Closing her eyes and stilling her mind, Mila took a deep breath, reached for Balance, and reviewed her plan to defeat this fearsome foe.

Fighting at range was not to her advantage. Better to get in close to put her superior strength and technique to good use, except she lacked the tools needed to advance quickly and safely. Balance on Windy Leaf into Pierce the Horizon was Mama’s favoured Movement to close distance fast, but Mila never did figure out how to perform that particular variation. Having long since mastered the skill himself, Rain tried explaining it to her many a time, drawing up diagrams and physically guiding her through the motions, but the pieces never truly fell into place. The premise was simple, to stiffen your body and fall forward like a toppled tree, only to recover your balance at the last possible moment and use the gathered momentum to shoot ahead at breakneck speeds. This wasn’t the only advantage the movement offered, because when viewed from the side, Mama and Rain weren’t moving all that fast, or at least not so fast as to deny a Martial Warrior the opportunity to react. According to Rain, the trick lay in a deficiency of the human eye, which was exceptional at tracking horizontal movements but less adept at tracking vertical movements, especially when high changes in acceleration was involved. Thus, when performing Balance on Windy Leaf, Rain and Mama were literally dropping out of their opponent’s sight and using that split second of confusion to close the distance.

How he knew this he would not say, only attributing it to a book he’d read and long since forgotten the title of, an excuse he used many a time before and no one ever believed. Regardless of where he learned this from, he demonstrated the mechanics behind his theory with help from Rakky, who did so love to climb to the roofs and pounce upon his favourite rubber ball. One second, the tiger would be crouched in plain view, and the next, he’d be rolling about in the grass and kicking his back feet in a playful attempt to disembowel whatever animal he imagined the ball to be. If watched from head on, Rakky all but disappeared in the blink of an eye, but she could easily track him when watching from the side, which she did many, many times since Rakky only enjoyed chasing the ball when he had someone to throw it for him.

Adorable as it was, Mila’s heart ached for how far the mighty hunter had fallen, though she worried Rain might’ve had the same effect on her as well. All he had to do was flash his charming smile and emit his Loving Aura to make her go weak in the knees, a strong, independent Expert of the Empire and Divine Blacksmith reduced to a moon-eyed fool every time he showed his face. She couldn’t even be mad at him because he wasn’t purposefully targeting her, as he still had yet to rein in his rampant Emotional Aura from revealing all his innermost emotions no matter what they might be. It was a boon at times, as it meant others were aware of his unchecked emotional mood swings and could better help him manage them, and it made for some incredibly intimate and emotional lovemaking sessions, but there were times when she wished she could block his Aura out, if only so she could stop simpering in his presence every time he was in an amorous mood.

Which was always. Mother in Heaven, Mila was glad she had two sister wives to help her share the burden, else she feared she would have no time or energy left for other pursuits after satisfying Rain’s desires.

Inwardly grumbling at her lacking concentration, Mila exhaled and opened her eyes to refocus on the task at hand, which was devising a plan to defeat her opponent. Balance on Windy Leaf was an option for some, but she had yet to master it and would only end up humiliating herself. It required perfect coordination and pinpoint timing to pull off, variables even Rain couldn’t explain in any detail for her, which meant she needed to explore other options.

Like Bull Traverses the Mountain, a bounding leap that would send her sailing through the air at her opponent, a foolish opener if there ever were one. Some might be caught off-guard by her unexpected rush, but not her foe here today. He was quick to act and even quicker to react, assuming he didn’t read her movements in advance. If he did, she would count herself blessed if he merely dodged, as she would be in mid-air and unable to avoid any counter attack he might try.

Wolf Leads the Pack was another option, not so much a charge as a rapid advance, closing the distance in a rather mundane manner by simply walking over with defences raised. Against almost any other opponent, this would be Mila’s first choice, but for this foe in particular, doing so was all but inviting him to counter-charge and forfeiting the upper hand. Action was better than reaction, offence easier than defence, rules that held true for all Martial Warriors from base soldier to Peak Divinity.

Yan wouldn’t even bother trying to advance, because she held the advantage of range. Instead, her foe would be forced to advance upon her while weathering a storm of Wind Blades, to say nothing of her six-pointed shield which she hurled with unerring accuracy, even when wielding a mundane replica. Mila would love to do the same, but despite her embarrassing bout of Imparted Insight that took place within the bath-house, she had yet to duplicate her success and discharge a second beam of concentrated light. She could throw her spear, but these were practice weapons and she lacked the ability to recall it back to hand, and thus would be left without a weapon. As for throwing her shield, she would sooner throw her boots at her foe since it wouldn’t feel right fighting without her shield’s reassuring weight on her arm.

As for Song, she would advance using Tiger Stalks the Dragon, an elegant set of footwork that allowed her to almost glide across open ground in any direction without turning away from her opponent. While similar in execution to Wolf Leads the Pack, Tiger Stalks the Dragon was more flexible and therefore more difficult to read, affording Song more options to act and react depending on how her opponent moved. Again, not a movement Mila had mastered, and therefore would be lacking if put to use against this foe, so she discarded this option as quickly as the others.

All of these thoughts and more flitted through her Enlightened mind in less time than it took to blink an eye, but as she had yet to come up with a proper solution, she changed tack and considered the battle from a different angle. Though keeping her distance would play to her opponent’s advantage, that didn’t necessarily mean she had to charge in. Instead, she could offer up a tempting target and lure him into approaching her, as her foe was surprisingly aggressive and hotheaded in battle. And in bed, but Mila banished the thought from her mind and forced her gaze down just a centimetre or two, fixating on her opponent’s cute nose rather than his dazzling amber eyes or the charming smile sitting underneath. Yes, all she had to do was make it look like she intended to circle around and leave a minor opening to tempt him over. It meant giving up the initiative, especially if he didn’t take the bait, but it was the best option for now. Nothing too obvious, else he’d sense something off, so she readied her practice shield in a guarded stance and held her blunted spear overhead, ready to throw or thrust as needed.

“Begin.”

The call sounded and she shot forward like a cannonball, moving diagonally towards him so as not to charge in head-on. In his mind, she will have weighed her options and settled on a compromise, to close the distance without fully committing to offence or defence. Not the first time she’d done so, and while he’d punished her for this half-hearted approach before, he knew she was stubborn and liable to get stuck in her ways. His lips pursed in an effort to keep his smile from turning into a grin, and he responded to her aggression by circling around to her left, veering into a collision course to meet her shield head-on. A feint, one she read in advance, and thus she was not surprised when he executed the footwork he’d conceived so many years ago and perfected since. Even then, she still almost lost track of him as he changed headings mid-stride, speeding left one moment and then suddenly shifting to her right the next, his toe-heel, slide and step allowing him to dance about in all directions without slowing in the slightest.

Yet another combination of movements Mila was unable to grasp, because even though she understood the movements well enough and the order in which to do them, every attempt to execute the series of movements in the midst of combat had ended with her tripping over her own feet. That said, she was familiar enough with the footwork to predict where her foe would appear, and her spear lanced out towards his chest in a powerful over-hand thrust.

Which he neatly blocked without so much as breaking a sweat, while simultaneously trapping the blade of her spear between the protruding twin tusks of this replica mammoth-skull shield. Technically, the actual weapon had been forged from the skull of a Meng-Zhua, but as far as Mila could tell, the only difference between the two beasts was one of size, with mammoths being much larger than their mountain-dwelling cousins.

First point to him, but Mila was not one to surrender without a fight. Stepping in close to keep him from wrenching her spear away, she slammed the rim of her shield into his shoulder and sucked her teeth at the lacklustre impact. A slippery opponent he was, already disengaging even before she stepped in, as he never intended to contest for her spear in a competition of pure strength. Perhaps he anticipated her reaction and responded appropriately, or perhaps he wasn’t quite used to his newfangled strength, because with his body having been Refined into a Spiritual Heart and his ability to generate a Shroud of Reinforcement, he was more than capable of contesting her in a match of pure, straightforward brawn, though she was still the stronger of the two. No matter though, because there was only so much room for him to run, and she followed through with an aggressive charge, advancing with Bull Pulls the Cart while swinging her weapons at her foe with repeated performances of Deer Parts the Underbrush. Left, right, high, low, she delivered unto him a flurry of Reinforced, Amplified, and Reverberating blows while pressing her advantage, but never wholly committing to an all-out-offensive in case he should find an opening for a possible counter-attack.

There were many ways he could turn the tides against her, too many for Mila’s mind to keep track of even with help from the State of Enlightenment. It took all of her focus to keep her storm of attacks from faltering, as not only was she fighting without her trusted Spiritual Weapons and forced to utilize some skills Externally, performing so many combined Chi skills in quick succession was fast pushing her limits, to the point where her attacks were less elegant than they otherwise might be. Flailing her spear about like a heavy bludgeon rather than the light piercing weapon it was, she marvelled at how readily he weathered the storm. Never once did he simply raise his guard and accept an attack like so many other Warriors would. Instead, his feet danced to and fro as he moved his blunted weapons about in a whirling ring of defence, dodging, parrying, and Deflecting her attacks with superlative skill and flawless timing. Even the attacks he blocked were actively intercepted, matching her strike with one of his own to three-fold effect. First, his active blocks threw off the timing for her Amplifications, since the impact was not delivered when expected. Second, it allowed him to deliver a Reverberation strike of his own, to cancel out the effect of her piercing reverberations. Lastly, by stopping her attacks short, it prevented her from following through with a full swing, thereby lessening the total impact delivered as well as reminding her to be careful not to let him catch her weapon again.

All this from a man who claimed he didn’t understand Deflection or Reverberation. If she didn’t love him so much, she would’ve long since strangled him to death in his sleep for all his incessant complaining.

Even though she was guarded against a reversal of fortunes, she still missed seeing how he slipped away from her offensive. One second he was in front of her, defending against her flurry attacks with almost laughable ease, and the next he was gone, leaving Mila reeling from an attack to her left, a hammering blow she blocked through good positioning and better luck. Arm numbed from the Reverberating impact, she staggered aside three steps before righting herself and finding her foe once again, and only then did she put together the series of events. As she wound up for a wild swing, one she would’ve never delivered were she not so frantic to end things quickly, he dove forward to her left and rolled to his feet, using the same principles as Balance on Windy Leaf to escape from her sight. The fact that he positioned himself so that her shield obstructed his final position was an added bonus, at which point he delivered a back-hand smash that should have landed on her shoulder, but a fortunate twist of her torso brought her shield up just enough to intercept the unseen attack.

And then the tables were turned as Falling Rain went on the offensive, and she weathered the storm far less elegantly than he. Whereas he was able to exchange blows while on the defensive, all she could do was raise her shield and huddle behind it, carefully shifting this way and that to keep it between her tender body and his furious barrage of attacks, each one so cleverly aimed as to knock her off balance and create an opening to exploit. Metal rang in a symphony of thundering echoes as she blocked attack after attack, gritting her teeth and lowering her hips so as to withstand the deluge of attacks. His speed and power had improved significantly in the last few weeks, following his miraculous recovery and subsequent marriage to Lin-Lin. Scary to think that he still had so much room to improve, for he would be a force to be reckoned with once he familiarized himself with all the new discoveries he’d stumbled across, such as the aforementioned Refined physique and External Reinforcement. One couldn’t forget his newfangled ability of Domain Plating either, which aided in his efforts to utilize Chi in all manner of subtle and not so subtle ways, most of which even he didn’t understand, much less Mila herself.

So how was Mila supposed to contest against him? By doing something she was entirely unaccustomed to: relying on her superior tactics and positioning to secure the victory rather than overpowering her opponent with raw strength.

Though his defensive expertise made it difficult to defeat him, those skills had yet to transfer over to his offensive capabilities, which meant Mila could take her time and choose her moment wisely. Barely able to see him over the rim of her shield, what little she could perceive was still more than enough to read his rhythm. Seizing upon a lull in the symphony of metal, she rushed forward into the storm to limit his avenues of attack and create an opening for herself. Fortune favours the bold as they say, and it was true here today as she slammed shield first into her opponent’s chest and sent him staggering away. Though not expecting such a fortuitous turn of events, training took over as she sent her spear lancing forward in a basic thrust, one he cleanly intercepted despite still reeling from the tackle. Though her spear failed to connect, the wild strike bought her the much needed time to sidestep around to his right flank, giving her the initiative in the battle once again.

Then it was just a matter of keeping the pressure up and giving him no time to think, forcing him to constantly react and keeping him on the back foot. Stuck in the mud, is how Mama phrased it, meaning Rain’s footwork was a mess with Mila dictating their pace, delivering blow after blow to his defensively weaker right side while circling around to keep him off centre. To the civilians in the audience, it would appear as if they were dancing in circles, but even the most lacklustre soldier could see that Rain was at a marked disadvantage, unable to put his shield to good use and struggling to get his feet back under him. Though this wild offensive rush seemed similar to Mila’s initial plan, she clearly held the upper hand and she used it to good effect, targeting his sword and feet to keep him off balance while sticking too close for him to slip around her.

Even though Rain was stronger, faster, and more adept at utilizing certain popular Chi skills than she was, none of this was enough to make up for his greatest weakness, his lacking foundation. Despite Demonstrating the Forms each and every day, he still had yet to even touch upon the myriad of secrets hidden within the depths of each and every Movement. Not only did he first set foot on the Martial Path much later than most, familiarity with the Forms came slowly to him, so outside of those admittedly effective methods he’d copied or come up with himself, like Mama’s charging dash and his curiously deceptive footwork, he had precious few tricks to work with, and Mila was keen to them all.

The same could not be said in reverse however, because even though they’d sparred countless times before, he had yet to familiarize himself with the full extent of Mila’s arsenal of movements. In fact, few Martial Warriors could match Mila when it came to the sheer breadth and depth of familiarity with regards to the Forms, but that was because most were not trained by a Peak Expert and Living Legend who possessed over four centuries of combat experience and demanded nothing short of perfection. There were many Movements Mila was not yet adept enough to use, but those were easier to count than the number of Movements she could draw upon. Thus, in order to defeat him, she pulled out all the stops and used a myriad of Movements and combinations he’d never seen before, not firsthand from her at least. Stalking the Dragon into Uplift the Sequoia saw her drop low before delivering a smashing uppercut with the rim of her shield. Gliding Wing into Twitching Tail cut off his path of retreat, but only just as he almost fought his way out of the mud. Following up with Hanging Branch Grasp into Darting Fang, she feigned a thrust to the abdomen that transformed into a real one targeting the chest, which he sidestepped by the thinnest margins imaginable, but she was not yet done. Devouring the Horse into Circling the Grass kept Rain spinning about in search of her true attack, one that he realized all too late was coming from above.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Thus far, all her movements were ones taught by Mama, but in order to ensure victory, Mila pulled something from her bag of tricks that she borrowed from Papa. Fluttering Raindrops into Standing Fury, a powerful combination Rain affectionately termed the ‘Husolt Papa Smash’.

Though Rain had seen it before, he never expected to see Mila use it against him, and that minor moment of surprise allowed her to bring her spear haft down hard on his shoulder, eliciting a muted groan and an audible crack of fractured bone. Withdrawing her attack a second too late, she rushed over as he dropped to the ground and quickly helped him back on his feet, for it would not do for the crowd to see their Legate down and defeated. “You’re fine,” she said, more to reassure herself and the crowd than a statement of fact, because she knew that his refined physique took much more Chi and effort to Heal than before. “You’re fine.”

“Funny definition of fine you have there,” Rain said, grinning without a care in the world for his own public image. “Damn near shattered my shoulder with that final ‘Papa Smash’ there. Didn’t know you’d picked that up, or any of those other combinations either.” Chuckling wryly as he took advantage of her concern to slip an arm around her waist, he feigned outrage and said, “There will come a day when I defeat you woman, and then I will teach you the true meaning of regret.”

“Nonsense.” Smacking his roving hand away, her cheeks heated as she considered dragging him away to a dark corner instead, but he still had much to do before the day was done. “You’re already far stronger than I am in terms of raw combat capability, as I would not stand a chance against you if you used your Guided Sword, Honed Domain, Emotional Aura, Cloud Stepping capabilities, Concealment, the Mountain Collapsing Stomp, or any number of the advanced techniques you’ve recently picked up.” Not to mention all the effort he put into mastering his Blessing, which had progressed by leaps and bounds since his wedding with Lin-Lin. The opponent Mila faced in her spar today was Falling Rain at his worst, one limited by self-imposed restrictions to make this a fair fight, meaning he’d all but handed victory over to her on a silver platter.

Not without reason though. Father-in-Law Baatar was well aware of Rain’s lacking experience and suggested he spar like this more often to shore up his weakness, though the pool of equally skilled opponents who made for a good match was limited, to say the least. Song was a good opponent for Rain, but Yan could no longer keep up, having devoted too much of her recent efforts towards Forming a Natal Palace and Developing her Domain. Once she achieved these two significant milestones, Yan would be like a tiger given wings, but even with so much help and support from family and friends, she had yet to find success. That being said, even without a Natal Palace or Domain, Yan’s familiarity with her Blessing was second to none amongst her peers, as not even Rain could come close to her level of mastery without relying on the Elemental Spirit of Water.

Aside from Song and Mila, Rustram, Wang Bao, Ulfsaar, and a few others from his retinue were surprisingly decent opponents, though Rain won those matches handily each and every time. The only other Warriors to defeat him in this style of sparring were several years older, like Sister-in-Law Alsantset, Tursinai, and Ryo Da’in, though Zian, BoShui, Fung, Ishin Ken Shibu, and Tam Taewoong all came close on several occasions.

Of course, none of the aforementioned Warriors would be able to even touch the hem of Rain’s robes if he were to fight seriously, as he would soon demonstrate once his next sparring opponent arrived.

“How is your shoulder?” Mila Sent, worried she’d ruined his chances of securing his much desired victory. “Can it be Healed in time?”

“Yea, though I might have a headache tomorrow.” His amber eyes flashing in wicked promise of later reparations, Mila repressed a shudder of naked desire to atone for her impudence. If word of her perversion were to slip out, she would die of pure shame, but there was something about surrendering to her husband’s whims that left her so satisfied and sated. Yan enjoyed a different dynamic with Rain, one of equals and partners, while Lin-Lin was unsurprisingly incredibly aggressive and assertive in her affections, but Mila’s greatest desire was to simply submit to Rain’s desires and let him do as he pleased, and she hadn’t the foggiest idea why.

Cheeks heating from the mere thought of what was to come, she shoved him ever so slightly and smiled as the fiendish glint in his eyes deepened. Leaving him to Heal his injury in silence, she retreated to Yan’s side and ignored her sister-wife’s wicked grin in favour of greeting her actual sister Li-Li with a hug, though Mila was grateful Lin-Lin was still fast asleep and thus not here to tease her about her depraved perversion. No, there was nothing depraved about it, Mila was a strong and confident woman wholly capable of standing on her own, but she simply enjoyed playing the part of meek and dutiful wife in the bedroom. This attitude didn’t extend anywhere else, which was perfectly fine, as what happened in the bedroom, stayed in the bedroom, so long as Rain remembered to keep them all Concealed from prying eyes and ears.

Still, despite trusting her husband to keep their sordid affairs secret, Mila would feel a lot more secure once they had the manor to themselves, but the members of the older generation were all dragging their feet and reluctant to move out and into their new homes which Rain had built in the Northern Citadel. Much as she loved her parents and in-laws, Mila felt they were all being overly dramatic about the ‘forced and unnecessary’ move considering their five manors still shared a communal courtyard, which even had a pond to make it more like a private park than anything else. Silly Taduk even threw an adorable little tantrum when Rain and Lin-Lin told them their plans, stomping his feet and huffing up a storm because he thought he would live with them just like the rest of the in-laws had. Being the soft-hearted fool that he was, Rain had yet to put his foot down and insist everyone move out into their new, spacious manors, and so Mila suffered in their presence.

Then again, his filial piety and love of family was one reason why she loved him so much, one of many qualities on a list that at times seemed without end.

Passing the minutes with idle conversation, Mila kept an eye on Rain as he Healed his shoulder and rested for his upcoming bout, one that had drawn large audiences day after day since they took Yuzhen’s advice to publicize their sparring matches. The contestant in question arrived without fanfare or pageantry, dropping his Concealment only after making his way through the crowd, though Mila noted Rain’s eyes had opened and found his opponent several seconds before Gerel had revealed himself. Side by side, they looked so identical it was almost eerie to behold, the similarities previously hidden behind Rain’s gaunt and drawn features, but no matter how often Mila saw it, she couldn’t help but be surprised every time she saw them together. She still thought Rain was the more handsome of the two, especially when he cared to dress up and do his hair, but alas, it was a rare occasion when he did. In contrast, Gerel was always one to look his best, a male peacock who enjoyed looking pretty for the crowd. Not the worst quality to possess, Mila had to admit, but it was difficult not to resent the man for looking so damned good each and every day.

“You’re injured,” the stupidly handsome man remarked, his cold, yet soft-spoken words easily heard over the hushed crowd.

“My fiery wife’s work,” Rain replied, grinning with such foolish pride that it set Mila’s cheeks ablaze. “You know how it is. Spare the rod and spoil the husband.”

The crowd laughed at his self-deprecating joke, and even frosty Gerel cracked a tiny smile, the two contentious dragons having bonded over weeks of sparring. Strange creatures, men were, able to beat each other senseless and walk away laughing and smiling with one another. Mila hated even losing to Mama, to say nothing about Da’in, so how Rain and Gerel could become closer friends after sparring each and every day was a mystery to say the least. It was more than mutual respect, but actual genuine friendship, as if they enjoyed trouncing one another until they were bruised and bloody, like pure masochists yearning for the whip.

At least Mila wasn’t so far gone in her perversions, though she could have done without the knowledge of such fetishes existing. Yan’s fault that, as well as the image of a naked Rain and Gerel entwined in a different sort of sparring that Mila could not get out of her head, though she wasn’t sure she would want it gone even if she could. She herself had no desire to lay with another man, much less one as arrogant and joyless as Gerel, but just as she didn’t mind too much about sharing Rain with her sister wives, the thought of him adding a man to his harem was... intriguing to say the least.

Not that he would, but it was titillating to think about, especially given the tension in Rain and Gerel’s contentious relationship, so rife with sexual energy that Yan called it ‘positively delicious’...

“Whenever you’re ready then,” Gerel offered, exchanging his Spiritual Longsword and Glaive for mundane substitutes, ones personally crafted by Papa to resemble the originals as closely as possible. He’d done the same for everyone else, but Mila’s husband came to his feet while leaving his training sword and shield behind, intent on wielding Unity against his opponent today. While Papa had been unable to replicate Unity’s transformative properties in a mundane weapon, he instead made two separate versions instead, one a regular glaive and the other a nonstandard, bladed club that resembled a longsword in many ways, both of which Rain carried with him into the sparring match. It was funny how even their weapons were similar in nature, and as Rain and Gerel took their stances, Mila could not help but marvel at their similarities once more and think back to that first time they sparred after Rain’s recovery.

Not even three months had passed since that day in Yuzhen’s courtyard, where Gerel scored first blood with an effortless swat of Rain’s cheek, showing just how vast a distance lay between them.

Which made Rain’s progress since then all the more unbelievable.

Balance on Windy Leaf into Pierce the Horizon, Rain opened with his strongest move to deliver a piercing thrust with his glaive. Parrying and side-stepping the charge with seemingly effortless grace, Mila spotted the alarm in Gerel’s amber eyes that signified how close to defeat he’d been. During their first match, the man barely even needed to move his feet, but now, Rain stood a good chance of emerging victorious should the older man fail to take this match seriously. Not that Gerel was capable of being anything else, his general disposition as sombre as the grave as he neatly picked apart Rain’s follow-up offensive, their steel polearms humming and clanging as they traded blows back and forth. One benefit of the larger weapons was that they were easier for Mila to track, and she marvelled at her husband’s skills even as she lamented the strength of his formidable opponent.

In firm control of the rhythm, Gerel seized the upper hand with a simple but precise swing of the glaive, catching the tip of Rain’s blade with the base of his own and using his superior leverage to force his opponent into a poor position. A simple concept in theory, but difficult to accomplish in practice, and this simple swing showed how Gerel truly deserved to be the Number One Talent of his generation. That being said, Rain was no slouch himself, immediately withdrawing to deny Gerel the opportunity to press his advantage and reset the match. Unwilling to give up so easily, Gerel set off in pursuit, his meandering footsteps seemingly without rhyme or rhythm until one analyzed the match in full. There was not a single wasted motion in Gerel’s movements, each step not only bringing him closer to his foe, but also threatening Rain’s positioning and cutting off his avenues of retreat, all without needing to actually swing his weapon. Were this a game of chess, Gerel’s pieces would be dominating the board while threatening multiple of his opponent’s pieces and leaving options that ranged only from bad to worse.

But Rain was not one to give up, no matter how dire or bleak the situation, and now that he was facing a Peak Expert rather than his beloved wife, he was no longer holding back. To Mila’s eyes, Rain disappeared into thin air as he raised a Shroud of Concealment around him, but Gerel continued advancing as he knew where his opponent was. Difficult to escape from a Peak Expert’s Domain in such close quarters, though Rain mentioned he believed in the existence of a ‘Divine Sense’ that Martial Warriors had yet to quantify and discover despite many practitioners having developed it unknowingly. Whatever the reason, it was clear Gerel could track Rain’s movements even under Concealment, though the clash of their weapons went unnoticed due to the obscuring effect of the skill.

Then the unthinkable happened. Gerel swung his glaive, and his attack cut clean through the air, missing his target entirely.

Time froze for an instant as the crowd collectively gasped in surprise, Mila, Yan, and Li-Li included. Before the drawn breath could even finish, Rain seized this opportunity to launch his offensive, appearing out of nowhere on Gerel’s left to deliver a powerful thrust, one which missed the older warrior by a hair. Gliding backwards to avoid the follow up strike, Gerel’s Lightened body skated over the stone tiles underfoot at speeds Mila could barely believe possible, but Rain’s glaive jabbed out repeatedly and forced his foe to slow his retreat in order to dodge and parry. As Gerel backpedalled away, Rain chose this moment wisely to seize the opportunity he himself created, timing his low thrust to match the moment Gerel had only one foot planted on the ground, and thereby forcing the older Warrior to take to the air in order to avoid the strike.

As Rain so often loved to point out, few Warriors were well practised in aerial combat, and he’d spent many a night chasing Lin-Lin about the rooftops and sparring with his father, Grandpa Du, and even Taduk who surpassed them all when it came to aerial maneuvers. In doing so, Rain had familiarized himself with feats of acrobatics in a way few could match, but alas, Gerel was not only a genius, but a hard-working fanatic as well. As he soared up into the air, Gerel twisted about so that his feet were above his head while he wielded his glaive against Rain down below, forcing Mila’s clever husband to abandon his efforts to take to the skies and buying precious time for Gerel to return to solid ground. At this showy and impressive display of control and technique, the crowd erupted into cheers for the two combatants, though the recipients themselves seemed wholly unaware. Ramping up their movements to a frenzied and unsustainable pace, both men wore similar crazed smiles now, their bloodthirsty and competitive natures sparked as they sought to outdo one another in feats of aerial acrobatics. Leaping high into the air, Rain Cloud-Stepped horizontally to charge forward at a breakneck pace with glaive extended like a lance, and the resulting clash sent Gerel flying away, unable to stand strong in the face of Rain’s powerful offensive. Not one to be outdone, the older Warrior recovered only to charge at Mila’s husband in similar fashion, but Rain overturned the board once more by leaping up over Gerel’s head in a showy flip before Cloud Stepping down towards his foe with glaive outstretched. Twirling his own weapon overhead, Gerel just barely managed to parry the attack after putting significant effort into Deflecting it, but the impact left him unable to follow up.

Not Rain though, whose blunted blade missed Gerel to pierce through the stone floor and anchor him in place, the rough and uneven edges showing that raw strength alone had enabled such a feat, rather than any sort of Honing which would have showed darker and deadly intent. Still, if the attack had hit Gerel, there was a good chance the man might’ve died outright, but Rain was unrepentant as he swung about on the haft of his polearm and delivered both boots to Gerel’s chest. Or rather, the haft of Gerel’s glaive, which intercepted the unexpected and unconventional attack just in time, but even his prodigious efforts were no match for Rain’s Mountain Collapsing Stomp.

Metal hummed, shrieked, and screamed as Gerel’s weapon snapped in twain, and then Rain’s boots landed firmly on his opponent’s chest, but rather than flying away in a spray of blood and broken bones, Gerel stood tall with a fiery scowl etched across his handsome face while Rain braced himself horizontally against his embedded glaive with his boots sitting firmly his opponent’s chest. The pose lasted for all of a blink of an eye before they broke off to stand and salute, but still long enough to commit it to memory and see Rain’s undisguised shit-eating grin as Yan would describe it, so pleased with his accomplishment that he could hardly hide it.

For it was clear that even though both men were still standing, Rain had finally scored a victory over his rival and nemesis.

“Well fought, Legate,” Gerel said, and despite his bowed head and Martial Salute, Mila could tell the man was furious at himself for losing even by this narrowest of margins. “Had that Mountain Collapsing Stomp landed, I would be lying broken and bleeding on the ground. Victory in this exchange goes to you.”

As the crowd erupted into cheers, Mila joined Yan in rushing into their husband’s embrace, their combined momentum lifting him off his feet and leaving him breathless in their wake. This was merely one victory out of Mother knows how many, and there was almost no chance Gerel would allow himself to lose a second time today, but it was still a victory nonetheless, one which could not have come at a better time.

For in a few days, after a quick sail boat ride down to the Central Citadel to tie up some loose ends, Rain was set to march out at the head of an army to retake the West, and this victory here would raise morale to record heights. Everyone from commoner to Peak Expert venerated the strong, and today, Rain proved that he was capable of contending against the youngest Peak Expert in a thousand years, a man fifteen years his senior. A rising dragon to surpass all others, many believed Falling Rain to be the Mother’s Chosen Son, a destined hero who would lead the Empire to ultimate victory over the Enemy, and despite harbouring reservations aplenty, Mila was fast becoming a believer. Not necessarily because Rain was some holy figure, but because Mila had absolute faith in her husband’s abilities, which were so staggering even the possibility of defeat seemed impossible to imagine. No matter what trials and tribulations lay ahead, Falling Rain would overcome them.

With a little help from Sumila of the People fighting at his side of course. There was no way she’d let him leave her behind again, not in a campaign of this magnitude, as she had no desire to learn about his exploits through Han BoShui’s flowery prose. No, she would watch firsthand as he reconquered the West and drove the Defiled out of the province, and be there for him when he finally realized he’d have no choice but to put all the survivors to the sword to appease the Emperor and the other citizens of the outer provinces. It didn’t matter if he could cleanse them, because enough people would doubt his ability to render it a moot point, and panic would soon ensue if so many ‘potential Defiled agents’ were left unchecked. A grim fate for the poor and oppressed citizens of the West, but one which could not be avoided, not without losing the widespread popularity and support Rain now enjoyed.

That was a bridge to be crossed later though. For now, Mila hugged her husband and sister wife while enjoying this precious moment of joy and success, for the memory would be sorely needed in the dark days ahead.

Chapter Meme