“Did’ja hear? The Sword Maiden got beat?”

“Really? By whom?”

“Some up ‘n comer called Mars Felidae.”

“…Never heard of him.”

“Apparently he’s the son of the Duke of the new Kingdom that popped up not so long ago. It’s all over the newsboards. Olly told me ‘bout it. Was gonna check it out myself. Wanna come with?”

“Sure.”

…

Similar scenes played out across the Empire as the news of the First Princess’ defeat at the hands of Mars radiated outwards from the Capital. The journalists that had been present for the Duel were the busiest they had ever been, working all through the night, racing to get the news out before their competition.

It was unknown whether the flames were fanned from behind the scenes, but it was easily the event that got the most media attention after the invasion of Regiis by the Shogunate. Anyway, at a time when the mood of the nation was an all-time low, it wasn’t strange for something like this which demonstrated the infinite potential of the youth of Regiis to be promoted. It was something that could comfort the public and take their mind away from grimmer thoughts.

A man in a black hooded cloak stood in front of one such billboard in a border town quite close to Firang. It was deep in the night with dark clouds obscuring the moon. He seemed to merge with the darkness around the edges of his silhouette. The excitement of the news had died down and everyone had gone back to their homes to rest, leaving the newsboard unattended.

Reaching out, the man pulled the poster containing a sketch of Mars charging up his explosion spell in the foreground while Artemis in her Feral form expanded her Domain. Below the drawing were dense lines of text recounting the circumstances and results of the Duel.

Pulling out a jet-black mind crystal, the man pushed his mana into it. Shadows engulfed him and he vanished from the spot.

…

He reappeared in a dimly lit cavern with walls made out of obsidian. The only sources of light were the glowing red veins of inflammation crystals that ran throughout the rock. Here and there jet-black flames burnt silently in clumps. Dark red spheres with black veins running through them were stuck together by slime to the walls and the ceiling of the cavern, glistening in the light.

The entire place was massive with several placed concealed in the darkest of shadows.

The man threw back the hood of his robes revealing a sallow face with a scruffy beard. His eyes were dull, as though they belonged to a dead fish – not a man.

A slight scuffing sound made Chusei whip his head in its direction. There, out of the dark corner emerged an insectoid behemoth. An ant the size of an elephant. Its chitinous armour was the colour of coal while the reddish-orange glow of magma emanated from the gaps at the joints.

Its eerie compound eyes locked onto Chusei sending a shiver down the shadow mage’s spine. No matter how many times he saw her, Chusei could never get used to the ant queen.

After she was satisfied with her inspection, the queen returned to her corner, her internal glow dimming as she faded back into the darkness.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, the most loyal follower of the Shogun stepped out of the homing formation he had set up on the ground to guide his long-distance shadow walk and entered the tunnel nearby.

The tunnel was pretty straight, sloping downwards all the way and he could feel the heat rising as he approached its end – the Magma Chamber.

The Shogun had been keeping tabs on his young protégé and his treacherous wife through Chusei even after he had supposedly left for his journey.

Nura Rihan had been setting things in motion for a long time. The Daimyo clans of the Shogunate were forever competing against each other for greater right and authority. Rarely were their opinions consistent. Even in the case of the invasion, there were divided opinions among them.

The Ryu’o (dragon king) clan and the Tenin (feathered angel) clans had been opposed to the invasion while the Oni and the Tengu clans had been neutral about it. The Kitsune and the Kirin clans were the ones spearheading the movement.

The ninja attack on Ceres back in Patera had been authorized by the two opposing Daimyo factions to thwart the Duchess’ plans.

But if it wasn’t for Nura instructing Chusei to subtly guide the ninja to Ceres, they wouldn't have identified her.

Cornered, Ceres had been forced to use her mind crystal shard, causing her mindscape to crack therefore loosening the binding of the Geas slightly, giving her wiggle room.

While he had been with Mars, Nura had been repeatedly thwarting Ceres’ attempts to betray the Duchess despite her Geas. This had made her quite desperate, finally culminating in the events that sparked the premature implementation of the Calamity and the invasion.

By doing this, Nura wanted to lure the Kirin clan over to foreign land unprepared so he could pick off the ones who had separated him from his wives.

Though he had been successful in that, killing the Twin Thunders of the Kirin, there had been a lot of unexpected events midway.

The first was Mars’ mutation that had saved Ceres’ life. She was supposed to be dead in the original plan so he could sneak a spy of his own into the boy’s harem.

Nura had always coveted the secret technique of Regiis as he felt that it would allow him to take another step forward down the martial path even though his strength was limited by the seals on the cultivation bases of his wives.

But the boy had somehow saved the girl, survived a shattered mindscape, and come back stronger for it.

The second accident, was the appearance of an unexpected ally.

The tunnel Chusei was passing through widened before opening into the magma chamber. There, in the middle of a pool of dark fire, sitting on her throne of flames armoured in darkness was the figure of the fallen princess of the wolves. The Empress of Flames receiving the obeisance of her subjects. Billowing black smoke wreathed around the throne, obscuring her figure, yet incapable of hiding her majesty.

The Dark Sun.