“STOP! The erm, following students have been eliminated—”

Eui didn’t bother listening to the rest of the announcement as she dashed out of the house. Fuck the house arrest, Jia was hurt. Sure, Eui had gotten hurt in her own qualifier, but that was different—she had three healers in her team, one of which was herself. Jia was by herself and surrounded by enemies—Eui refused to take her chances.

Nobody stopped her as she ran out of the gate towards the forest. There were crowds of people chattering excitedly about the fight, and a few noticed her. She ignored them, even as a few recognized her and tried to get her attention. As she approached the forest, she felt Jia’s domain at the edge of her own. The two seamlessly merged as soon as they came into contact and Yoshika opened Jia’s eyes, grabbing the hand of a Qin student that had been reaching for her.

“Don’t touch me!”

The student reeled back, startled.

“I—I was just trying to check on your condition, Miss!”

A likely story. Yoshika wasn’t particularly interested in his excuses, though.

“I’m fine. Just leave me be.”

The disciple hesitated, but didn’t press the issue. Yoshika was already ignoring him, focusing on her own bodies. Jia was hurt quite badly, but her consciousness had returned as soon as her domain had merged. It wasn’t something they’d tested extensively, but it seemed like it was impossible for one body to sleep while the other was awake. There were pros and cons to that, but for now Yoshika was happy to take advantage of it.

Despite the vast distance, Yoshika was easily able to move the wood element qi circulating within Eui’s dantian to Jia’s body—there was the same slight delay, but that delay didn’t change regardless of distance. The worst of Jia’s cuts and bruises began to close, and she reached up and popped her shoulder back into place with a small grunt of pain. Aside from the blood loss and exhaustion, Jia had actually come away from her fight with fewer injuries than Eui had.

Once Jia was able to stand on her own again, Yoshika let out a sigh of relief. Eui finally allowed herself to pay a bit more attention to her surroundings, and found a small gathering of Yamato...students? No, they weren’t wearing the academy uniform. They all had the same sort of short robe and pants that Rika had made for Murayoshi’s class. On closer inspection, they were even decorated with the same character as Rika’s.

She met the eyes of an older looking man with long gray hair. She didn’t let his appearance fool her, she could sense the power radiating off of him within her domain—he was strong.

“Are you alright, Miss? You just ran up to the edge of the forest here and spaced out for a moment.”

Eui blinked, looking around awkwardly at the concerned expressions of the people around her—all of them had the same tanned skin as Takeda.

“Uh, I’m fine. Just—cultivator stuff. My g—my friend was just fighting in the qualifiers and I wanted to help her.”

She felt a bit awkward dancing around the nature of her relationship, but even though the people of Yamato seemed to be a bit more accepting of same-sex relationships, Eui wasn’t about to take her chances.

“Oh! You know her, do you? I suppose that makes sense, the strong tend to gravitate towards each other after all. Speaking of which—”

The old man eyed Eui appraisingly.

“You’re quite impressive yourself! Third stage at your age—these kids could learn a thing or two from you!”

One of the others, a girl that Eui now realized was probably only twelve or thirteen years old—and still taller than her—crossed her arms and harrumphed petulantly.

“Hmph! She’s a cheater like that cat lady. Big Sis Rika is way stronger than some stinky youkai!”

The old man cuffed the little girl in the back of the head.

“Oi! Don’t be rude, you little shit! Getting a head start doesn’t negate or replace hard work! Same goes for the lot of you, understood!?”

There was a chorus of ‘yes sirs’ and the girl rubbed the back of her head pouting. Eui’s mind caught up with what the little girl had said, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait, did she say Rika? As in Takeda Rika?”

“Oh! You know my granddaughter too? Good, good! The little scamp’s been avoiding me.”

Eui nodded.

“I do—she’s a friend. Actually, we’re going to be competing in the team division with her, Jia—that’s the uh, ‘cat lady’—and a few others.”

Speaking of which, Jia had arrived at the edge of the forest and was now approaching. She would have heard the entire conversation, of course.

“Good! Good! Absolutely wonderful to hear that my little girl’s in good hands. Let me introduce myself—I am Master Takeda Keiji, and this is my granddaughter, Takeda Chiyo. The rest of these little munchkins are the adopted members of my dojo that wouldn’t be able to fend for themselves in my absence.”

The kids all bowed politely. Eui returned the gesture as she introduced herself.

“I’m An Eui. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The old man laughed in a boisterous manner that really reminded Eui of Rika—she was starting to see where Rika got her personality from.

“Hahaha! The pleasure is all mine! Not everyday you meet someone ballsy enough to practice the Six Arms! And a girl to boot—that’s one hell of a rare affinity!”

Eui blinked in surprise.

“How did you know—?”

“Hah! I saw your fight, of course! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a girl with an affinity for destruction—and I thought Rika’s was unusual!”

Chiyo threw a few punches into the air, and Eui felt the ki that she put into them, projecting the strikes a tiny bit in front of her.

“What about me, Grandpa!? Hiyah! Hiyah! I’m gonna be the next master of Takeda style! Right after Big Sis!”

Takeda Keiji ruffled the girls hair and chuckled good naturedly.

“That’s the spirit! You might not have the same affinity, but you keep working hard and you’ll catch up in no time!”

Chiyo groaned, trying to push away the old man’s hand in vain. It was at that point that Jia finally arrived, her face and hands still bloodied from the fight—only some of it was hers. She bowed in greeting. Master Takeda did a double take as he took in Jia’s appearance.

“By the kami! They sure make ‘em small in Goryeo! You must be Jia. Er, weren’t you more beat up?”

Jia scratched her head and chuckled awkwardly.

“That’s me, haha. Lee Jia—nice to meet you. Eui helped me heal. That’s why she was spacing out earlier—long story. Also, uh, Eui and I are definitely not the standard for height in our country.”

Takeda Keiji stared at her for a moment, blinking, before letting out a sharp bark of laughter.

“Hah! You’re quite the unusual pair! I was joking about the height, by the way—you think I haven’t fought mages before? Though I can’t say I’ve seen one that’s mastered Lightning God like that—bold of you to use the ultimate technique so fresh off your breakthrough!”

Jia and Eui exchanged a glance—Master Takeda really knew his stuff.

“That wasn’t actually the ultimate technique. How did you know we’d broken through recently?”

Master Takeda scratched his head

“Both of you? Well, for Miss Lee it was obvious from the injury she took after hitting that rabbit-eared young lady. You clearly still haven’t learned to control your strength while channeling the Lightning God’s spirit. You sure that wasn’t the ultimate technique? Must have developed some since last I remembered. As for Miss An—truth be told I don’t know what to think of her. Your mastery of Six Arms is greater than any I’ve ever known.”

“Th-thanks...”

Eui felt herself blushing under the praise—she’d worked hard to bring her unruly element under control, but it wasn’t entirely thanks to her own strength that she’d gotten as far as she had.

“Mind you, that’s because most masters end up succumbing to the Asura and destroying themselves from within, but good for you holding out! Now, I don’t suppose one of you lovely ladies could tell me where I might find my little Rika?”

Jia and Eui exchanged another awkward glance. If Rika was avoiding her grandfather, it didn’t feel like it was their place to gainsay her. On the other hand, they didn’t want to be rude.

“Well...technically we’re supposed to be under house arrest right now, so we should really be getting back to—”

“It’s far too late for that.”

Jia and Eui both jumped as Elder Qin appeared behind them, sounding displeased.

“Miss An, have you anything to say in your defense?”

Eui winced. She had a hard time dealing with Elder Qin.

“Jia was hurt, and I didn’t trust anyone else to handle her healing—especially not those imperial bastards. Uh...no offense...”

Jia facepalmed, shaking her head while Elder Qin scowled at Eui.

“Well, as you can see, her injuries are now healed. Neither of you have any excuse to continue dallying.”

The girls wilted under Elder Qin’s scornful gaze, but Master Takeda stepped forward.

“That’s my fault, Elder. This curious old man couldn’t help but be interested, these two are some of the most impressive young martial artists I’ve ever seen—to say nothing of their other disciplines! I was skeptical about this whole ‘academy’ thing, but seeing the results first hand? I’m sold.”

Elder Qin glowered at Takeda Keiji momentarily before responding.

“I am glad that you have been pleased by the results of our efforts over the last year, however I cannot in good faith claim that these two represent the typical academy student.”

“Bah! Who cares about ‘typical’!? I want to see the potential, and as far as I’m concerned, that potential is right in front of me.”

Elder Qin inclined his head slightly.

“Just so, Master Takeda. However, they are currently being punished for previous misbehavior, and must return to their rooms.”

“This is a special occasion, Elder! Surely an exception could be made—or are you trying to keep them away from visitors like myself, hmm?”

Qin Zhao’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“I will discuss the matter with the other deans. For now, they must return.”

“Haha! Well, sorry girls—I tried!”

Jia and Eui quickly bowed in thanks and farewell before making themselves scarce as quickly as possible. If not for Master Takeda’s interference, Elder Qin might have punished them, and they were more than happy to get away scot-free.

---

Back home, they had a few days to rest before the single combat division began in earnest. While they waited Yue explained to them the results of Jia’s qualifier. Jia’s last lightning nova spell had taken out a number of opponents at once, and there had been a little bit of a controversy over whether she should be disqualified. Nobody had died, but a few suffered injuries that were likely to prevent them from competing in other divisions. In the end, it had been ruled that since Jia’s had taken out her opponents before the call to stop had gone out, her actions were valid.

Rika was mortified to learn that Jia and Eui had met her grandfather and little sister.

“I don’t want to tell my grandfather about starting my cultivation from scratch—he’ll be furious! Please, don’t tell him until I’ve had a chance to show what I can do in the tournament.”

Jia looked up from playing with Heian on the couch opposite of Rika.

“He seemed nice—your sister is pretty cute too. I think she idolizes you.”

Rika beamed with pride.

“Little Chiyo’s the cutest, it’s true! Seriously though, don’t tell them!”

Eui gave Rika an ominous grin.

“Is that your blank favor from Jia? What a thing to spend it on...”

Rika grimaced, then reluctantly shook her head.

“No, it’s not that important. Can I convince you to do it anyway?”

Jia giggled.

“Of course, Rika. I’m sure you’ll make him proud.”

“Thanks, Jia!”

Eui frowned for a moment, before hesitantly asking something that had been bothering her since Master Takeda’s introduction.

“Uh, I don’t mean to be insensitive but...you’ve never really mentioned your parents. Just your grandfather. He also implied that he brought the kids with him because there’d be nobody else at the dojo to look after them so...”

Rika looked uncharacteristically awkward as Eui trailed off. She scratched the back of her head, averting her eyes and looking a bit sad as she spoke.

“Uh, yeah...well, you probably guessed already, but they’re gone. Dad died in battle with full honors—or so Grandpa likes to brag. It was just some territorial dispute with the empire, though. Mom was pregnant with Chiyo at the time and the news devastated her...she passed not long after giving birth.”

Eui looked down at her lap.

“S-sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Rika shook her head, her usual smile only a little bit strained.

“It’s okay! I was only around five at the time—honestly, I don’t even remember what they looked like. It’s always just been Grandpa, Chiyo, and me—and the dojo, of course. One big family!”

Jia cocked her head curiously.

“How come your grandpa had to bring all the kids with him? Aren’t there other adults in the dojo?”

Rika waved her head back and forth.

“Eh...sort of. There are adult members of the school, but most of them are full-time military. It’s pretty rare for graduates to come back. That’s uh...a big part of why Grandpa sent me here, actually. I would have been doing my mandatory service this year, and he wants me to take over the school. I think he’s worried I’m going to follow in my dad’s footsteps, not that he’d ever say it.”

“Is—is that allowed? That sounds kinda dodgy.”

“Ahaha, normally avoiding mandatory service is definitely not allowed. I think that Master Ienaga’s involvement led to the shogun making exceptions. Technically it’s up to the lord of each province how they want to handle it, but in practice most of them will just follow the example of either Shogun Ienaga or Lord Hayakawa.”

Jia nodded, but her eyes were already starting to glaze over. She didn’t have room in her head for politics. Eui elbowed her.

“You should be paying more attention to this. With or without Hayakawa, we’re probably going to be going to Yamato once we leave the academy.”

“Right, sorry...”

Rika didn’t notice the mental exchange, and their conversation was interrupted by Yue and Eunae returning from the courtyard, where they had been brushing up on their martial arts together. It was surprising how well the two of them got along once Yue got over her fear of Eunae.

“It’s about time to go listen to the announcement for the next leg of the tournament. Are you ready?”

After a quick round of affirmatives, the girls headed off to the academy’s central courtyard together. As usual, it was Elder Qin starting off the announcement.

“Starting the day after tomorrow, we will begin the single combat division of the tournament. The training field north of the campus has been modified into an arena with four rings. Each ring will feature two bouts per day over the next week, after which the semi-finals and the final will be held over the course of a day each.”

Magus Hwang took over for the next portion of the announcement.

“Due to the unusual outcome of one of the qualifying rounds, there is a small shortage in the number of participants—as a result, the following students have been granted a bye into the second round of the tournament, based on our judgement of their performance in the qualifiers: Hayakawa Kaede, Hyeong Daesung, An Eui, Seong Eunae, Bai Lin, and Lee Jia.”

Bai Lin? Jia had never heard that name before. She couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of pride over the fact that half-spirits had earned most of the advanced slots, despite being the overwhelming minority among academy students. The crowd automatically covered their ears as Ienaga Yumi stepped forward for what would presumably be the last part of the announcement—the deans had a pattern.

“The rules of the single combat tournament are much the same as the qualifiers. The fight ends if either participant is rendered unconscious or otherwise unable to continue the fight, if either participant leaves the ring, or if either participant willingly yields. As before, causing the death of an opponent—intentionally or otherwise—or continuing to fight after a stop is called are grounds for immediate disqualification from all divisions.”

Yan Yue received a few sidelong glances, and smiled ruefully—her loophole had been closed. None of them really paid attention to Elder Qin’s conclusion—he always got the last word before dismissing them—before they started filtering out of the courtyard to return home and get a bit more practice and rest before the start of the tournament.

Yue sighed as they left the bulk of the crowd behind.

“I can’t believe you three get extra time off to rest before your first bouts. Truly there is no justice in this world.”

Eui snickered.

“You’re just sour because they banned your stupid mind fuckery.”

“Tsk, well excuse me for having a useful talent! Besides, it’s not like I’m unique in that regard. They could just as easily have been accounting for Eunae”

A low, but distinctly feminine sounding voice cut into their conversation.

“Perhaps they could, if my little sister wasn’t such a worthless coward.”

The source of the voice stepped out in front of them—a young, but distinctly adult half-spirit woman, with the distinguishing fox-like features of the Seong clan. She wore beautiful, flowing robes that did precious little to cover either her considerable cleavage, or her bare legs. She shared the same hair and eye color as Eunae, and her face bore a striking family resemblance. Behind her, no fewer than six bushy fox tails fanned out in an impressive display of her regal heritage.

Lee Jia nearly flinched as the woman met each of their gazes with an appraising look—it was unsettling to meet the eyes of someone who looked so similar to Eunae. She grimaced—apparently finding them wanting—before turning her attention to Eunae.

“This is the company you’ve chosen to keep, little sister? Surely you could have found better minions even in a backwater dump like this.”

Eunae bristled, but didn’t respond to the woman’s criticism, instead bowing formally in greeting.

“Greetings, sister. You honor us with your presence. However, you are mistaken—these are my friends, not a formal entourage. Allow me to introduce you—Lee Jia, An Eui, Takeda Rika, Yan Yue, this is my oldest sister, Seong Misun.”