The withdrawal from Castle JiangHu had only just begun and already the situation looked dire, but Akanai was never one to back down from a challenge.

Parsing through Sent reports as she sat on the grassy plains of Central, she kept track of the Castle’s situation while simultaneously striving to remain calm and relaxed. Though she might be forced to move sooner if the situation deteriorated further, her part in today’s battle was not set to begin for another hour or two yet. The Enemy Commander surprised her with how readily he committed his Demons and Peak Experts to battle, but unless he was willing to sacrifice his strongest elites, there was no way they could hold the entire Castle’s forces in place long enough for the other Defiled to catch up. She had confidence the Warriors of the Empire would hold fast before the Enemy’s onslaught and wholly expected matters to proceed as planned, which meant all she could do for now was sit and wait.

All in all, this gambit had the potential to end disastrously for the Empire for little to no gain, but as they saw when the Enemy almost took Castle JiangHu, the alternative was even worse. Still, Akanai disliked Nian Zu’s plan when she first heard it and nothing had changed since, but she hadn’t known the reason for her disapproval until she arrived in the Castle and took part in the battle firsthand. The complicated bait and switch they’d planned would work fine against the Defiled, and perhaps even against the Chosen if they were led by anyone else, but in a mere handful of mental exchanges, Akanai had concluded that the Enemy Commander was too astute to run headlong into disaster. Their foe was as ruthless to his own forces as he was to his foes, a bold, decisive commander who capitalized on every weakness he scented and was either quick to adapt to changing circumstances, or so far-seeing he anticipated every possible move in advance. Akanai meant to deal the Enemy a grievous blow by stealing a march and arriving early at the Castle, but despite hiding all traces of her impending arrival and catching the Enemy off guard, her gambit accomplished next to nothing as her canny foe withdrew his elite forces without hesitation. He even covered his tracks and left no openings for Akanai to exploit on his way out, forcing the Imperials to resort to bloody, room-to-room fighting in order to retake the outer walls, and thereby eking out every advantage he could from his failed offensive.

This cunning foe was a worthy opponent, and Akanai feared herself outmatched in strategy. Luckily, the boy always planned for the worst, but while she saw no opening for the Enemy to exploit in little Rain’s careful arrangements, even the best laid plans could go awry. To make matters worse, the boy was now unconscious again, more prone to passing out than a fainting goat. This time was apparently due to overexerting himself by Scrying on the battlefield, though she was at a loss to explain how he could even manage such a feat with his Core shattered to pieces.

It pained her to admit it, but Akanai was no longer qualified to guide the boy along his tangled Path. He would simply have to find his own way by himself. Not the worst fate, as she’d done the same, but he was so wishy-washy and indecisive, she feared he would never pick a path to follow, correct or otherwise.

Still, no good would come from dwelling on problems she couldn’t fix, so to this end, she sought Balance and stroked the slumbering Kankin while praying her old friend had the strength to survive these coming trials and tribulations. The grizzled quin’s fur was more white than brown these days, and his collection of scars alarming to behold, a warrior born who should have long since retired for greener pastures. Alas, every time she tried to leave him to frolic with the other older quins, Kankin would soon escape and find his way back to her side, eager for a long ride through the countryside or a vigorous run through the obstacle course. Such was life, as some people and quins were not meant to sit idle. In this, Akanai and Kankin were a pair matched by the Mother Herself, so she could not bear to leave her loyal partner to idle in inactivity. That being said, Kankin had sired quins who’d long since retired or passed away, and Akanai knew not what drove the senior quin on, but she gave thanks to the Heavens above for whatever it was that kept him hale, healthy, and always at her side.

Despite the People’s longstanding history of cooperation with the roosequin packs of the mountains, they still had no definitive process to ensure a quin developed into a Spiritual Beast, nor were they aware of any way to guide a quin further along their Path. Kankin was one of the strongest, smartest, and hardiest of quins Akanai ever had the pleasure of working with, and even all the quin trainers were surprised Kankin had yet to form a Spiritual Heart at his advanced and somewhat unnatural age, but she held firm to the forlorn hope that he might one day succeed and be blessed with the longevity of a true Spiritual Beast. To help him along, she spent the last few months Healing him with Panacea every day despite his lack of injuries, and feeding him stalks of Spiritual Plants obtained from Taduk’s garden now that the eccentric Healer had so many he was finally willing to part with them. Despite this, Kankin still had yet to develop a Spiritual Heart, though thankfully he also showed no signs of deterioration either, aside from sleeping more often and being even more of a grouch than usual. Compounding her disappointment was the fact that the quin trainers suspected the boy’s fat, indolent quin Mafu might be Developing a Spiritual Heart, though they had no proof of success as yet, and only suspected as much due to the quin’s burgeoning appetite and only marginal increase in size.

Were it the boy’s other quin Zabu, then perhaps Akanai could understand, but Mafu’s gentle and playful temperament saw him earmarked as a wagon quin shortly after adolescence. The only reason he saw time as a battle-mount was due to the dearth of trained battle-quins, and the fact that Akanai had been feeling resentful after seeing sweet Mila moping because the boy gifted Zabu and Shana to little Yan. What’s more, the boy swore he wasn’t feeding the quin any Spiritual Plants, so how was Mafu progressing so quickly along his Path during his second decade of life, while Kankin still languished in normalcy after almost three centuries of conflict and strife?

Sensing Akanai’s inner agitation, Kankin roused from his slumber and rested his heavy head in her lap. Studying her expression with aged, clouded eyes, he yawned and grumbled before nosing her midsection in supplication for a treat. Rather than Spiritual Plant cuttings, which he ate but didn’t seem to care for, Akanai pulled out a fistful of dried apple slices and held them out for him, which he carefully crunched into one by one. There was a time when he would have devoured the whole bag of treats in one gulp, but she found solace in his thorough and methodical eating mannerisms, enjoying how he chewed each treat slowly and savoured every last bite. After ten or so treats, she noticed he kept glancing at her expression while he ate, and realized he hadn’t asked for treats because he was hungry, but rather because he enjoyed the extra attention. Even after two centuries together, Kankin still found ways to surprise Akanai with his intelligence, and she rewarded him with a warm smile and a scratch behind the ears, to which he responded with a pleased gurgle and contented sigh.

Such a silly, simple beast. Kankin wanted nothing more than to be by her side, so how could she ever bear to ride out to battle without him?

Due to the Divine Turtle’s recent ascension and the boy’s influence on her mindset, Akanai had been paying more attention to her old partner’s situation, and she found matters perplexing to the extreme. All animals, young and old, large and small, clever or stupid, were capable of using Chi, but unlike Martial Warriors and commoners, there was nothing to differentiate a Chi-capable animal from their mundane counterparts. Only Spiritual Beasts differed in that they were capable of using Chi in more... obvious ways. As such, it was widely believed that Spiritual Beasts were ancient creatures who’d found Balance and formed Spiritual Hearts, but it was almost impossible to gauge a wild animal’s lifespan out in the wild. According to the histories and every quin trainer she knew, a tamed roosequin generally lived anywhere from twenty to two hundred years of age, while wild ones could live even longer, and no one was the wiser as to why the range varied so wildly. Some quins simply aged before their time and died, whether it be from a stroke, organ failure, heart blockage, respiratory arrest, or some other natural cause, one which could happen at any time, the same as with any human. Like Martial Warriors, more powerful quins usually aged slower and lived longer compared to their common counterparts, but then there were the rare beasts like Kankin who grew old, slow, and short-sighted, but still kept trundling along after two-hundred plus years of life, and no one could explain why. In fact, the oldest quin in recorded history lived for more than five-hundred years without forming a Spiritual Heart, a number which paled in comparison to the long lifespans of verified Spiritual Beasts.

According to the histories, a Spiritual Beast’s age tended to slow to an almost imperceptible crawl at the point of Spiritual Heart Development, allowing them to live for millennia afterwards, but the Spiritual Heart alone was not enough to explain their long lives. Take Mama Bun, for example, whose age was unknown, but they assumed she must be thousands of years old since she was on the cusp of forming her Spiritual Heart. However, considering the Abbot saw three creatures form a Spiritual Heart in his lifetime, there was a chance Mama Bun was much younger and simply came across good fortune instead. Who could say if every Spiritual Beast was thousands of years old, as most believed was true, or if they were simply the paragons of their species who managed to do in twenty years what others would need two thousand years to accomplish?

Then there was also the fact that Spiritual Beasts were long-lived, but not ageless, as they too could grow old and grey with time. While there were few records of such creatures dying of sickness or infirmity, this was because any friendly Spiritual Beast was seen as a guardian and ally, one which was tended to with the greatest of care, tasking Healers to monitor their health and keep them alive for the foreseeable future. For a short time, those ancient creatures of the village even enjoyed the attentions of the Medical Saint himself, though these days Taduk’s attention had waned as he shifted his focus from Spiritual Beasts to Spiritual Plants. As for Kankin, Akanai had personally attended to his health throughout the years, but it was difficult to say if her efforts were responsible for his longevity since others would do the same for their quins as well. It would be best if she could find evidence of a Peak Expert’s mount passing away despite enjoying the same dedicated care, but she had yet to find an individual willing to admit that their lapse in judgment and inattention to their mount’s health was responsible for the death of their quin, assuming it was even possible.

So why was it that Spiritual Beast’s lives could be prolonged through Healing, but not human ones? The same question could be asked regarding demi-humans, and had been many times before. It was a mystery for the ages, one Akanai rarely paid any mind to, but now she was curious as to the answer. The commonly accepted answer was that a Spiritual Heart somehow allowed Spiritual Beasts to live indefinitely, so now, for the first time in her long life, she put her mind towards solving the mystery of how an animal would go about forming a Spiritual Heart and perhaps even uncover how one might become a Divine Beast. A most frustrating dilemma, one she had no idea where to start. It was all the boy’s fault for planting the seeds of curiosity in her thoughts, and now she could not let it go.

There had to be more to it than daily Healing sessions keeping Kankin alive, else there would be far more long-lived roosequins without Spiritual Hearts. The bond between rider and mount was a close one, and she could not imagine many of her comrades would have done nothing while their loyal, furry partners grew old and infirm. This brought Akanai back to the idea of Spiritual Hearts and their part in the longevity of beasts, leading her to believe Kankin must be close to forming his own Spiritual Heart, perhaps even a mere half-step away. Alas, there was no help forthcoming from the Spiritual Beasts of the People, not even from the fearsome Kharuul, who was supposedly Kankin’s great grand-sire, or so she’d been told. Akanai still remembered the burning disappointment she’d felt leaving the quin stables with young Kankin in tow, annoyed the hulking quin Patriarch refused to accept her upon his back. At least her pride was spared as the lazy quin went on to refuse everyone until eighty or ninety years ago, when he finally deigned to lower his head and take young Naaran around the mountainside, binding their fates together on that fateful spring day. Why Kharuul picked a six-year-old child as his rider was still a mystery, but there were many theories abound including how Naaran was distantly related to one of the quin’s past riders, or how the child’s scent might have reminded the ancient beast of some distant memory.

In truth, Akanai believed she pieced the true story together. The Spiritual Quin was bored lazing around at home, followed the quins out for the festival celebration, stole Naaran’s candied fruits, and figured the noisy child would stop wailing if he took him on a ride. Whether it was Fate or mere happenstance which drew them together, it mattered little, for this led to a life-long partnership between Kharuul and Naaran. While he was an intelligent and formidable beast, Kharuul was still a roosequin with a penchant for sweets and a fondness for humans, so it was ridiculous to think his actions could help Akanai understand his Path. Still, the Spiritual Roosequin seemed happier for it, also out here on the fields of Central and eager to do battle with the Enemy, though Naaran himself would be happier staying behind to guard the boy. Oh how wonderful it would be if Kankin could become such a guardian beast, perhaps one who could then be paired with Mila and Rain’s first child, because regardless of the outcome here in Central, the next generation of the People would need all the strength they could muster to survive the coming trials and tribulations.

Today, the People were seen as heroes and saviours largely thanks to the pup and the boy’s efforts, but Akanai knew from experience that nobles and commoners alike were quick to forget favours and violate justice. The People could single-handedly win the war against the Enemy and banish the Father Himself into the void for all eternity, but all their contributions would be for naught in a matter of decades. How long after the war would it take for an impoverished noble to remember that the people had Spiritual Beasts and natural wealth aplenty hidden in the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains? It wouldn’t take much justification to convince like-minded fellows to attack either, for it was well known that treasuring a jade becomes a crime when lacking strength and security.

And that wasn’t even the worst of it. If one walks by the riverside, eventually one’s shoes will get wet. Just as she had to worry about threats from outside the People, so too did she have to guard against threats growing from within. Younger tribesmen were easily tempted by the allure of noble privilege and abundance, and it would not be the first time almost an entire generation of the People had to be exiled, nor would it be the last...

Having grown apprehensive in the twilight of her life, Akanai feared for the future now that death lurked on the horizon. Not death in battle, but death from old age, and therein lay the crux of the issue, as well as her recent fixation on the Animal Path. It wasn’t all the boy’s fault, though his wild claims that daily use of Panacea should theoretically allow a Martial Warrior to live forever weren’t helping. He wasn’t certain and it would take years to verify, but much as she would like to blame him for her woes, Akanai’s own mortality drove her to pursue this line of thought regarding the longevity. By solving one mystery, the long lifespans of mundane animals, she hoped to find some way to extend her own life and continue guarding the People for centuries to come. Five hundred years was the average, and no one knew why demi-humans were blessed or cursed with such long lives, and now, Akanai sought to extend it even further, but only because she feared for what was to come.

Alas, she found herself unable to move forward, which didn’t come as any surprise, for she was wholly unsuited for this sort of deliberation. When treading the Martial Path, she simply let her feet bring her wherever they might go, and somehow, they eventually brought her to the Peak. Others called it talent, but Akanai disagreed, for she knew what true talent looked like and was undeserving of the designation. For her, treading the Martial Path was far from easy, full of hurdles and setbacks aplenty, but something in her blood drove her to keep going. Pursuing the Martial Path was as natural as breathing, and she couldn’t imagine a life lived as anything or anyone else, so she pushed herself as hard as any of her peers, if not harder to reach where she was today. So many of her friends and rivals had been lost along the way, and still others had given up and were content with what they had accomplished, but for Akanai, there was only her husband, the Martial Path, the People, and nothing else.

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Until some twenty years ago, when Guan Suo’s uppity messenger dropped baby Mila in her lap and told her to take good care of the babe.

The memory brought a smile to Akanai’s face, at how her younger self had come apart at the seams over such a tiny thing. Parenthood had terrified her in a way no Demon or Defiled ever could, and she’d almost dropped the babe in sheer panic, but then she looked into little Mila’s beautiful eyes and fell head over heels in love with that freckled scowl. She was a contentious toddler who grew into a precocious brat, but Akanai cherished every trial and tribulation she encountered along the Path of Parenthood. Unlike the Martial Path, she was in over her head when it came to tending to little Mila, and it stung her pride to have her mistakes pointed out by the pup and other younglings she’d taught to hold their spears. Even then, every day brought new joy in a way Akanai never expected, with every smile, pout, laugh, and scowl a treasure she locked away in her Natal Palace to remember for all eternity. It felt like just yesterday when the girl was learning how to walk, and now she was a woman grown and married, a phenomenal Talent who stood head and shoulders above her peers. Already, there were whispers of a second Smiling Slaughterer making their way around camp, for Mila’s fierce presence in battle was similar to the old tales of Guan Suo’s cheery savagery, and Akanai could not be any prouder of her bouncing baby girl.

It was bittersweet knowing how much she’d missed out on by waiting so long before starting a family. She could have better honoured Old Sumila’s legacy by giving the wayward orphans of the People more than just a roof over their heads and food in their bellies, for children needed love and affection to truly blossom. While she might have had less time to devote to the Martial Path, she would also have so many more cherished memories to dwell upon and so much more to be proud of. Even though she had recently adopted the pup, it was too little too late. Their relationship had not changed much, and there were so many others among the People she would have liked to adopt as children. Argat and Jochi for example, two foundlings in dire need of discipline and affection, or little Tursinai whose parents were lost so tragically shortly after her birth. Khagati and Kharnate were dead now, but both had been orphaned while young, and even Ghurda and Yaruq had been denied the love of a family until they set out to start one of their own. The former was on her third family now, having lost the first two to the rigors of time, while Yaruq was alone once more following the death of her lover Khagati, and Akanai did not know how they still had the strength to go on.

That was the upside of having started a family so late, for if luck was with her, Akanai would go into the arms of the Mother a good decade or two before little Rain reached the end of his natural lifespan. This would be a blessing, because then, little Mila would still have her loving husband to help her through the loss. The thought of helping her daughter through losing Rain terrified Akanai to no end, or worse, helping her beloved husband grieve the loss of their daughter, because there was nothing she could do to help ease their suffering. Oh how she yearned for simpler times when all she had to do was hold her baby close and pat her back to console her, and just like that, all of sweet Mila’s tears would disappear.

Yes, Akanai saw it now. Longevity would be more curse than blessing, for a life without love was a tribulation in and of itself. Perhaps that was why Kankin refused to die, because he knew she could not bear to lose him, and in truth, he would be right. In the same vein, it was possible he didn’t care enough to form a Spiritual Heart because he did not wish to live in a future without her, but there was a good chance she was attributing human emotions and intentions to her bestial companion, yet another bad habit she picked up from the boy. Kankin was king among roosequins, but still just a wild beast, happy to laze in the sun or ride into battle so long as it was by Akanai’s side. There was beauty in such simplicity, but it was not for her, and this more than anything helped her see the errors of her ways. Life was meaningful because of its inevitable end, for without the shadow of death lurking over her shoulder, then she would be no different from Kharuul who spent whole centuries doing nothing of importance until boredom drove him to seek out adventure. How lonely must poor Guan Suo have been, having lived so long he even forgot what his parents and first love looked like?

This was likely why humans tended to advance along the Martial Path so much faster than demi-humans of the same age, the fear of death forever pushing them to take risks and make the most of their time. There was no need to be greedy, as five hundred years was more than enough for Akanai, and she would make the most of her last few decades by continuing to pursue her life-long dream of reaching the pinnacle of Martial might. If she were to succeed and discover longevity and Divinity came hand in hand, then she would treat it as yet another trial and tribulation to endure, but until such a time, there was no sense worrying about what had yet to pass.

Especially not in these turbulent times, so it would be best if she put aside all these musings of the Animal Path or the demi-human Path, as well as her idle dreams of forming a Spiritual Heart to become a true eternal guardian of the People. There were no human Divinities amongst the People, and the favour of Ancestral Beasts was... unreliable, even at the best of times. Their perspectives were simply too far removed from that of short-lived mortals, and even Akanai was still treated like a child after several centuries of life. Most were no different from lazy Kharuul, keeping idle for several centuries before taking an interest in the world once more. None of them cared for change, no matter how minor it might be, and only a confluence of chance and calamity brought so many Ancestral Beasts down from the mountains to answer the Empire’s call. Were it any other time, the Imperial Clan would have been considered lucky if a single Ancestral Beast deigned to uphold the treaty and join Akanai’s Sentinels on the battlefield, but now, there were no less than four openly moving about in Central and a handful more lurking quietly in the shadows.

This, more than anything, was probably why Shen ZhenWu’s attentions first fell upon little Rain, but Akanai couldn’t bear to break the news to the boy, especially seeing how his actions and decisions showed he deserved his new position as Legate.

The pup was proud as could be, as well he should be, for the little foundling he brought home was now the highest ranking military and civil official in the outer provinces. The realization stung at first, but then Akanai remembered she was the boy’s grandmother, Grand-Mentor, and Mother-in-Law, meaning she would forever and always rank above him inside the family. So what if she technically had to kneel and salute him in public? The boy knew better than to demand it, and even publicly insisted she be allowed to remain standing as a mark of his respect. A good, filial boy Rain was, and Akanai was proud of everything he’d accomplished, but still, there was the incessant urge to keep ahead of him lest she lose his respect and admiration. Already, the pup was coming close to matching her in spars, and while she might be able to hold out against her son for another decade or two, Rain’s progress was nothing short of astounding. Twenty years young and already Scrying on the battlefield? Not to mention all the inexplicable miracles he already had under his belt, such as Panacea, Honed Aura, Oration, and War Bonds, most of which she still didn’t entirely understand. The boy had been marked for greatness, and she meant to see him accomplish everything the Heavens intended of him.

And first on the agenda was dealing the Defiled army a crippling blow before they arrived to threaten her precious son-in-law.

Just as she anticipated, the defenders of Castle JiangHu had weathered the attacks from the Enemy Demons and Peak Experts and were now in full retreat. This was no steady march back towards the Central Citadel, but a full-blown race to stay ahead of the eager Chosen nipping at their heels, and thus far, Hongji had done an admirable job keeping his soldiers alive. However, now these Defiled outriders were closing in and it was time for Akanai to play her part. As the ground rumbled beneath her, she rose to her feet with Kankin beside her, the ferocious quin already quivering with excitement. Taking a moment to embrace her aged partner, she smoothed his whiskers and massaged his cheeks while silently promising to keep him safe. Only then did she mount him and secure her axe-lance before raising her longbow overhead. “Come, my Sentinels,” she commanded, not caring if her allies heard her using the Language of the People. “The Enemy rides to do battle with our allies, but it is we who shall find glory today.”

Across the field, she watched as some fifteen-thousand garo riders slowed and faltered in place, turning this way and that in search of the source of her voice, but theirs was a futile effort. Small chance for them to see through Concealment set up by a Divinity, and even if they could, it was already too late, for the Enemy forces were already within bow range. The first arrow shot out from her bow and thousands followed after, and as impressive as the sight was, Akanai wondered what it must look like from the other side. To those Defiled riders out there, these arrows were appearing out of thin air, already arcing down to rain death upon their ranks, and what a glorious death it was.

Technically, having an Ancestral Beast Conceal an army of three-thousand Sentinels and five-thousand Imperial cavalry was a violation of the Treaty, but the Enemy had already shown their disdain for the rules of war, and Akanai was not above threatening escalation. Guan Suo was the sire of Akanai’s precious daughter, and she would be remiss not to avenge his death. While she herself was still lacking, there were several old fogies from the mountains who might prove a match for Zhu Chanzui, so she had no qualms against using them in this manner.

Volley after volley fell down upon the Enemy forces, but with no target in sight, there was nothing for them to do besides mill about and die. Once almost half of the garo riders were dead and the Enemy showed signs of breaking, Akanai signalled for her ally to drop Concealment, to which he responded with a snort and a lengthy complaint. Putting his grumblings out of mind, she watched as her revealed forces came under scrutiny by the Enemy. Seeing their numbers were still fairly even, the foolish Enemy commander believed his forces still capable of winning a fight, and so he ordered the charge, just as she expected. Were this the brilliant commander who oversaw the forces at Castle JiangHu, he would have split his forces to retreat and fight another day, but this cavalry commander was a more typical Defiled leader, too blinded by bloodlust to know when he was beat. The Sentinel longbows sang again and again, and by the time the first garo riders reached her ranks, there were less than a thousand still left standing, and Akanai’s warriors made short, bloody work of the survivors.

While Kankin and the other quins had a quick snack on garos and Defiled alike, Akanai parsed through Sendings and painted a mental picture of the same scene happening all along Castle JiangHu’s expected path of retreat, with Imperial Divinities finally lending a hand to the war effort. In three instances however, the Enemy commander salvaged the bulk of his forces in the same manner she detailed above, scattering them to the winds only to regroup further west. It was always frightening and exciting when faced with a competent foe, for the thrill of the hunt was most satisfying when faced with mortal peril. There was much to be gained in this hunt, and much to be lost as well, but Akanai discarded her fears and gathered her forces to chase down one such regrouping Defiled contingent.

This was the battle-plan Nian Zu, Shuai Jiao, and little Rain had laid out, and thus far, things were going as expected, but it was far too early to declare victory just yet. As her Sentinels came upon their quarry, she found the Enemy lined up in wait and immediately called for the halt. Stopping just out of bow range, she Scryed upon the garo forces in an effort to quell her troubled misgivings, but despite seeing nothing out of the sort, she still had her reservations. Were she facing Imperial soldiers, she would’ve given the order to loose arrows without thinking twice, but she was up against Defiled. Even if they styled themselves the Chosen of Heaven, they were still blood-crazed Defiled, so to see them lying in wait with such strict discipline set off all sorts of alarm bells in Akanai’s head.

“Withdraw,” she ordered, and a barrage of Sendings arrived to question her decision even as she passed along her reservations to other forces in the field. It didn’t matter that she had nothing but instinct to go on, because not only was she the commander of this contingent, she was also the second highest ranking Officer in the field. Du Min Gyu was the only person who outranked her, and he’d long since turned over command to her, which meant she had no one to answer to, not even little Rain. There was something afoot here, and she would be a fool not to trust her instincts, an action which was almost immediately proven correct.

For as soon as her forces turned to ride away, a horde of Demons revealed themselves and came barrelling towards her lines with a chorus of bloodcurdling howls.

To their credit, the Imperial soldiers under her command didn’t panic and continued their withdrawal while the various Demon Slayers rode out to hold the Enemy back, but Akanai had other ideas. “All forces, full retreat. Demon Slayers, form the rear guard.” She only had eight-thousand cavalry under her direct command, and less than a dozen official Demon Slayers. Add in the unofficial Demon slayers like Tenjin and Tursinai, as well as the promising Warriors like Alsantset, Huushal, and Mila, and that number jumped closer to fifty, but even then, these were poor odds with dozens of varied Demons bearing down on them.

As the Father’s foul minions closed in on her forces, a single spear shot out from the rearguard and embedded itself in the foremost Demon. Her chest brimming with pride, Akanai spared a quick glance towards her beautiful daughter and committed her feral grin to memory. Yet another first for young Mila, because that Demon died beneath her spear thanks to some unseen working of Chi, and the weapon was already returning to her hand. In this showy manner, Mila earned her first confirmed Demon kill at twenty years of age. The girl was progressing almost as quickly as Rain now, her strength growing by leaps and bounds ever since her fortuitous encounter in Taduk’s bamboo grove, a miraculous place of natural Balance. If only that eccentric fool could be convinced to study his bamboo grove alongside his Spiritual Plant garden, for if he could build dozens more of such gardens for Warriors to meditate within, the People might be able to churn out Experts and Peak Experts at an unprecedented rate.

Then there was no more time to spare for idle thought as the Demons were upon them, and Akanai set her ax-lance to bloody work. Long sweeps of her polearm kept her foes off her back, her movements no longer adhering to the Forms, but adapting them into something new, unique, and utterly suited for her physique. She was no Oriole, Mantis, Wolf, or any other such creature, but a demi-human Warrior unlike any other, and as such, her movements could not wholly be replicated by anyone else. Others could model their actions after her of course, and superficially, they might look the same, but these movements were best suited for her and her alone. Even if the differences were minute, no one else had the exact same physique as she, and thus, what was most efficient for her would not be the most efficient action for another. That was all there was to it, the goal always the same, with Martial Warriors seeking the Path which suited themselves best, and now, Akanai believed she was close to discovering hers.

It was all thanks to her recent epiphany, one she stumbled upon not even an hour past, of the beauty and benefits of mortality. All her life, she had pursued the Martial Path, but in doing so, she had disregarded a core facet of her very being. Like it or not, she was a demi-human, or a half-beast as the rest of the world considered her. As much as she tried to ignore it, the world was right, because half-beast was a better term for the sort of human she was, one with a longer lifespan and different perspective from shorter-lived humans. She was neither wholly human nor beast, and while most saw her kind as a dead end Path, one unable to ever achieve Divinity, Akanai believed this was merely a matter of odds. There were far more humans than half-beasts, and even the most prolific Ancestral Beasts couldn’t have more than one or two thousand children alive at any given time, compared to the millions of humans born each year.

So it was not that half-beasts were unable to achieve Divinity, just that none had done so yet.

Why? Well, this was only a recent theory based on her own experiences, but Akanai believed it was due to the duality of her nature. She was a human yes, but one who possessed the latent instincts of her Ancestral Beast heritage. A caribou, Old Sumila had called her, and Akanai had hated the name so much that she filed down her antlers until they were hidden by her hair. This mindset was what was holding her back, her burning desire to be more human than beast, but the Mother had seen fit to bestow Akanai with gifts from both, and thus far, she had all but scorned half of her very self.

What gains these new changes might bring had yet to be uncovered, but at least she now recognized where her instincts hailed from. Her Domain billowing out as she traded blows with her Demonic foe, Akanai gave into the thrill of the chase, leading her foes about on the grassy plains of Central and keeping ahead of them all the while. This was in her blood, the deadly game between predator and prey, and while the stag and caribou were often run down and killed, the wolves were wise to be wary of their hooves and horns. A quick turn on her pursuing foes saw almost a dozen Demons killed and twice that number wounded, where little Mila earned her second kill of the day, while Alsantset, Tursinai, and Tenjin all scored their first, and again, Akanai’s chest surged with pride. This was what the People had become, what the Sentinels had become, all thanks to Old Sumila who cared enough to raise a house full of orphans and give them the love they all so desperately needed.

That would be Akanai’s legacy, one created in honour of the woman who raised her, and even if she were to die here today, it would be enough.

Not that she expected to of course, since this single clash was meant to give the Enemy pause. Their mission complete, her forces retreated without hesitation, opening the distance between their two forces. What’s more, she just received word of a second and third contingent of Sentinels and Imperial lancers coming to support her, but the Enemy commander was already pulling his forces back. Much blood would be shed today as she matched wits with her formidable foe, but with allies like Hongji, Naaran, Ghurda, Sarnai, and Du Min Gyu to support her, Akanai was confident of carrying her forces to victory.

After that? Well, there were still two other Defiled armies out in the field with an entire Western Province to draw fresh Enemy troops from, so her work was not yet finished, but for now, she was content to take things one step at a time.

For such was life, trials and tribulations without end, and Akanai would not have it any other way.

Chapter Meme

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3

Chapter Meme 4