The stories are rife with those who fight above their rank. Of genius Silvers turning the blades of Golds. Of tricky Golds out-maneuvering Gemstones. But the truth is that power is above all. You can land a hit on a Gold as a Silver. Maybe even hurt them. But they’ll regenerate faster than you can hurt them. And the Gemstone? They may be tricked, but they’re all old monsters who’ve seen many of a Gold’s lifetimes and if they find out you tricked them? You’ll wish they’d just kill you. -Wandering cultivator Jin Sun

* * *

The blast had enough force to scatter qi all across the eastern half of the Moon-Soaked Shore. Maybe if I were an Ascendent, even just a lesser one, I might have stood a chance to outrun it, but as an Iron? There wasn’t any chance.

Before I could take two steps, Lian stepped in front of me. Ten talismans sprang into the air, spinning in a circle to form a shield of qi that blocked the effects of the spell. Darkness laced with threads of green formed around us to shelter us from the blast.

Then it was over. Lian’s life qi dispersed, and his talismans burned in a burst of green, their purpose fulfilled. The young sect artist turned, a pleased smile on his face.

“Sometimes, my genius surprises even myself,” he praised. “How many people can say they’ve defended the Darkened Moon, do you think?”

“Only a handful,” I answered. “Do you know what it would have done?”

“Hard to say. They were aiming to suppress your core and qi, buuut,” he shrugged and rolled his eyes, “They also are experts at subduing shades, not spirits, despite their name. Some Spirit Caller Sect if they don’t even know the difference.” He snorted in amusement.

Suppressing my core and qi, I mused silently. That could have been extremely bad, had it actually struck me. Depending on how it struck, it could have suppressed only my lunar qi, sending me into a void madness like when I first took on that qi in the first place. On the other side, if only my void qi had been suppressed, it might have ripped me in half due to my nature as a Void Spirit. Even if I’d been lucky enough to be hit squarely, I could have been weakened to the point where my bindings to Lin were stressed or broken, and I still wasn’t quite sure what would happen to me without the bond.

Lian had saved me from all of that…

I cupped my hands together and bowed respectfully. “It seems I owe you, Lian Liu. Is there some way I can repay you?”

“Actually, now that you mention it,” he began, but he never got the chance to finish the thought.

Void qi surged around us in a swirling vortex. I threw myself back between the buildings, latching onto Lian and Lin’s collars and dragging them with me. Where we’d stood only a moment ago, the whole corner of the shop was disintegrated, and the building creaked in protest.

“Well, aren’t you a quick one.” From out of the dispersing qi, Shen Tori stepped. Two wicked daggers with jagged black blades were in his hands, ready to taste blood…specifically mine, it seemed.

“I thought you weren’t here to kill me this time,” I snarled. “You’ve a funny way of showing it.”

“You’re right, that was the plan.” His eyes were hard and full of hate. “But you are so good at gathering up all your little friends with your charms, and you didn’t fall to the ritual that my friend was so confident in. Tell me, are you possessed, or did you just offer the Fury to bring back his master?”

I bit back a laugh. He had no idea who and what I was, which was to be expected, but it was still funny to watch him leap to the wrong conclusions.

“Why don’t you tell me more about that friend of yours?” I shot back. “Is it the Governor?”

Shen Tori rolled his eyes. “Governor Hong prefers not to get his hands dirty if he doesn’t have to, but I will be most keen to report your death to him when we next meet.”

“I’m afraid you won’t have much to report!” Lin interjected, stepping between us. “You murdered my wife! I won’t let you walk away from here.”

“Is that what you think?” the void artist shrugged. “In truth, I care little about you, Tenri Lin, but, if you long for your wife, I’d be happy to reunite you. You are not irreplaceable.”

It would be a hard fight. Lin and I were both unarmed, which wasn’t the worst, since neither of us had many techniques that depended on weapons. What was going to be more challenging was that Shen Tori was definitely at Silver and knew something of our abilities from his son’s reports.

“If we can get to the street, we can draw the fight outside of town,” I said.

“Allow me,” Lian stepped up to both Lin and I and placed his hands on each of our shoulders. Qi surged into us, and I immediately felt lighter on my feet. He shrugged. “I might not be much of a fighter myself, but Life qi is excellent for enhancing others.”

“I am in your debt for helping get justice for Hanako,” Lin promised. Wood qi swirled to life around him and he pulled several seeds from his sleeve. It seemed that he came at least somewhat prepared, unlike me.

Lin raced forward, crossing the distance between him and Shen Tori in a flash. I was right behind him as he threw the seeds at the enemy’s feet. Shen Tori leapt back before the new shoots could wrap around his ankles. We had him on the retreat! I called upon the moon above. Twin disks of light appeared in my hands.

“Duck!” I shouted to Lin. He did as he was told and the disks sailed cleanly over his head. Shen Tori raised his blades and knocked both disks aside but doing so left him open. Lin’s skin shone with wood qi as he slammed his fist into the void artist’s jaw. Though the blow wasn’t nearly enough to seriously harm the Silver artist, it provided just enough of an opportunity for Lin to dart through his defenses and out into the street.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I raced forward, eager to follow. We needed to get outside of town. Not only would Lin’s wood techniques be more effective with more grass and trees, but we wouldn’t have to be so careful. The longer we fought here, the more damage would be caused by mine and Shen Tori’s void arts.

“I don’t think so!” A void coated dagger struck, aiming straight for my chest. I raised my right arm, ducking down in the same motion. The blade sliced across my forearm and blackened blood splattered across the stones behind me.

Shen Tori narrowed his eyes at the blood. “Black blood?”

I didn’t linger. His distraction was only to my advantage as I darted out of his reach to join Lin in the street. Together, we raced away, certain that Shen Tori would follow.

“Are you alright?” Lin called. I nodded, looking down at the injury. Already, threads of vibrant jade qi were weaving across the wound. Lian’s techniques certainly were potent, even if they wouldn’t last long.

“It’s just a scratch. I’ll be-”

A brutal ringing stabbed through my mind. The voices of the void pounded against my mental defenses, briefly blurring my vision. I stumbled, crashing into the ground. I pushed myself back to my knees as the pain redoubled.

“Yoru!?” Lin skidded to a halt.

I gritted my teeth. This was one of Shen Tori’s techniques. I was sure of it. Nothing else would cause the voices to rise at such a time.

“Don’t get hit by his attacks,” I grunted, forcing the voices down.

To my surprise, they quieted with much less willpower than they had when fighting the Chain-Bound Fury. Rather than whispering destruction, they just seemed to be trying to drill cracks into my mind, which ultimately made them less organized and easier to fend off.

Shaking off the attack, I pushed myself back to my feet. The Shen family continued to be unlucky that I was their opponent. Like father, like son, I suppose.

“Tsuyuki? Tenri?” It was Kansi Ren. She sat at a table with a bowl of noodles in her hand.

Before either of us could answer, Shen Tori arrived. He threw a qi-coated dagger straight for me, and I only barely had enough time to jump enough to the side that it only clipped my sleeves rather than my actual body. The dagger in question then vanished in a puff of void qi and reappeared in its owner’s hand.

“Hey!” Kansi was on her feet and approaching. “What’s going on here?”

“Stay out of it, Wind Artist,” Shen Tori spat. “This is official business of the Lunar Hunt.”

Kansi raised an eyebrow. “That group of enforcers? But what do you want with Tsuyuki and Tenri?” He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“That man,” he pointed one of the vicious black daggers at me, “is a moon artist. His kind are not welcome in the Shore.”

I flinched. Of all the people to know my true path, Kansi was the worst to know. Shen Tori on his own was going to be a difficult fight without Kansi also getting involved.

“I think you have the wrong person,” Kansi insisted. “Tsuyuki is a Void artist from the Pearlescent Valley. We worked a caravan security job together, and he never used anything like lunar arts.”

Now I know the Sword Saint didn’t teach you this level of naivety, I thought bitterly. Jinshi was always extremely observant, and yet, his disciple seemed to be completely sincere in her ignorance. She didn’t have a clue.

“His path is void and moon, you ignorant fool,” Shen Tori snarled. “But, it’s none of your business. Justice must be served. Order must be maintained.”

Void-tipped daggers sliced across the space before him, and a net of void qi streaked towards us. It was the same technique Shen Yaoxan was so fond of. I stepped behind Lin, and his skin glowed with adaptive wood qi. The net wrapped around him, and he gritted his teeth in focus as his qi tried to work through the potent void qi. I ducked around Lin, launching an orb of my own void qi at Shen Tori in the same breath as he hurled another dagger. The two bits of void collided mid-air, exploding in a cloud of black.

The qi of our attacks mixed, but I could still tell what was mine and what was his. His was far more potent and was as black as the darkest of nights. Mine, however, was brighter, with pinpricks of silver and gold, like tiny stars in the blackness. They were so tiny, that even I wouldn’t be able to notice them without comparing to the qi of a pure void artist.

Both forms of qi hissed and sizzled against the street stones. Rather than wait for Shen Tori to attack, I raced into the cloud. It tingled against my skin for the briefest moment until I was completely hidden by the darkness. Then, I let instinct reign over my body, and clinking chains wrapped around my arms. I couldn’t afford others knowing of my direct relation to the Chain-Bound Fury at this juncture, but in the cloud, an opportunity was created.

I closed my eyes, relying on Flash Forward to guide me in the darkness. I released the void in my core, replicating the same void aura technique that the Fury had used, albeit a less potent version. The void mist in the cloud that was mine shone with brighter pinpricks of light, and even the mist that was Shen Tori’s began to sparkle like a starry night as my aura overwhelmed it.

Flash Forward warned of a dagger strike to my head. I ducked just in time, striking out with a chain-wrapped fist. It slammed into Shen Tori’s chest. He stumbled back several paces, and I followed up with a disk of moonlight. I heard him grunt in pain, but I didn’t hear his footsteps indicate a retreat.

Another attack was forewarned from behind. I lunged, flinging my chains forward and forcing the void master to retreat.

“You can’t beat me, Shen Tori,” I called. “I have far more experience than you do.”

“You think you’re the first person with the Darkened Moon’s bloodline I’ve slain?”

Mine are the original. The rest are all just lesser copies.

Flash Forward warned of another strike, but it was…from in front of me? It was extremely close, and I raised a chain-wrapped arm to defend myself as I retreated. The attack was quick, just glancing off my chains before it was as if Shen Tori simply disappeared. Three more warnings flashed through my mind, warning of strikes from the left and behind. I ducked and rolled.

A blade slammed into the chain around my left arm, pinning it to the ground below. Shen Tori followed up with incredible speed, suddenly appearing above me, and striking swiftly with his remaining dagger.

I grunted in pain as the blade sliced deep into my shoulder, only coming to a stop when it met with one of my chains. I finally opened my eyes. Shen Tori’s face was blistered from my void aura.

“So, you gave yourself to the Fury?” He spat to the side. “How pathetic. Your power isn’t even your own.”

“I give myself to no one,” I snarled. A blade of moonlight formed in my hand. With a cry of fury, I plunged it into his chest. He grunted but held firm. Then, his blade was in his hand again, streaking down towards my face. I twisted to the side, but he pushed his weight down on top of me, preventing me from moving. In the last second, I brought my arm up to block the blow. The dagger cut deep, and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.

“Stop struggling. The more you do, the more your mind will be ripped to shreds by the void,” he growled.

I laughed. “I’ve already done the whole ‘consumed by the void’ thing. If your pathetic voices could take me, I’d have fallen long before your ancestors were born!”

Shen Tori pulled back, readying himself for another strike, but before he could do so, wind howled around us. The cloud of void was blown away, revealing the fight within.

My heart leapt into my chest. Only one person present could have summoned that kind of wind. Kansi Ren had joined the fight.