Jia literally jumped out of her seat when Dae teleported. Teleported! He’d told her that teleportation was impossible, the filthy liar! Okay, so maybe he hadn’t used the word impossible. When she’d inquired about it, he’d given her a super long lecture that contained the words 'infeasible’ and ‘impractical’, and her takeaway had been that it just couldn’t be done. Obviously it could and he had done it. In hindsight, the fact that he had such a lengthy diatribe ready to go when she’d asked should have tipped her off to the fact that he had looked into the subject extensively. She’d grill him about it later, when she got the chance.

The other fights weren’t quite as exciting as Dae’s. Jia had been disappointed, but not surprised to see Guan Yi lose to Hayakawa, but she was impressed that he’d managed to actually wound her—he was the first person since the qualifiers to do so. Eui’s match against Satou was short—she was a martial artist's worst nightmare, since she was almost indomitable at close range.

Fujino’s match against Bai Lin was hard to watch. He’d put up a good fight at first, with a martial arts technique that turned his skin as hard as stone and prevented Bai’s threads from cutting him. It didn’t prevent him from getting tangled within those same threads, however, and after a few minutes of chasing Bai Lin around the arena, Fujino had gotten too caught up to move. Bai Lin spent the next minute after that testing the limits of Fujino’s stone skin, but got bored after failing to break it and just tossed him unceremoniously out of the ring.

Jia was fuming at that. If he could have done that the entire time, then what was the point of torturing his first opponent? She knew the answer, and she hated it. Either he just enjoyed making people suffer, had something against half-spirits, or both. Probably both. She hoped Eui taught that jerk a lesson—better yet, she hoped that since her next fight was at the same time, they could teach him a lesson together. As if waiting specifically to dash her hopes, Elder Qin’s voice could be heard through the scrying formation.

“In order to give the students An Eui and Bai Lin additional time to rest between bouts, the remaining two quarterfinal matches will be held separately. Lee Jia and Takeda Rika will have their match at the scheduled time this afternoon, while An Eui and Bai Lin’s match will be postponed until later this evening.”

Jia kicked the table in frustration, earning her a reproving look from Yue.

“What did you expect? Did you think they were just going to allow you to interfere with each other’s matches freely? Just be glad they came up with a plausible excuse rather than publicly outing you as dual cultivators.”

Jia scoffed, crossing her arms and pouting grumpily.

“Everybody already knows about that. And that we’re dating, thanks to Rika’s fat mouth.”

Yue gave Jia a flat look, then leaned forward with a deathly serious expression.

“The students have rumors about your dual cultivation and your relationship. They may believe it, but they don’t have anything to back it up. The visitors—many of which are from the empire—do not. It’s best that the instructors don’t do anything to change that.”

Jia deflated a bit, and nodded begrudgingly.

“Yeah, fine. Have I ever told you that your country is kinda garbage?”

Yue smiled ruefully.

“Why do you think I’ve taken such pains to remove myself from it? Though I must admit, it’s not all bad. The Qin Empire is the most prosperous nation on the continent for a reason, you know.”

“Yeah, because they have a monopoly on xiantian cultivators and have kept Goryeo stuck behind the shield walls ever since we broke off from the empire in the great schism. For all that your God Emperor claims to be against tyranny, he seems pretty inclined to suppress anyone that doesn’t do things his way.”

Yue pursed her lips and looked away.

“Someone’s been reading their history books.”

Jia stuck out her tongue.

“I’m not gonna be the ignorant bumpkin forever, Yue.”

Yue snorted.

“Of course you will, Jia. It’s such a core part of you that I’m surprised it isn’t part of your domain.”

Jia threw a cushion at Yue’s head.

---

Though she had been getting used to the attention over the course of the tournament, Jia couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous as she arrived at the area for her match against Rika. Unlike the previous rounds, there were no other rings to draw attention away from her fight—all eyes were on her and Rika. She saw Master Takeda among the people watching the fight, cheering his granddaughter on along with Chiyo and the other kids. Jia wasn’t sure she’d ever be comfortable with this kind of attention, but she tried to put her anxiety aside and concentrate on the match.

Rika was a friend and a teammate. They knew each other well, and they were intimately familiar with their fighting styles and capabilities. In a way, it was just another spar—something that they did almost every day. The stakes felt a little bit different, though. Their pride was on the line, to say nothing of the inevitable reward that would be granted to the winners of the tournament. Jia knew that Rika wasn’t going to hold anything back and she didn’t plan to either.

Once each of them had taken their place in the ring, the two girls bowed deeply to each other. The gesture was more than a formality—they each held genuine respect for the other. Jia closed her eyes and allowed her mind to clear while she waited for the signal to begin. It was strange having a duel against Rika like this, when she had been the one to tutor Jia in martial arts way back when she had first started. It had only been a year ago, but somehow it felt longer to Jia—so much had happened in that short time.

“Begin!”

Jia led with a lightning bolt that crossed the entire span of the ring and would have grounded itself on Rika if she hadn’t anticipated the spell and caught it with a burst of ki. Jia began to prepare a second, wishing that she knew whatever technique Dae used to rapidly fire spells off the way he did. As Rika began to close the gap, Jia pressed down with her domain, slowly suppressing Rika’s. It was more difficult than Jia was used to, with Rika’s domain strengthened by the spirit of their competition. Ironically, Jia felt her own domain strengthened slightly by her bond with Rika—Jia doubted that the same would apply if they had actually been at odds, but testing themselves against each other became a sort of cooperation of its own.

Rika parried a second lightning bolt from Jia, then split into two as she came within reach. Jia cast her mana shield—leaving it elementally neutral to block Rika’s telekinesis most effectively. The coordination between Rika’s bodies was incredible, and only Jia’s memories of practicing as Yoshika kept her from being immediately overwhelmed. Even so, it was all she could do just to defend herself—but she’d anticipated that.

Jia was not fighting with her Lightning God Transformation this time. She had changed her attunement and committed to fighting Rika with the Soft Fist style. It weakened her lightning spells slightly, but Jia had never expected those to be the deciding factor in their duel. Jia’s superior speed and strength gave her an edge, and Soft Fist was well suited to fighting outnumbered. As she deftly avoided Rika’s assault, Jia began to cycle the plasma qi within her dantian, creating the multi-colored shimmering aura of not-fire around her.

One of Rika’s bodies ignored it entirely—she knew full well that Jia’s aura was harmless—but the other...

“Ow! Shit, that’s hot!”

The other, no matter how real it seemed, was still a projection made from essence. Jia’s plasma could burn it like any other manifestation of mana. Jia dove on top of the projection, grappling her tightly even as she screamed and tried to push her away. The rainbow-hued flames seemed to spread in their strange way onto Rika’s body, enveloping her the same way they did Jia. Both of Rika’s bodies screamed in pain before the projection winked out, leaving Rika’s real body drenched in sweat and panting to catch her breath.

Jia felt bad for causing her friend so much pain, but she knew that the fight wasn’t over yet. She took advantage of Rika’s lapse in concentration to slam down with her domain, crushing the last vestiges of Rika’s resistance and taking control of the space around them entirely. The glowing aurora around Jia vanished as she began to concentrate her domain on Rika and bring her other aura to bear.

Rika grimaced as she began to feel the effects of Jia’s Corruption of the Fetid Bog.

“Oh no, Jia please. I thought we were friends!”

Jia smiled sweetly, taking up her stance.

“We are! That’s why I’m giving this my all!”

“Uuugh, you are the worst.”

Rika took up her own stance, grinning despite her complaints. She didn’t let Jia’s aura stop her, falling back on her traditional fighting style as she continued the fight. With her domain suppressed, it would be much harder to manifest a doppelganger, and since Jia had already demonstrated that she could destroy it, Rika didn’t bother. She was still a much more experienced fighter than Jia, and she knew a lot of tricks with her telekinetic fighting style. Rather than trying to hit Jia with her ki attacks and waste them against her mana shield, Rika stuck mostly to using telekinesis to give herself extra mobility and balance.

It was always a difficult style to fight against, but Jia was used to it. Rika still managed to occasionally catch her off-guard with some creative combinations that would be impossible without her ability to instantly reset her balance from any position. Still, as the fight wore on, Rika began to visibly slow down, Jia’s aura taking its toll even against the improved constitution of a trained martial artist.

In the final moments of the fight, Jia caught a wide swing from Rika that she could turn into a throw that would send her out of the ring. Rika used a conjured bar of telekinetic force to catch herself and attempt to reverse the throw, but Jia anticipated the move and released her throw early, reaching up with a prepared lightning bolt spell that she unleashed on the immobile and airborne Rika. Caught off guard and in an awkward position, Rika was unable to stop the lightning bolt from hitting her directly, sending her back to the ground, burnt and unconscious.

“Lee Jia wins! Takeda Rika has been eliminated.”

Jia ignored Do Hye’s disembodied voice declaring the obvious, rushing to pick her friend up off the ground. Thankfully, her injuries were fairly minor, but Jia wanted to get her back to Eui as quickly as possible. Carrying Rika, she jumped off the ring and nearly ran head first into Master Takeda Keiji.

“Woah there, girl. Where you off to in such a hurry? Shouldn’t you be enjoying your victory?”

“Sorry, Master Takeda. I just want to get Rika to a healer. Eui’s one of the best qi healers in the academy, but she’s the next one up to fight. I wanted to get her home as quickly as possible to make the most of our time.”

“Hah! Well, aren’t you a fine friend? Warms my heart to see such good sportsmanship. I’ve got a few things I’d like to say to my granddaughter, though, and I don’t think her condition is urgent, is it?”

Jia hesitated, frowning.

“Well, no, but it’s still better to heal her sooner rather than later. I can send her back your way when she wakes up.”

Master Takeda made a pained expression and shook his head solemnly.

“Ah, but if I let her out of my sight she’ll just start avoiding me again. Come on, she’s a hardy girl—she’ll be fine. For some strange reason she thinks I’m embarrassing, but I just want to spend a bit of time with my oldest granddaughter while I have the opportunity.”

Jia grimaced. She felt for the old man, she really did but...

“Why don’t you send Chiyo with us? She can bring Rika back to you once Eui heals her.”

Takeda considered it for a long moment before nodding.

“I suppose that works. Chiyo!”

He turned and called out, summoning the ‘little’ girl. She clearly had the same genetics as Rika, and was taller than Jia was despite the four year age difference.

“Yes, grandpa?”

“Go with Miss Lee and make sure your sister gets back to us safe and sound, alright?”

Chiyo stood up straight with a serious expression on her face.

“Yes sir! I won’t let those youkai do anything weird to her!”

Master Takeda smacked her in the back of the head.

“Don’t be rude! They’re the ones healing her, and they prefer to be called ‘half-spirits’.”

Chiyo pouted, staring down at her feet and rubbing the back of her head as she blinked back her tears.

“Y-yes sir. Sorry, Miss Lee.”

Jia chuckled awkwardly.

“It’s fine. Come on, let’s go take care of Rika.”

---

Rika’s injuries were quickly taken care of, but she did not end up returning to her grandfather with Chiyo. Eunae had come over with Haeun in tow and Rika had convinced Chiyo to stick around and keep Haeun company. There was a significant age gap between the girls, and Chiyo was hesitant at first to play with a ‘little kid’ like Haeun, but it turned out that Heian’s cuteness was the great equalizer. Through the power of their mutual love of adorable kittens, the girls were soon enjoying themselves playing games in the courtyard with Heian while the rest of the girls settled in to watch Eui’s match against Bai Lin.

Both Bai Lin and Eui wore sinister smiles on their faces as they squared off against each other, waiting for the signal to begin. Jia knew that Eui was itching to give Bai Lin a piece of her mind after his sadistic demonstration, and from the look on his face, Bai Lin seemed eager to repeat said demonstration. Jia wished she could say that Eui’s expression wasn’t quite as sadistic as Bai’s, but even with her obvious bias...well, Eui could be pretty scary.

The signal was given, and Eui immediately used an earth pillar to launch herself forward. She hadn’t been allowed to bring weapons with her, so Eui was without her knives, but like Jia she had worked to cover her weaknesses with magic. In Eui’s case, she had a few spells that would help improve her mobility and close the distance between her and opponents. Bai Lin deftly sidestepped her magic-empowered leap, but once she was on the ground, Eui proved to be much faster than he was.

Though she was slow compared to the likes of Jia or Hayakawa, Eui still had the speed of a half-spirit martial artist in the third stage. Only someone truly specialized in mobility would be able to outpace her. As she got close, she suddenly came up short, swiping her hand in front of her to cut through a tangled web of nearly invisible threads. The delay gave Bai Lin time to create some more distance between them.

The strange thing was that while it was usually obvious when Bai Lin was manipulating his signature threads, sometimes they would just appear as if out of nowhere. That, combined with the fact that they were nearly invisible made them a dangerous trap. Lee Jia frowned as Eui had to stop to clear another trap, losing even more ground to Bai Lin.

“How does he keep doing that? What are the threads even attached to? They’re in a flat ring!”

Yue bit her thumbnail as she watched, shaking her head slowly.

“I’m even more convinced that it’s a bound spirit. Bai Lin’s threads are created and manipulated by him, but the traps come from something else. A spirit fits—perhaps the same one his technique is based on.”

“So he actually has a spirit fighting on his side? How is that fair?”

Jia got flat looks from Eunae, Rika, and Yue.

“You do realize that you also have a spirit familiar on your side? You’re welcome to have Heian fight for you any time.”

Jia glanced outside, through the window to their courtyard, where she could see Heian being held up as a shield by a five year old girl. The cat-shield was utterly ineffective at protecting Haeun from Chiyo tackling them both to the ground and tickling her mercilessly. Jia turned back to Yue.

“We’ll work on that.”

Focusing back on the fight, things suddenly took a turn for the worse as Eui cut down another obstacle, only to catch her ankle as she stepped past it. She growled in frustration and slashed the threads entangling her with her tail before stepping forward and finding her other ankle caught. Each time she freed one limb, another would be caught until she was slowly overtaken. The threads cut her skin as she struggled, and it soon became clear that she was trapped.

“No!”

Jia stood up as she cried out, her expression turning from worry to terror as Bai Lin slowly approached Eui’s trapped form. Eui glared at him defiantly as the Bai Lin’s threads caught the light and matched the glint in his eye. His mouth moved, and though Jia couldn’t hear through the formation, she could read his lips.

“Well, that was a fun little diversion. Now, shall we begin the real fun?”