The fort House Ishida’s troops were stationed in what looked like a remodeled cathedral. Gray, carved stone spires were now battlements, and the circular windows of stained glass had morphed into firing spots for great ballistas. Their forces held their end of one of the large, arched bridges that crossed the Partus River, the fort standing in the middle of the road leading to the bridge. Canals flowed on either side of the bridge and fort, the water diverted into the city’s districts dedicated to farmland.

Ryu’s group was met with a cheer. Soldiers- all of them marked with the blue ribbon of House Ishida- welcomed their young commanders back at the gate to the walled fort, and two men stood at their head. One was a man with greying hair and stern features. The other looked similar to Kaito, only with softer, younger features. Both were dressed in heavy lamellar armor.

“Brother,” the man- who Ryu assumed was Asahi- said, rushing to his brother. The elder, however, had eyes only for Ryu.

“I didn’t believe it at first, but Gods, you’re a spitting image of Haru,” the graying man grunted.

“Ryu,” Inosuke said. “This is Elder Daisuke. As you can see, he’s not the most formal of men, but-”

“Save it for when I’m dead, boy.”

Inosuke grinned. “He’s also my father.”

Ryu dismounted, and a soldier led his horse off to the fort’s stables. Daisuke barked and ordered the rest of the soldiers back to their posts, leaving Ryu with the elder, Kaito, Asahi, Inosuke, and Emiko. Den had stayed behind at the keep, her Class ill-suited to fighting.

“It’s good to see you kids again, though I hope you haven’t grown soft on me with all that rest,” Daisuke said.

“It was only three days,” Kaito said.

“Where’s your armor, then?”

Taking the hint, Ryu summoned his armor from his storage ring. A black scale dropped into his hand. He touched it to his chest, and its enchantment activated, the black metal armor growing and rippling across his body. He was left in a series of interlocking metal plates, the gaps in his armor filled by rippling scales. To prevent anyone from associating him with Ender, he let the glowing blue runes on his armor shine and prevented the metal mask from growing across his features, letting his face remain uncovered. The armor was the last piece he had commissioned from Ellie, the smith he knew in the Fifth Ring.

The others looked at him with grins. “That’s pretty badass,” Inosuke said.

“Thanks,” Ryu muttered, buckling his sword back on. It was annoying having to take it off every time he summoned the armor, but one could not have everything. It was not like he would use it much against the Bugs, anyways. He had neither the Skills or the Techniques to make it pierce the alien’s carapace, and there were better weapons to use with his cultivated strength.

Daisuke led them into the fort and into the command room, a large office-like room with a large map, table, and interface that allowed one to use the fort’s enchantments. The Qi requirements for a building’s enchantments were high, and most of them could only be activated when needed.

“You two need to see to your men,” the elder said, pointing at Emiko and Kaito. “Asahi’s done a pretty good job in your stead, but it’s not great for morale to let someone else watch your units. Makes them feel unimportant.”

“Yes, sir,” the two said, bowing and leaving the room. Asahi followed. Daisuke turned to Inosuke.

“I’ve picked out a few good soldiers for you to make a squad out of. Maybe they’ll help you quit biting off more than you can chew. I’ve put them in the barracks with Kaito’s men. Asahi will know the ones.”

Inosuke bowed with this dismissal and left, too. The graying man gave Ryu an assessing look.

“Level?” he asked

“Master Class.”

“Want command?”

Ryu shook his head. “Rather not. You seem to be doing a better job than I could.” It was true. The soldiers were disciplined and focused, and Ryu had not seen an idle hand once Daisuke had commanded them to head back to their posts.

The man nodded. “Then I’d like for you to take charge of Inosuke’s group. Little runt seems to like you, and we need someone to meet the Bugs’ heavy hitters. If I summon my officers, I want you here, too.”

Ryu was not a man for orders and structure like an army had. Daisuke seemed to realize that, and his offer was an acknowledgement of that. He was willing to treat Ryu like a separate commander, allowing him to act as he saw fit. Despite his thoughts about honor, he would still need to win some ‘glory’ to accomplish his and Lucius’s plan. Which meant fighting and lots of it.

Ender smiled in his chamber in Ryu’s mind. Good, good. It’s been too long since we’ve fought. Ryu ignored the devil, giving the elder a bow and leaving the room after receiving directions.

He did not make it far. A servant waited for him in the hall, eyeing Ryu’s armor with a nervous glance.

“What is it, then?” Ryu asked, trying his best not to sound rude. The man was doing his job, and his impatience had little to do with the innocent man.

“Apologies, milord. Lady Emiko requests your presence in her quarters.”

“Lead me, please,” Ryu said after a moment. He was wondering if she would want to talk. If he was honest, he had planned on just ignoring the girl, even if she was his sister. She was better never knowing him.

The servant led him through the large halls, his eyes never straying too far from the checkered marble floor below. Ryu was unwilling to disturb the silence, lost in his thoughts as he was. He had ignored the Bugs for too long, treating them as an outlet for his anger rather than a credible threat. That would have to change. Lucius was focused on the Lord’s Flock, saying they were a threat to humanity, but what about once they were handled? The Bugs were too large a threat to ignore. Hells, their goal was to take the reward his people climbed the Rings to receive. And the only way to secure the future of his own was to kill…

Should just stick to violence, Ender said to him. I find it’s a great deal simpler than philosophy.

Ryu ignored him. The servant stopped and bowed in front of a dark wooden door, ripping him from his thoughts. A disappointment, to be sure, but then, they were the only company Ryu kept these days. Supposed he fit in.

After a hard knock, the hefty wooden door slid open. His bastard sister, Emiko, stood in scaled metal armor. Two swords hung from her waist, one short and one long. She greeted him with a nod, and his feet carried him into the utilitarian sitting room. The door closed behind him.

“Thank you for coming,” she said, her voice as neutral as her expression.

“So Haru’s your dad?”

“W-what?” Good. She was not completely without emotion, then.

Ryu sighed. “Not interested in the whole song and dance. Look like Haru’s kid, simple enough. What did you need?”

She slumped into one of the leather chairs in the stone room. “Seems like you’ve already guessed it, then. I’m your sister. Your half, illegitimate sister,” she said with a sigh.

“Nice to meet you.” It turned out Ryu was no less awkward in the presence of family.

“If you want the Sword position, I-”

“I don’t,” he said, cutting her off with a slight smile. “I don’t even want to see Haru again, if I’m honest.”

“And here I thought he was only a dick to me.” They both laughed. He revised his opinion. For meeting a sister he had never met, things were going well, enough.

“So,” Ryu said after a moment, “how did that conversation go?”

She thought for a moment. “As well as yours, I’d imagine. He told me I was his kid, said he liked the way I fought, and then made the offer for me to be the new Sword Initiate. Apparently the previous one never came back.”

“The swords aren’t for decoration then?”

She smiled, the expression strange on her taciturn face. “Would you like a demonstration?”

Ryu supposed siblings did need some sort of bonding exercise, even if the two siblings happened to be in their twenties.

The fort’s practice yard was a pit of packet dirt in one of the courtyards between the building’s wings. Ryu and Emiko had exchanged their blades for ones of blunted steel, and the two siblings stood opposed from each other. Ryu, armed with a long, two-handed sword, felt a little foolish, the eyes gazing from the windows heavy on his back. His opponent seemed to have no care for his misgivings, however.

“First to disable the other?” Emiko asked, looking more relaxed with a sword in either hand.

“Aye.” Ryu felt his enthusiasm fleeing by the second, but he gave his sister a half-hearted smile, nonetheless.

“With or without Skills?”

“Without.” How many of his peers had he dueled under similar rules? His excitement had trickled away by this point, leaving him feeling a shadow of a man. Emiko seemed to have less reservations.

Her shorter sword pestered his own blade, trying to make an opening for her longer sword to take advantage. Ryu found he was in little mood to wait, however. His sword knocked her blade aside and found its edge tickling her neck in a brief moment. He had meant to hold back, but now he just wanted to be done, regretting even starting. It took him a moment to notice the steel touching his own neck.

“Fast,” he grunted.

She smiled. “Not quite as fast as you, though I suspect my swordplay might be a bit better.”

“Been a while, if I’m honest.”

“Oh yeah,” she said with a smirk. “Then what do you normally use?”

“An axe.”

“Izuku!” Emiko barked. “Bring me one of those blunted axes from the storage room.”

One of the soldiers by the door to the courtyard hurried away. He felt a bit of his enthusiasm crawl back. Aye, life was full of worries and disappointments, but for these moments, he could enjoy his time getting to know his sister.

Emiko was good. Very good. She was probably better than he ever would have been with a sword, and if he slowed himself down to her level, she was competitive with his axe. Of course, she was still a bit hesitant, but that was fine. The lack of killing instinct was a flaw more people should have, himself included.

“So what are you to do?” she asked him later, leaning against the wall of the courtyard.

“Kill whatever you guys can’t, I guess.” He felt better, he had to admit. Time spent with family was rarely wasted, and in a different world, he might have chosen that sort of life. The Rings was a brutal world, however. Ryu’s rest would come when he returned to the dirt.

“Then I suppose I’ll leave you to find your squadmates then. You… You wouldn’t mind doing this again, would you?”

Ryu looked at his sister then. Hard. Gods, but she was young, just past twenty. She had much to learn, and he was afraid what would come of her learning it from him.

“No, I wouldn’t mind at all.” Weak. He was weak, not even strong enough to do what was best for his family. He swallowed his guilt, smiling as if to prove it to himself it was gone.

Emiko nodded. “Good. I look forward to it, brother.”

The barracks of the fort were underground, built into the basements of the cathedral. The arched ceilings above became flat, bricked ceilings below, and if one wanted to look through a stained glass window, they were but a staircase away. It was no exaggeration to say the barracks were stripped of elegance, but for all its lacking in graceful architecture, the squat rooms had a comfortable feel.

Soft orange lights and heat enchantments gave the room warmth, and in the common area outside the bunks, soldiers played dice and cards at small tables, gambling away their wealth with the recklessness only found in men and women who were unsure if they would make it home. Ryu found Inosuke at one such table, laughing with two other soldiers.

“Ryu,” the short man called. “Come to join us?”

“Aye, Daisuke assigned me to your squad,” he said.

Inosuke shook his head. “Oh, no, my friend. I’m assigned to you quad. Dad’s been trying to get me in command for years, but he won’t get me as easy as he did Kaito. But forgive me. Allow me to introduce your squad members, Chou and Genji.”

“Pleased to meet you, milord.” Chou was a wiry woman, her brown hair looking like it’d been cut by a knife. She had a roguish smile, and from the looks of things, she had robbed Inosuke of half his fortune.

The other soldier, Genji, grasped Ryu’s hand in a firm handshake, dipping his head. “Greetings, milord,” he said. He was shorter than Ryu but taller than Inosuke, and his frame seemed more suited to a mage Class, despite the daggers at his side.

“No need for the my lords,” Ryu said. Soldiers, for better or worse, seemed less hung up on formality, and he suspected they would all feel a bit more comfortable without the titles. Ryu did not consider himself a noble, anyways.

“Want to play dice then?” Chou asked.

Inosuke laughed. “Ryu doesn’t seem the type of man to give up all his money, Chou.”

“Like you.”

“Just so,” Inosuke said, still smiling.

“How often do the Bugs raid?” Ryu addressed his question to Genji, allowing the other two to get back to their game.

“Every two weeks or so, though we’ll skirmish more often than that. Sometimes they will go passive for months,” he said with a shrug. “And then our own raids up in frequency.”

“Ever make any progress?”

He frowned. “Some. The fighting along the river is more attritional than anything. Keeps them honest. Real fighting happens in the Circle.”

Ryu nodded. The Circle was a contested district in the center of the Sixth, the river splitting on either side of it. It was named after the famous dueling pits of the First, and true to its name, the Circle was where the most intense fighting occurred. All of the Big Seven- minus Ryu, of course- fought there.

Their talk continued like that for a while, the soldiers winding down around them. Ryu and Inosuke had chambers in the fort above, but he would not be surprised if the short man ended up passing out amongst the tables and chairs of the common area. Inosuke was a man who could not hold his liquor, it seemed.

As the night wore on, Ryu said his farewells to his squad and the other soldiers. Sleep was a nebulous companion at the best of times, and tonight, he was hoping to find it.