Leon watched with much conflict as the Sky Devils rampaged through the impressive defenses of Argos. On the one hand, he wasn’t all that keen on seeing the Imperials slaughtered, but neither did he want any potential powerbase he could build in the Sky Devils to be ravaged—not until he’d met with them and determined how much sway he potentially held over them, at least.

In some respects, though, he was utterly fascinated by the assault. The opportunity to see Imperial defenses tested and broken through was a fantastic learning experience. He’d heard great things about the power of the Empires, and yet here were the Sky Devils, their eternal enemy, smashing through them with almost insulting ease. It was surprising and enlightening all at once.

And then Leon saw a ninth-tier mage fall at the hands of another. It had been a terrific battle of intense magic—the man with the cat helmet’s red lightning in particular grabbing his interest—that ended in the Imperial’s defeat. Even now, the Imperials were falling back to pre-arranged points along the path to the citadel, the original fortress that had been erected on this site thousands of years ago.

The Sky Devils had made good progress, but the fortress was a maze of walls, towers, and secured baileys. The fortress complex itself was made of more than a hundred heavily reinforced buildings, providing all the living and working space the city’s massive garrison needed. In short, Leon couldn’t imagine how the Sky Devils could possibly take it.

It seemed that the ninth-tier red lightning cat guy agreed, for as the Imperials retreated following the loss of their commander and many of their higher-ranking mages, the cat guy turned in the direction of the Heaven’s Eye enclave, and his aura seemed to turn black with killing intent. Leon’s magic senses were lost in the swirling maelstrom of his aura, not quite blinding him, but certainly making him feel just a little nauseous as the man’s eyes, hidden behind his helmet, unmistakably fell upon him.

Leon had been watching with a fascinated smile, taking everything in as it came and committing the sight to memory. Now, however, he recognized what was about to happen. The Sky Devils weren’t going to march to the citadel, but were instead heading to the Heaven’s Eye enclave.

Fear, confusion, curiosity, and excitement flooded him, this eclectic blend of emotions causing his smile to widen slightly as the cat guy started leading his troops through the streets in his direction.

“Everyone, get ready!” Leon thundered, and he reached up into the overcast sky. There were clouds of water and smoke up there, as well as the foreign magic of Cat Helmet, but Leon forced his own magic into the clouds and felt much of Cat Helmet’s power give way.

The armored man paused as he walked toward the enclave and cocked his head in what looked like surprise, and then a wave of magic power exploded out from him, clearly determined to take back control of the skies.

Leon, without moving a muscle, fought back. Cat Helmet was strong, stronger than he was, and clearly held an Inherited Bloodline. But Leon was the descendant of the Thunderbird, and he wasn’t going to just cede control of his domain to anyone else. He pushed back, and his and Cat Helmet’s power began wrestling in the sky above, causing the clouds to swirl and natural lightning to fall upon the buildings between them. The buildings in Argos, heavily reinforced with magic, began crumbling under this onslaught of power, and the lightning strikes started a few fires here and there.

Behind him, Leon could sense the enclave’s defenders making their last preparations as the Tower Lord and Penelope got everyone organized. It seemed that they understood that he was already locked in battle with the Sky Devils and couldn’t take command as his rank would require, so were stepping up in his place.

He was grateful, as it gave him more than enough time to prepare himself to fight a ninth-tier mage.

He couldn’t lie to himself; he was terrified. As much as he wanted to meet the Sky Devils, he’d always hoped that it would be under more ideal circumstances. Circumstances that he could control by approaching them first rather than standing against them on the battlefield. This was not how he wanted his Clan’s former vassals to learn about his existence…

… Though, the more he thought about it, the more he kind of liked it. If he were able to live long enough, fight against this guy with the aid of the Heaven’s Eye mages at his back, then he might make a good impression, let them know that while he was young, he was anything but weak or powerless.

His hopes of that happening diminished when a number of Sky Devils arrived, reinforcing Cat Helmet’s already considerable host. They’d drawn close enough by this point that even with the sounds of battle out at sea and the lightning and thunder between them, Leon was able to just barely hear the eighth-tier Sky Devil mutter as he joined Cat Helmet at the front of their host, “Oh my, oh my, that young boy there is just the bird I told you about!”

His tone and demeanor were soft and delicate, but Leon didn’t for a moment think that this eighth-tier Sky Devil was either of those things. His aura was powerful and laced with some of the most potent killing intent Leon had ever felt.

‘Ah, shit,’ he thought to himself as Cat Helmet barely even appeared to react to this other man’s statement. ‘Shit, shit, shit. I’ll be lucky if this goes well…’

He glanced around at him, at the hundreds of Heaven’s Eye warriors arrayed in the courtyard, at the hundreds more on the wall, all ready to defend the enclave. He glanced back out at the city, registering again the citizens of Argos that were, even now, being herded onto Sky Devil transports, fleeing the city, or hunkering down, terrified. And he wondered if there was anything at all that he could do about this. These were not ideal circumstances, and if he were to get the most out of them that he could, while also not resorting to the kind of tactics that would make him a hypocrite in the eyes of Nestor and Xaphan…

‘I could sally out,’ he thought as he watched the Sky Devils advance, Cat Helmet’s attention seemingly locked on him. He glanced northward, easily able to see and feel the Sunlit arks flying through the clouds as they raced to the city. ‘I don’t have to hold them long, just long enough for those arks to arrive. They won’t be stupid enough to continue their advance even with those arks here, will they?’

As Leon continued to wrestle for control of the sky, he quickly made up his mind and shouted, “Penelope!” The Director’s daughter quickly ran over, a curious look in her eye, and before she could ask what he needed, he said, “You’re in charge here. I’m going to try and slow them down.”

“Are you insane?!” she hissed. “You’re just going to get yourself killed!”

Leon glanced in Cat Helmet’s direction, then grinned with more confidence than he felt at Penelope. “You know who I am. My death isn’t guaranteed. But regardless, I’d rather sally out and meet them than wait for them to come to me. In this case, I have to show strength.”

Left unsaid was his concern for those in the enclave who’d die, and those in the city who’d already died.

“That just makes you even more insane!” Penelope responded, clearly barely able to keep her voice down. “If the Empires catch wind of what you’re doing…”

“I’ll deal with it,” Leon said, and without another word, he strode out of the enclave to meet the advancing Sky Devils. “It would be worth it to end this sooner, I think…” he muttered so softly that he doubted anyone could possibly hear him.

He was a little surprised when Red appeared behind him. She didn’t say a word, but she was at least ready for a fight, Leon could sense that much in her aura.

“You can stay behind,” Leon said as he stuck his thumb at the very anxious Penelope watching them leave. “No need for you to put yourself in danger right now.”

[I want to see what you’re doing,] Red replied. [You take yourself to be my superior. I will watch and see for myself.]

“And if I fall?”

[I will eat you. If your body remains intact. If not, I will leave.]

“Delightful. Then just hang back and watch.”

It didn’t take long for Leon to run into the advancing Sky Devils. At first, they’d slowed their advance slightly as if expecting an ambush, but when Leon halted in a relatively large square with a fountain in the middle, they sped back up. Leon could understand why, for in true Imperial fashion, the fountain was decorated with a statue in its center of an ancient soldier striking down a warrior with the head of an eagle—a depiction Leon knew represented his Clan. From the outside, he assumed it looked like he was mocking them by trying to rub it in their face that they’d been kicked off the mainland so long ago.

However, as they approached, hundreds strong, powerful mages all, Leon did what he felt would draw their interest and potentially give him the exact opening that he needed to solve this as peacefully as he could: he called forth a bolt of golden lightning from the sky to destroy the fountain. As the fountain behind him exploded under his power, the Sky Devils leading their forces toward Leon paused, those few whose faces he could see behind their helmets expressing some mild shock. Out of curiosity, he glanced back at the Imperials, and they were all paying quite a bit of attention to what was going on, so he made no more moves to try and endear himself to the Sky Devils.

The man in the cat helmet showed more poise than the rest of his people, continuing forward with his stride barely broken. It wasn’t long before he waltzed into the square like he owned the place. Given the power of the army at his back, Leon supposed if the man were to lay claim to the square, it would be hard to argue against him. He considered himself fortunate that the man didn’t immediately attack as soon as he arrived. Instead, Cat Helmet slowed his gait as his people spread out behind him to occupy the square and surround Leon, only coming to a stop a fairly comfortable fifty feet or so away.

Leon stood opposite him, the rim of the marble fountain only a step behind. He wore his armor, sans helmet, and he stared back at Cat Helmet, his smile a little shallower than it had been with the anxiety in his heart reaching a crescendo.

[Leon…] Nestor whispered, [that man is a descendant of the Blood Thunder Jaguar. No doubt about that. With an aura like that, there can be no mistake…]

[Play this very carefully, boy,] Xaphan added. [Show strength, but if you can get out of this without violence, all the better. If it comes to blows, though, I’ll fight at your side.]

[Look at the demon, playing wise philosopher and experienced mentor!] Nestor sniped.

The two began exchanging barbs, so Leon ignored them both and focused instead on the descendent of the Blood Thunder Jaguar standing in front of him.

For several long minutes they stared at each other, Leon forcing himself to look not all concerned even as Red abandoned the square, though only falling back a couple of streets and leaping to a nearby rooftop where she could still monitor the situation without being surrounded.

It was only then that Cat Helmet spoke, his smooth voice resounding with the confidence of a man completely in control of the situation, “It seems your companion abandoned you, Raptor.”

“Raptor?” Leon asked in amusement.

The man cocked his head and asked, “Is that all you heard?”

“All I heard that was of consequence.”

Again, the man paused in his response. Leon could see his eyes within his helmet flickering about as if studying him, and he kept up his projection of confidence to match his opponent’s.

“You are not human…” Cat Helmet eventually said, half in question and half in statement.

“I consider myself human, though my standards are hardly universal. You clearly possess something a little… inhuman, don’t you?”

Cat Helmet ignored his question. “My subordinate saw you transform, and I have no interest in your name.”

Leon sighed. “Raptor’ll do, then. What shall I call you?”

“Jaguar.”

“What a pair we make, Raptor and Jaguar.”

They both went silent again as they studied each other in as great of detail as possible.

The Jaguar was again the first to break their silence. “Have you come here to plead for the safety of your comrades? If your pleas are heartfelt enough, I might just leave your little warehouses alone…”

Leon smiled, the Jaguar having struck at least one reason he’d come here right on the head. But Leon didn’t want to admit that. “I’m not here to plead for anything. What I’m here for is to get your measure, Jaguar.”

The Jaguar assumed a slightly more aggressive posture. “You wish to fight me? Given the difference in our power, that wouldn’t end well for you, but I’ll happily oblige. Maybe I’ll take your corpse back to Kataigida and have it dissected—let my Tribesmen learn what they can from you.”

Again, Leon sighed. “Not everything worth measuring is related to the dealing of death, Jaguar.”

“Oh!” one of the Jaguar’s followers—the man Leon had heard telling the Jaguar that he’d seen Leon transform—exclaimed. “What heated subtext!”

Several others chuckled, but Leon and the Jaguar remained staring at each other.

“You wish to measure me?” the Jaguar inquired, his tone a little less confrontational.

“I suppose,” Leon answered. “Not something that can be done in one conversation, but I had to try. Shall we talk before things turn… electric?”

The Jaguar glanced upward where they were still wrestling for control of the sky. Leon counted three breaths before he lowered his head. Leon couldn’t help but smile a little wider, knowing without even having to look up that, despite the Jaguar’s power, he was failing to make any headway against Leon’s front. They were practically evenly matched for control of the sky, though Leon didn’t take that to mean their raw power or combat prowess were anything close to equal.

The Jaguar cocked his head, waited another moment, then growled, “Speak your piece, Raptor.”

“I’d rather speak inside,” Leon said, gesturing toward what appeared to be a café, now abandoned with nearly the entire city having fled. “I’m not one for eavesdroppers.”

The Jaguar glanced in the direction of the Imperials as they massed at other chokepoints along the way to the citadel, many of the more powerful mages obviously watching the exchange.

“Very well,” the Jaguar said.

A couple of minutes later, they were both seated around a table, the wards in the building preventing their conversation from being overheard by magic senses. The Jaguar himself brought with him only a handful of guards while Leon sat alone.

“Brave of you, facing us alone,” the Jaguar said once they were both seated.

“I was reasonably confident you wouldn’t attack immediately,” Leon replied, his tone carefully controlled to maintain certainty that he internally lacked. “I’m curious, though: why not?”

The Jaguar, still helmeted, didn’t acknowledge the question.

“So be it,” Leon said, his statement punctuated by the rumble of thunder overhead. “I’ll admit to some curiosity, Jaguar. I’m not from the Empires, but ever since I arrived in this region of the plane, they’ve done nothing but spit on the very mention of your people down there in the southeast. I’ve never been one to buy into that kind of mentality, and I couldn’t help but wonder who these people were who drew such ire from the Empires?”

“We are the fangs of Kataigida,” the Jaguar declared. “We defend the Ten Tribes from all who would seek them harm. For thousands of years, the Empires have attempted to kill the lot of us, to devour our land and resources, and we have stopped them every time. We are here to repay them for their barbarity.”

Leon nodded, what little body language the Jaguar was showing off not giving him any impression of deceit.

“Who are your leaders?” Leon asked. “What gods do you worship? What stories do you tell your people? I’m curious about all of these things.”

“Worthless to tell an enemy such things.”

“If we are enemies, then so be it. But your people must have history, don’t they? Culture? You know where you came from, and where you’re going?”

The Jaguar answered quickly, but he sounded almost a little insulted by the insinuation. “We are not lost people. We know where we are and why we’re here. We know our histories and our traditions. These we protect against all who dare threaten them.”

“You just won’t tell me your history, or give me the name of your gods, or tell me anything at all how your people their lives?”

“You will die when we cross blades; what would be the point?”

“To show a little respect to an opponent, with the hope that it’s returned?”

“Respect? From an Imperial? No chimeric magic could possibly make these two compatible.”

Leon chuckled softly. “They have been quite zealously railing against your people as long as I’ve cared to keep track. They hate you.”

“You speak as if you’re not one of them, Raptor. You are Heaven’s Eye: among the worst of them.”

“Yeah, they’re not great… but they have their uses.”

Leon guessed the Jaguar heard something in his bitter tone, for he didn’t respond as Leon fell silent for a long moment. After that moment was over, Leon said, “Where I come from, we have no gods, but we venerate our Ancestors deeply. If you kill me today, then I ask only that you not mutilate my corpse, that I might be sent north to join them in death.”

The Jaguar didn’t verbally respond, but he nodded ever so slightly despite his earlier threat of taking Leon’s corpse back to the Sky Devil’s Hell.

“Are there any requests you might make, should the impossible come to pass and I win this fight? Will you not even tell me the name of your gods?”

“We do not worship any gods,” the Jaguar rumbled as a flash of red outside destroyed another building close by. “But we, too, venerate those who came before us. If you win today, then I would ask the same of you. If you win, my people will bring you no immediate harm and allow you to retreat back to Heaven’s Eye.”

“An easy thing to agree to,” Leon said with a smile, and with that, he stood up. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

“Indeed,” the Jaguar replied as he, too, rose.

When they walked back outside, Leon found that the Jaguar’s ranks had swollen in just those few minutes they were in the café. About fifty Pegasus-riders had landed in the square led by a hard-looking eighth-tier woman who stared intently at both him and the Jaguar, yet she spoke not a word.

So, Leon ignored them and walked back into the center of the square, where the Jaguar joined him. The Jaguar’s warriors circled around them, though they didn’t come quite close enough to be in any real danger when the magic started flying.

“Ready yourself for death, Heaven’s Eye Raptor,” the Jaguar growled as he raised his hammer.

“Think of your Ancestors, Jaguar,” Leon said. “In just a moment, you’ll be closer to your past than you ever thought possible.”

With that, Leon donned his helmet and drew his family’s sword. He channeled his lightning, but he kept a strict leash on it, not letting even a spark leave his body and reveal itself. Instead, he kept an eye on the Jaguar, and a split second after he finished speaking, he raised his hand.

A blood red bolt of lightning fell from the sky that very instant, but Leon, calling upon all of his skill with lightning magic, swept his hand above his head and diverted the bolt into a nearby building.

The Jaguar cocked his head again, but said nothing. Instead, he extended his off-hand and conjured his lightning claws. He then slammed his fist down into the ground, sending a wave of red lightning Leon’s way.

But again, Leon, straining his muscles and mind, used his prodigious skill and talent in lightning magic and halted the wave before it reached him. The Jaguar, however, then stepped forward and thrust out his fist, and Leon fought hard to hold the crackling lightning in place as it pushed against his control.

But he held the wave there, unmoving. He was vaguely aware that he’d started to sweat, but he kept his mind sharp.

With a wave of his hand, the Jaguar dispelled his lightning and took a few steps toward Leon. He grasped his hammer, filled it with red lightning, and then lunged toward Leon.

The Jaguar was fast, but that surprised Leon none. It took everything he had to dodge the Jaguar’s first deadly swing, aimed at his chest. It took him greatly exerting his body to dodge the second strike, but he was knocked off-balance enough that he knew he wasn’t going to dodge a third.

Leon realized in a flash that he couldn’t play around with the Jaguar as much as he’d hoped. The Jaguar wasn’t taking this fight too seriously given what Leon knew he was capable of, but in a matter of two exchanges, Leon could already tell that for all his skill with the sword, he wasn’t going to match the Jaguar in this kind of fight. The Jaguar was just too strong and too fast—the difference a single tier and who knew how many centuries of experience made.

He had to use magic.

He gritted his teeth as the Jaguar flowed from the second strike into the third, and instead of trying to dodge again, Leon swung his blade forward.

His family’s sword, the blade that Jason Keraunos had brought to Aeterna, the weapon that had once been host to one of the Universe Fragments that had formed the bedrock of his Clan, that had been forged quite literally with the blood of the Thunderbird, erupted in silver-blue lightning as Leon blocked the Jaguar’s third swing.

Leon put everything that he had into that swing; all of his power that he could push into his sword in that moment, he did. The stones shattered beneath their feet with the meeting of their power as their colored lightning exploded upward, reaching for the clouds.

Leon was thrown backward, and he fell in a most undignified manner back into the remains of the fountain. The Jaguar wasn’t pushed back nearly as far, but Leon was gratified to see that he hadn’t managed to stand firm.

However, as Leon pushed himself back to his feet, the Jaguar didn’t move. The helmeted man’s eyes were locked on his right arm, where the last few arcs of Leon’s silver-blue lightning still danced across his gauntlet.