Watching the sorry state of your current attire is nearly insufferable. Only the helmet is somewhat decent. I thought Jishin valued you, otherwise why would he let you wear... That."
"My real armor was destroyed just before the trip to your clan," Stas explained.
"Well, now you have new 'real armor.'" In response, Stas bowed again sincerely. A single glance at the gift was enough to recognize its value.
If you compare what Stas was wearing now to a car, it was like an SUV produced by a local brand. Not the worst vehicle, but there's always a desire to change it for something else.
The previously destroyed armor was equivalent to a used Mercedes. Not the newest car, but it still carried certain prestige.
This armor, however, was akin to the status of something like a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. An item that an ordinary mortal couldn't afford in a lifetime.
Of course, this gift wasn't the pinnacle of the artifact craftsmanship of samurai weapon smiths.
For example, if there are cars costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, there are also those costing ten times more.
However, no matter how durable the armor was, it still couldn't withstand supreme techniques for long without consequences. Fortunately, this still gave at least some chance to kill the leaders of great clans.
The spear was also clearly far from ordinary, considering that it previously belonged to the prince of the great clan.
"Sit down, sit down, you can admire it later," Katashi patted the floor friendly. "I see you want to ask something. Go on, don't hold back."
"How are things on the front?" Ordyntsev got straight to the point.
"I would say excellent if I didn't want to anger the spirits," Katashi said with satisfaction, and Aoi nodded in agreement. "Our and your troops have already passed through the territories of Raigachi, Itasabi, and Tokitoru. Now, the battles continue only in the lands of Rangiku. They are our toughest opponents, but obviously, they won't last long, even with the remnants of the Alliance supporting them."
"Good to hear," Stas smiled with relief.
"But the situation is still not pleasing," Aoi shook his head, dispelling all sense of calm from the Serpent. "According to our intelligence, the war between Hizoru and Avasaki has devolved into an utter nightmare. As far as we know, their leadership is lost, and it's become a war of all against all. However, considering the presence of chaos, the prospects appear dire."
"So that's where they plan to start taking over this world," Ordyntsev concluded, and sharp nods confirmed his guess.
"Besides, we are concerned about the presence of cultists in our army and the Sumada clan," Katashi continued. "If they haven't struck at Jishin yet, it doesn't mean they aren't preparing to. If we don't hurry, the same thing that happened to the air and fire clans will happen to us."
"I understand," Stas agreed. "I'm sure now you can handle it here without me."
"Yes. However," Katashi raised his hand, "in gratitude for your help, I'm sending with you two dozen warmasters who know the chaos detection technique. They will teach your people and help identify the cultists."
"Thank you for your generosity," the earthling bowed his head.
"Think nothing of it," waved off the head of the Mizuno. "Without Sumada, everything we planned will go to dust. I've also sent persuasive letters to all onmyoji clans in our territory. Unfortunately, they can't use your technique, so I'll have to send my people to them. But I think it will bring some benefit."
"So now our next target after the Alliance is Hizoru and Avasaki?"
"Yes, though for entirely different reasons," Keitashi discarded his smile and shivered. "I'm afraid to even imagine what those chaos servants are perpetrating in their lands. We have to be prepared for anything."
"And we will be," Stas nodded confidently.
Aoi grinned menacingly.
The three men enjoyed hot tea and conversation, not even suspecting that the planes of impermanence should never be underestimated.
After all, as they say, chaos always finds a loophole.
End of Book Seven.