”Are you sure it was a good idea to warn the Crimson Path of Xinglong’s death?” Razark asked as the two walked away from one of the largest trading hubs in the fifth circle. A trading hub that often had Crimson Witches present for various reasons. They had just met with one of the crimson-clad warriors and left a little gift addressed to the one Dee knew as Anastasia. “I get that we have no hostilities with them, but they’re likely going to want to know how you got this information, and they might not be too particular about the way they ask. Also, why a gift basket?”

“The gift basket is a message of sorts as well. I didn’t leave my name on purpose, but Anastasia will figure it out. By that time they’ll have other things to worry about. Besides, believe me, the Crimson Path will be too busy very soon to ask any questions.” Dee countered.

As she observed her surroundings, she was glad to see that her ability to go unnoticed wasn’t entirely gone with her new form. Most of the people around them paid her no attention. On the other hand, there were people who could see through it, and those few stared at her unabashedly. Her new form was simply too obvious to be completely hidden. It would seem she would need to do her more stealthy work in another form. When sneaking in somewhere, it wasn’t good enough that most people didn’t notice you. You had to avoid the sight of everyone.

“I can make an educated guess, but why do you say that?” Razark asked, mostly to see if her thoughts differed from his. She might have thought of something he had missed and vice versa.

“Well, the Crimson Path is the tenth ranked community at the moment. They are the clear frontrunner for taking the now open spot in the first circle. As such, they will also become everyone’s target. The Crimson Witches might be strong enough to fight off any single competitor or even two of them at the same time, but with everyone coming after them they will be worn down slowly but surely. It’s just that no one wants to be the first ones to fight them since the first one will almost certainly lose and suffer the worst.” Dee explained her reasoning.

“Assuming no one else will be stupid enough to offer themselves as the new target.” Razark pointed out. Even though the Crimson Path was ranked as tenth, they wouldn’t get promoted to the first circle automatically. They would have to claim the spot and not have that claim contested. Someone else might be stupid enough to make the claim first.

“That might create an interesting dynamic. Everyone knows the Crimson Witches are the ones to beat, but it would be tactically stupid of them to just jump into the fire. If some community besides them makes the claim first, the other communities will have to deal with that foolish community first, even if they know it’s really the Crimson Path they should be saving their strength for. They can’t let the claim go uncontested. The Crimson Witches won’t bother doing the contesting since they know someone else will do it for them. Even if the claim somehow miraculously goes unchallenged, then that will make them even happier, since they can just jump on that community ten years from now when the situation is less chaotic.” Dee laughed quietly. This might turn really interesting.

“Do you think it might end up with a stand-off? With no one claiming the spot?” Razark asked equally amused at the thought.

“At first, perhaps. The situation would not last for long though. If it was just one or two communities then maybe, but with all these communities someone will take the first step. Eventually someone will break as they don’t have the discipline or the chance to wait.” Dee replied with a shrug.

The duo was almost outside the trading post before something occurred to Dee. “Oh right, I didn’t really get the chance to ask earlier with everything else going on. What kind of community would be stupid enough to attack the Four Winds?”

Razark scratched his head a bit. “I got back only a day before you, so I’m not sure how fully I understand the situation either. I was rather exhausted and had other things on my mind. Interestingly the enemy seems to be a coalition of races, though I suppose that might be a wrong word for it. From what I managed to find out, there’s the main race that has for all intents and purposes enslaved others, so the slaves are not exactly willing participants.

"I wasn’t able to find out what the main race is, just that they are some kind of aberration, but apparently the slaves are something that falls under the term Asura. The matter is made complex because the term Asura has been used to describe so many different beings before. From what I was able to find out, these particular Asura are very large in size and excel in physical combat. It was these slaves that attacked the sub-community. Someone mentioned something about giants, but that might have been less than perfectly accurate. I wasn’t paying enough attention.”

Dee wondered if the information Xinglong left behind might have something on the subject. Perhaps unsurprisingly there were some nuggets of information. “The Asura, in this case, might actually be distantly related to me in some ways, but the term is a rather wide one so I can’t say for sure. Asura are a collection of various powerful humanoid and demonic races with what someone might call good and evil branches respectively. The Rakshasa Rani that make up a part of my heritage are also considered a race of the Asura and one of the evil branches at that. I suppose pureblooded Rakshasa Raja could even be considered a giant race. The Rani are a bit smaller in size, and I’m pretty sure that particular part of me is mostly responsible for my height, even as diluted as that blood is. It could be some entirely different Asura race as well. They do have actual giant races as well.” Dee explained. She had done some of her own research into the races that made up her background and Xinglong’s information added to it nicely.

“I’m not sure if that’s a comforting piece of information or not. With the Meilin and the Jun, the Four Winds isn’t really equipped to deal with something like that in a physical confrontation. The Dagon might be able to fight fairly equally, and so would the Anshar, but those two races are in the minority, unfortunately.” Razark pointed out. While Dagon were numerous, the Anshar were far from it. Size and physical strength didn’t always trump ki or magical means of strengthening oneself, as shown by several races such as vampires and angels, but large and strong races would by their nature have a head start. A Meilin warrior would have to be several ranks higher than a giant to match the difference in size when it came to strength.

“You of all people should know that strength isn’t everything.” Dee pointed out with a small smile. “The Meilin might not be big and powerful, but they are quick and agile, as are the wolf tribes. That said, you’re not all wrong. If we do take things into a fight with a giant race, we need to rely more on magic. Or we let the immortals handle things. Ah, here we are.”

The two had finally made it into a large clearing that they had picked beforehand. Dee transformed into her dragon form, taking up most of the clearing. Luckily the trees surrounding the clearing were tall enough to hide the duo. “Alright, hop on.” She said to Razark.

“Are you sure? You don’t’ really strike me as the type to allow anyone ride on you, and I don’t want to get my face clawed off.” Razark asked warily.

“Oh shut it. I don’t like this any more than you do, but I need you to be in physical contact the whole way for me to use the Astral Dragon abilities with the portals. Otherwise you’ll get lost in the Astral Sea along the way. If you’d prefer that…or I could carry you in my claws…” Dee flashed her extremely sharp claws.

“Alright, alright, I’m getting on.” Razark replied, gingerly landing on Dee’s back with a small leap. “I just don’t want to hear any complaints afterward.”

Dee gave a small sigh. She needed the better portals in order to be able to get to the old man’s volcano from this distance. Besides, it would take a lot of time to travel across such a vast distance without her new abilities. It had already been several days since she returned and she was burning with excess energy. Absorbing Xinglong’s energy wasn’t finished completely, but the rest would have to be absorbed through a battle of some sort, or she would explode out of sheer restlessness. All this new energy running through her body and Domain required an outlet.

-----

Brynhildr watched as her sisters were in the middle of torture that was supposed to be training. “No, no, no, you need to work together more fluidly. How do you plan to stand against a proper enemy if your timing is all off?” The old man said as he blasted Herja off with a powerful punch. Herja was the most defensive in the group so that in itself was worrying. Truth be told their cooperation had gotten a lot better in the last few months. Even if the old man said their timing was ‘all off’ in truth it was near perfect. Emphasis on the word ‘near’.

The only reason Bryn wasn’t on the stage getting thrown around was because her timing actually was perfect. She had always been the quickest in the group to pick up such things. Herja was the worst off, but that was for a good reason. One of her abilities was to create identical duplicates of herself, and controlling all of them was really taxing. In long engagements her concentration eventually frayed and that resulted in missed opportunities like the one that had just happened.

The other person having issues was Skuld, but that was because their big sister was not only reading the flow of the battle and ordering them around, but she was also in charge of planning and coordinating them. She was the best of the group, but she also had the most to do. She had the ability to see just a bit into the future, which was a powerful ability that she used to direct the others. Unfortunately predicting all the moves and trying to direct the others took a lot out of her, and there was only so much she could do in the brief window of opportunity her ability provided.

Their training was interrupted as a fairly large portal suddenly appeared in the space above the temple but still within the caldera of the volcano. That brought shivers to all of them as the last time they saw a portal like that had not been very pleasant. Things started in a very similar way, in that a long serpentine dragon came out of the portal, but this time the dragon itself was very different. It was a lot smaller than the last one, and it looked entirely different. There was something demonic and sinister about the black scales and the seemingly leaking purple power.

In fact, that serpentine dragon bore some resemblance to the dragon that had gone berserk before the previous portal appeared, except now it was serpentine as well. Bryn had a hunch about the identity of that dragon, which was confirmed by the old man. “Finally the dummy disciple has returned. And she brought the idiot disciple along as well.” He mumbled. The Valkyries had heard both terms before, usually when they were being compared to the two unfavorably. Apparently the Valkyries never matched the example set by the two earlier disciples.

“Blockhead, dimwit, dolt, dunce, moron, numskull, and oaf. Be glad, the training for today is over. You’re getting the rest of the evening off. You might get to see a show pretty soon, so pay attention. You might learn something.” The old man declared.

Incidentally Bryn had gained the moniker blockhead, and the other insults were directed at her sisters. The old man refused to call them by name, though even he sometimes mixed the insults up thanks to how similar the group of sisters looked to one another.

Reginleif’s eyes flashed. “Is that the blackguard?” She too had made the connection.

“Easy.” Bryn put her hand on Regin’s shoulder. “Not the time or the place.”

Suddenly the dragon seemed to vanish into the air and something crashed to the ground. With the dust quickly clearing, Bryn could see an angel looking being had landed on the ground. Bryn could recognize the black wing and the weird horns, but otherwise the being was not familiar. The angel had landed rather stylistically with one knee and one of her four fists on the ground. Despite that, as the being straightened Bryn and the other Valkyries could feel a regal presence radiating from her.

“Are you trying to gain style point for the landing dummy disciple?” The old man asked sarcastically. It had looked rather impressive.

“Nope. Tried to shake him off now that we arrived.” The angel looking being stated calmly and thumbed at the male humanoid behind her who’d had a much rougher landing. Apparently the rapid landing had caught him by surprise.

“Huh.” The old man stated, slightly amused. “I approve. Why did you let him ride you anyway? Seems very unlike you. Also could you be so kind and stop radiating your Domain around? It’s having a negative effect on other people’s abilities.”

Brynhildr suddenly noted that she felt weaker. Not by much, but enough to make a difference. There also seemed to be something going on with her connection to her Authority, though that was harder to describe. It was like it took just a bit more effort to connect with it. The angel spoke again. “Oh sorry about that. I’m still having trouble keeping it all inside.”

Bryn could feel her strength returning with the connection with her Authority clearing up. What just happened?

“You’ve had months to practice.” The old man scoffed dismissively.

“Yeah, no such luck. I was a little busy.” The angel replied with an unhappy grimace.

“I noticed you were having some trouble there. You took a chunk out of my volcano. I had to get a proper geomancer to fix the damage.” The old man shot back.

“You actually damaged the volcano?” The male humanoid that had picked himself up and dusted himself off asked incredulously. “Wasn’t the barrier supposed to stop that sort of thing?”

“You might have noticed the barrier isn’t what it used to be either.” The old man stated crabbily. “Dummy disciple here really did a number on her last visit. It’s going to take me years to fix the damn barrier. Unlike two-bit geomancers, barrier specialists of this scale are hard to find. I’ve had to improvise so far. You may have noticed that it’s much easier to get here.” He took another look at the one given the title dummy disciple. “Then again you might not have noticed. Those portals of yours are really something else.”

“Well, how about a little sparring match as a repayment? I know you’d like to punish your old disciple for such mistakes.” The angel said rather eagerly.

‘Who would actually want to fight with the old man voluntarily?’ Bryn thought to herself.

“I get the feeling you’re getting more out of this deal. I ought to just keep you here for the next ten years to complete your training. A dummy disciple like this is clearly not ready to be let loose on the world.” The old man replied with a grouchy voice, but Bryn could detect some delight hidden behind that voice.

“Well, even for that you’d actually have to force me to stay, so we’re back to my original point.” The angel grinned. She seemed to be brimming with excess energy. Was that why she was so eager to fight?

Suddenly the old man looked at the Valkyries. “How about you fight them first? They need a different opponent for a change.” That suggestion gave shivers to all of the sisters.

“Hmm, usually I wouldn’t mind that suggestion.” The angel slowly replied. “The problem is, I’m not entirely in control of my new strength yet. I wouldn’t want to kill them by accident.” That statement rankled the Valkyries, but they didn’t argue just yet. They’d rather show the angel how wrong she was.

The old man’s words didn’t make them any happier. “That’s exactly why. They need to be in actual danger to improve further. They need to know there’s an actual chance they might die if they fail. They know I wouldn’t kill them despite everything, but the current you? Well, you’re just perfect. You’re not aiming for their death, which should make things a bit safer, but you still might kill them if they get too careless. Sounds like a match made in hells if you ask me.”

The angel seemed to consider the suggestion for a moment but finally agreed to it with a nod. The Valkyries had just gone through some training but were not yet tired. In fact, one might say they were properly warmed up. They moved to one of the raised platforms made of some weird stone that was resistant to damage and seemed to be able to repair itself. This platform was rather isolated from the other buildings so it seemed the old man was expecting some damage to the surroundings. A rather safe bet all things considered.

‘Friadul, what does your gift of knowledge tell you?’ Skuld’s telepathic communication sounded in all their heads.

‘I can’t really see properly. Half the time I’m flooded with too much information and with the other half I can’t see anything. It seems she has some ability to hide at least some of her abilities, but it’s not perfect. One thing I did see, and something you should all be aware of, is that she can read the flow of power inside all of us. She can’t see the future like sister Skuld, but she will know what’s coming. That might mess up some of Skuld’s predictions.’ Friadul replied. She had the ability to read the strengths and weaknesses of others, but it was not a perfect ability.

‘In that case, let’s go with the standard. Bryn, Fria, and Herja will go for close range and try to keep her occupied. Hivir, take any opening you see and keep her on her toes. You’re the distraction while pretending to be the real threat. Stay with Regin and me inside Regin’s protective shield. Sigrun, you’re the true threat. Keep hidden and strike when you see an opening, but don’t rush it. It’s better if she forgets you’re even here. We’ll take things as they come and improvise further as things change.’ The plan was rather rudimentary, but it was also easy to execute. Too complex plans also tended to fall apart when something unexpected happened.

As soon as the starting signal was given by the old man, an impact wracked the shield Regin barely had time to erect around them. Even with all the power Regin was pushing into the dome-shaped shield, the surface was bending and almost doubling over as a small black object was pushing at the shield. None of them had even seen the black object coming.

‘Advance quickly under Herja’s protection. Herja, create duplicates and be prepared to lose some of them.’ Skuld commanded.

The close ranged squad ran forward with lightning speed thanks to Regin’s supportive buffs, while Herja was suddenly covered in heavy full plate armor and was creating a path for them. Or at least that’s what it looked like, as another Herja was walking just behind the first one, prepared to take the lead if required. A huge crash was heard as the first armor-clad form was thrown away like a ragdoll, blood spurting from under the gaps of the armor. Clearly that copy had not survived as the mangled body crashed on the ground outside the platform and vanished.

The real Herja grunted in pain and took the forward spot as another copy took the position behind that one. Herja could make several copies of herself and would survive as long as any of the copies lived. In fact, she didn’t have a real body in that state, as all of them were equally real and equally fake. That said, she also felt the pain from all the copies and what just happened must have hurt. Luckily their rapid approach had brought them close enough.

Brynhildr leapt from behind Herja and quickly brought her two-handed blade down towards the angel in an overhead strike. This was a repeat of their last encounter and the angel’s eyes seemed to flash with some emotion. It met the incoming blade with just a bare hand this time. ‘Is the angel crazy?’ Bryn managed to think just before her strike hit the angel’s palm and was stopped like it had hit an impenetrable wall. Bryn idly noted that the angel’s hand had somehow changed. It had suddenly been covered in white and very short fur that seemed to act almost like armor, and her claws had turned into something like talons that closed around Bryn’s sword. She was just about to try and pull her blade free when an alarmed message came from Skuld.

‘Let go of your sword and pull back right now!’ Bryn didn’t even think and simply obeyed, and it seemed good that she had.

Another of the angel’s hands had also changed. It seemed to be covered in scales similar to the dragon form earlier and had the claws of a dragon as it slashed towards Bryn. What seemed even worse was the speed at which the hand moved and the dark power it seemed to be radiating. Bryn backed furiously, utilizing the small invisible platforms in the air that Regin had created but still seemed to be too slow. Just as the dark and scaled hand was about to reach her, Herja pushed Bryn aside and took the strike on her shield.

Bryn’s face twisted as Herja’s body seemed to be broken on impact and it crashed like a meteor into the nearest temple almost a hundred mel away in less than a second. Luckily Herja had more copies, as one swung a sword at the angel from the side, while another was safely tucked inside Regin’s shield. Apparently Herja had realized the danger of the situation once her first copy was killed and had taken precautions. She would most likely have to take several blows to protect the others.

At the same time Friadul’s spear thrust at the angel like a viper. The angel seemed to be flowing around the attacks as it dodged both of them, but the counter was interrupted by a well-placed arrow aiming right at the spot where the angel had dodged to. With a small growl, the angel had to turn the attack into defense and she used her hand to swipe away the arrow. Bryn’s own turn came as she made another lighting quick attack with the sword that had appeared back in her hands. The attack was not really meant to be lethal, just dangerous enough to keep the angel off balance.

Even though the angel seemed to be able to shrug off such attacks, Bryn had noticed a weakness of sorts. It seemed like the angel didn’t even consider just enduring less dangerous attacks in order to create an opportunity for retaliation. It was as if it was a matter of pride that the angel would not be hit straight on, or as if the weapons of the Valkyries were poisoned. In Sigrun’s case that was actually true. Or perhaps the angel was not quite used to her sturdiness?

Skuld suddenly gave a prearranged signal. Bryn channeled much of her power into the blade that started glowing with white power that drastically increased the penetrative power. The angel would not be able to simply catch this attack, as the white glowing blade swung from the side. A glowing barrier of holy energy suddenly appeared to block Bryn’s attack. She had expected this, as the angel had used holy powers in their previous engagement. They had an answer ready. Herja used her barrier-breaking abilities to shatter the holy energy, though it seemed the angel had also expected that and had used it only to buy some time.

It seemed like the entire body of the angel turned into light for just a moment as it moved out of range of Brynhildr’s swing. Friadul was not going to let this go as she used one of her abilities to prevent anyone from moving away from a small area. The area was not large and was signified by a white glow on the ground. Suddenly a white beam of energy shot at the angel as Hivir shot one of her arrows that never missed. There was no way to dodge this attack.

Unfortunately that didn’t stop the attack from being blocked by a strong enough defense. A dark object floated in front of the incoming beam and turned into a shield of sorts. This is when Sigrun chose to strike, as the angel was already distracted by another surprise attack. She seemed to appear from the shadows and struck down with a pair of swords, aiming at the angel’s back.

Suddenly a shiver went through Bryn as the angel gave a small laugh. “So you finally decided to join.” The lavender wing suddenly swung out and bashed Sigrun down from the air, the force of the impact made a small crater in the platform. “Really though, trying to use the shadows to hide from me was rather silly of you. Almost insulting.” Another one of Herja’s copies was killed as it blocked a swing from the black wing and got sliced in two instead of Sigrun getting hurt further. The angel seemed to make a tch sound with her tongue due to Herja once again getting in her way.

Of course the other Valkyries would not allow the angel enough free time to strike again as they dashed forward. Suddenly the angel lifted her arm towards the approaching Valkyries and Bryn felt as if a huge invisible fist seemed to be squeezing down around her. As she was resistant to the strange powers of others, the squeezing force seemed to vanish almost immediately, but the damage had been done as they were all flung back towards Regin’s shield.

Regin pulled out her narrow sword and was prepared to use her double-edged power, before being stopped by Skuld who silently messaged her. ‘Don’t. With the gap in life-force between the two of you, you’ll barely be able to injure her even if you strike yourself lethally. The gap is too wide between the two of you currently.’

Regin’s power was strong but it had a downside. If the difference between the target and the Authority holder was too big, then the effect would be lessened. Even with Regin’s special boost to her abilities from a powerful enemy, it was clear the two would not take equal damage. The angel seemed to have the power of an immortal, and not a fresh one either like one would think. Even if Regin stabbed her own heart with the blade, the same would not happen to the angel, and even if it did the angel would survive.

“Ok, time to take things a bit more seriously.” The angel suddenly said, causing all of them to break in cold sweat. Had the angel not taken things seriously yet? She was already beating them and had effectively killed Herja thrice and Sigrun didn’t seem to be getting up. Regin had used the pennant hanging from her halberd to bring Sigrun inside the shield for healing, but that seemed to be a slow process.

Suddenly it seemed like an enormous pressure settled down on them and they all felt extremely weak. To all of their horror, it seemed their Authorities were starting to fail as well as Regin’s shield disappeared and Herja’s duplicates all vanished. Bryn could feel that her Authority was still there, but it felt like she was trying to push her hand through a wall made of thick mud in an attempt to reach it and utilize it. She also noticed that her life-force seemed to start draining away slowly but picking up speed.

Suddenly the old man stepped onto the platform and the pressure and drain seemed to lessen a lot. “Alright, that’s enough dummy disciple. It seems they aren’t yet ready to face you when you get serious. Let it go.” The power suppressing them suddenly vanished. The whole fight had taken less than twenty seconds from start to finish and the Valkyries had been trounced. They had not been able to use their most powerful abilities, but that was part of the problem. The angel had not given them the chance to do so, and it was their own fault for not trying to create such opportunities. They had failed.

“Well then. You said I’d fight them first. Does that mean you’re next?” The angel asked with a wide smile that made them all shiver.