The masked mystic cried out, falling to the ground in an attempt to extinguish the unnatural fire. Seira clenched her fist, causing the flames to roar even higher.

"What do you want with us?"

She took a step forwards, only to fall back as another dozen fireballs raced towards them.

Three more attackers fell from the sky, appearing out of thin air. A wave of heat radiated off of them as they moved to protect their fallen companion.

Kiro hefted his blade, chugging the rest of his elixir. "You don't think Aer would be near enough to notice them, do you?"

She grinned, opening her mana sense. "I don't think so."

They were outnumbered, fatigued, and they only had about half their cores' worth of mana recovered. They didn't know how many more masked opponents were waiting for them, and their greatest protector has just left. Yet, despite all that, she was looking forwards to this. It was time to see how far she had truly come.

She flared her aura, and she felt Kiro do the same.

"On three?"

He nodded. She tensed, circulating her mana throughout her body.

"Three."

They charged, techniques flying. A brilliant emerald shower pelted the masked cultivators, followed shortly by a crimson slash. Without missing a beat, their opponents retaliated, combining their might in a billowing wave of orange fire. Kiro threw an alchemical solution, clearing their way with a burst of blue fog.

A masked woman appeared from the debris, launching a devastating strike with a claymore.

Efficiency means bending alongside the flow of battle, like the wind.

Seira vaulted over her, flipping midair to land a crushing blow with the pommel of her sword. A fireball came at her from behind, but she had anticipated that. Her free hand came out, catching the attack and redirecting it towards the remaining squad of mystics. She winced, shaking her hand. That had been harder than she had thought.

A glass bottle smashed beneath her feet, and she took a deep breath. The last time they had used this attack, she had just ignited the mana indiscriminately for a blazing expansion. However, there was a better way to use the sudden concentration of ambient mana.

She clenched her jaw, forcing the airborne energy to comply to her will. Her spirit strained at the effort, but the mana was instantly shaped into the form of a cone. With a snap, the end of the improvised technique ignited, causing a chain reaction throughout the structure.

If it wasn't for Kiro's jade slip, they wouldn't have ever thought of this technique. In the blink of an eye, the mana reacted, pushing a concentrated blast of fire out through the point of the cone. A masked man pulled out a talisman to block it, but the rune-engraved paper crumbled under their attack's power. He was sent flying out of the clearing, blood streaming from his mouth.

Kiro appeared beside her, his legs alight with fire mana. "It worked!"

"It did!" She smiled, advancing upon the lone cultivator guarding the first masked mystic.

"Now, I don't want to hurt you, but you clearly wanted to hurt us, so I won't hesitate. Why are you here?"

The woman trembled, her aura flickering. "They — they didn't tell me that both of you would be this powerful!"

Why did her voice sound familiar? Was it… No! She needed to concentrate. She conjured a handful of flame, holding it up to the mystic. "And who exactly is 'they'?"

Their assailant shook her head, snarling. "No. I won't tell you. She wouldn't like it if I —"

The woman's aura stabilized, and Seira threw herself behind a nearby boulder. Kiro landed a split second after her, narrowly avoiding the flaming lances that tore through the air behind them. The masked woman from the first group grabbed her fallen companion, disappearing back into nothingness.

Were they going back into the void?

Kiro blocked a stream of fire with his blade, gritting his teeth. Well, at least that explained some things. Still, that meant they were facing opponents that were powerful enough to do that unaided.

She peeked out from behind their rocky cover, assessing the situation. Another half dozen masked mystics were launching techniques at them, ranging from flaming serpents to conjured arrows to arcs of blue fire that resembled crescent moons. Wait, crescent moons?

A blazing tiger passed inches from her arm, scorching the edges of her sleeves.

"Seira!" Kiro yelled.

"Sorry!" She yelped, ducking back behind the boulder. "We need to get out somehow!"

He nodded, reaching inside his bag of holding. "Their attacks are too strong to take head on, but they seem to only use fire. If they can't sense us through the air or earth, I can provide a distraction for long enough to get you close. What then?"

She smirked. "Kiro, you know how well I do against hordes of enemies."

He let out a laugh. "Right. Just remember that these enemies probably have more mana than you do, unlike those rock beasts."

He smashed a gray concoction, releasing a plume of dense fog. She could hear the masked mystics' exclamations of surprise, as well as feel their scattered attacks as they made a futile attempt at hitting them. A second later, she ran. Bursts of green light flashed in her palms, propelling her forwards at a prodigious rate.

Kiro shouted, smashing another bottle to neutralize the fog. A wave of blue passed through the cloud surrounding her, leaving clear air wherever it passed.

Time for her to act. The azure radiance passed over her, letting her see clearly once more. In an instant, she jumped up, pushing herself further with her movement technique. As the green faded from her hands, she activated her shroud.

When her opponents' vision cleared, all they would see would be a veridian comet crashing down upon them. A barrage of flames rushed towards her, but all it took was a quick redirection with her movement technique to avoid them.

Her heart pounded, and killing intent spilled out from her in waves. A quarterstaff rose to meet her, but she twisted midair, avoiding it by a hair's breadth and slamming its wielder down with a kick.

This rush, this exhilaration, this anticipation — was this the flow of battle?

Kiro came to a stop next to her, clashing blades with another masked woman. The same instant, she brought her hands out, blasting two attackers away with a concussive boom.

Another tried to reach her, but she was too fast for him. Three consecutive blows landed on him — one from her fist and two from the flat of her blade. A fan of white fire descended upon her, but she flipped upwards, passing by two fireballs in the process. Kiro appeared beside her once more, and she launched herself off of his sword.

The battle started blending together, one slash flowing into two strikes which flowed into three techniques. More opponents appeared from the void, but none of them managed to land a hit on her. She dodged and weaved between techniques like a dancer, and Kiro was always right where she needed him.

They fought in perfect sync, as if they were in fact one mind controlling two bodies. Enemy after enemy threw themselves at them, and enemy after enemy was downed. The ground was littered with injured, and though the masked cultivators tried to rescue their fallen when they could, that just gave her another opening to strike.

Eventually, whether it was after minutes or hours, the battle slowed. Kiro gulped down a final elixir, knocking his final opponent to the ground without even looking.

Seira pointed her blade at the last of the masked cultivators, pulling on the last dregs of mana in her core to conjure a shaky flame. "If I see the slightest hint of you jumping back into the void, this blade goes straight into your heart. Now tell me: who are you?"

The woman laughed, putting her arms up. "Seira, I have no intention of running. Oh, you've grown so strong!"

That voice. The blue crescent flames. The fact that their opponents only used fire mana.

The woman pulled her mask off, revealing crimson eyes and a head of red-and-black hair.

"Now, let's stop this silly fighting. Why don't we go back home?" said Hong Tang Leila.