Viola tried to stay calm as she took steady strides, her go-go boots crunching dead leaves with each step.

Davis and the blond man followed her for safety reasons. They were on their own and had to be cautious while in a place like San Desquiciado, so sticking together raised their chances of survival, as little as it was.

The closer they got to Lord Xavion, the heavier his pressure weighed down on them as he watched from his elevated throne. The blond man shuddered from the first impression he got when the Tyrant first displayed his fearsome ability. Davis grew anxious from the previous information he had on the Tyrant. And as for Viola, she understood his abilities the most. If he turned out to be the very person she suspected him to be, things were bound to get worse.

Fanatics marched in with weapons raised and blocked their path. Davis held his tongue between his teeth as he slowly reached for the longsword strapped to his back. The blond man was reluctant to fight because of his incomplete recovery but prepared to defend himself if things got messy. Viola looked one fanatic in the eye. In an instant, he became hesitant to join his comrades in their approach.

“Stand aside!” Lord Xavion swiped a hand. “It is beyond unwise to go against someone like her unless I demand it. For now, allow her and her companions to pass.”

The fanatics parted and cleared a path toward their Tyrant without the slightest delay. Viola, Davis, and the blond man proceeded, and the breathing space they were given felt like they no longer had anything to worry about. Almost.

Then Viola stopped after reaching a fair distance away from Lord Xavion. She was far enough to flee if she had to, but also near enough for her voice to be heard. Slowly raising her hands and holding them upfront, she brought them together.

Her straightened left hand pressed at an angle against her right fist. It was a gesture Davis had already seen a couple of times.

“Uh, I’m not saying you’re stupid or anything, but I wouldn’t salute the guy who just tried to kill us,” he said.

“The Shǔxiàng salute isn’t just a greeting,” Viola explained, keeping her eyes watchful on the Tyrant. “It can also be used as a warning. If he recognizes that I’m doing the Snake variation, he’ll know what I can do.”

After a moment's hesitation, Lord Xavion gave a response. Some of his fanatics gasped.

The beating in Davis’ chest hammered harder. “He saluted back.”

“True, but it doesn’t look the same,” the blond man added, a little confused. “Compared to Viola’s, he looks more like he’s shaking hands with himself.”

“That’s the Tiger variation of the salute, alright,” Viola furrowed her eyebrows. “And it’s never a good sign if you’re against someone who truly uses it.”

Confusion spread across every fanatic who witnessed this exchange. Some began to gossip over how this was the first time they’d seen their Tyrant perform that hand gesture. Others marveled at how Viola seemed to possess similar powers to him. It also made some wonder if they weren’t trying hard enough on the sacrifices they needed to make to obtain such mystical abilities.

Lord Xavion ended his salute then pointed a hand at Viola.

“You are worthy.”

She grew flustered. “What?”

“Someone of your caliber would make a worthy addition to our brotherhood. The skills you possess may prove helpful in my expedition of this entire district,” Lord Xavion said.

“Thanks for the offer, but no,” Viola replied, her feet starting to carefully rake in every dead leaf her go-go boots could reach. “I only want to know who you are.”

Raising his hand in a manner of showing off his glory, he said, “I am Xavion. No one else.”

“No one else?” Viola questioned. “Even Xadrian Li?”

There was no immediate response. For the second time in a row, the fanatics were appalled by a tremor in their Tyrant’s composure.

“I… am not…” Lord Xavion’s voice cracked for a moment before it regained its deep and authoritarian tone, “…going to answer more of your questions.” He turned away. “However, I might change my mind if you were to join my side right now. Your two friends are also welcome, so long as you are included.”

Now it was Viola’s turn to hesitate.

“Are you having a hard time saying, ‘yes?’” Lord Xavion asked ironically. “Then allow me to make it easier.”

Not many fanatics heard the snap of his fingers, but when a few started to mobilize, the rest began to follow. It wasn’t long before their numbers surrounded the trio many times over.

“Clearly, there is something you want from me, and there is something I want from you,” Lord Xavion urged. “Say what I want to hear, and I will make my followers stop.”

“I…”

Before Viola could do anything, Davis acted in her stead and tossed the last flash grenade he had. He’d been saving its use for a time when he’d truly need it, and a horde he and his companions shouldn’t be able to fight their way out of had to be it.

The flash grenade hovered in its rise through the air, only for its payload of light to be smothered by a blast of yin qi roughly the same size as the grenade.

Davis gawked. “What the hell?! Those flash grenades were designed to explode if something tried to destroy them!”

“I didn’t destroy your little toy,” Lord Xavion said. “I erased it. Mary Glow once tried to riddle holes in my army with rocket launchers, but I proved to her they were just throwing loads of firepower away for nothing. Now then.” He shifted his focus toward Viola. “Are you finally going to say that one word?”

The army fanatics began marching forward. Davis, Viola, and the blond man compressed back-to-back-to-back in a triangle formation.

Then Viola spoke.

“Both of you, shield your eyes.”

Lord Xavion slammed a pair of fists coated in yin qi and partially broke the armrests of his throne. “Wait, that was six words, and none of them were right!”

“《 鼠的 Path of the Rat: Nature’s Bewilderment! 路徑》”

Aiming at the pile of leaves gathered near her feet, Viola kicked them straight up then performed a spinning wheel kick to spread them out wide.

As if being painted into the air, the leaves scattered in front of her like a wall before they began fluttering down.

“That technique!” Lord Xavion tensed. “Heed me, my brethren! Focus on one leaf, and do not take your eyes off it until it reaches the ground!”

His word was their command. The fanatics picked the first leaf in their sights and watched its mesmerizing descent.

◆◇◆

One fanatic was almost done following his Tyrant’s orders. The leaf he picked was just about to touch the street—only for his concentration to be interrupted by a knife stab to his back! As blood leaked out his mouth, the fanatic struggled to look left and saw that the person who attacked him and smiled at his pain was wearing street clothes decorated in neon paint.

It couldn’t be.

A delinquent from Mary Glow’s crew had somehow slipped into their ranks and took the chance to assassinate him, but the fanatic saw a bright side even though he felt his life slipping away. Now that the delinquent had revealed himself, he was now an easy target to the rest of his fellow fanatics.

…

Anytime now.

…

Nothing changed.

Why was no one avenging him and attacking the delinquent? He was right there for everyone to see!

The fanatic surveyed his surroundings and was horror-struck.

He was no longer in a huge crowd with his fellow fanatics but in a huge crowd of delinquents with Mary Glow now seated on Lord Xavion’s throne. How was it possible? He was with his allies not too many seconds ago, and he hadn’t moved away. It was definitely impossible for all of them to be suddenly replaced with enemies in such a short amount of time.

And speaking of time, he was close to drawing his last breath. As one final act of vengeance, the fanatic drew out the rest of his strength and stabbed his knife into the chest of a delinquent who attacked him.

It was a clean strike. His chosen target didn’t even try to defend himself. All he did was clutch the knife sticking out of his chest before he died.

The vengeful fanatic succumbed to his fatal wound, smiling that he was at least able to score one more kill before it was all over. Lord Xavion was definitely going to carry him to the afterlife for fighting until the end.

◆◇◆

“I am not carrying them to the afterlife…”

Lord Xavion, still seated on his throne, smacked a palm to his shadowed face after bearing witness to a ridiculous sight.

A chunk of his army, those closest to Viola, Davis, and the blond man had suddenly started killing amongst themselves in cold blood.

“Exalted one,” a perplexed Gerard approached him near his throne and asked, “what just happened?”

“That girl subjected them to an illusion,” Lord Xavion explained with a growl. “The fluttering leaves will hypnotize anyone who watched them fall. She must have made our brothers and sisters imagine each other as enemies, which explains why they are now killing each other. I tried to instruct everyone on how to counter the illusion, but it’s clear many of them failed to follow me.”

“Why wasn’t I affected then?” Gerard asked next. “I saw the leaves too.”

“Then you weren’t close enough to be hypnotized. Those leaves were too poor and that girl isn’t a master of that technique, unlike someone else I know.”

Having said his piece, Lord Xavion stood up once more from his throne. Without Mary Glow in his sight, he shifted to Viola, who fled while leading Davis and the blond man away from anyone trying to kill each other.

To think you were the one I’d meet again first. It's possible that you're not in league with the other Devas. Perhaps this is fate, Viola.

◆◇◆

“Keep your eyes closed and run with me. Don’t worry. It won’t be long before you can open them again.”

Viola had grabbed Davis and the blond man by their arms and tried to lead them out of the dangerous battlefield. She could only imagine the worry permeating their heads as they narrowly avoided several fanatics who were in the middle of trying to kill or stop killing each other while under the effects of her illusion.

A bit of resistance pulled her right arm.

“I’m not leaving without the weapon case!” Davis protested.

“Can’t you just forget about it?!” Viola argued. “We need to leave this place, now!”

Davis continued to resist. “It took a lot of me and a special reason to come here, and I’m not throwing it away! Besides, the case is not too far from us. If we have it, I can promise you we’ll be safer!”

Viola gave it some thought, then stopped running. “Okay, but you better make it count.” She turned the other way and led her two companions back to the destroyed pipe organ and away from the illusory effects of the technique she used. “You guys can open your eyes now.”

Immediately after Davis allowed himself to see, he grabbed hold of the weapon case’s handlebar and tried to pull.

“Grr… It’s stuck! I need some help!”

At the same time, a pack of fanatics charged their way. They’d seen what Viola did with those leaves, and they weren’t pleased to see some of their friends killing each other.

Viola shifted into a fighting stance and prepared to reluctantly fend them off, only for an arm to block her.

“It’s time I lent you two a hand,” the blond man said. He urged Davis to move aside and curled the fingers of his gauntlet around the weapon case’s handlebar. His left hand held his right forearm instead of helping.

“Just what are you doing?” Davis asked skeptically.

“Killing two birds with one stone. Now duck.”

With a deep heave that turned into a yell, the blond man pulled the entire weapon case out of the organ’s wreckage by himself, then swung the big mass of metal at the fanatics to send them flying. Davis avoided the attack thanks to the blond man’s warning, but it was a lie to say he wasn’t surprised at what just happened.

“Phew… I was not a hundred percent sure I’d pull that off, but here we are,” the blond man said with a sigh, then turned to Davis and Viola. “You two alright?”

The way their lower jaws just dropped was amusing.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Davis was the first to break out of his trance. He held his hands parallel to each other. “You’re actually that strong?! You should’ve been the one pushing the weapon case with me, not Viola!”

“My legs haven’t fully recovered yet,” the blond man reminded him. “Walking’s fine for me now, but I still don’t think I can run. I would’ve slowed you down.”

“Anyway, Davis,” Viola got between them. “We got your case back, so let’s go!”

Narrowly avoiding every fanatic locked in combat, Davis and Viola ran side-by-side while pulling the weapon case between them. As for the blond man, he was back to hitching a ride on the big object.

“I’m seeing fewer people,” Viola announced as they covered more distance and swerved through the chaos. It looks like we’re gonna make it!”

“I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT!”

A distorted voice, full of anger, enticed the trio to look back.

Lord Xavion had adopted a stance. Yin qi began to coalesce between his hands. There was no doubt that he intended to strike from a distance.

“Please don’t do this!” Viola pleaded.

“Fear not. You’re going to live,” Lord Xavion assured her. “BUT I CANNOT SAY THE SAME FOR YOUR FRIEND IN THE TACKY CLOTHING!”

Davis endured the worrying chill in his spine. “You’re not talking about me, right? I mean, a print of Angel-Tan makes any shirt look good…”

“THINK AGAIN!”

The gathered yin qi compressed themselves into a sphere.

“《 虎的 Path of the Tiger: Rancor Seeker! 路徑》”

Instead of hurling his sphere of yin qi like a conventional attack, Lord Xavion slid into a pose and allowed it to gently float away from his faced-up palm. To Viola, it was like releasing a bird back into the wild in an unnecessarily dramatic fashion. That also helped her recognize its function.

“Davis! That technique will hunt you down until it kills you, so dodging it won’t work!”

“No…” he uttered. "You mean, this is it for me?!”

The sphere of yin qi left Lord Xavion’s hand and went straight for its target, gaining a surprising boost to its speed. It also expanded to a size big enough to swallow Davis whole. Davis didn’t bother to move. As Viola had stated, trying to dodge was supposed to be useless, and since she knew more about that technique than he did, she was probably right.

Davis took what little time he had left to get one last glimpse at Viola’s face.

You’re worried for me, huh? As much of a sad sight that is, I’m happy to know that’s how you feel about me.

He then closed his eyes to think of another friend.

Lucas… see ya, buddy.

A hollow noise rang.

Davis thought to himself, so that’s what it sounds like when it hits its target. Pretty cool, even though it was meant for me.

His thoughts continued to wander.

Huh, it’s painless. It’s like I’m not feeling anything at all. Wait a minute…

His eyes opened.

And there was the blond man, standing between him and the sphere, gritting his teeth as the sphere’s abyssal matter absorbed his right arm.

“So, he took my attack in place of his friend…” Lord Xavion mused. “Admirable… but foolish!” His pale hands came together again and began accumulating yin qi for another Rancor Seeker.

The blond man’s legs were shaking. His injury that night played a part, but it was mostly because of what might happen to his right arm.

“What were you thinking?!” Davis, who should’ve been thankful for the blond man’s intervention, berated him instead. “Lord Xavion’s just going to do the same move again until I’m dead! I mean, seriously, he’s doing that right now!”

“Heh, well I’ll be. You’re right,” the blond man admitted. “I wasn’t thinking straight, and now it’s going to cost me. Biggest thing in my head that moment, you see, was how much I wished you and I could’ve ended things on a better note. Thought I’d try to make it up to you by giving you a slightly longer life.”

Davis said nothing but looked to the ground, struggling with mixed emotions for the blond man who continued to sink deeper into the yin qi sphere.

“You hate me because I intend to trade your friend for someone precious to me. I don’t blame you. You have every right to feel that way. But it looks like you won’t have to worry about Lucas anymore because you don’t have to bring him to Logen if I’m not around to take my wife back.”

More of the blond man got engulfed into the yin qi sphere, which now went beyond his shoulder and began a creep up his neck. He pulled his head back and tried to prolong the moment before he was inevitably swallowed whole.

“Davis, this just might be my last request. Even if my sacrifice amounts to nothing, at least let me go with content.”

A few seconds later, Davis spoke.

“Tha—”

He lifted his head and realized he was too late.

The blond man was already gone. All that was left from where he once stood was the yin qi sphere, which slowly began to disintegrate after erasing something roughly proportional to its size.

“No…” Davis lamented at first but then clenched his fists. “Dammit… Thank you for saving me! As pointless as it must feel right now for you, thank you for saving me!”

A hand grabbed his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“In the end, you did what he wanted,” Viola consoled him. “I’m sure he’s grateful, even if he didn’t hear you.”

“Oh, I heard him loud and clear.” A posh voice said, no longer reeking of fear. “Davis, you’re very welcome!”

““What?!”’

Something punched its way out of the yin qi sphere’s wispy outer layer, much to the shock of everyone, especially Lord Xavion.

It was a right fist, clad in a gauntlet accented with gold. After a lashing swing, the yin qi sphere imploded with black light, and in its place stood the blond man, completely unscathed!

“Well, that sure didn’t feel like a picnic,” he said. “But it looks like this is a sign that it’s not time for me to die yet. Hmm?” He checked on Davis and Viola and once again had some trouble stifling a laugh over their amusingly shocked faces. “You two alright?”

He did get some words for an answer, but what came first was a seething longsword coming out of its scabbard.

“Y-y-you played me?!” Davis barked. “You piece of shit!”

“Easy now!” the blond man pleaded, walling his hands up. “I really did gamble my life! It was only when I was absolutely sure I was gonna make it did I decide to pay you back, you know, for turning me into a pincushion for splintered wood?”

Davis sheathed his sword back, accepting that they were now even at least from his perspective. “Fine.”

“This shouldn’t have happened,” Viola claimed, still not entirely out of her shock and awe. “Yin qi erases everything it strikes.”

“Is that so?” The blond man approached her and Davis and showed them his right arm. “Then it looks like I’m the first to show you an exception. This here gauntlet’s the reason why I’ve survived a lot of things. Nice to know that even mystical crap is included.”

To Viola, that explained a few things during her treatment of the blond man back in the armory. To Davis, that only made his interest in the gauntlet spike up to higher levels. Maybe keeping the blond man around a little longer wouldn’t be so bad, especially since he now had a means of protection.

Like, right now.

“《 虎的 Path of the Tiger: Rancor Seeker! 路徑》”

Lord Xavion yelled the technique’s name with all his might, and a new sphere of yin qi warped toward Davis much faster than before.

That was his cue. The blond man trudged between Davis and the sphere as fast as he could and faced it head-on. He arched the fingers on his right hand, triggering the arrow-shaped shield on his gauntlet’s forearm to expand to almost double its size.

His shoes screeched off the ground as the sphere collided with his gauntlet, but it didn’t take even a second before he found himself holding it back despite his weakened legs. With a hard push and an invigorating yell, the blond man struck the sphere like it was a physical object, imploding it for the second time before everyone’s eyes, especially Lord Xavion’s.

“Wicked sick…” Davis marveled at the feat before calling out to Viola and the blond man. “Alright, you guys. Let’s head for the exit!”

They prepared to run away once more, but as soon as they turned away from one army, another one blocked their path and left them petrified.

Mary Glow had returned with more reinforcements from the western district. Apparently, what recently went on with Lord Xavion’s faction allowed her to retreat and regroup her army. Not as many as she wanted answered her call to action, but worrying about the others had to be saved for later. Her arch-nemesis’ pipe organ was finally destroyed, which meant her crew could now fight at their best.

The turf war started anew as both Lord Xavion’s and Mary Glow’s factions charged toward the other for another clash — with Davis, Viola, and the blond man in the middle of that crossfire.