Ah Dan leapt through the void and appeared before Shin Boh Tahn. The two had never met and neither one knew the importance of the other consciously. Ah Dan did not even know that the church of the empty god had a pope, much less what he looked liked. In the reverse, Shin Boh Tahn had not been told anything about Guan Ah Dan or his impressive capabilities.

Kumiho watched them both, knowing more about both of them than either knew about themself, wondering for the first time whether she should have stayed trapped behind that door in the labyrinth. She had been quiet, subdued by the weight of the labyrinth which she carried for Ah Dan but the clash of power around them had woken her up.

She had known of Ah Dan’s potential from the first dreams that she spied upon. She thought it incredible fortune to find, and be found by, Guan Ah Dan. It had been Kumiho’s goal from the start to assist Ah Dan in finding a fragment, also called a soul relic, but she had not expected him to find two at once.

Nor had she expected them to be wielded.

The pulse of the Ppear had awoken many things in the labyrinth. Kumiho had flitted from dream to dream as the world around her stirred, learning all of the changes and goings on that she could. A baker in an underground city dreamed of the dark skinned marshall who rumours said would lead them to destruction. A blacksmith dreamed of revolution. A dragon dreamed of peace.

A child dreamed of apocalypse.

Kumiho had felt Ah Dan before she met him in his dreams. She watched from a distance, looking at the dream without the dreamer was a process full of insight. She gleaned that he was a fighter, though he didn’t know that. He pushed past things which would hamstring others and felt as though he had been rude for doing so. He apologised for being better than others and yet demanded it of himself.

She saw a boy drowning. Children die in the water because they don’t know how to call for help or how to right themselves. Kumiho was tired of seeing children left to the undertow of the world and so she reached out and helped. She plugged up the hole in his heart until he was ready to look at it again, she told him things would be alright and she protected him from the nightmares that harassed him.

She liked him.

She did not particularly like what she had figured out over the last few hours. When Kumiho had first sniffed the connection to the goddess, she had thought the touch of an arbitrary deity had left a mark on the boy but did not think it serious. That was before the soul relics had started screaming.

She had protected Ah Dan from this, too. He did not know it but she had been covering him from the sweltering atmosphere of the labyrinth since meeting him. The pressure of the place upon him was immense. This made sense, considering what the labyrinth is designed to do. He would not have survived without Kumiho but it was bad taste to do a favour for someone without them knowing and expect recompense.

“What do you plan to do?” Kumiho asked Dan earnestly. She had very little intent of her own and was much more interested in how Ah Dan would get himself out of this situation. Shin Boh Tahn’s dreams were filled with blood, fire and hedonism. A holy man to everyone but himself, the pope of the empty church was as fake as their holy book. He was not pious, he shackled himself in rules and scripture for a power that his body could not bring him in the past.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf, however.

He was a brute. A look of glee, not shock, covered the man’s average features as Dan appeared before him. “I’m not sure,” Dan answered Kumiho’s question through their mental connection, adding “how tough could he be?”

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Kumiho was certain that Ah Dan could feel her wince inside of his mind as the first punch was thrown. Perhaps that was the only way he dodged. “Very tough, Dan.” Kumiho tried to project some warmth but Dan’s heart had gone cold. The lethality of the blow he had avoided was freezing his muscles and mind. They couldn’t have that, so Kumiho laid courage across the pattern of Ah Dan’s psyche. The moment of doubt created was tiny but important.

Shin Boh Tahn had no such hesitation. Their battlefield was a tiny platform of magical craft, no more than a fancy raft in the sky. Ah Dan did not have the room to continue the battle up here but his interruption had proved valuable below.

Guan Fa Lian was on Ah Dan’s mind a lot, so much of Kumiho’s time was spent thinking about her as well. Right now, she was doing exactly as Kumiho expected of her. The girl had subjugated Ryong Aang, albeit with help, so the remnants of Steel Fever should be no threat once assistance was stopped.

The creature was not smart enough to know why it had been able to fight to such a degree, so it was also not able to understand why its wounds no longer healed. Within three or four attacks, well weathered by Fa Lian and Hyun Soon, Steel Fever had crippled itself. Once it realised, it began to wail and scream on the floor pathetically. With a long, pendulous kick, Fa Lian sent Steel Fever as hard as she could. Like a kitten playing with a small ball, She bound after it.

Her power was such that her own speed outmatched that of the kicked Steel Fever. She caught up to the projectile it had become and attacked once more, sending the now unconscious body to the ground before landing on it. The imagery of a cat came back to Kumiho’s mind. It was not a compliment but seeing the dragonbound girl play with her food like that, the comparison was impossible to avoid.

Much the same as Steel Fever, Ah Dan’s opponent was feeling the sudden loss of enhancement. Kumiho did not have to be inside the man’s head to guess how he was feeling. Suddenly his jaw would be loose. His eyes would be unfocused. Breathing would be nearly impossible. Even as she was imagining these effects, she saw the fatigue take the brutal hold it would grasp.

Under normal circumstances, combat between Oblax Claré and Ah Dan would have been a simple affair. Fueled by the sceptre and whip, he had matched Dan for a few moments before, once again, that wonderful boy outstripped his opposition. The proof was right there, written on the world. Oblax collapsed, choking on lungs that weren’t strong enough to breathe while Ah Dan fought on.

A hard battle, to be sure. Dan would have more than bruises after this. Kumiho could feel the cracked bones in his ribs, the broken cheekbone, and felt sympathy for the boy. He was young. This all came at him due to destiny but destiny waits for no one, certainly not for one to be ready. Neither did Boh Tahn.

Dan could not avoid the experience fighter he was facing, despite his potential. Whether he would live to see that potential realised was very much up for debate at the moment. He crafted a masterful layer of mana armour, which was why his arms survived the punch and weren’t blasted to smithereens. Whatever power Shin Boh Tahn had given to Steel Fever and Oblax had been a pittance compared to what it could grant, which Dan was now learning.

Dan asked anyone who could hear. His impact had cleared the skeletons from the spear, though they would swarm quick enough. “Get up.” Dan did not have time for Kumiho to be gentle.

“I can’t.” He whimpered and Kumiho might have shown him sympathy but Shin Boh Tahn landed on the ground of the labyrinth and there was definitely no time left.

“You can. I know you can because I’ve seen you push through worse than this.” She had. It was why she had chosen him in the first place. This child pushed through pain, strife and hardship in a way that she had never seen. Considering Kumiho walked through dreams, that was certainly saying something. “This will not break you, will it?”

She felt him waver. Kumiho felt Dan ask himself whether he could. Not for the first time, Kumiho thought on the sad irony of the most martyrous person she had encountered, who could heal with a touch yet couldn’t ease their own suffering. Then Kumiho smiled as she felt resolve form hard and glowing in Dan’s heart.

“What can I do?” Dan asked, finally. Kumiho was not in the business of helping where she was not needed and this was the first time she could admit there was no hope without her.

“Would you like me to show you how?” She had watched the fighting for long enough to get a good image of the flow. Her mental image of Shin Boh Tah, Oblax Claré and Steel Fever was close to perfect, if she was being objective.

The relief in Dan’s voice was charming and Kumiho smiled as she placed her vision over his. Kumiho lived in dreams, and when she looked at the world, she saw how others perceived it. The skeletons in the background became more defined, with eyes of glowing red and dripping rot falling from their grasping bones. Shin Boh Tahn had proven himself a monster and so his large white robe now sheathed him like a ghost with a ragged visage hidden within.

It also showed how they planned to effect the world. With gratifying ease, Dan began to increase in speed and fluidity as he slipped around Shin Boh Tahn. As he manoeuvred, spinning, ducking and jumping to avoid the incoming blows, Dan began to pepper his opponent with blows. “Hold nothing back.” Kumiho commanded.

Dan obeyed and his fists began to get heavy with the collected mana. Snapping strikes chipped into Boh Tahn’s clothing and skin. Despite his healing potential, these attacks left marks that sizzled like acid. The pain of them was clear in the old man’s face and while Kumiho didn’t exactly delight in that, she took some joy in Dan’s approach to victory.

All of the pieces seemed to have fallen into place now. Ah Dan could stand firmly against even a wielder of soul relics, though Shin Boh Tahn was not the combatant that Hestia was by any means. Kumiho was obsessed with seeing how far this growth could go and would throw herself into the mixture of Dan’s power if he needed this.

Grow, Guan Ah Dan, Kumiho thought, you are the Seed, after all.