‘Is he gone?’ I asked.

Mior didn’t answer for a moment, presumably focusing on their senses in order to answer the question. Finally, the spirit nodded. ‘As far as I can tell, yes. It’s possible he could deceive me, with a bit of luck, but it wouldn’t work against Rijoko. And I doubt Isuro would do that, anyway.’

I breathed out deeply, then rolled my shoulders and beat my wings to gain some altitude. We could still see the city from here, though we were now too far away, not to mention at a bad angle, to see much of the battle. ‘Good.’

Mior took my hand again, and sped up towards Saria. I clenched my teeth and focused on keeping up. This time, I managed it better, feeling like I was actually in control of and contributing to my movement. We crossed the distance far quicker than I could have done it on my own, and soon hovered almost over Saria again.

‘Stay calm and let me in.’ Mior said. ‘You trust me, don’t you, Inaris?’

I tensed up slightly, hesitating for a moment, before I nodded. I did trust them.

Mior’s hand on my arm seemed to grow warm, and I felt their qi more keenly as they hovered in front of me. They appeared to stare into my eyes in a way that might have been uncomfortable if they had a more physical body.

Then their form started to dissolve, qi hanging thickly in the air, and I couldn’t help but stiffen. I watched, keeping myself still, as the diffuse cloud of qi which I could sense contained Mior’s presence drifted into me. My skin prickled and I felt a strange kind of heat entering my body. But those sensations grew more distant as my mind encountered it as well. I felt Mior’s consciousness reaching out and touching me, more closely than I’d ever felt them before.

It was like dropping into a deep void. I sensed the flickers of qi going through them, the vast and slightly alien intellect, with the weights of millennia of experience and vast amounts of power behind it. They cradled me, holding me close to themself, padding the edges with comfort and feelings of care. It couldn’t quite drown out the burning, stabbing pain that probably came from my body, but maybe not just that.

I didn’t know how long that experience lasted. By the time I opened my eyes again, blinking against the disorientation, we had dropped some distance but were still in the air, my wings beating slightly erratically. I leveled them out and took a deep breath, trying to ascertain what had happened.

‘That worked better than I was afraid it might,’ Mior said.

I turned to them. The spirit was currently manifested in a slightly more wispy form than before, floating alongside me. And yet, at the same time, I could feel them somewhere inside, directly connected to my mind. If I focused on it, I could almost make out a tangible tether of qi connecting the two of us. I suddenly had a pounding headache, and it felt like something was squeezing my head, pushing up against my mind. I didn’t want to think about how it would have felt if Mior had tried this when I was in a lower stage.

‘I didn’t know you could actually possess me,’ I said. ‘Isn’t my bloodline interfering?’

‘Apparently not. I’d wager a guess that it’s helping, considering we share the same bloodline, but I wouldn’t like to try this for an extended period of time without Rijoko’s stabilizing influence. Now, let’s go.’ Mior turned and looked off to the side, and at the same time, I could feel their attention shifting. ‘Time to introduce ourselves properly to Sparky.’

‘Sparky?’ I raised an eyebrow and followed their gaze to where the battle still raged. Actually, the two Greater Spirits appeared to have moved away from the human fighters somewhat, and were currently over the city walls.

Mior only grinned. ‘I think grandfather will give you more power. Try it. And stop dawdling.’

I shook my head, but got moving. Mior seemed to drift along, not quite contained in me, but not really moving by themself, either. We approached the Greater Spirits while I diverted some of my attention to my connection with Rijoko. It was still clearer and sharper than ever, practically thrumming with power.

I felt like skipping the distance between us was an insignificant step that took little more effort than if I was strolling leisurely through a garden. The humans I could see and sense in the background all appeared to be moving slowly, instead of with the blinding speed cultivators should display. And the landscape of qi around me no longer seemed so chaotic. Instead, I found myself understanding intricate patterns at a glance, feeling the streams and eddies of it, sensing everything happening while still being able to focus my attention on the important things. It was exhilarating, and a little daunting.

Rijoko and Jideia appeared even more intimidating to me now. They both were giants, not so much physically as concerning their qi. I could feel Rijoko’s especially well. Even knowing that much of it, of him, was still contained elsewhere, did not make me feel any less as if I were an ant gazing up at a tree. Jideia was clearly different, but no less strong.

‘Don’t lose heart,’ Mior whispered to me, silently, in a corner of our minds. ‘I am with you, and we can do this.’

The spirit flared their qi, which felt a little as if they flared my own. It pushed out, claiming a little space in the raging clash between the Moon and the Storm’s presences. They both reacted instantly, although they must have already known we were here. I felt something from Rijoko that was hard to put into words; perhaps focused determination came closest. Jideia’s avatar turned and shifted position slightly so he guarded against all of us.

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In response, Mior started drifting to the side, and I followed automatically. We were far more coordinated than I’d ever been with any ally in a fight, and seemed to instinctively complement each other’s actions due to the way we sensed them from each other’s minds. We started circling a little, making as if to pen Jideia in. I knew it wouldn’t matter much, but Mior’s experience said that every little bit helped. All the while, we were still practically pouring out qi, pushing against our adversary, a silent and continuous wrestling in the background.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter much. Rijoko and Jideia still fought, exchanging qi in ways that seemed different from any techniques I’d ever seen, though still recognizable. Maybe it was just that I saw the process differently, more completely. I got the feeling that neither of them was in a hurry. And why should they be?

We were still drifting in the air, with no one seeming to give that fact any attention, and were now moving over the city. I didn’t get the sense that Jideia cared about that at all. Of course, he wouldn’t care if the Zarian city got demolished so long as his own goals were met. But that means he might be baiting us in, right? What if he has a prepared ground, an advantage when we go over his temple or whatever he’s done?

‘I doubt it,’ Mior replied, and I realized they’d caught the edge of my thought. ‘Rijoko would be able to tell if there was anything that could truly pose a threat there. Besides, this way we’re at least moving away from the soldiers. That reduces the possibility of unknown factors interfering.’

I nodded mentally and focused back on the fight. The city below us remained unscathed, even as I could sense people fleeing and seeking shelter in homes and defensible structures, for all the good that would do them.

In that moment, Jideia turned and I felt an intangible weight increase as more of his attention rested on me. Qi started pushing out in a crashing wave towards me.

I tightened my grip on my spear and held it in front of me in a blocking move. At the same time, Mior flowed back into me. We weathered the attack, although it felt like an angry horse had just kicked me. I was thrown back several meters before I managed to right myself and get back into position. The haft of my spear was hot in my hands, and lightning seemed to flicker in the runes etched into it.

Rijoko had just launched another attack at our opponent, but Sparky blocked it with little effort, catching the intertwined light and dark on a shield made out of storm clouds and thunder. I breathed in deeply and launched an attack of my own, leveling Fides like a gun as it sent qi shooting out of it, a beam of pure blackness crackling with lightning. This one actually hit, although it seemed to do little damage, just dispersing into the Storm’s robe.

Our fight continued for a while. I lost track of the time, my focus absorbed in the exchange of blows and qi, attacks and parries and the occasional dodge. When I focused, I could almost make out the intricate pattern behind it, like a dance led by the two spirits, every bit of qi they expended and applied carefully measured. From the outside, it might not seem as powerful or awe-inspiring as having the strongest cultivators fight, but I knew that any of these little exchanges would blow away the best efforts of our soldiers.

My role in it was comparatively minor, and yet crucial. I realized it intuitively, my sense for qi and complex systems telling me that. Mior’s power allowed me to participate, and the fact that there was another fighter, another variable and focus of qi, put pressure on Jideia. He and Rijoko were pretty evenly matched, and we tipped the balance. That was why Mior had us go to deal with Isuro first.

‘Where is the Auditor?’ I asked. ‘Why isn’t he showing up?’

‘Could be lying in wait, but maybe he doesn’t like his chances here,’ the spirit replied in my mind as we deflected yet another attack and sent a response that pushed Jideia into an evasive move to face Rijoko. ‘He’s not the best at direct combat, anyway. Bit of a coward, if you ask me.’

I took that with a considerable helping of salt, considering I knew about and could literally feel Mior’s dislike for the spirit. But I wasn’t going to complain if the fight kept going like this.

We slowly moved closer and closer to the center of the city and, among other things, Jideia’s temple. I spared a bit of my attention to check on how the battle behind us was going. To my surprise, it seemed to be more even than I expected. Maybe the time I’d spent talking to Rijoko only seemed longer to me because we’d been arguing in our minds, but it appeared JIdeia hadn’t killed that many Imperial soldiers after all. The two forces were still roughly on par, at least enough that the battle continued without turning into a one-sided curbstomp. On second thought, maybe Sparky hadn’t been too careful about collateral damage, too, and I could sense some Imperial eighth-stagers on the field. Even if they weren’t fighting directly, they might help.

If all else failed, maybe we could use their help in this fight, too. It clearly wouldn’t break the agreement between the nations.

A wicked triple-folded feinting attack from Jideia ripped me from these thoughts and forced me to focus on the fight. I spun, evaded one feint, and took another on a hastily raised qi shield. The force of it still pushed me back, and an accompanying mental attack made my surroundings spin into blackness as dizziness got me for a moment. Mior held my body in a stable position with a bit of their qi, and I quickly dashed forward again, trying to provide cover with a rain of black balls of qi.

Rijoko kept fighting, his qi dancing in deadly patterns with the other Greater Spirit. The rhythm hadn’t broken, though it had stuttered. I started to dive back into it, trying to figure out how best to use my own abilities, how best to help.

Then suddenly, there was a hitch. I barely had time to widen my eyes and instinctively try to flinch back. One moment, Jideia was clashing with my father, and the next, he was in front of me.

Qi reached out for me, both the incarnations’s hand and possibly a more subtle form. Mior’s power surged and they managed to push it away. I backpedaled in the air, slashing frantically at the Storm, but Jideia avoided most of my attacks and simply turned to air where my spearhead would have slashed through for the rest. And at the same time, I felt a steadily growing pressure, not just against my physical body or my qi, but against my mind.

Distantly, I felt my father’s power crest, as he pushed harder and more aggressively. But it felt like Jideia might be pumping more power into himself as well, and his grip didn’t ease. It tightened.

I knew I couldn’t fight it, couldn’t fight him directly. Mior was in complete agreement. We tried to evade, to back off and gain distance. But Jideia would have none of it. He seemed to give in one moment, only to appear where I was about to rush to in the next heartbeat.

I thrust with my spear and this time, I felt it connect, Fides’ tip flaring with power. But the Storm would not be stopped so easily. He grabbed me, his fingers digging into my arm like white-hot bands of steel, his qi pressing in on me until it felt like I couldn’t breath yet desperately had to, until I needed all of my will not to fold into myself.

Then his mind pushed into mine. My defenses stalled him for a moment, but the Storm wedged himself into them and nudged his way into the cracks, and I felt him connecting to me directly. I barely noticed Mior’s attempt to manipulate the qi around us as everything went dark, and I slipped away into my own mind, feeling Jideia all around me.