A pile of rubble was overturned. Nyaui stood up, dusted off her shoulders. She reached out to the boy who was still lying on the ground.

Akachi withdrew his arms from in front of his face. He looked up. The ex-sage had protected him with his own body by activating his Ofó defense. The dust made him tear up. He grabbed his protector's hand and stood up. He looked around, many had not managed to escape the explosion caused by the cyborg Eniac II.

"Isn't it ironic? The Americans sent a suicide bomber to break through Ilu Nla's defenses. That's what they call state terrorism."

The young medium noticed the strong smell of herbal cigarettes. Fadala straightened his messy tie.

"How can you smoke at a time like this?"

"It relieves my stress."

The hitman shrugged. He took two steps forward, removed the cigarette from his mouth and threw the butt on the floor. He stepped on it with the tip of his shoe. He pointed to the left and then to the right.

"Looks like we're in a bit of trouble…"

Quickly, Nyatui shaped his spear. On the right was the trio of hooded men. On the left was General Luena.

"Ah, don't tell me, mister obvious! The explosion dispersed Axé particles and made our cover fall off."

For the first time, Akachi had realized that Nyatui no longer looked like Mister Trent, but like his own face. The zimbas had been undone. Their identities had been revealed to their enemies.

"What do we do now?"

Fadala drew his pair of pistols and pointed each one in a different direction. He wasn't sure which decision to make. Three enemies of unknown potential, or a Phalanx general with a high chance of calling in reinforcements? It wasn't an easy choice. They needed a distraction.

The hitman looked at the ex-sage over his glasses. The other nodded in affirmation. They both tensed their muscles. They stood at the ready. Nyatui thought about the difficult position they were in.

Two enemy forces, there's no guarantee that they won't join forces against us and fight for the booty.

General Luena couldn't believe it. She put a hand to her face theatrically. Almost affected, she said in surprise:

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"But how many intruders into my celebration! Nyatui? The Circle of Sages? Even you, Akachi, bearer of the seventh Spiritual Key? It couldn't be better, now I can kill you all."

Luena was bluffing. She knew that she would never be able to fight them all on her own. If the Circle of Sages and Nyatui's group united against her, it would be best to retreat. Her life would not be guaranteed, but she would have a vague chance.

The ambushers removed their capes and masks. They contained their surprise. Now their faces were visible. They maintained the haughtiness and serenity they had shown throughout the tournament in the Grand Arena.

The smallest of them rolled up the huge sleeves of his cape and snapped his fingers. Contrary to what Akachi had thought at first, he wasn't a child, but a middle-aged man, older than Nyatui. He had a full beard and moustache and a grumpy look. His eyes seemed to blaze with excitement.

"We had no trouble circumventing your defense system, General Luena."

"How did you hide the power of your key, sage?"

"Just like that fool Akachi. By controlling the emission of Axé from the key to our bodies. His case seems to be a lot more complicated, since the key was connected directly to his body."

Adsa's son instinctively placed a hand on his chest. He turned to Nyatui and asked:

"But… who is this guy?"

"He's, well, he's the current Sage of the Force, can't you feel it?"

"That little guy is Nyatui's disciple⁈"

"Who did you call short, kid?"

The dwarf lunged at Akachi, but one of his companions caught him by the collar and said ironically:

"We apologize, our friend here has a short fuse."

After calming down, the short sage adjusted the collar of his cloak and, with a bead of sweat running down his temple, declared:

"I'm not that idiot's disciple, I'm his rival. Our clan has forked into two different visions of how to deal with the art of combat. For our family line, we believe that we should develop fighting techniques based on unarmed combat, while the supporters of the other line prefer to fight with weapons modeled on Axé. We always decide the position of Sage of the Force through duels between the two lineages…"

"And the one who loses must serve the winning family until a new sage needs to be chosen."

Nyatui supplemented the information. Akachi collapsed. He didn't understand any of these power struggles. Nothing seemed very logical to him.

"That's right, so today I am the Sage of the Force. My name is Jabir."

The woman next to him put one hand on his chair and the other arm on Jabir's shoulder. She wiggled her hips provocatively. She was a young medium with shoulder-length curly hair. Her expressive eyes were light brown. She winked at Azekel's grandson and said:

"I am the Sage of Evolution, Nkechi."

The third stood like a girl band. He looked androgynous, although his Adam's apple gave him away. His high-pitched, forced voice left a sour echo in the air. Her hair was long, with the back of her curls tied into a braid. Her make-up was heavy and her nails were painted the color of green. She repeated the same pose as her companion, but on the opposite side.

"And I here am Durojaiye! The Sage of the Generation and…"

"Ah, enough! Stop embarrassing the Circle of Sages."

Jabir stepped back, letting the two fall face-first to the ground. The two got up quickly, and the trio started arguing. Suddenly they turned to Akachi. The Sage of Strength clenched his fists and spread his Axé around his body. His muscles doubled in size.

"General Luena, you've been a good host. Forgive us, but we're already leaving."

"You're leaving? Oh, what a shame, little Jabir. Adsa's son just brought me a present, but he forgot to give it to me."

In Akachi's eyes, everything took less than a few seconds. General Luena set out to attack them, but Nyatui took the lead and began to fight with her. The trio of sages, counting on the unexpected intervention of the master of suspicion, focused their efforts on Akachi. However, Fadala, quicker than them, grabbed the boy around the waist and fled. The mediums followed in his wake.