By the twentieth Dimension Door, Gwen's vision started to see stars.

A forceful circulation of Almudj's Essence brought her rebellious innards into obedience; then she flew for the next minute before activating another five instances of her short-range teleportation.

"Mayuree!" her voice roared across the Diviner's projected network. "There's a mudslide incoming! You've got two to three minutes at best!"

"Did you blow the blockage?" Richard's voice came through.

"My Divination is going off like crazy!" Mayuree informed her. "Did you do something?"

"Not me, it's Seoul U, they're trying to rat-fuck us!" Her tone communicated both her anger and her urgency. "Get barriers up; we need to divert this thing. Sacrifice a portion of the village if you have to, get everyone to move up to the central hall!"

"Alright, you heard her," Richard commanded the others. "Shwe, get a move on! Lulan, Anita, you're with me. Mayuree, make sure everyone in the village knows!"

"Right away!"

Meanwhile, Gwen lifted into the air, thankful that the rain had slowed to a thankful drizzle. From her topographic vantage, she could see the movement of the debris bearing down on them merely by tracking the trees being pulled into the undertow as the massive morass of sediments roved across the old riverbed. Whatever was coming was picking up speed and momentum with all the impatience afforded by gravity, taking every advantage of the shallow topsoil.

"Scratch that, you've got three minutes!"

"Get back here!" Richard informed her. "I need your Barbanginy."

Another half-dozen Dimension Doors later, she reappeared pale and disorientated, a hundred meters atop the now chaotic village, watching its denizens milling about like headless chooks.

Lulan had constructed two dozen diamond-shaped breakers at the village's eastern border, where the river flowed downhill through the rice fields. In the worst-case scenario, half of the structures should survive the incoming mudslide, though the rice field below looked to be the ultimate victim of Seoul U's ploy. As much as Gwen loathed Si-won, it seemed mass murder wasn't his first intention, though the avoidance of collateral damage certainly wasn't weighing on Seoul's morality scale.

"What's she doing?" Gwen asked as Richard approached, his complexion flushed from exertion.

Behind him, Anita was excavating something at the eastern border, widening a gap in the earth.

"Lea says there's an underground cavern below the eastern edge," her cousin explained. "I want you to collapse the top for us so that when the flood arrives, it'll go into the crevasse."

"Is that safe?" Gwen baulked at the possibility of an even bigger landslide as a result of tens of thousands of tons of water and mud gushing into the hill's midst.

"At worst, this half of the village will sink." Richard pointed from the first hut to the tiered rice fields. "Careless hydro farming has hollowed out the limestone bedrock; we should explain to the aldermen that it was going to happen sooner or later."

"Bloody hell," Gwen spat. Reconstruction wasn't a responsibility with which a team stationed for ten days could be or should be saddled. "Those bastards..."

"Don't lose your cool." Richard patted her on the head. "I would have recommended the same. If we too had a geographical advantage, it will take a fool not to make use of it. We'll lose a portion of the village, but the people are safe, and rebuilding isn't impossible."

Gwen forcibly rescinded the impulse pressing against the inside of her skull.

"Hmm, it's close," Richard remarked as the puddles began to ripple chaotically.

Indeed, the land beneath their feet was humming with energy now, sending the villagers into a blind panic. Were it not for Mayuree's village-wide instruction to flee to the hall; the likelier outcome would have been a hundred or more rubberneckers staring at the riverbed, scratching their heads and wondering why the huts were trembling.

"INCOMING!" Lulan leapt from one of her recently finished diamond-barriers to take a better gander. "Mao! It's huge!"

"I am done!" Anita likewise flew into the air; her Mage Armour covered with silt and mud. "I've widened the chasm. Gwen, do your worst!"

"Wait, see how Lulu's barriers do," Richard informed Lea to be ready to redirect the incoming tide. "If—"

_CRASH!_

The wall of mud, boulders, branches and uprooted Banyans struck the mounts of earth strengthened by Lulan's iron with a tectonic force. Under the mass of such unfathomable pressure, her diamond-shaped barriers folded like origami, eliciting a gasp of dismay from the wide-eyed Sword Mage.

"Well, shit." Richard, who had seen the Nantong Engineers work their magic, now realised there was far more to engineering than met the eye. "Gwen!"

The Void sorceress focused her latent energies, tapping all available mana from her Gate of Lightning, pumping pure power through her conduits.

"Ariel!" she commanded her Kirin, then charged it with as much Essence as she could humanly muster without popping a cranial artery.

In the next instant, the mudflow cleared half of Lulan's barriers, then bore down on the village like a dark tsunami, staggering the very hill upon which La War made its home.

Lulan blinked beside Gwen, ready to take her friend to safety should the need arise. Anita lifted herself upward so that she was out of reach of the mud-flow below. Richard meanwhile, poured his mana into Lea, emptying a pressurised deluge of streaming white-water into the crevasse Anita had made earlier.

"Thundering Shatter!" Gwen invoked another unique spell gifted to her by Walken. An invocation designed for Air Mages but adapted by the Magister for use with the Lightning element.

_BOOM!_

Combined with the power of her Almudj's Essence, the shattering force of the fulminating spell made the earth beneath them jump, shaking plates and clattering chopsticks, freeing spades from anchored racks.

There was a brief lull in the noise as their ears rung with tinnitus, then an enormous gash opened across the village's eastern escarpment, followed by thunderous rumbling as the entirety of La War's eastern boundary began to split and part from its granite foundations.

From above, a cascade of brown sludge, having consumed Lulan's barriers, raced over the hill, funnelling into the river bed, quickening the collapse of the surface, engendering a crashing waterfall down through the cavern below.

Gwen and the party retreated through the air, grim-faced and tired as dogs as the low rumble of falling earth continued unabated for several minutes, filling the gorge below with debris while up top, the overflow decimated the prized rice fields the village had tendered for decades.

The villagers, having born witness to the destruction of their home, had not expected the hill itself to give way, taking with it their tiered and tiled livelihood. As the first few minutes of stunned silence passed, they burst into tears, fell to their knees, and began to weep uncontrollably.

Their summer harvest was gone!

For the simple folk of the mountain: food security ruled over all. As labourers and farmers, they cared not for international competitions, dragons, nor the pride of national institutions of study. With the rice fields intact, they would survive and maybe even thrive. With it gone, they would starve.

"O, Lord Buddha have mercy… have mercy!" The alderman led the village in spontaneous prayer. It was all good and well that they had survived, but what about the winter to come? There wasn't enough time left to plant a new batch!

As for the party from Fudan, the Mages took the lull in the action to recover some of their mana.

Below, the landslide had gone on its merry way, diverted by Richard's quick thinking, gone to plague whoever was downstream, ripping through Kachin's sloped valleys with renewed vigour.

"Is it over?" Gwen swallowed, happy at least that there wasn't choking dust thanks to the sudden atmosphere.

"It's over." Richard gave her a reassuring squeeze on the arm. "Fuck me, that almost had us dead and buried."

"Gwennie!" Lulan hugged her arm, trembling uncontrollably. For a second there, she'd imagined herself jumping at the mud, cleaving it apart with her sword. That would have been very foolish, and short-lived attempt at being useful.

"Cao!" Anita was covered from head to toe with cold sweat, drenching her skin-suit. "Mao's tomb, my whole body hurts, and I am not even injured."

"Is everyone alright?" Mayuree rejoined the party. "The villagers are accounted for, but…"

"If everyone's alive, that's good enough for now," Gwen answered pragmatically, sensing a new ire rise in her chest. "Let's settle things with the village; then we'll discuss Seoul U."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

After almost an hour wasted assuring the alderman that help would arrive in ten days in the form of food, supplies and Mages, the villager's worst fears were laid to rest. Seizing the opportunity, Gwen then willed a mote of Essence into her being and pacified the crowd by stating that the great sacrifice of rice had now placated the mountain spirits.

To further hearten the peasants that they would be alright, Gwen deposited a hundred HDMs into an urn which she then gifted to the alderman for his quick thinking in saving the village, instantly bringing the labourers back to their side and absolving the future drama that would have followed had the mine's workers turned against the students. With funding, she explained, they could buy plants and equipment, not to mention rice for the winter and new rice for planting in spring. As Buddha wills, she told them, their misfortune shall herald a better tomorrow.

"What now?" Anita brooded darkly, glancing toward the north. By the time she and Lulan had reinforced the new landscape as best as they could, it was already night. "Gwen, we can't just let this go."

"Of course not." Gwen sat cross-legged in a singlet and running shorts, fanning her legs with a scented banana leaf. "First thing tomorrow I am going to head toward Mogaung and contact the Kyoto team. I'll convince them that working together against Seoul will be for the benefit of the locals, as well as each of us. For all we know, Seoul may have made a move against them as well."

"What about Jiantong?"

"Jiantong is an unknown. If I can get Kyoto on our side, Jiantong can either play ball or get rat-fucked by Seoul. Neither of their captains seems the trustworthy kind."

"Ha!" Lulan puffed. "Oh, I shouldn't laugh."

"Laugh! Laugh all you want. We'll have the last laugh!" Gwen growled. "I still can't believe we almost lost the bloody village. Imagine that, our IIUC could have been over just like that."

"You have no idea," Richard butted in with a horrifying hypothesis. "If I were Sung Lee, I wouldn't be unleashing the mudslide in broad daylight."

"…" The rest party sat with their mouths open, unable to fathom such brazen ruthlessness.

"Those bangzi arseholes!" Anita made her opinion known.

"Pretty sure it's just the Lees," Gwen muttered. Indeed, the Machiavellian accomplishments of Korea's Chaebol were legendary in her old world. For a world of magic and monsters, where those with power and influence ruled unconstrained by the rule of Law, she could only imagine what little regard the princelings possessed for the lives of several hundred third-world villagers.

"Want me to come with?" Richard stretched, lying down so that his head rested on her thigh comfortably. He met her eyes, appeasing some of her anger. "If Jiro was here, he could probably build some rapport for you with their Kotodama guy."

"Ichiro?"

"That's the one." Richard closed his eyes to rest. "We shouldn't remain only on defence though. Maybe a little offensive of our own? Slaughtering each other's villagers will likely fail the quest outright. I think Seoul was trying to instigate a little 'accident', something like unforeseen collateral damage. Which means we could likewise prevent their progress, so long as the villagers are safe. Didn't you say Ariel could speak to Wildland beasts?"

"They sort of pantomime while I guess the content, its charades all the way," Gwen confessed.

"Remember that horde of monkeys we saw? The one waving at us and throwing fruit?"

"Richard, that wasn't fruit-"

"Well, their diet must be high in fruit-fibre. I reckon you have something they'd want."

"Such as?"

Richard grinned. "Assuming these are Leaf-Macaques, they won't be able to resist a good bottle of booze."

"Ah…" Gwen realised what Richard was getting at. If she could utilise the Milu, why not some other local fauna? "That's evil."

"Good people get cheated, just as good horses get ridden," Richard appropriated a well-known Confucian proverb. "Seoul can do as they will, but I'd be shocked if they lack complete disregard for their village. Why don't you see what you and Ariel can round up?"

"Sounds like I'll need navigation and detection then, Mia, can you come with?" Gwen asked, feeling safer if she could keep an eye on Mayuree.
"Sure!" Mayuree pipped up. Following Richard's lead, she then laid her head on Gwen's opposite thigh. "Mmmm, comfy!"

Lulan balled her fists, her breath quickening.

Anita stifled a laugh, "Let's rest up."

The party had chosen to sleep in the converted loft of the town's central hall. If they happened to be inside the Habitat and if another incident were to occur, it was unlikely any of them would notice until it was too late.

For further insurance, Gwen had her Lightning Hounds on patrol, Ariel guarding up top, and the sleepless Caliban slithering below. Concurrently, Richard had Lea patrolling the stream, while Mayuree set up Alarm beacons at distanced intervals.

Richard was the first to fall sleep, perfectly happy with his Gwen pillow, smirking at Lulan's crestfallen expression.

Fudan's Vice Captain rolled her eyes, then resigned herself to a night of meaningful meditation, restoring her spent Essence in anticipation of tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Gwen took a cold and soapy shower at the hall's back to enliven herself, then dried off and slipped back into the taut skin-suit. Though the rain had ceased, the heavy clouds hovering here and there suggested it could turn within the hour.

"Mia, ready?"

Her partner for the day likewise dressed, though the quasi-magical suit fitting Mayuree had been appended with a suite of protective items from rings to amulets to bracelets.

While Richard, Lulan and Anita worked to stabilise the village's exterior and clear the road to the mine, she and Mayuree had several stops to make. The first was Mogaung, where Kyoto should have set up camp, followed by a heavily forested region where the party had spotted legions of quasi-magical monkeys yesterday. After the fact, she would loop through the south and make for the first of the villages, Kamaing, to suss Jiantong's willingness for cooperation.

With Mayuree in tow, Gwen blasted through the air at full-tilt, leaving a trail of dissipating Lightning as she raced through the mountain, threading through the gorges, shattering the peace.

Half a kilometre from the Mogaung, Gwen halted in the air.

There was a giant in the village.

At first, she had thought Kyoto had brought a bloody Golem with them, but even for construction Golems, the damned thing was far too heavy. That and it lacked signs of mechatronic artifice. The automaton appeared more like a playdoh toy, a sort of brown, rotund Michelin man.

"Ichiro! Yuki! It's Gwen Song from Fudan; I request parley!"
Her projected voice echoed across the valley.

It took a minute for the Kyoto Mages to respond. When they did, it was in the form of a ponderous giant moving toward her, stomping through the jungle, parting trees with its clumsy hands. From above, the facade of the Japanese goliath almost looked cute, with a blank slate for a face, and two sunken dots for eyes.

"Gwen-san!" Yuki appeared at the head of the doll in the literal sense, lifted from its earthen scalp.

"Yuki-san, you're driving that thing?" Gwen spluttered. "That's cool bananas."

"Haha, it's nothing, Gwen-san. You're too modest." Yuki bowed, as did the giant, slowly. "What do you think? My Kami's name is Dororo-kun. He's an Earthen Spirit, isn't he cute?"

"Your Spirit is a three-storey mud-man?" Gwen grew doubly impressed. "Where do you stash him?"

Yuki giggled. "No, Gwen-san, this is a collection of all the local Kami who agreed to help!"

"Right." Gwen gave her a thumbs up.

"It's true." Mayuree baulked, running a Detect Magic over the creature. "Gwen, that thing is full of Spirits! They're tiny, but there are thousands of them!"

"Mayuree-san, welcome." Yuki bowed again. "Please follow me. You may rest on Dororo-kun if you wish."

Dororo lifted a giant stump of a limb, upon which Gwen and Mayuree gingerly alighted on the giant's head.

"Dororo's is... alive!" Gwen placed a hand on the creature's exterior, where an elegant bed of turf had grown. "Wow."

"You are too kind, Gwen-san." Yuki's attention wandered, searching for Ariel. Gwen obliged by having the Kirin materialise inches away from the Japanese Miko, eliciting an excited squeal. "Ariel-sama! I am happy you are well!"

From the village below came the sound of cheering, which to Gwen was jarring, especially considering the lukewarm reception they had received themselves and the fact that Imperial Japan's past atrocities had burned so vividly in the minds of those living in Yangon.

When they alighted from the giant, Gwen finally grasped just how massive Dororo-kun truly was. It was as though a townhouse was moving through the landscape, yet where it's bridge-breamed sized feet landed, the ground did not deform. Instead, every step seems to invoke spurts of natural growth, germinating grass and mushrooms.

Awaiting for them below was three more of Yuki's religiously attired compatriots and Ichiro.

"Gwen-san." Ichiro went through the motions. "Ariel-sama."

"Eee!"

"Of course, Ariel-sama." The Mages produced crystals for Ariel, making Gwen decidedly embarrassed, like a mother whose child had been caught begging for lollies. Beside them, Ariel's HDM treats caused the NoMs to gape with jealousy.

"Masahiro-san, Yamato-san, Hiroki-san, well met." Gwen nodded. "Ichiro-san, its good to see you again as well. I am here today to talk to you about Seoul U."

"Ah." Ichiro passed a glance back and forth with Yuki. "Did you manage to stop their man-made landslide?"

"You knew?" Gwen raised a brow.

"Why didn't you stop them!" Mayuree reflexively accused their opponents.

"Mia, shush," Gwen chided her Diviner. "Why would Kyoto stop Seoul's ploy against us? It's not like they owe us anything."

"I was sure you would figure something out, Gwen-san." Ichiro was starting to remind Gwen of Walken in some ways. Maybe it was their aura or that semi-rigid smile that they both wore. Richard had said that Ichiro was the brain of the operation and he should be the one she should win over.

"We did, and everyone's safe," Gwen affirmed the man's mocking confidence. "How about your side?"

"Dororo-kun took care of it." Yuki nodded toward her conjured Familiar, assuming it could be regarded as such. "The spirits forewarned us, and we were able to chase off their Captain before he could collapse the horn of the mountain."

Gwen looked up to see that Kyoto's village was sheltered under an igneous protrusion, likely a large slab of granite, the sort that was prone to having segments flake off in the event of seismic activity. For a well-trained Magma Mage, it wasn't impossible to manifest a controlled, but malicious catastrophe.

Now that dozens of villagers had emerged to ogle the friendly Ariel, Gwen couldn't help but notice that the number of Demi-humans far exceeded La War, which had been entirely human but for a few with the occasional hint of reptile. Here, at least half of the villagers showed some sign of adaptation to the mana and essence-rich environment.

"The Spirits are abundant where the ley-lines meet." Yuki noticed her wandering eyes. "We do not mind. Transgenesis is common in Kyoto. The old Capital is a cosmopolitan city, unlike Tokyo, or your Shanghai."

"I see." Gwen could only guess at what "transgenesis" meant. Instead, she moved to push forward her case for cooperation. "Yuki-san, Ichiro-san, I would like to propose a temporary alliance between the two of our academies against Seoul University, are you willing to hear me out?"

"Had we not offered back in Yangoon?" Ichiro answered in Yuki's place. "Kyoto will not lose to anyone, but we do not like the methods used by the citizens of our old colony."

Sung Lee might murder you for that comment, Gwen though, masking her immediate dismay. "Good. I am sure that you're all aware that our objective is less mutual sabotage, and more so to do with the delivery of supplies to the villages, the securing of the local district, and the re-opening of the mines. There's that, and the welfare of the local populace."

"Agreed." Ichiro studied Gwen's face. "That is also how we like to do things."

"Shall we agree then to a non-aggression defence pact? I shall speak to Jiantong as well, although I don't believe they will be very pliable."

"Gwen-san," Ichiro halted her proposal.

"Ichiro-san?"

"What makes you think we may not ask you to remain a guest here?" Ichiro said suddenly. "Wouldn't that assure our victory?"

"Ichiro-kun!" Yuki snapped at her Vice Captain. "Ariel-sama will not allow such a thing!"

Mayuree sidled closer to Gwen.

"You could try." Gwen smirked, squaring her composure while she bluffed. "On the other hand, Caliban's out and about, hungry as always. It would be a shame if a terrible misunderstanding occurred. In my haste to escape, it could get nasty."

"I jest." Ichiro nodded agreeably, satisfied with her answer. "For Yuki-sama's sake, we will trust you, for liars and those with evil hearts are anathema to a celestial Kami."

"Sure." Gwen met the man's gaze head-on. "Once our villages are safe, and our routes clear, we can settle matters amongst ourselves. Who has done more for their hamlet, improved the local conditions and produced the most jadeite- Let's have a match exactly as the Chief Proctor intended."


That Ichiro alone accompanied Gwen while Yuki and the others stayed behind hinted to her that perhaps, Dororo-kun's maintenance wasn't so easily sustainable. Juxtaposing the Imperial Metric System, Kyoto's native sorcery was an eye-opening integration of Western spellcraft into a system of magic that operated on an entirely different resource - in this case, Kami, or the Spirits of the land.

When she questioned Ichiro on the matter, the lanky young man carefully volunteered that in Kyoto, the practice of Onmyōdō, the Path of Yin and Yang, had ruled the Japanese psyche for aeons. Rather than separating from the natural world, Mikos, Onmyoji, and the Yamabushi, esoteric ascetics of the _Ya-o-Yorozu no Dō_ , the way of eight million gods, chose to live among their Demi-human kin. Though initially a contentious divide that sowed tensions between Kyoto and Tokyo, the rise of the Grey Faction in the Mageocracy eventually saw Kyoto's philosophy as an exemplar of peaceful co-existence.

"I would love to visit one day." Gwen tried to imagine a city full of crow-men and cat-girls, with the latter proving to be a sure hit with a particular demographic of visitors.

"And you are welcome to, Gwen-san," Ichiro smoothly answered. "We shall be expecting you. In spring, the Sakura of Gion is in full bloom, while the mermaids sing and strum the shamisen; held aloft by lanterns in a floating world."

"Wow..." Mayuree cooed. "How wonderful."

Dreaming of a mystic Kyoto, Gwen and her party moved toward their next objective, what Ichiro termed "Sarugami Hill" - the domain of the monkey king.

"Gwen-san." Ichiro's tone was cautiously optimistic. "In Nagano, the Saru-Kami has its domain in Jogokudani. In my experience, they are proud, chaotic and unruly. How do you hope to tame them and bend them to your cause?"

"I have Ariel." Gwen patted her pseudo-Kirin, eliciting a purr. "I've got plenty of food in my ring, as well as a cache of special sauce."

"Special… sauce?" Ichiro tasted the words, hoping the synaesthesia would provide a clue.

"You'll see."

The trio took almost an hour before Mayuree indicated that she could sense a dense clump of creatures somewhere to their south. As the rain waned, Gwen recognised the landscape for the one which they had passed along the way.

"Ariel, go and parley." Gwen graced her Familiar with a generous dose of Essence, eliciting a curious glance from the Shugenja. "Bring me their leader."

"The Saru-Kami are more willful than you think," Ichiro warned her. "Will Ariel-sama be safe?"

"Sure." Gwen nodded. At worst, a burst of Dragon-fear should bring the monkeys to order, or scatter them.

Several minutes later, a great hoot went up from the hills, followed by the swarming of what must be ten-thousand bodies roving across the treetops. When Ariel reported that all was well, Gwen led Ichiro and Mayuree into the midst of a horde of macaques hanging from every branch of every tree.

"EEEE!"
"Eek eek, ook!"
"EE, EE?"
"Ook! Hoo hoo, Eek!"
"EE, EE?"

"Incredible!" Ichiro was genuinely impressed. "You can understand the language of the wild Kami?"

Gwen lowered her eyes.

"No need for modesty. You are truly blessed, Gwen-san."

Jesus, she cringed. How could she confess to him now that all she heard were monkey noises? That and Ariel only responded via vague sentiments?

"Ook! Ook! EEEK!"
Suddenly, the whole forest burst into clamour, forcing Ichiro and Mayuree to cover their ears.

An enormous macaque descended from a tree, almost as tall as Gwen, with golden fur, dark, intelligent eyes and most saliently, a glaringly red ass.

"Ook! Ook! EEK!" it began to speak.

"What's happening now, Gwen-san?"

"I don't know! I don't understand a word they just said!" Gwen yelled back, her face flushed as a pippin. "Ariel understands, but I can't comprehend complex thoughts."

Ichiro appeared betrayed.

Sighing, he formed a strange Sigil with his hands and fingers.

"O Kami of the forest, heed the call of this humble servant. Allow your wisdom to correct our imperfect speech."

A bright spark manifested where the Yamabushi stood, growing more solid until it took on the form of a mud-monkey.

"Ook? Ee-eek? Oo? Hoo…"

Something passed between the monkey statue and the "Sarugami".

"It says that a Mage killed its mate," Ichiro translated. "Er... ninth mate."

"Macaques can be polygamous?" Gwen spluttered. "And he has a harem?"

"The Boss is the Matriarch of the family…"

"Oh." Gwen bowed her head toward the regal Matriarch. That the monkeys had a female monarch was pleasing to know. "What do they think of Ariel's proposal? Are they willing to harass Nanmati village in exchange for my reward?"

"The special sauce?" Ichiro waited to see what Gwen would produce. "She would like to taste it first."

"Very well." Gwen stepped forward.

She willed into being a bottle of Maotai, then unstopped the seal with a flourish, suddenly filling the space with a delicious scent of fermented sorghum.

"OOK!" The Matriarch performed a backflip. The rest of the horde salivated.

Richard was right. In the Bestiary, it stated that Wildland macaques were famous for brewing "Monkey Wine" from quasi-magical fruits and that their immense strength and intelligence were all in part associated with these quasi-alchemical concoctions. As such, the older the monkey, the more appreciation they had for good liquor.

But she wasn't done yet.

Congealing a drop of Almudj's emerald Essence on her fingertip, she allowed it to drip into the bottle, infusing the crystal liquid with a viridescent magnificence.

"That's…" Ichiro's composure melted in the face of unexpected divinity.

"OOK! OOK!"

Taking Gwen's hand in its pink, hairless fingers, the "Boss" took a hearty swig from the bottle.

"Ook! Ook! Ook!" it howled, sending out a great cacophony.

"Five bottles," Ichiro translated, calming himself. It was impossible that the girl was a land-god. She did not study the _Dō_. An _Ōkami_ would never possess a stranger.

After half-an-hour of "Ooks" and "EEK!", Gwen traded two hundred-cans of SPAM and three bottles of Essence-infused Maotai for the Sarugami's support.

According to the Matriarch, her man had curiously ventured too close to some Mages when without warning, one of them used air to crush her lover against a tree, then left without even eating the poor bugger, a greater sin than the first.

"Ook! Ook! Eek-Ook!"

"Are we good?" Gwen asked Ichiro after explaining who the likely culprit was.

"They agree," Ichiro nodded. "She says to show them what to do."

"Show them what to do?" Gwen scratched her head, mimicked by a hundred macaques. Having never harassed a rural village in either life, she had thought the monkeys the mercenary experts. "Tell them when and where we'll meet. I'll figure something out."

The allied party's next stop was Kamaing, Jiantong's domain.

Kamaing, like La War, was a saddle village with a deep gorge that fed on the estuaries running downhill from the Arakan basin into the Irrawaddy river. At its furthermost edge, it housed the Monastery Of Mahawithudayama, a sizeable temple of four hundred monks sitting adjacent to a village of almost a thousand souls, making it the most populated of the four.

As they flew into range, what was disconcerting was that a massive landslide had visibly carved through the lowland. Though the debris had spared the town itself, it was self-evident that the village's access to the southern highway and the estuaries connecting it to the main river had been cut off.

"To think Seoul had even planned for this!" Ichiro sucked in a breath of cold air. "I am both disgusted and impressed."

Fuck me, that's on us, Gwen perspired, wiggling a brow at Mayuree in case the Diviner's honesty got the best of her. If one followed the path of the mudslide, she could bet it led straight back to La War. Topographically, each of the university's assigned villages sat within the region's rolling hills, with La War and Kamaing on one end, and Nanmati and Mogaung on the other. Together, the four areas formed a sort of oblong circuit. Mogaung had the highest overall elevation, followed by Seoul's Nanmati, then La War and finally, occupying the fertile lowland was Jiantong's Kamaing.

"Halt!" Ichiro stopped the party from advancing about five hundred meters out. "There's something here. Diviner, what can you see?"

Mayuree had sensed something as well, though her premonition operated on unease and danger rather than wisdom.

"One second." She slowed to a standstill. "Detect Magic! Scry!"

A few moments later, the Diviner turned to her party with an apologetic expression.

"I can't see anything," she lamented. "There's a barrier set up, and there's Illusion Magic all over the place."

"Must be their Vice Captain, that or the Fuda user," Ichiro affirmed Mayuree's findings.

"Why not both?" Gwen shrugged. She took a deep breath, then activated Clarion Call. "Jiantong, this is Fudan and Kyoto. We are at the edge of your boundary! We demand parley!"

A moment later, an illusory projection of none other than Kurou appeared.

"Well, bugger. How awkward." Gwen blinked at the image of the visibly gloating Kurou.

"Hello, Song Shimei," the horse-faced young man neighed. "Whatever your proposal, allow me to say Cao-Ni-Ma. We will not be entertaining your hare-brained schemes, not until you Fudan fools beg for forgiveness. We know that landslide came from La War, and even now, Ying shixiong and my allies from Emei are taking care of your deserter from Huashan—"

"SHIT!" Gwen grabbed Mayuree by the arm, revving up a Dimension Door. "Ichiro! We're going back to La War! Catch up if and when you can!"

_Klang!_

_Krung!_

_KUNG!_

"Hei-ya!"

Lulan contorted her spine so steeply as to form a perfect U, narrowly avoiding the pair of swords just grazing her hair.

"Plum-flower Strike!" Vicki's sword reversed course mid-swing, slicing downward without warning, scraping across her metallic flesh, parting Lulan's skin-suit.

"Five-Petal Gale!" Below, as though a blooming white-yellow plum flower, five illusory swords caught Lulan's legs, scoring hits across her boots, her calves and her thighs.

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"Sweep!" Lulan desperately attempted to protect her upper torso from the girls, parrying one blow with Anita's crystalline Mage Armour while battering away Vicki's swing with her iron-clad arm. "Misty Step!"

"Blossom Burst!" The girls were relentless, reappearing a second behind Lulan as she sought to lead the fight away from Richard.

Not too far from where the girls fought, Richard stood in front of a collapsed Anita, already pale-faced and staggered from a sword blow that had dealt no visible wound but had dropped her like a rock.

"We should finish this quickly." Ying Xiang stood with both hands open, like a man hawking wares at a market. Behind the Sword Mage, twin swords hovered in the air as though feathers tangled in a current, behaving as the wind behaves. "Care to make this easy?"

"Sorry mate, I don't think so," Richard remained entirely relaxed. "Got to give you Clanners credit though. That was a slick hit."

"You flatter me." The Captain of Jiantong inclined his head. "I dare say she would have returned to Shanghai in a burst of Conjuration were it not for your water ghost. May I commend you for deflecting a blow from my Flowing Snowdrift Style."

"Commend away." Richard glanced at the empty sky. "Fair warning though. Gwen should be back soon."

"As you will. Silk-cutting Sword!"

The lengthier of the twin swords flew through the air with a melodious whisper, making for Richard's throat.

"Lea! Water Shield!"

The Water Mage's command activated simultaneously. Around Ying, a water prison began to manifest, quickly enclosing the Captain while around Richard, a Water Shield parried the sword indirectly, wary of its collated mystical energy, misdirecting the blow without directly confronting its momentum.

"Hmmph!" Ying Xiang grunted, sensing his attacks being neutralised. Taking the crafty Water Mage would be far more complicated than the Mineral Abjurer, who had made the mistake of taking a direct blow, deceived by the strike's illusory gentleness. "Cloud Ascending Step!"

With a stomp, Ying teleported some ten meters into the air, eluding Lea's Water Prison.

"Rain of Blades!"

The second implement, his heart-sword, split into two dozen sword-spears before descending upon Richard and Anita.

"Cresting Wave!"

Richard saw no need to move. Before the swords could hit, a breaking crest of water, manifesting as a fantastical fountain, broke overhead, diverting the swords so that they penetrated blade to the hilt into the soil, missing their targets. In the distance, Richard noted that Lulan wasn't faring well against the Emei sisters at all. Despite his bluff, he had no idea if Gwen was going to make it back to base before their mana was exhausted, whatever was to happen, he couldn't allow Lulu to be disabled or Anita to be teleported back.

_Tsing!_

The blade of Ying's main-hand sword penetrated Richard's shield without warning, then stabbed into Richard's shoulder.

"Focus, Mister Huang!" Ying pushed the sword deeper, but despite his exaltation, disappointment came just as quick when the sword passed through Richard's body, taking with it a chunk of Richard's skin-suit, but with no visible spray of red.

"I can do this all day. You should have used that mystical magic you put into Anita."

"I really should have," Ying agreed wholeheartedly. "But the IUCC isn't the place for butchery. Are you tempting me to kill you outright?"

"Nah, Mate, I am notoriously hard to kill." Richard pointed a finger back at his assailant. "Too bad you won't get a second chance. Lea!"

His Undine burst into fine particles of mist, shrouding Richard and Anita.

"Cloud-leaping Step!" Ying cursed, clearing the sodden space the Undine now occupied. If the spray had caught him, Mao knew what would have happened.

The truth was he was at a disadvantage against a soft-defence expert like Richard, especially considering his Familiar was impossible to track and could act wholly independently. If they weren't in a competition, he could have used a Fuda to dispel the Familiar, but for now, Jiantong's Abjurer was back in their village, protecting the town against outside incursions.

Ying made a feint, forcing Richard to raise his shield. "Misty Step!"

"Shit!" Richard cursed, realising Ying had abandoned him and Anita and had gone straight for Lulan. The girl held her own against the twins, but it didn't take a Clanner to realise her Huashan Style was a horrible match-up against an armour breaking specialist from Wutang. "LULAN! TO ME!"

Lulan's response was immediate. After so many months adventuring together, her trust in Richard was no less than her faith in Gwen.

"Misty Step!"

Abandoning her swing and even her defence, she took a shot to the right breast, which deflected off Anita's armour, then copped a blow to her left arm, gashing her flesh an inch deep. The unexpected opening had surprised the two Emei girls, who understood their mistake when Ying appeared a brief second behind where Lulan had been, signalling the girls to use their mana potions.

Lulan meanwhile, rallied within range of Richard.

_Psssht!_

A healing injector stanched the blood seeping from two dozen injuries.

"Xiang shixiong, do we continue?" the Emei girls asked.

Ying's hesitation lasted only a second. "Flank them; we have to send at least one of their Earthen Mages home."

"Ariel, Barbanginy as soon as we D-D into range!"

"No! Not yet!" Ichiro obstructed Gwen from instantly teleporting into the fray.

The team had come in stealth, with Mayuree running a Scry on La War from the dense woodland surrounding the village. When she reported that Anita was down and out and that Richard and Lulan now bathed in blood, Gwen's preeminent redress was triple-homicide.

"Don't you dare." Gwen glared at Ichiro dangerously, her green eyes threatening to swallow the man bones and all. "You have two seconds to make your case."

"Temper!" Ichiro knitted his brows. "For the servant of a Kirin-sama, you have much to learn from Yuki, Gwen-san. Your companions are safe for now, and we have unexpectedly caught up. Why waste this opportunity?"

"He's right." Mayuree tugged at Gwen's skin-suit. "I've got a... er... good feeling about this?"

At Mayuree's behest, Gwen suppressed her boiling Essence, wondering just how is it that dragons dealt with an ego consisting of pure clumps of elemental energy.

"If you trust me." Ichiro's lips curled upwards, studying Ariel's master as he spoke his next words with great care and conviction. "Then you must first wait..."

"Wait? For how long?" Gwen pictured Lulan's torn and bleeding body with a growl. "Even Buddha's patience has a limit..."

"I am at my alchemical limit."

"Me too," Richard remarked. "Shall we-"

_Ding! Ding!_

Like a celestial choir drawn from seventh heaven, Gwen's voice crackled across the private channel.

"Lulu," a command came across loud and clear. "Drop a Panzerschreck on one of the Emei girls, either one's fine, pick the one that cut you. Do it now before they notice, in one... two..."

Lulan needed no second guessing, nor did she hesitate to immediately began gathering what was left of her latent energies, her mana now buoyed by hope and happiness. With a grunt of supreme effort, all her anger and frustration manifested into a final spell before she was OoM.

"Panzerschreck!"

_Splash!_
A shrieking blur flew past Richard's shield, ignoring the liquid defence.

_Thunk!_

Faster than the eye could follow, her unexpected assault struck the weaker of the Emei girls square in the stomach, catching her midway through a spell.

A micro-second of bewildered incredulity followed before Vivian folded like a prawn, spraying pink-mist from her lips, then tumbled through the air like a rag-doll.

Lulan turned to regard Richard, struggling to perceive that Gwen's concept of a solid-projectile could be so powerful as to negate the innate defensive magic all Sword Mages trained since childhood. What the duo had hoped was that the Panzerschreck would blow the Jiantong Mages some distance away to be caught by their allies, but neither of them had expected Lulan would fold the sister like a paper crane.

Then came Gwen's next command.

"Richard! All attack! We're coming in hot!"

"HALT!"

A thunderous command fulminated across Vivian, Vicki and Ying's Message channel just as Ying forewarned his Clan sisters about the build-up of earthen mana from Huashan's deserter.

Unbidden, the fatigued trio ceased all movement and stifled all thought, their Astral Souls suddenly alienated from their bodies.

_THUNK!_

A Heart-seeking Sword caught Vivian square in the abdomen. Besides her, Vicki, who shared a sympathetic link with her twin-sister, blanched as her body ignited with nerve-fraying agony.

Unlike the girls, Ying's recovery was near-instant. He dived for Vivian, understanding the trouble he would be in if one of the prized twins of Emei died under his watch. The IIUC could wait, and the girls could try again next year, but if one of them perished, that was the end of Emei's hopes and dreams for the next decade.

_Crack!_

His heart sank. Trouble always travelled in multitudes.

A Dimension Door completed its manifestation, accompanied by a bolt of blue-white plasma, then finally, the boom of a familiar voice reverberating the horizon.

"...Chain Lightning!"

Richard stopped Lulan before she somehow squeezed out another Panzerschreck, in her excited state, anything was possible.

Above, a coil of electricity pivoted past the pirouetting Vivian, struck Ying's staggering body, then moved onto Vicki. Still stunned, the Emei Sword Mage put up no barrier nor resistance, merely allowing the spell to run its course before she too fell from the sky like a wilted flower.

Jiantong's Captain fared better, just managing a stoic parry before he impressively caught the first falling girl, then performed a mid-air Misty Step to pluck the second one, swallowing Gwen's attack without so much as a grimace.

"I YIELD!" he shouted toward the direction from which the electricity had emitted. "STOP ATTACKING!"

"Gwen!" Lulan squealed, mangling Richard's liquid arm in her excitement. "I knew you'd be back!"

"And earlier than expected." Richard bit back the pain. "I wonder what happened at Kamaing? I hope it's still standing."

Ichiro scratched his nose, doubly impressed by the regular manifestation of Gwen's Chain Lightning. Her range, accuracy and power were all far above the Lightning Mages he had seen back home, and to think she was so much younger than his peers.

Of course, Jiantong's Captain was incredible as well. Whatever the man did to withstand a tier 6 blast from Gwen, it marked him as someone equally extraordinary.

"That was amazing." Gwen marvelled at the Kotodama user's unexpected prowess, which they had routed through Jiantong's Message channel after Mayuree tweaked her magic. "I'd hate to be on the receiving end of one of those power words."

"I got lucky," Ichiro confessed. Catching their fatigued, anxious and unsuspecting opponents off-guard was the only reason the seasoned Combat Mages had lost their composure. Usually, Kotodama was utilised for commanding Kami. Against someone like the Void sorceress, whose body brimmed with Essence, he doubted the girl would even flinch.

"I YIELD!"

Their opponent made his case, carrying a girl in each arm.

"ACCEPTED." Gwen's face finally discarded the murderous aura she had earlier worn with vim and passion. "Let's see how pliable they are."

The trio emerged from the village's western tree line, joining Lulan and Richard who princess-carried the unconscious Anita. Far from the Mages, safely tucked away in the town above, the entirely of La War's citizens gawked at the aftermath of the Mage battle, etching every detail of the titanic struggle to be passed on with every intention of gross exaggeration in subsequent retellings.

"I am going to perform triage before their Contingency Rings activate." Ying Xiang threw down his swords before landing on the soft turf and lowering the girls to the floor. His gaze swept from Gwen to Ichiro and back, comprehension dawning in his eyes. "Then we talk."

"Granted." Gwen brought out both Ariel and Caliban, so that together with Ichiro, Mayuree, Richard and Lulan, they had Jiantong surrounded above and below.

Ying gave her a cautious glance before producing two healing injectors for the girls, stabbing the syringes into their thighs. When a flush of colour returned to the girl's battered bodies, he furthermore produced three pills, one for himself and the larger ones for the Emei sisters. While the girls moaned and squirmed as their flesh mended, he poked about their torso, activating some indecipherable fount of mystical energy. Finally, he turned to Richard. "Here, take this— for your Mineral Mage."

Richard caught the pill, a dark herbal sphere with a sweet, fragrant scent.

"Take it orally. It'll heal internal injuries, as well as concussions. Expect a day or two before she recovers."

"Ying, what do you have to say for yourself?" Gwen demanded. "Why did you attack us?"

"Why?" Ying placed a finger on each of the girls' necks, then let out a strangled breath. "You attacked us first, didn't you? The landslide came from your village."

Gwen looked at Richard, who shrugged.

"That was Seoul U." Gwen pointed to the eastern border of La War, where a quarter of the village had now turned into cliff-side villas with a view. "Not us."

"Whatever you say," Ying retorted, fully accepting of the outcome regardless of the rationale. "You're the victors. I hadn't expected you to return so soon, and most certainly not with a Jap in tow. What can I say? What isn't meant to be- isn't meant to be."

"The pleasure's all mine, Xiang-san." Ichiro bowed. "I don't suppose you're thinking of leaving, just like that?"

"And why not?" Ying nodded. "You bested our assault and defended your base. Good work. Keen to grill or boil us?"

"You hope to continue the competition?" Richard said.

"Do you have a better idea?" Ying smirked.

"Maybe you shouldn't be going home so readily," Gwen suddenly interjected. "Care to know why I got here so quickly? Why I knew how and where to ambush you?"

Ying raised a sceptical brow.

"Your brother-in-craft, Kurou, rat-fucked you." Gwen smirked in return, allowing her mocking laughter to trickle through the air like birdsong. "He told us where you would be, and in exchange, we had to make sure you wouldn't return to Wutang in one piece."

"Kurou? No way." Ying's face was all smiles, but Fudan's Mages could all spot the vein throbbing on his forehead. There was no amount of bluff that could mask the equivalent of a scarlet centipede bulging against Ying's skull. "He wouldn't dare!"

"You can ask him later." Gwen raised her dominant hand, forming a Chakram hoving above her dominant hand, causing her party to gawk. "Left or right arm? Maybe a leg? I can tell you now; anything consumed by my Void doesn't grow back."

"WAIT!"

"Caliban!"

"I SAID WAIT!"

Her Familiar opened up into its Spider Form, polluting the space where Ying stood with a torrent of Void-induced vertigo. Caliban grew into a horrific six-foot arachnid.

"Don't forget to tell Kurou he owes me." Her Dragon-fear flooded the air. "He's promised to cooperate."

"STOP! WE FORFEIT!" Ying wailed through clenched teeth. "As Captain of Jiaotong, I declare Jiantong forfeits!"

Gwen's monster settled down.

"Very well, Fudan and Kyoto bear witness to your forfeit." Gwen's voice was cooler than a cucumber. "You may now leave. Tell Kurou to make for Hpakan at first opportunity. If you need healing supplies, we're happy to spare some for our fellow competitors."

"No need." Ying's shoulders slumped, all tension draining from his body. "Cao, tell me, have I been had?"

"No hard feelings." Gwen struck out a hand to shake the man's hand.

_"Touche."_ Ying recalled their first meeting, meeting her halfway. "Maybe this is for the best. We won't have made it far, not with our internal problems."

Meanwhile, Mayuree and Lulan helped the Emei girls on their feet.

"Thank you for your mercy, Song shimei." Vivian coughed. From the looks of bloodstains trailing from her facial orifice, several months of physiotherapy would likely follow.

"Likewise, Li shimei." Vicki stooped. "I hope we meet again under better circumstances."

"Yes." Lulan wasn't sure how to respond, just a few minutes ago, they were at each other's throats.

"Anytime." Gwen offered them each a handshake. "It's a competition, and we are all creatures of necessity. Oh, and Ying?"

"Yes?"

"Thank Kurou for us."

Ying's jaws clenched and unclenched. "I will."

"Good." Gwen grinned. "Have fun."

"..." Ying retrieved his swords. "We shall take our leave. Goodbye, and good luck."

The moment their opponents were out of sight, Gwen fussed over Anita and Lulan's wounds. Conversing with Richard, she applauded the help she had received from Ichiro and elucidated their current alliance.

"So, how'd we do?" Gwen flashed a grin at the lanky Kotodama user. "That was all thanks to you. Lots of CCs for Kyoto, I bet."

Ichiro mulled for a moment before answering, opening his mouth to speak, but struggling to express his conflicted feelings.

"You are too modest." The man met Gwen's green and gleaming eyes with a complicated disposition. The wooden gaze he held was of someone who had raised a chicken only to hatch a cockatrice. "Gwen-san... I asked you to negotiate a _ceasefire."_


The party was up just before dawn on the fourth day of their Kachin expedition.

The local women made a rice noodle broth from the wild game Gwen's hounds had brought back to the village, eliciting much happiness in a rural Frontier where meat was a rare luxury. By now, the villagers had warmed up to the contestants, and so among the laughter of children poking at Gwen's dogs and horrified parents spanking said children, the team readied themselves for their duties.

Considering Anita's condition, Richard volunteered to defend the village and look after their recovering teammate while Ying's internal medicine ran its course. The remaining trio was to make for Nanmati to meet with Yuki and Ichiro, joined by Gwen's mercenary macaques.

When they had yesterday shared dinner to discuss strategy, both sides agreed that there was no way for Seoul to win, so a little pressure was sure to make them amiable to cooperation, with reparations in the form of cleaning up their mess.

"Good luck, and give em hell." Richard gave Gwen a high-five while glancing at Mayuree. "Don't forget to keep an eye out."

"Don't worry, Richard," Mayuree assured Richard naively, mistaking his concern. "If Gwen's in danger, I am in danger, and I'll let her know."

"Thanks, Mia." Richard patted Gwen's canary on the head. "Look after her, eh?"

"I will!"

"Who's looking after who?" Gwen snorted. "Take care of Anita. Wait for my good news."

With that, the trio lifted into the air, then blasted off with a boom toward Nanmati.

Sung Lee meditated outside Nanmati's hall, his countenance grim and smouldering, the mana within his conduits simmering at a boiling point.

Four days prior, heedless of expending their allocation of magical items, the team had made it to Kachin before any of their competitors. Their Diviner, Jae-joong, had mapped the topography of the four villages within the first day, laid out a prediction of their opponent's abilities, then charted a path forward for a close victory.

The plan involved sabotaging Fudan and Kyoto's way forward, all the while maintaining their own.

It was unscrupulous, he knew, but all was fair in a competition where their team's talents left them little choice but to refuse to play by the rules.

Of their number, only Sung was capable of using Shape Stone and Transmute Earth en mass. The rest of their otherwise offence-focused arrangement lacked the utility. From the outset, Seoul's Mages were soldiers, elites from the Kaesŏng Front, not engineers nor rescue workers.

Comparatively, Si-won, whose versatility included ice constructs, couldn't help with clearing landslides or expediating excavation.

Jung-min, who insisted on coming along to get back at Fudan, was only useful for scouting and disruption.

Jae-joong, the Earth-Element Diviner, had already proven his usefulness, but he couldn't use Transmutation Magic.

And Yoon-Seok, their Abjurer, was a Salt user, an expert defender, famed in Kaesŏng, peerless against the Undead, but likewise, useless when it came to debris removal.

As for the fillers from the lesser families, the two female members of their team occupied the positions of a utilitarian Enchanter focusing on buffs, and a Water Mage of middling affinity. Together with the girls, the remaining three had been left behind to organise the supply-train from Mandalay.

In opposition, Kyoto's five-element mastery of Onmyōdō allowed elemental shifts to change their Kami to one suitable for excavation and rebuilding, while Fudan had two Mages capable of churning massive volumes of earth, and a Water Mage with a sapient Spirit.

What displeased Sung more than anything was that Fudan had received prior knowledge from their native member that Kachin was going to be a disaster zone, and that their quest would involve very little killing.

According to Advisor Kim, the fairness of the competition was unquestionable, but still, the fact that Fudan, a lower-tier institution, held such an advantage was an unforgivable coincidence.

But Sung wasn't the type to believe in serendipity. Victory, as his father had said, was for man to grasp with his own hands, and that was why they had to employ every advantage.

On the first night, when he and Jung-min arrived at Mogaung to destabilise the mountainside, an army of clay dolls had suddenly accosted them, hurling boulders the size of melons at the Mages with terrific strength. Even after decimating the conjured constructs with a Magma Nova they kept on coming, countless and relentless. Somehow, despite departing later and seemingly without haste, Kyoto's defence had time to spare.

When Sung further unleashed a Magma Burst, followed by a Runic Strike, a giant the height of the Secretariat building in Yangon tore itself from the mountain and began to hurl small hills at him and Jung-min. When he haphazardly issued a Magma Strike against the cracking facade of the horn looming over the village, the giant braced itself, then caught the crashing debris.

After that, Sung knew they had done all they could, and that it was time to go. While the giant lay buried in the rubble, half-wrecked and arms open to protect the northern slope of the village, he had Jung-min expedite a rapid retreat.

He had expected better news from Si-Won, the second most competent member of his team and one he could trust with his life.

Instead, his sibling returned, clad in blood.

A deep gash ran down the side of his lumbar where his thrice-enchanted uniform, designed to withstand blows tier 5 and below, had been torn to shreds. When they sliced away the runically weaved silk and glamoured glyphs, they saw that a section had been corroded, extracting from Si-win a pound of flesh.

Worse still, even after Si-won overdosed his alchemical limit, the injury refused meaningful reconstruction. Where the flesh did mend, it warped. Even after cutting away Si-won's necrotising tissue and using a Restoration Potion, he couldn't sit or stand.

"His Astral Soul is damaged," Jae-joong returned grimly after an inspection with Detect Magic. "He used a D-D ring as well. That's going to cost us CCs. The only contestant capable of doing this to Si-won would be—"

"The Void user," Sung spat. "I know."

When he had thought about it; was it not evident that Gwen Song had goaded them into that absurd duel? Sure, Jung-min had wanted to teach Eunae a lesson about allying with their opposition, but the public tongue-lashing their team had received from Magister von Schlabrendorff, followed by their unexpected defeat, had benefitted Fudan far more than it diminished Seoul.

When Sung reviewed the fight with Advisor Kim, it became self-evident that Fudan had not only won the moral battle but the magic one as well.

"Eric Walken is trying to game our strategy," Advisor Kim had warned him. "If you move in groups of two or threes, your flexibility will be drastically reduced. Meanwhile, thanks to their Ace, Fudan can move the sorceress alone while her other team members defend or flank. I think it's best not to obsess over the girl, and instead focus on a strategy involving the natural environment."

Avoid Combat? Sung huffed. Korea, possessing the best Combat Mages in all of Asia, running from a second-string university in Shanghai?
The very notion was absurd!
Their loss had been a miscalculation, a misstep.
In terms of raw power, Sung did not believe himself the girl's inferior.

Upon Gwen Song's neck was a laurel he was happy to behead to adorn his crown. When the girl lay broken, his victory should burn all the brighter.

In anticipation, he had resolved all of Nanmati's immediate problems. The existing flood had been diverted and the roads cleared of debris. He had even paved the mountain path with smooth basalt and crushed granite conjured from the depth. The route to the mine was likewise reaching completion as well, reinforced by a hardened flow of magma disintegrating the overgrown vegetation, creating a temporary crust that should survive a few months at least, enough for the proctors to gauge the increase in productivity.

Had the delay of their opponents succeeded, a stalwart defence was all that remained, something in which the Combat Mages of Seoul excelled.

Whatever the media would say in the coming days, a victory was a victory. To draw on an old idiom his father oft-repeated: it does not matter how you go, so long as you go to Seoul.

"Seonbae-nim!"

A sudden clattering of feet disrupted his meditation.

Jae-joong, Jung-min and Yoon-Seok burst into the hall. "You're not going to believe this."

"What is it?" Sung opened his eyes. "Have the heavens collapsed?"

"Just about." Jae-joong's complexion was pallid. "Gwen Song is here, and she brought an army!"

"The local peasantry?" he asked. It made sense that the locals were up in arms. If so, it meant Si-won had succeeded. Hopefully, the collateral damage wouldn't overly diminish their CC gains. "Is she trying to use them as fodder?"

"If only!" their Diviner spluttered, struggling to describe what he had earlier Scryed. "She's here with Kyoto U, and… an army of monkeys, they're demanding our cooperation."

Sung exhaled.

Diplomacy. No surprise, considering both Fudan and Kyoto's team leaders were women. They must feel so confident in their advantage to brazenly waltz into the enemy's zone like this, heedless of the defences Sung and his Abjurer had set. Now, all he had to do was smash the girl's well-meaning plans to smithereens.

"Jung-min," Sung Lee, heir apparent to Yooksung Conglomerate, addressed his cousin, who suddenly flinched from the attention. "You began our troubles by harassing Uncle Jae's daughter, and so for the good of Uncle Lee, it may be best if you took responsibility."

_Indeed,_ Sung told himself. _Whatever happens now, Gwen Song had only herself to blame._

"They know we're here." Yuki led the way, mounted on Dororo's head, with a dozen macaques hanging from the giant's arms, torso and legs, having the time of their lives.

"So, I'll do the talking?" Gwen felt an exhilarating rush, her blood quickened by their victory over Jiantong. "Also, a reminder, I promised Jung-min for Mrs Matriarch."

"Ook, ook!" the Matriarch gesticulated viciously, cackling in a human-like manner.

"I fear that may be impossible, Sarugami-sama." Yuki bowed her head. "Please recall Buddha's mercy, even for one who lacks it himself."

"Ook, Eek! Eee!"

"Vengeance will only bring calamity," Yuki said. "Please reconsider. The family of Lee Jung-min is powerful, indeed, and your land lacks the means to defend against their retribution."

"Eek?"

"That would be for the best, Sarugami-san."

"That's right," Gwen added a proverb of her own. "The rarer action is in virtue rather than in vengeance."

"Well said, Gwen-san," Yuki translated for Gwen.

"Ook!"

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Gwen knew she looked strange speaking to Ariel and Caliban via pantomime but listening to the Kyoto priestess having a full blown conversation with a monkey was mind boggling on a whole other level.

"Gwen." Mayuree unexpectedly tugged on Gwen's sleeve. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Oh?" Gwen glanced at Kyoto's Mages with apologetic eyes. "How bad?"

"My head's buzzing," Mayuree confessed. "It wasn't so bad before, but I think I... we'll be in mortal danger."

"Maybe you should remain here," Gwen assured the Diviner. Considering their overwhelming advantage and the fact that there was no way for Seoul to back out, she had full confidence in the Korean's ultimate capitulation. Still, considering Mayuree's "condition"...

She glanced at Lulan, who appeared impatient to get on with it, then to Yuki and Ichiro, whose politeness bordered on wretchedness. That there was danger was undeniable, but going home on a hunch wasn't an option either.

"It's fine. I want to come with you." Mayuree struck out her chest. "We're in this together!"

Gwen nodded.

With that, Dororo began to move.

To Fudan's and Kyoto's surprise, they managed to ride the giant doll almost on top of the village before Sung Lee emerged from the Nanmati's central hut, flying toward them with two others in tow. It was a good sign, one that demonstrated humility.

To Lee's right was Jung-min, the Air Evoker-Transmuter, looking paler than a ghost.

To his left was their Abjurer, whose mana signature Gwen immediately identified as a Salt user.

"Welcome, Song Hubae," the man said. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"I see you're missing an Ice Mage." Gwen observed the trio. "Is Si-won still recovering from his escapade? Or has he teleported back to Seoul already?"

"Si-Won's life hangs by a thread." Sung Lee met her gaze head-on. "But never mind my brother. I see you have brought the locals."

"I have brought victims of your careless and wanton desire for violence!" Gwen's eye sparkled with haughty malevolence. "Least of all, the Matriarch of the mountain, whose mate was murdered by Jung-min over there for sport!"

"OOK!"

Sung turned to regard his cousin.

"We killed some apes during the survey, while we were breaking for lunch," he answered quietly, in a world of his own. "They got too close. It was nothing."

"There you have it." Sung returned his gaze upon the unsuspecting Void Sorceress, noting how frail her white neck appeared. "Is that all?"

"Ha! You wish! I come to represent Fudan, Kyoto, the people of Kachin and the residents of the land," Gwen declared, taking the opportunity to make her case. "For your transgression, Seoul U must provide reparations, cease hostility, and henceforth cooperate with future operations. You may have lost the IIUC, but you need not lose your honour or your reputation. You can make this right, Lee Seonbae-nim! We can work together—"

The Magma Mage listened to Gwen's speech with a look of intense concentration.

"Gwen!" Mayuree was the first to notice. "He's channelling magic!"

"HALT!" Ichiro barked beside Gwen, interrupting Gwen's oratory, sending a ripple of mana through to air to assault their opponent. "Stop him!"

"Salt Ward!" Beside the Magma Mage, Yoon-Seok, Seoul's Abjurer, erected a barrier which shimmered as the effects of Ichiro's Kotodama rippled across a semi-visible screen.

"Gwen-san, beware his Banish!" Ichiro hissed. "And stop the Magma Mage!"

"Lulu!" Gwen commanded Lulan even as she moved to cast Ball Lightning, understanding that diplomacy had given way to brawn.

"Panzerschreck!" Lulan let loose a slab of solid iron, rapidly spinning as it made for the Captain of Seoul U.

"Lightning Sphere!" Combined with Gwen's explosive bursts of blue-white electricity, the space above the village erupted into a dazzling light fantastic.

"Element Ward!"

_CRUNK!_

From somewhere within the explosion, Lulan's shell spiralled away, deflected by a barrier. Faster than the naked eye could register, Lulan's solid-slug landed in the mud, skipped thrice, then slammed into a hut, collapsing the structure and sending a dozen inhabitants fleeing. When the slug re-emerged, it was crimson with gore.

Gwen stared in horror as the building collapsed, momentarily speechless.

"You—!" With a mental command, her Lightning-charged deer hounds broke from the tree line surrounding the village and made for the collapsed structure.

"Gwen! Something's coming!" Mayuree detected a seismic swelling of elemental Magma, her danger-sense kicking into the red. "We have to get out of here!"

"We'll keep the settlers safe, Gwen-san." Yuki's habitual demurity wrinkled with uncharacteristic anger. "Seoul appears to have forsaken all regard for their quest."

"!"

Gwen's Divination likewise pinged. Shit was about to hit the fan.

"Monkey!" She screeched at the hooting Matriarch. "Get your kin back into the forest! Do it now!"

"OOK!" With a mighty leap, the Matriarch disappeared quick as a whistle, leading her pack away from Dororo.

"Dororo! Help the villagers!" Yuki urged her giant, who even now was shedding little models of itself onto the ground.

"It's a little too late for that," Sung Lee's booming voice roared across the cloudy sky. "PLANAR ALLY - MOLTEN GUARDIAN!"

Spurts of lava, accompanied by jets of lemon-tinged sulphur, burst into being below where Gwen and the others hovered some dozen meters in the air. Where Dororo stood, space distorted, tearing the fabric between the material and the immaterial.

In the blink of an eye, a gate into the Para-Elemental Gate of Magma came into being, sending up a twenty-metre jet of yellow-green gas.

"Dimen—"

Suddenly, Gwen found that she couldn't breathe. When she inspired to cast Dimension Door, her throat caught on fire.

Below, an orange vortex of flowing, flaming earth engulfed the immediate vicinity, crashing into Dororo's vine-strew legs, sending up a great sizzle of burning vegetation, made worse by the stench of rotten eggs.

Yuki's complexion turned white as a sheet, suddenly gnashing her teeth as her eyes spun uncontrollably, struck by such unfathomable agony even as she choked for breath.

"Oooooooo!" Dororo stomped its feet, ripping itself limb from limb, only to step once more into yet more lava, sending Yuki into a second, convulsive bout.

A horrid, bone-chilling epiphany flashed across Gwen's inward eye. She realised she had seen the gaseous magic first-hand, though she had never subjected herself as a victim.

Jung-min! She caught the Mage with her watering eyes. Her variation created floating motes of lightning. For an Air Mage, they could arguably flood the vicinity with a variety of noxious gasses.

But Cloud Kill was forbidden for use against human personnel! She screamed internally. Did the bastard have a death wish?

"Ooooo!"

Dororo was now waist-high in lava and crumbling rapidly. Ichiro promptly activated a Shielding Pendant around his Captain; then with a blast of silvery Conjuration, he activated both their Translocation Amulets, no longer caring for the CC penalty.

Simultaneously, Sung's conjured monster materialised. From a maw that now opened into what looked to be the nine layers of Dante's Inferno, a jagged, obsidian head emerged, exhaling mustard, kindled with scintillating brimstone. With yet another billow of unbearable heat, an arm freed itself, followed by a second, moving with a rapidity that was surprising for a thing of such mass.

_FUCK!_ Gwen realised the error of having both Mayuree and Lulan with her. _Could Lulan take a hit from the lava giant?_ She thought desparingly. _Mia needs to teleport the fuck out, right now._

Overhead, the fiery salamander had fully formed. It was now taller than the decimated Dororo, with a body brutally barbed with obsidian shards in the manner of a sadistic plate mail. From its visor, a single flaming eye looked out with unfathomable rage, cruel with a wanton desire for ultraviolence.

Without warning, it opened its mouth, dribbling magma so hot that Gwen was sure the white glow was pure plasma.

Then without mercy, a volcanic torrent erupted.

Gwen's eyes grew hazy, her throat constricted, and her lungs burned.

Shamefully, her first thought was of her Ghosting Amulet and her Contingency Ring. Arguably, Mayuree was also in possession of both as well, but Lulan-

JESUS! Lulu had neither!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Gwen wanted to bite off her tongue. If she had cared for her friends, she should have burned her crystals and brought damned Contingency Rings for Lulu!

Her eyes swept over Mayuree, who had fallen to her knees, gasping and fumbling for air. Shit! Gwen realised yet another miscalculation. She had her draconic-constitution and resistance to poisons, but Mia was just a girl. She really should have left her back in the forest, even if she was paranoid over the Enchantment afflicting Mayuree's mind.

_WHOOMP!_

A shimmering shield appeared around Gwen. Instead of teleporting herself away, Mayuree had activated her Ring of Protection but had set it onto her friend.

_WHAT THE FUCK?_ Gwen silently cursed her Diviner. Until Mia's Ghosting Amulet activated, Mayuree was here to stay. _Did she have to suffer an attack?_ The instructions had stated that the amulet was triggered by invasive magic.

"Eaaarrrgh!" Lulan unleashed a cracked and broken howl of frustration.

To Gwen's dismay and despair, Lulu charged toward the flaming sword with one of her own, manifesting a massive slab of iron two-metres tall and as wide as her torso to meet the incoming cloud of smouldering, volcanic air.

_GOD DAMN IT!_ Gwen cursed her myopia. In the heat of the moment, both of her companions were all heart and no brain. When all three of them possessed a selfless, masochistic capacity for martyrdom, all they could do was trip over one another's feet. If even one of them had said, "fuck this for a lark," and had Dimension Doored away, then the matter would have been infinitely less complicated.

_ARIEL!_ She commanded her hidden Familiars, thanking God she had that much foresight at least. _CALIBAN!_

"EEEE!" Ariel slammed into Lulan, escaping with the Sword Mage.

"SHAAA!" Caliban instantly expanded into its Spider form, ripping Mayuree from Dororo's back before leaping into the fire, where Gwen hoped she had enough vitality to carry Mayuree to safety.

The lava burst descended.

Her shield crinkled.

Her world grew white-hot, but not before she lost her footing. Below, Dororo had turned to ash.

As she fell, Gwen hoped to God that when Caliban drained her vitality, or when she began to sizzle like a takoyaki, her Ghosting Amulet would trigger its Dimension Door, allowing her to teleport away. With her Essence, hopefully, her scars would heal. If not, maybe Babulya had a thing that could help.

_CRACK_!

Unbidden, a cacophonic burst of thunder broke overhead.

"There it is again!"

In Hpakan, where a dozen Magisters and Maguses gathered around a lumen-caster, the Mages were puzzling over the scene even now unfolding in Nanmati. Where the conversation had earlier centred around Jung-min's illicit use of Cloud Kill, now they had bigger problems.

"Perhaps it's drawn to the mana build-up?"

Despite the titanic battle occurring below, their eyes were drawn to a blue-white silhouette flittering in and out of the range of von Schlabrendorff's eye of providence.

"Think it's related to the Tyrant?"

Lutz von Schlabrendorff shook his head.

"Hass, get a team ready..."

Heedless of the CC penalty, Ichiro took his Captain away from the crumbling Dororo, mindful of his betrayal.

As versatile Yuki's synergy with her Kami could be, that very same connection made for a glaring weakness, which was that her consciousness conjoined with her construct, possessing the Miko's senses as a gateway into the material world.

Once a safe distance away, Ichiro felt a pang of guilt as he looked back at their Fudan allies, still standing atop the burning Dororo, facing the full fury of the Molten Guardian, a famed Asura of the inferno world.

That a member of the Lee family could still access an ancient deity of Korea's long lost Shamanistic faith wasn't something anyone could have predicted. Likewise, that Seoul would stoop so low as to use Cloud Kill, even in its non-lethal capacity, was unthinkable by any rational Mage.

Was winning that important? Ichiro took in a lung full of fresh air, stunned at Seoul U's twisted conviction.

"Ichiro..." Yuki moaned in his arms, her pale body flushed and welting from the sensory feedback, even now aflame with the sensation being burned alive, yet lacking the sweet surrender of unconsciousness.

"Annul Pain!" Ichiro invoked his magic, exhaling as Yuki's spasm thankfully ceased, dispelling Dororo.

"Help them-"

"I know, Yuki-sama, but..." Ichiro looked up, wondering just what a Mind Mage could do at a time like this. Above the Void sorceress, he saw the monster's assault descend without mercy.

_Run, you baka!_ Ichiro's throat constricted.

But Fudan did not flee.
Instead, what occurred betrayed all logic and expectation.
Without warning, Gwen's celestial Kami tackled the Sword Mage, sending her flying away, while her Asura Kami snatched Fudan's Diviner and leapt from Dororo's head.

Then, she fell into the now dispelled Dororo.

Then, the clouds broke overhead.

Then came a wyvern.

Gwen Song had a third Familiar?! Ichiro baulked. But no, that was impossible.

It was an enormous brute; the largest Ichiro had ever seen, descending from the heavens with a velocity that tore the air asunder.

Banking into a graceful arc, it made an effortless swoop past Seoul U's battle line, first snatching a surprised Sung Lee up in its jaws, then swatting their Air user so hard with its spiked, van-sized tail that the Mage descended like a meteor.

In a matter of seconds, less than the time it took for him let loose a bewildered "NANI?" the Seoul team was reduced to a stunned Abjurer hovering alone over a flaming hillside, smothered with still tumbling lava.

"Uwa-!" Ichiro couldn't help but expel the uncouth utterance from his lips. In a moment, a feeling of uncontrollable sublimity erupted from his throat. "UWAAA?!"

The magma giant stumbled as the conduit of mana sustaining its presence in the Material world was cut off. Sung Lee was either dead or had been teleported away.

Gwen Song fell among the flaming debris, engendering a burst of brilliant Conjuration, then re-appeared a hundred meters away before she could sink into the fire, protected by two Illusory simulcrums.

_She was safe!_
But still, her unscathed escape filled Ichiro's mind with wild and wagging exaltations of incomprehensible awe.

His Master once said that some were born blessed by the _Ōkami._
But how could one know that they were blessed by the _Shinkai_ and watched over by the Sun Goddess; that they existed to walk the _Kannagara no Michi?_

Did, for example, having a wild fucking Wyvern descend from the heaven to eat your enemies then fly the fuck away count?!

An ejaculation of emotions erupted from the Yamabushi's heart, constricting his chest. It wasn't every day that a humbled monk bore witness to the will of the world.

Jung-min considered himself lucky that as a Mage attuned to Air, his superior reflexes was enough to mitigate a portion of the wyvern's kinetic blow even as it sundered his unsuspecting body. His shield had shattered near-instantly, but the split-second was enough for him to shift his momentum.

When he came to once more, he was on the forest floor.

It would seem that lady luck had not abandoned him even in his direst hour, for he had crashed through the soft canopy, then landed in the rotten, mud-strewn undergrowth.

"Argh..."

Something had broken for sure, for Jung-min couldn't move his limbs, although his physical infirmity was nothing when compared to what awaited him. As the number one son, Sung Lee was without fault in all matters. As such, the responsibility for Seoul U's catastrophe of an IIUC would fall to Jung-min. For not only had the bastardly Jung-min invited trouble by harassing Eunae, their little cousin on Fudan's team, he had also used illicit magic on fellow contestants, disqualifying the potentially victorious Sung Lee, the team's saviour.

It was a good narrative; he had to admit. Sung Lee was a good fit for the next family head.

"Hahaha!" Jung-min then recalled that the wyvern had snatched up Sung Lee like a dog treat. "That's too funny."

"Ook?" A hairy face appeared overhead, an inch away from his face.
"Ook?" Another joined the first.
"Ook?" A third.

Jung-min's laughter choked in this throat, and not because laughing drew agony from his torso. Turning his head, he gazed toward his dominant hand where his Contingency Ring would be.

Sitting on said hand and weighing down said limb, was an enormous macaque with a bulbous red ass, bearing her fangs.

"Ook!"
"Ook!" "Ook!"
"Ook, Ook!" "Ook!"
"OOK!" "OOK!" "OOK!" "OOK!"