Nadia strode into Blue Mountain Sect with righteous authority. In moments, she and James swept past the small groups of cultivators not at the games. When they reached the elevator, Nadia’s stern look dissuaded anyone else from joining them.

James used the moment to contact Tsukiko, letting her know he was alright and that he and Nadia had encountered something that took them away from the games. She messaged back with an acknowledgment and urged him to stay safe.

The doors opened to the top floor of Blue Mountain Sect, revealing the golden interior of Robert’s sanctum. Pictures of a smiling buddha sat on the walls, their cheerful faces framed in gold. Golden sculptures of phoenixes, dragons, and other mythical beasts lined the hallway leading to Robert’s office like guards for an emperor.

“Nadia, this is surprising,” Robert said in a bemused tone. A tone that changed when he saw her face. “What is wrong?”

“Sect Leader, I have discovered a demonic conspiracy inside Cyber Crane city, one that I fear has infiltrated the ranks of the government and multiple sects.”

Genuine shock appeared on Robert’s face, completely replacing the small smile. “Nadia, what do you mean?”

James’s master stepped forward and pulled her handheld out. “It would be better for me to show you. May I connect my device to this room?”

“Of course,” Robert said with a bow. He gestured to a port sitting flush with his desk. Nadia placed her device on the port and opened the recording she took of the factory.

She went on to explain what she and James found, and who looked to be behind it. All the while, Robert’s face grew more and more concerned, his golden skin seeming to darken at the news.

“Nadia, are you certain of this?” Robert asked. “You are certain that Osman has strayed from the righteous path?”

“Sect Leader,” Nadia said. “No, master. As your formal disciple I swear to you all I have seen is the truth. Osman has betrayed his morality in a bid for more power. His influence, however, cannot extend far enough on his own. Almost all cultivators are cremated for the very reason you see on the handheld, as such Osman must be working with others in the government to perform these actions.”

Robert took a long look at the video, as if he wanted to find something to refute Nadia’s claims. But even he could see the atrocities playing out on the screen. He deflated as the servitors picked up one of the many bodies and placed it in the machine nearby.

“You are right, Nadia,” Robert said with a sigh. “If what you say is true, I cannot ignore this. Such an act, by one of our members in high standing no less, is a crime of the highest order. It is my duty to see it done.”

James relaxed, letting out a breath he didn’t know he had. His master had been right, Robert was going to help them.

But for some reason the hair on James’s arm still stood on end.

He saw the flash of light, then heard a crack of thunder.

In one moment, Robert had crossed the room, his arm covered in electricity as he brought it down at Nadia. She conjured water from her hands, spinning to send it to the ground and create a pathway for the electricity. Still, some of Robert’s attack struck her.

James saw sparks run up her arm as Robert spoke. “To think, someone from the Archimedes family would fall so low.”

He kicked out, but Nadia leaped back. Shock and pain ran across her face. “Master… what?”

Robert snorted. “You cannot call me that, traitor. Not after the atrocities you have committed. To think, my own disciple has lost her way and practiced demonic techniques.”

The sect leader rolled his shoulders, electricity running across his body like water down a car window. He sent an arc of electricity at Nadia with a flick of his wrist, the woman stopping it with an uppercut of slicing water that grounded the incoming attack.

“Still adept at countering elements, I see,” Robert said. “You always were the best at that.”

“Master, you are the one who taught me righteousness,” Nadia said. “How could you do this?”

She blocked another incoming arc of electricity, grounding it before it could reach her. Robert only looked bemused, as if he knew that Nadia couldn’t touch him.

“Me, disciple?” Robert asked, his smile back on his face. “I am not the one who desecrated the dead to make cores. If anything, I should ask you that question.”

Nadia shouted in overpowering grief. “Master!”

Robert’s mask slipped for a moment, genuine remorse on his face. “I am truly sorry, Nadia. This was not the path I envisioned for you. If only you had listened to my teachings better you would see that this is all for the greater good.”

Those words finally shook James out of his shocked stupor. He took a second to assess the room. Nadia’s handheld still rested on Robert’s desk, it’s grisly contents playing in the background of the fight. Robert and Nadia seemed to be at a stalemate, but James could tell the former wasn’t truly trying. That meant he was buying time for something.

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“Master, we have to leave!” James shouted once he realized. Robert was likely stalling. He probably called other cultivators in the sect to come help, ready to spin the narrative in his favor.

“Ah, you were so quiet I had forgotten about you,” Robert said.

James entered the Metastate as the sect leader looked at him, ready for anything that might come his way.

“Such a talented young man,” Robert said, his small smile back on his face. “Truly, in other circumstances you would be hailed as a once in a lifetime prodigy. Alas, your previous upbringing, and choice of master, have led you to wallow in the muck below. A tragedy, really.”

Nadia attempted to send a slicing wave Robert’s way, only for the water blade to bend over Robert’s head without any movement from the man himself.

“Come, Nadia, you know metal elements overcome water,” Robert said. “Your abilities cannot harm me.”

James reached for his dimensional storage, attempting to take out a staff. Robert sighed and took a step. James felt his eardrums shatter as Robert suddenly appeared next to him in a haze of white-blue electricity.

“Your superiors are talking,” Robert said as he swiped down with his hand. “It is rude to interrupt.”

James saw the attack coming in slow motion as his mind raced while in the Metastate. He split his intent, crafting every dodge he knew in a desperate attempt to confuse Robert. The sect leader’s small smile never left his face as he matched each of James’s movements with his own intent. A step back was countered by a matching step forward, a dodge to the side caught by an arm or a leg, everything James tried, Robert had an answer.

Robert’s hand continued on its journey toward James even as the young man tried more desperate tricks. Dirty attacks to the groin, moves toward Robert’s eyes, everything again fell to a counter from Robert. In fact, the sect leader seemed to be enjoying James’s struggle.

Robert’s hand came down, and Nadia’s rose to meet it.

While the exchange lasted less than a second, it was enough time for Nadia to get between James and Robert. Her arm, coated in water, struck Robert’s with a sizzling hiss as electricity met her defenses. She gasped in pain as the full brunt of Robert’s electricity coursed down her arm, charring it in fractals of blacks lines.

But Nadia hadn’t made the sacrifice in vain. With her abilities, she had crafted a link between her protection of water and the nearby window. The electricity ran along the current, cracking the thick glass with more fractaling patterns.

Then, with her good arm, Nadia drove a punch into Robert’s side, using her water to blunt some of the electricity running through him. Robert grunted as he flew back over his desk from the blow.

James saw a wisp of smoke from Nadia’s neck even as she turned and grabbed him with her good arm. Before Robert could stand, Nadia dashed toward the cracked window and kicked it down. The shattered glass glinted like fireflies under the artificial lights of Cyber Crane as master and disciple fell from the skyscraper. Wind whipped through James’s ears, deafening him completely.

They fell away from the skyscraper, Nadia controlling their descent by spreading as much of herself wide as she could. Her burnt arm flapped uncontrollably, unresponsive after Robert’s attack. James tried to find something they could use to slow their fall, but he had nothing on him that he could use.

Before they could become stains on the floors below, Nadia’s vehicle flew up alongside, catching them in a scooping motion before bolting away from Blue Mountain Sect toward the central lift.

James heard his master groan in pain as the doors of the vehicle closed. He turned in panic. “Master!”

“Breathe, disciple,” Nadia said with a grunt. “It is in these situations when you must stay calm.”

“Is it really the time for a teachable moment?” James half-shouted.

Nadia half laughed, half coughed. “Disciple, all moments are teachable. Now, reach into the compartment to your right. There will be some healing cream you can spread on my arm.”

James scrambled, opening the compartment in question and finding a small jar of white cream. He quickly opened and started to spread the jar on Nadia’s arm.

“What do we do now?” James asked.

“I am directing us to the train station,” Nadia said. “It is no longer safe here.”

“Wait, what about Tsukiko!” James exclaimed.

Nadia hissed as the healing cream started to work. “She will be safe in the archives building. No sect would touch something the main family owns, not even when framing one of them. The retaliation would end them.”

“But, she and I…” James said.

“I know, disciple,” Nadia said. “But we cannot waste time. Robert,” she spat the name, “is like—“

The vehicle beeped an alarm. Nadia and James turned as one, James flinching as a blast of electricity only barely overshot them. He looked up to see Robert overhead, the man somehow walking on air.

“Brace yourself,” Nadia said grimly.

James settled into his seat, strapping in as Nadia activated manual controls and grabbed them with her good hand. She jerked the vehicle to the side as another blast of electricity came from Robert. The attack shot past them toward the ground, striking one of the many park trees nearby. Citizens started to panic and run while cultivators confident in their abilities looked at the fight above.

Nadia weaved around another incoming lighting bolt, narrowly avoiding danger as she made her way to the grand elevator.

“We’ll be sitting ducks there!” James shouted.

“He cannot attack us in the lift,” Nadia said. “Not unless he wishes to be responsible for crippling the entire city.”

“But he could have others waiting outside, right?” James asked.

“It is a risk we must take,” Nadia said. “I know no other paths that can take us to the trains.”

“Is there something I can do?” James asked as Nadia avoided another bolt of lighting.

“Use your staffs as lighting rods,” Nadia said. “Time your throws.”

James nodded, opening a window as he grabbed a staff from his pouch. He took a breath, entering the Metastate. He felt the tension in his body and willed himself to release it as he concentrated on the cultivator above. The currents of air around him appeared in small, swirling lines as his interpretation of the world merged with his senses.

He saw the forming electricity even as it launched itself from Robert toward James. With a grunt, James threw his staff, sending it on an intercept course. It collided with the electricity, melting into slag as the electrons heated the staff to a breaking point. But it was enough to stall Robert’s chase, letting James and Nadia reach the grand elevator.

As Nadia said, Robert stopped attacking once they entered the grand elevator, but James knew it wasn’t over. One of the many boxes closed around them, halting the chase for a moment.

“I will finish applying the cream,” Nadia said. “Take a breather, you will need all your focus for what comes next.”

James meditated, using the techniques Nadia taught him as the elevator made its descent.