Attention to all Hunters: The Eternal Peak Sect has a formal bounty for the following individual: Lai Kansi, wind artist. She is tall with an unassuming appearance, but should be considered extremely dangerous. She will be traveling with bandages. Do not remove them, they are a seal placed by our sect on her and their removal will guarantee your deaths. Reward: Outer Discipleship or 100 peak gold cores. -Missive from the Eternal Peak Sect to the Guild of Hunters along the Eagle’s Road, bounty still active but outdated.
* * *
I froze. The blustering wind had thoroughly swept away the void qi that resulted from the collision of mine and Shen Tori’s techniques. The stones beneath us were cracked and riddled with holes where the qi had touched them.
Then there was us. Shen Tori pinned me to the ground, his hand raised to strike again. We were a frozen moment in time, neither one willing to move a single muscle until the new threat was identified.
“The Fury?” Kansi frowned in confusion as she took in the scene. “But…where is Tsuyuki?”
“Idiot girl,” Shen Tori growled. “Go back to your festival and leave official affairs to-”
My foot slammed into his leg, and he grunted in mild annoyance. In the next breath, I shoved him off me and flung a moonlight disk to dislodge the blade holding my chains to the ground.
Lin was at my side as soon as I was on my feet. “Are you alright?” He examined the gash in my arm where I took Shen’s blade. Threads of green were still soothing the wound, though they flickered weakly. Soon, Lian’s technique would be used up, and I’d be at the mercy of my own regenerative abilities. Substantial as those were, I was still only Iron. They couldn’t do much quickly enough to fight a full battle against Kansi and Shen Tori both.
“Uncle Yoru!” Xinya’s voice called from the direction we’d fled from. A moment later, she, Pharyx, and Pollen arrived, joining Lian on the sidelines. Beside them was Shen Tori’s son, to my great surprise.
“Ah, Taihua,” Shen Tori greeted. “Nice of you to join us. Help me subdue him.”
“I cannot, father,” Taihua answered. He bowed to his father. “I regret to say that I was bested in combat. I have already been defeated. It would be dishonorable of me to join the fight now.”
Shen Tori’s face twisted into a snarl, and he spat in his son’s direction. “Weak-willed son of mine. This man killed your brother, and you care about honor?”
“If I join, then I would be wronging Reixin’s legacy. I cannot do that.”
“I should have beat that soft heart out of you years ago,” his father growled. “But fine. I don’t need you, anyway.”
“Wait,” Kansi called, stepping into the middle of the fight. “Chain-Bound Fury, I thought you and your sister would be content with Master Feng removed from play. Why do you still seek conflict?”
“Do I look like I’m dressed to start a fight?” I snapped.
For the first time since the cloud was dispelled, Kansi took a good look at me. She saw the festive white and green robes that the townsfolk had prepared for me. Though it was ripped and torn, she still recognized it. Her eyes then travelled upward, taking in every inch of my chains and the cursed appearance I took on as a Void-Touched.
“Your hair…” she breathed. I reached up, feeling for my hat, only to find it was gone. It must have been knocked off during the fight. Pulling a lock of hair from behind me, I could see that it was simultaneously dark as night yet emanating with eerie blue voidlight due to moonlight exposure. My hair, my horns, my ears…all the parts that made me monstrous were on display. But then, her eyes flicked up even higher, and she gasped in surprise. “That pin…Chiho?” she leveled her sword. “How do you have that pin? What did you do with Tsuyuki?”
“Are you really that dense?” Shen Tori spat. “He’s possessed by the Fury to enhance his lunar techniques. He’s consumed by the Moon’s madness!”
It was funny, really. Of all the people he could have leveled the accusation against, it was me. I was the founder of the very madness he spoke of, its first victim, and yet, in that moment, I was one of the more level-headed people there.
I could have denied it, but what would be the point? Nine artists were present at that fight. Of those, one was me, and three more knew my secret. Three more were there to kill me and wouldn’t be swayed. What was the point in trying to convince the remaining two?
However, Xinya, my precious disciple, wasn’t willing to back down so easily. She spun around, fixing Pollen and Pharyx with her most pleading gaze.
“Please! You know him! Uncle Yoru isn’t crazed! Please you have to help him!”
Pollen knelt and squeezed the little girl’s shoulders. Then, the Honeybee Queen stepped onto the field, nodding at Lin and I.
“Master Tsuyuki may be cursed to share the Fury’s appearance, but he’s a good person. I have witnessed him put life and limb on the line for the denizens of the forest.” She turned to look at Pharyx, her brow furrowing in confusion. He stood exactly where he was and showed no intention of moving. “Why do you hesitate?”
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The hornet looked around, pain clear in his eyes. “I…I can’t.”
“Why not?” Pollen asked.
“Mother sent me to investigate the night of the bright moon. Everything I’ve found…Tsuyuki arrived in Saikan the next morning,” Pharyx explained. “How many times have moon artists tried to free the Darkened Moon? If he breaks free, my mother will be called to fight, and there is no guarantee she will survive it.”
The Dawn Empress…called to fight me? I hadn’t realized that Pharyx’s mother was powerful enough to be considered one of the top Ascendents in the world. Though, as an insect, she probably had lots of children, which was why Pharyx wasn’t especially powerful himself.
Pharyx was out of the fight, but at least, he didn’t seem eager to assist Shen Tori. If anything, his actions were motivated by fear for his family. I couldn’t fault him for that. When I was Iron, if you’d told me that the Oni Prince was about to destroy my family, I, too, would have done anything to stop it. The situation here was the same. A legend was threatening Pharyx’s home, and I just happened to be the apparent source of all the threats.
“Enough of this!” Shen Tori spat. The qi in the air shifted, and I threw myself at Pollen, pushing the Queen aside just before the same vortex which was Shen’s last opening move exploded where I’d been standing. On the other side, Lin’s skin burned green as he further adapted to the qi of Shen Tori’s techniques.
“Are you alright?” I asked Pollen. She nodded. The smell of flowers burst from all around us as she began to weave her Petal Dance. Grass sprouted beneath her feet as the power of her dominion sprang forth.
I ducked an instant later as Kansi’s sword streaked over my head so close that several hairs were severed. I lunged forward, drawing her attention so that Pollen could continue her dance uninterrupted.
Razor Sharp petals joined tendrils of hungry vines as the battlefield was made all the more beautiful by my companions’ techniques. Lin was keeping Shen Tori busy, deflecting and adapting to his techniques as they came. He proved to be an impenetrable wall against Shen’s destructive might. Neither one showed any sign of yielding.
Meanwhile, Kansi was left to me. In this fight, I was seriously disadvantaged. She swiped and cut with expert precision, and it was all I could do to keep out of the way of that wickedly sharp blade. Without a weapon of my own, and no defenses uniquely tuned to fight her, I was on the back foot.
I whipped my chain around. Kansi raised her blade, and my chain became entangled around the weapon. We each pulled, gripping our end of the chain.
“I don’t want to fight you, Kansi!” I shouted. She twisted her blade in the chain to block one of Pollen’s razor petals.
“You took my friend! I have to avenge him!”
I yanked the chain back. “I am your friend! Do you really think Chiho could be stolen by someone it didn’t approve of? Do you think it would be content serving someone who killed one of its masters?”
Kansi seemed to hesitate. In that moment, I pulled hard on the chain and her whole blade came loose from her hand. Without tension, the shining length of lunar steel links relaxed. Freed, I focused on transforming back. Suppressing the void, letting it melt away and return me to my human form.
But the blade was not idle for long. The moment it was free, it leapt into the air of its own accord, manipulated by Kansi’s wind qi. It floated gently before streaking towards me at breakneck speed.
I flinched…but no pain came. I opened my eyes to see the blade barely a quarter inch from my nose. The weight of my chains had lifted.
“I see you were taking it easy on us before,” I noted, my eyes glued to the blade that was several feet from the artist wielding it. This was a common technique among a wide variety of spiritual artists, but Jinshi had turned it into an art form. No one surpassed the Sword Saint for his ability to manipulate a blade, and it seemed his disciple had learned from him as well.
“You…changed back?” she wondered. “Or was it just an illusion?”
“That would be my true form, but not the one I had at birth. It’s a long story,” I explained.
“One I feel I should hear before rendering judgement.” She withdrew her sword to hover over her shoulder and bowed to me. “I apologize for jumping to conclusions. I have betrayed our friendship today. I hope you can forgive me.”
I shook my head. “You believed you were defending that friendship. There’s nothing to apologize for,” I glanced back to where Lin and Pollen were fending off the other Silver artist on the battlefield, “but, if I could beg your assistance? Shen Tori is a fiend who must be dealt with.”
“Of course.”
No sooner than she’d spoken did her blade streak towards the void artist. She didn’t even spare a look as it sliced clean across his cheek, then spun around, cutting a deep gash in his side on the way back around.
Shen Tori swore and staggered back. Lin and Pollen pushed the advantage, backing him into a wall.
“It seems I should be more careful who I trust to watch my back,” he snarled as he spat a mouthful of blood to the side. “It also seems I’ll have to take more drastic measures. Until next time.” Then he disappeared into a fine black mist, leaving us all alone on the field of battle.
“He does well to hide his techniques,” Kansi growled. “Clever old fox.”
Pollen and Lin gathered with the rest of us. Pollen had a trail of blood staining her left sleeve, but she held her head high.
“At least none of us were seriously hurt,” she said. “I’ll recover.”
“Well, before you all start congratulating one another on a job well done,” Lian began, pointing to Taihua, “perhaps you should ask why he’s so spooked.”
Sure enough, Shen Taihua’s complexion had paled to the point of being ghostly, and he was wringing his hands.
“Mister Taihua?” Xinya asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Y-y-you have to stop him,” he muttered. Then he lunged forward and gripped my arms. Immediately, Kansi’s blade was at his neck, but he didn’t even seem to notice. Taihua’s eyes were wide with pure terror as he shook me back and forth. “You have to stop him! He’ll destroy everything!”
“Calm down. Speak clearly. What is he going to do?”
“He’s…He’s…” Words tumbled out of the man’s mouth. “He’s broken. Yaoxan’s death broke him. He…that man…said he’d solve everything. Said he’d break you and isolate you if we killed you after. Father just…he just wanted Yaoxan back…but it broke him…he c-came up with a plan. If that man’s plans failed, then he’d…he’d…oh spirits help us.” I gripped Taihua’s shoulders and looked him in the eye.
“What is he going to do?”
Taihua’s gaze drifted up and far away. I turned to follow it, only to be staring at the lighthouse outside of town.
“Qi of the void governs space and distance,” he breathed. “Communicating over that distance…he’s going to wake the Tide Serpent.”